Review: CRKT Stiff K.I.S.S. knife

Here is another piece of steel that I hold dear. Whilst a pocket folder is a great addition to my EDC, sometimes a fixed blade is the best tool for the job. As I've said, I'm strangely attracted to some brands, and tend to stick with them, and this is no exception. This is the (edit) COLUMBIA River Knife & Tool Stiff K.I.S.S. by Ed Halligan. Keeping to the principles of its name, this is a blade that has been engineered to Keep It Super Simple. The blade is made of a single piece of AUS6 steel which is reported to be hardened to Rockwell of between  55-57. It comes with a Zytel sheath and belt adapter.

 The blade features the same tanto-tip and straight blade as the folding version, and the same serration patterns but with a considerably longer blade, following the same elegant lines. The handle is skeletonised and features two lanyard holes midway, and a third in the pommel end. I have added a paracord wrap which gives it some nice body, and a good positive grip. I keep this blade in my car, along with my car "bug-out-bag". It goes camping with me, picnics and hiking. One of the things I especially like about it is how light it is in the hand.

This is no battle knife, it is fleet and slight.
The slim cross section is sufficient to ensure it is able to cut and slice, and the back of it is flat, as with its smaller folding sibling, which gives it an even slighter profile. The blade is stiff, even for its thickness, which I suspect is due to the steel and temper, but I wouldn't want to use it as a pry bar. Best leave that to actual pry-bars, frankly. I have been able to punch holes in cans for drainage however, and the finger notch, and thumb-groves on the spine make for a very sturdy and secure grip, even when wet. There is a nut affixed to the blade around the midline acts as the friction lock to keep the knife firmly in its Zytel sheath, as well as being a good rest point for the thumb during delicate cutting.

The sheath itself is also packed with features, including a selection of lashing points both for cord and a pair of webbing-sized holes as another option. The final attachment option is the steel clip, which can be fitted at either the bottom, for a downwards draw or at the middle, for an upwards draw. I have a length of kendo himo looped through mine. Between this and the belt loop I get a nice secure attachment to a variety of belts, bags and harnesses.

Unfortunately,  CRKT discontinued the Stiff K.I.S.S. a number of years ago, and whilst they are still available online, I am sorry to have heard that. This is a beautiful piece of steel, and as I've said, it comes out to play whenever I go adventuring. Rope, salami, packets, jugs or cybermats, this is a blade not to be left behind.

Review: 215Gear Retention Lanyard-Frog Zero

I've done some pretty interesting and dubiously safe adventuring, mostly climbing up things and places that were not necessarily intended to be reached. Over the years I have put together a reasonable set of gear and kit for doing so, but one thing I've lacked is a dedicated retention lanyard. I've always made do with loops of webbing, lengths of rope and Expresses. I finally found a purpose made piece of kit to include when I venture up high things or perch somewhere I might be inclined not to fall off. This is the Operators Retention Lanyard by 215Gear. 

These guys make some no-nonsense nylon gear, and look to fill some niches that other suppliers tend to glaze over, in comfort, safety and K9 equipment. I especially liked their range of options for fittings, which are all high quality brands which they have fitted to their own well tailored nylon. This particular lanyard is made from 1" MilSpec tubing rated to 4,000lbs (1814kg), heavily constructed with eight, 42 stitch bartacks and is offered with empty loops, or fitted several different combinations of options. For example, I've currently fitted the empty loop end of mine with a 600kg rated Kong carabiner, but also have a higher rated carabiner which i swap out if I know I am likely to be experiencing higher fall risks. The other end has something quite special.

Here's what is on the grabby end; a Kong Frog which is an awesome piece of engineering, giving a 26kN safety rating (equivalent to 5,850 lbs, or 2653kg) to a one-handed attachment system when will lock down on whatever you can reach, even at what would normally be beyond safe carabiner reach. One drawback of the Frog is that the "jaws" are a little narrow and it will not fit over any of the random things I have tried, like my larger carabiners, but it does "bite" my 11mm static line, as well as this rope which I've previously used as a retention lanyard.

I really like this lanyard, and whilst have not had an instance where its full potential was tested, the fact it sits at 17 inches long and stretches to 26 inches means that I can hook myself up, have room to play, and be able to get physical feedback when reaching that limit, AND then give a little bit more slack for either squirming to reach something, ducking out of the way of something, or just pure shock-absorption. All in all, a very satisfying, compact, solid and dependable feeling piece of kit.

Review: SAR Eclipse Signal Sytem/Clip (SESS/c)

I thought it was time to review another of the cool products put out by SAR Global Tool as so I bring you this very nifty little survival tool.

