Blog rating!

I happened across a mention alert in one of my feeds for this blog and was very pleased to find that the aggregator service Feedspot had rated and included Apocalypse Equipped in their rankings. They ranked "Tactical blogs" by Relevancy, authority, social media followers and freshness. Based on their assessments, this blog ranked 35th out of 60 (out of thousands that exist)

Needless to say,I'm thrilled and proud. 

Since starting this blog in January 2012, I've made 724 posts, and received some 1,862,102 views. I've had the good fortune to work with Industry leaders like Platatac, Propper, 5.11 and Breach Bang and Clear

I've slowed the pace of my reviews in the last few years, focusing more on living life with my family, but look forwards to sharing many more needful items, tips and tricks, continuing to bring you all my honest, considered and thorough reviews of kit and gear. 

 

lJ posts - reflections on the past.

So, back in the day, in the late 2000's I had a LiveJournal into which the first iterations of this blog came to pass.

A couple of important things were journaled there in my beginnings of documenting preparation things:
1) my EDC and BUG-OUT bag kits:
2) Black Saturday 2008/09 fire season:

my 2007 EDC loadout: Compare with my 2012 version posted here:

Someone asked me recently if there was anything I didn't have on
me, and I thought I'd post the list I made afterwards. Not quite a
Bug-Out-Bag, but at any given time, this is what I carry around with me.

That's before I even pack things into my bag . . .

Green Crumpler satchel
-sharpening tools (diamond stones) x3
-Alan keys (full set)
-packaged survival kit-in-a-can
-cable ties (180x4.5mm) x20 or so
-waiters friend
-metal chopsticks
-9" section of aluminium arrow shaft (my metal straw)
-titanium splade
- 90cm wire saw
-essential oils
-personal grooming stuff (toothpaste, floss, toothbrush, tissues,
hairbrush)
-needles and thread
-first aid kit (overstocked from Hospital supplies, lube, condoms (you NEVER know))

Under-vest-Harness
-Barz prescription polarised goggles
-wallet (safety pins and needle&thread)
-work ID
-USB memory sticks x2
-Folding C.R.K.T. K.I.S.S. 3"
-LED flashlight
-pen
-iPod
-PDA
-aluminium accessory carabineer
-all elastic hair ties
-keys on big steel carabineer
-mobile phone
-20m nylon cord

Belt
-BuckTool multitool (with attached HD magnet)
-rope kasari fundo (String of Doom)


Zombie edition EDC (Nov. 8th, 2007)

So, apart from what I usually lug around (and again, not
including my lunches, kendo gear twice a week, books, external 300Gb
hard drives, or the odd 14" cast iron camping hot-plate on occasion),
here is my theoretical end-of-civilization bug-out-kit.

Its very similar to the kind of gear I lug about when I got to BIF
weekends, so I know what I can manage, but there I do it in period-ish
style. The boar spear is a bit overkill, but, well, that's so me
isn't it? For non-supernatural disasters, I'd probably leave the spear
in the car. . . hahaha

Green Crumpler satchel
-sharpening tools (diamond stones) x3
-Alan keys (full set)
-packaged survival kit-in-a-can
-cable ties (180x4.5mm) x20 or so
-waiters friend
-metal chopsticks
-9" section of aluminium arrow shaft (my metal straw)
-titanium splade
- 90cm wire saw
-essential oils
-personal grooming stuff (toothpaste, floss, toothbrush, tissues,
hairbrush)
-needles and thread
-first aid kit (overstocked from Hospital supplies, lube, condoms (you
NEVER know))
-Fluid resistant surgical masks
-food supplement bars ~380Cal/100g
-30m 11mm static line
-Petzl Ascension, Shunt, figure 8
-Hydration pack
-short bolt cutters

Camping hip bag
-20m 5mm dynamic line
-carabineer
 -camouflage waterproof hooded poncho
-tricks + traps kit
-20 4" nails
-mini gas stove + bottle
-battery free induction flashlight
-Swedish Army fire steel
-collapsible bowl/sink
-lensatic compass
-LED head lamp
-enamel mug
-CRKT Stiff KISS knife (l.hip)

Under-vest-Harness
-Barz prescription polarised goggles
-wallet (safety pins and needle&thread)
-work ID
-USB memory sticks x2
-Folding C.R.K.T. K.I.S.S. 3"
-LED flashlight
-pen
-iPod
-PDA
-aluminium accessory carabineer
-all elastic hair ties
-keys on big steel carabineer
-mobile phone
-20m nylon cord

Belt
-BuckTool multitool (with attached HD magnet)
-rope kasari fundo (String of Doom)

Ontario 30" Blackwind sword (l.hip)
Fiskars 23.5" splitting axe (r.shoulder)
Arcteryx climbing harness
Dainese body armour+2nd back plate
Leather work gloves (over)
Latex examination gloves (under)
Armoured shorts (street hockey)
Shin + knee armour (street hockey)
HiTech GP boots
Cold Steel boar spear





2008 Fire Prep



Sunset, Friday night, from Belgrave shops. The Sun looked like a cherry, and i could look right at it without blinking.