This is the SAR Eclipse Signal Sytem (Clip) Bringing back the same amazing reflective 3M SOLAS tape as seen in the MoonGlow but this time mounted to the front of a dog-tag sized steel plate, with a hole centered in the middle, which gives a good sighting point for use as a heliograph. The inner plate is a mirror polished steel dog-tag, also for signalling, in daylight conditions. The third plate is bent to form a tightly binding clip, enabling the unit to be clipped to a belt, MOLLE or to cards and cash as a money-clip.

The bent plate gives enough torsion that the three plates fit tightly together, offering protection and stability in attachment, and the hollow riveting allows it to be fitted to a cord or chain, to make it part of your EDC. It's light, tough and very practical. I look forwards to further testing it out bush and making much more use of it in my adventuring.

SAR Global Tool

Home Front: Perservering Preserving

 Food, and the correct storage of food is a major component of medium and long term disaster preparedness, in my opinion, not only from a pure survival point of view, but also from a morale and social well being point of view. Any starving student can tell you that you can live on beans, porridge, rice or ramen, but that it isn't a lot of fun. Same goes with MRE's and other stockpileable staples. I've read through the LDS preparedness manual, and it didn't strike me as setting an exciting table. There are ways and means to not only make long lasting supplies, but make them interesting, and also make good use of the ample times in ways that many modern folks may simply overlook. I've done a fair bit of reading on preservation, and my background in Microbiology has served me well too. There are some basic aspects that are easy to grasp, and apply to almost all food preservation; Sterilize, aseptic technique, reduce water, inhibit growth and inhibit oxygen. By no means an exhaustive list, but a good guide.

Here's how I use these aspects to preserve food, and keep it tasty, for far longer than the base products would last fresh. The tomatoes we grow in our vegi-patches all ripened at once, and faster than we could eat, so in the grand Southern European tradition, I dried them. I used an electric dehydrator with herbs also from the garden after scalding them with boiling water, and packed them in a steam sterilised jar, covering them with oil. Dehydrated, [naturally acidic], inhibited oxygen (the oil), delicious. I also make my own beef (and other meat, although I haven't been allowed to use our rabbits) jerky, which alas, I have none remaining to photograph, but, really, dehydrated meats are an awesome means of preserving them, if not making delicious snacks.

A girlfriend of mine had a lemon tree overburdened with fruit a couple of years ago, and we collected a cooler full. As well as lemon tart, lemon juice and the like, we quartered many of them, packed them with salt and covered this in juice. This salt-lemon juice slurry eventually jellified, and the lemon quarters took up the salt. Again, dehydrated, oxygen inhibited and delicious. A combination of super high salt and acidity inhibits bacterial growth. These will last for years, and make an amazing addition to my cooking.

Similarly, a glut of fruit from my partners family's house gave us the opportunity to try our hand at making quince jam. This was harder, quinces requiring a bit more preparation to being good, but as an experiment we had nothing to lose. Jam is again, a dehydrated, acidic, highly concentrated, (and if made properly, with good aseptic technique) long lasting method at turning a crop of fresh food into a long lasting  food stuff that can improve man simple recipes, add valuable calories and be utilized in a variety of ways.  We've added it to sauces, marinades, on toast and into baking. Jam-making can be laborious, but is well worth the effort, month if not years down the track. Its a skill anyone with thoughts of preparedness should ad to their repertoire.

Salting and sugaring are not always the best ways to preserve all foods though, and pickling is just as ancient, and downright tasty a means to make fresh produce last a long time. A combination of acidic and oxygen depleted environments, as well as good sterilization lets you preserve a variety of foods (eggs from our chookens here, with herbs from the garden, mustard and garlic). Looks horrific, tastes amazing. A layer of olive oil on top acts and a further oxygen barrier. Eggs, cucumbers, cabbage, fish, the range of foods than can be pickled is vast, and it's really easy to do. Just be sure to read up and follow instructions to ensure its all done safely, because as will all preservation, getting food poisoning from it would be terrible!

Which leads me to the last means by which I preserve foods, fermentation. I have a home brewing kit, and a rather large collection of Grolsch swing-top bottles thanks to my beer-drinking friends, and have turned apples, ginger, honey and the like into a variety of bacteria-free, yeast enhanced, safe to drink beverages containing anywhere from a slight tingle to fountainously foaming carbonation. The fact that these may have also been mildly to highly inebriating is merely a side effect, but after a day of converting car tyres to body armour, or fighting off waves of triffids, a relaxing home made foamy drink is a great refresher! 
 