I've fought fires before, and know what it is like to get embers and ash in your eyes, nose and mouth, the length keeps it out of ears, and the back of my neck. I have practice wearing head-dresses, they are very comfortable.




suede doesn't ignite easily, and is easily made damp, the goggles are polarised and i have tended fires with them and they are really good at smoke and ember protection, and the 9 LED light is, well, brilliant.

wearing this, i can protect my head from radiant heat, and ember attack for any expose to the fires i may get. Better prepared is better better protected.


 Belgrave Fires
  fires all downgraded to "safe" still, going to be vigilant


We are on the other side of the valley, and the wind is going the other way. No smoke, no embers. Elvis the water bomber and a couple of Huey's have been back and forth for the last hour, but they have stopped.

We are standing by to put our fire plan into action if needs be.

Gutters are stopped up and water-filled, buckets and mops ready.
My PPE is ready, the car is fueled we are going to gather the essentials and have them ready, just in case.
My neighbors are on their deck's talking loudly on their phones and laughing. I am not planning to leave just yet.


FiresFeb. 8th, 2009 at 7:04 PM
66 dead, 700 homes, 2 towns -gone-, not damaged,

GONE

we're fine, its rained overnight and today, which has made everything extra damp, which is great

details of the scope of the disaster here:

in the advent of fire, my family will evacuate at first sign, and i will stay and defend the house. i have several contingency plans, and have witnessed bushfire and grass-fires before.

a locally living buddy has selflessly volunteered to come and help me, if needs be, he's "just down the hill" and its always good policy to "dive-with-a-buddy"

just so you all know, and before you tell me off . . .
i have been told, in no uncertain terms, that i am not to "be a hero" and die for my home. i can live with that, i have a lot to live for.

Curated ReBlog: South Korean threat from North Korea

I'm going to be spotlighting some of  my fellow bloggers in addition to my own content to spread some love. First up is from Unprecedented Mediocrity by Jeff Edwards  who shares some opinions on "better them than us" with regards to the North Korea vs South Korea questions:

Check it out here:

http://www.unprecedentedmediocrity.com/nothing-wrong-south-korea-taking-brunt-north-korean-war/

"Or I will Bring Fury and Fire Like You Have Never Seen Before Upon You"
-POTUS

Re-bloging: on double sided daggers, axes and the art of utility.

DJ Urbanovsky, the knife and axe-maker extraordinaire behind American Kami has had some great successes recently, two more of his knives have been put into production by Boker (check them out here) . I have had  the pleasure of fooling around with a couple of the American Kami blades, in my tactical kitchen knife, the Super Colubris, and the Boker Mid-Tech Colubris which was part of a pass-around review.  He is a maker of fine, dangerous and finely crafted blades, and recently, he's been making daggers. Pondering these as he grinds, fits and finishes these, he had some thoughts, which he was good enough to share:


Since I am in the middle of assembling a ton of them as I type this, one of my thoughts on daggers: So, obviously most people tend to look at a dagger and think "That right there is some man-killing-as-shit," or that it is a single purpose design and good for nothing other than making holes in bad guys.


Read the rest of his thoughts here on Breach-Bang-Clear

Because there is always some window-licker that tells me I'm going to go to jail or some such:

Where I live, double bladed knives are listed as Prohibited Weapons.

In order to possess a dagger, a person would need to obtain either a:

• a Chief Commissioner’s Approval (CCP), or
  
• be covered by a Governor in Council exemption (GIC).
  To be eligible for a GIC a person must be able to demonstrate at the time of purchase, that they are a member of a club, group, organisations, or a class of person which has been granted a Governor in Council Exemption Order.

So, know your local laws, and collect, train with and use the tools that best meet your needs and applications. Thanks again to Mr Urbanovsky,and be sure to check out his work!

Re-Blog: Self Reliance

I came across a very informative article recently, that I thought my be of interest to you my readers.

Dan West is the founder and CEO of Walden Labs, a certified permaculture designer (Geoff Lawton, 2013), and a seeker of truth. In 2014 he bought a 100+ year old, rundown, farm in the north of Sweden that he's transforming into a resilient homestead full of abundant natural production systems.

"When you are new to self-reliance, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I wish I could tell you the "lost" feeling changes over time, but it doesn’t.
The truth is; while you expand your knowledge of taking care of yourself, your interests in new subjects and skills can spiral out of control.
That’s the thing with depending on yourself, it’s hard to just specialize on doing just one thing. Sure you can become a master of growing potatoes, but potatoes won’t keep you warm through the winter or quench your thirst.
And, when you think you have figured something out, you may realize that you have solved only a small piece of the puzzle."