Review: Barz Optics Sunglass Prescrption Goggles

I've known that I've needed glasses since I was about 15, and have had a variety since then. I've also lived in some very sunny and bright places, like Dubai, Calgary, Melbourne to name a few and I've had to either choose squinting because of glare, or squinting because I'm a touch short sighted. I tried contact lenses a few years back, but reacted badly and came down with conjunctivitis rather badly, and haven't been game since. I'd rather see badly than not at all... They are also inconvenient when it comes to being out and about, occasionally submerged and generally annoying. I eventually decided that what I needed was prescription sunglasses and shopped around.  I looked at several of the brands that one sees professional rugged and bad-ass people wearing, but whilst doing my market research, I came across and Australian company whos products took my fancy.
These are my Barz ARFA goggle-sunglasses.
Originally designed for surfers, they are billed as being fit for a variety of extreme sports, watersports, and industrial use. Rather than having arms like traditional sunglasses, they are goggles, with a elastic strap feeding through eyelets and adjusting at each temple. I can't tell you how many times I have come across snapped off arms of glasses, or had my head smacked and lost my regular glasses. No such issue with goggles! Barz offers a range of frame and lens colours, allowing you to customize the finish in quite a combination of ways.

 They also offer several lens filtering options such as polarization, photochromatic and bifocal prescription as well as single focal prescription lenses. I oped for a black frame, amber lenses and prescription polarized lenses and have never looked back! Not only can I now see in the bright outdoors, but with the added bonus of polarisation, I can see things in a whole new light, so to speak. These are my go-to glasses when ever having to do powertool or spray assisted yard work, whether it is whipper-snippering, chainsawing or metal cutting.

The gasket fitting keeps chips and spray out of my eyes so I can keep watching what I am doing. I've also had great use for these whilst doing burning off, as they also greatly reduce the smoke and heat-glare that would otherwise inhibit my ability to see. This was of great concern whilst the Black Saturday bushfires were raging, and I was living in the forested mountains, and on high alert. Recreationally, I've worn these whilst running around the bush, camping and driving around with the windows down to great success. The UV400 treatment of the lenses fills me with confidence.

One very cool feature that I have not yet had the chance to test out is that the eye gaskets can be swapped out from the vented ones seen here, to a solid ring, to give a water-tight swim-goggle seal. The reason I've not done so is that whilst not only are the gaskets but also the nose bridge user-modifiable (three options for the nose) but the gaskets are a very fiddly modification, and I have had a lot of trouble in hot, still conditions with the goggles steaming up, something I'd rather not make worse. The manufacture is very solid, with great life so far on all parts. I sat on them once and broke one nose-bridge but they have survived considerable abuse in my care.

Happy New Years from Apocalpse Equipped!

Happy 2012 from us at Apocalypse Equipped. Tactical Baby and I had a good night out, and we blinked and flashed our way through a gig, with bottles stowed in FUP Pouches, and a full complement of changing materials slung on a comfy belt . She wore ear-pads, a Zombie Hunter morale patch by MilSpec Monkey and traveled in her BabyBjorn Active baby-carrier.

She ended up with more lipstick on her than I did, but that's the way it goes when you wear a baby to an Amanda Palmer gig!

Review: Yukon NVMT 3x42 Nightvision & Riflescope kit

I had desperately wanted to get some night-vision gear for years, and saw some listed online, but did some shopping around, and found what appears to have been a better deal, for a more interesting set up. Some of my friends have had NVG, either as givaways with First Person Shooter games, or purchasing scopes from overseas, I was pleased to find via Ozscopes a division of the OzHut which sells a variety of things but most importantly to me included this, a 3x42 night vision monocular and riflescope kit. I tossed and turned about either getting the fully Maritime certified version, of going the only slightly less sealed but modular and rugged Spartan version.

I liked the fact that the basic scope could have both objective and eyepieces, allowing for either 2x, 3x or 4x power and either rifle-scope or binocular style eye-relief. When using the scope I found that with simple adjustment I could have near-to day visibility in my urban environment easily enough, even without the built in IR illumination. Like any magnification device, it needs focus adjustment for different ranges, but its a simple enough. The case is solid and the rubber edgings to give it a good positive grip in the food when damp, as well as offering a bit of padding. Its rated as water resistant, so not for underwater nighttime play, or casual tossing into a pond, but for my needs, its fit for purpose. The built in IR illumination is amazing, at least to my eyes, but be warned, when using in a reflective environment, its very "bright" to the receptors!

The unit is powered with a single CR123A, both the monocle and the illuminator are controlled by press buttons, and have indicator lights that light up for both. I found these to be placed in a slightly awkward position, especially when using it attached to the rifle scope kit. Opening my off-scope eye would dazzle me with the indicator LED. I think I will tape over it for my next outing The rifle scope kit comes with a mounting plate which affixes to a Weaver style rail, along with an integral pressure switch activated laser sight. The combination laser and night vision gave me a real advantage at the last Stargate LRP event, and I've also had fun watching my local wildlife, our bunnies and the like. A real win for my collection.