Mr West has developed this infographic to outline and track a wide variety of elements to self reliance, untpder he major headings of food, water, shelter, energy and protection. It's well worth checking out, and you can download a high resolution PDF version of this document from his article.

Wish Lust: Kickstarter - Leveraxe

New Leveraxe - The Smart Axe Reimagined. Reinvented. Reborn.

Here's a last-minute plug for a very cool idea. I am a big, big fan of axes,part of my Viking heritage no doubt, and my favorite logsplitter is the Fiskars but I'd be willing to give it away if I managed to lay-hands on one of these weird looking axes, now being re-released on Kickstarter

About 20 years ago a 74-year-old Finnish inventor, Heikki Kärnä, began clearing trees to build a house, an arduous task that led to an obsession with improving on the tools he found at the local hardware store. He spent 15 years building numerous prototypes of his axe at a local steel workshop. Now the product is finally ready to be brought in front of wider public and ramp up the production capacity to take on its competitors. It's unique off-center head enables it to chop and split hardwood logs far easier, and faster than conventional symmetrical mauls and splitters. Check out this video...




Leveraxe took first steps to approach their market niche in the USA. Thus far the feedback from test users has been amazing and interest towards this invention had rapidly spread worldwide. Most importantly there have been no reported accidents with Leveraxe since they started selling their previous models. The popularity of these axes exploded once other bloggers began posting YouTube videos of Leveraxe in action, splitting hardwood. I'm late to the party, but it looks phenomenal.


The main purpose of their Kickstarter campaign is to introduce their product to the US market and find resources to invest in their own production tools.

The original version's handle is made of wood, whilst the new handle will be made of a polyamide, much like the Fiskars axes, which is characterized by high mechanical strength, stiffness and thermal resistance. Most futuristic about this part is that it is hollow inside, making the Leveraxe even more lighter which in turn helps to build up more speed when in action. Furthermore, this polyamide offers high toughness at low temperatures, fr those of you with sub-freezing winters as well as easy processing.

The new axe head will be made of a cast steel alloy, which enables us to produce more complicated products in one step but also offer excellent wear resistance in later use. With the upgrade, they will keep all the proven features of the original design (like the side hook, which clamps onto the log after the swing of the axe), and are even offering the axe in KickStarter Green.



Thus far Leveraxe has managed to make small production batches and distributed their invention in small quantities and have relied solely on receiving customer feedback for advertising purposes. However, to move on produce on a larger scale they require expensive production tooling which is why they have now taken the step to ask people to help them out through crowdfunding.

It's not a small investment, but it looks like it is built to last, and the sheer style of the thing makes it desirous beyond measure.  I want physics to do the work when I am splitting logs, and make all that time in high-school pay off. The payoff in reduced fatigue, jamming, bouncing or over-cutting risks alone would make it worthwhile for a serious wood-fire burner. If it weren't for the exorbitant shipping costs that big items are hit with to Australia, I'd be all over this. Only a few days left, get in quick!

Reblogging: Target as a bug-out-locaton

My awesome partner Omega is constantly on the lookout for articles and gear for me. She turned up a great one, from Kayla of Chicago who has a Tumblr blog. Kayla came up with a very similar assessment for Target as a bug-out-location as I have done for Bunnings, and Ikea


If there was a zombie apocalypse the best place to go would be Target.
Lets look at the facts:

• Targets have at maximum 3 windows. And those windows are also doors. Otherwise they are giant concrete cinder-blocks of prison like retail. 
• Target is filled with things to quickly barricade those window-doors. such as entire gazebos, lawn furniture, exercise equipment, etc. 
• From that point forward all you have to do is worry about the zombies that are inside.

 Follow the rest of Kyla's post here:
http://kaylapocalypse.tumblr.com/post/121358772274/if-there-was-a-zombie-apocalypse-the-best-place

Reblogging: Focus on the 25M target.

I came across an article by John Mosby, who is a U.S. military veteran and current instructor, who's school covers a range of hooah courses such as: Combat Rifle, Clandestine Carry Pistol, Grid-Down Medical Care, Security Patrolling, Close-Quarters, Battle (CQB)/Fighting in Built-Up Areas and Vehicle-Based Patrolling

I don't have any personal experience with the fellow (or in-truth the kind of courses he offers) but I do have some experience with the mindset he has. The article in question relates to situational awareness, and he occasional propensity of people who either should know better, or at least present a front of should have known better to be less than attentive. 

https://mountainguerrilla.wordpress.com/2015/07/28/focus-on-the-25m-target/

Mr Mosby has some honest opinions around people's physique that I might not have expressed the same way, but he's entitled to his opinion and probably knows better when it comes to the physical requirements and standards certain callings should have.  This said, I find his observations on people's behaviour very telling.

I may well be one of the gear-collecting, Dungeons & Dragons playing types who needs to do more realistic training  fundamentals well before I move on to being a Delta Force, Ranger, MASOC operator, but I think we can all agree, we could all do well to "hone the edges on your ax." 

Me in D&D mode.