Events: The Valhalla Project

 My friend D.b. Watkins posted this, and I wanted to share it.

A place for combat Veterans to decompress.

The Valhalla Project aims to "establish modest training and educational programs – or facilitate access and participation in already established programs – in order to give Soldiers new skill sets and a sense of productivity that can be translated either into a new career field or simply a valuable hobby or pastime. Some learning/residence centers where stays vary from a long weekend to several months already exist in difference parts of the country, and Valhalla would apply some of their lessons in its own unique programs."

 Please consider supporting this, and other projects like it.

Review: Oscar Delta - Ti pick set

I have been getting into lock picking recently. and wanted to show you some of the sets that I have acquired. I have had some experience over the years with locked doors, and different means of defeating them, Leaving my keys in the house, locking my keys in my car, a locked filing cabinet at work with critical medical records trapped inside, and no one knowing where the keys were.

Knowing how to open doors quietly and neatly is a really important skillset, especially in a disaster or survival situation when the usual resources are unavailable (ie: locksmiths). A smashed down door is no longer a door, a broken window is no longer a window.

I got in touch with my friends over at Oscar Delta who specialize in this kind of thing, and they were kind enough to ship me this very cool set of picks from their "Restricted Products" catalog, the Titanium Euro Bogota Picks, which arrived in one of their excellent GO-Tubes, very similar to their Deep Carry Tube that I have previously covered

The Bogata picks (a multi toothed "rake" and a single toothed "pick") both feature a twist midway, making the tensor end easy to grip when working the tools.

Having each tool end with a tensor (the part of a set used to apply pressure to the inside of the lock plug) means that the two tools make a full set, when you use one type of head, the others tail is used as the tensor.

The smooth titanium of these picks make them both comfortable to hold and manipulate, but also give them a very nice feel when working a lock.

I also found that the rounded, smooth edges of the picks, and along their lengths held their shape nicely. The flex that titanium offers, as well as its resistance to wear has meant that these tool have retained their finish even with my rather crude picking technique. This also would be of help not dinging up the inside of the locks I work on either, an essential aspect when teaching myself around the house.

As well as the tools themselves being nicely made, and working well (rakes, they really work!) The kit itself was a nice package.

The two tools were held together in a length of thick black PVC tubing, so they didn't rattle around within the GO-Tube, and there is still plenty of room inside the tube to store other needfuls.

I wrapped my set in a couple of meters worth of paracord, which I happened to have in my pocket when I last used the tools, and promptly dropped it into he helmet carrier of my Platatac Bullock Echo daypack and promptly "lost" it. It just vanished into the folds of my bag, and carried kit. Took some real searching to dig it up again. This first worried me (where are my damn picks?) then impressed me (these suckers are hard to find..).

I'm really pleased to have added these tools to my collection, and look forwards to using them, and my other sets, and improving my skills. How about you?

Review: Eagles Nest Outfitters - DoubleNest hammock

 Summertime brings hot winds and hot houses here in Melbourne, and having some options to escape the heat are always welcome.

Several years ago, in the lead up to a camping expedition, my partner Anstia gave me a hammock, which I have subsequently set up in my back yard for when the weather is good.

I've enjoyed hammocks whenever I've had the chance to make use of one, but until now, had never owned a production one myself.

This particular model is the charmingly named Double Nest by Eagles Nest Outfitters.

Made of a breathable, quick drying nylon and constructed with heavy duty triple stitched seams, this is a sturdy piece, even for all its light weight material.


This model has a carrying capacity of 180kg (400lbs) and is designed to accommodate two people.

When set up, it measures 2.85m x 1.85m (9' 4" x 6' 2") which gives plenty of space to stretch out, even for a long body like me, and the width has made it possible for me to swing happily, even with one or two of the offspring in with me. I can well imagine being able to squeeze another adult sized person in with me, or if I were fully kitted out, give myself a place to get some rest.

When folded up, the hammock stows in its own sewn-in stuff sack, with a built-in compression strap,
and packs down to a 10cm diameter, 12 cm high bundle (4" x 5")and weighs only 565g (20 oz). This is small enough that it can sit in almost any bag, and even a few larger pouches (like the Tactical Tailor Joey hydration pouch) with ease.

The hammock comes with sturdy rope loops at each end, and a carabiner attached on to those. Eagles Nest Outfitters offers a range of lashing straps, and attachment kits, but I simply use regular poly rope.

At home I have it secured it to my verandah's steel superstructure, mounted very low so Tactical baby and Triceratops Girl can clamber into it unassisted. Out in the field, I would use reclaimed seat-belt webbing (as it would give good surface connection to trees, rocks and the like, without the rough treatment rope might give tree bark). You can see here that being a double sized hammock, there was plenty of material to wrap myself with, when in it myself.

The trick is to be sure that the attachment method is safe and secure, and fit to bear the load you are intending to suspend. Given a second line, and a poncho, it would be possible to easily make a rain shelter, as well as a bug-screen, with some mesh, which would also ball up into a tiny space. Perfect for catching some rack time, especially in inclement conditions, post disaster when regular accommodation becomes unavailable.

I've often though that being able to sleep safe, dry and secure is a luxury that everyone should work towards, and if you are able to do so, sleeping up off the ground is always my preference.

Review: SORD hoodie

A friend of mine asked if I had checked out SORD Australia, which since its inception in 2004, has made tactical kit with a slogan of "Innovation, not imitation". Initially, my friend had asked me about my opinions of their packs, but what caught my eye were some of the other items in their catalog.

I contacted them and got in touch with their sales manager, who was kind enough to send a couple of items my way to look over. This is the first of those pieces. This is the self-depreciatingly named "Hoodie" by SORD Australia.

Constructed from a lightweight softface material as an alternative to the rest of their line of classic hardface constructed jackets and apparel.

The material itself has a really interesting texture, being four-way stretch, and has a padded feel, not unlike the feel of a 3mm wetsuit. The surface repels water spray and light rain, being a softface, and was pretty resistant to the day to day grime I find myself being smeared in (Thanks Triceratops Girl and Tactical Baby).

The first thing I noticed other than the material, was the simple cut of the garment. This is a no nonsense, no frills, no raised-eyebrows top. The lines were smooth and simple. It had no loop-fields for patches, a single simple logo and unobtrusive and silent zipper pulls.

The hood was a pretty good fit, a touch shallower than that of my Platatac Hary 1.2 Softshell jacket but was still a good fit, even with all this hair. Two paracord drawstrings with simple cord-locks gave the hood some adjustability, and a short zipper also added some comfort room when donning or doffing the jacket.

The kangaroo pocket on the chest sits up nice and high , to stay out of the way of any bending and off the bounce when you are moving about and has another of the cord-fed zippers, for silent operation. The pouch itself was made of the same overall material as the rest of the jacket, and blended right in visually when not in use. It was -just- big enough to stuff in my iPad Air fully, in a pinch, but did cradle it quite nicely. It would be perfect for documents, a map, snacks or other needfuls that you wanted high and tight on your person.


Two hand warming pockets at the front are a welcome addition, seams blending in with the lines of the jacket and fading away when not needed.Having these are a great feature, especially as I am the kind of person who thinks having warm hands makes me an effective survivor.... The wrist cuffs gave me options to cinch in the sleeves to keep the weather out, or let me have some more breathing room. I found I needed this, not because I was cold, quite the opposite, this is a warm jacket. Given that December in Melbourne varies between 15C and 40C, I liked having something light I could throw on, stay dry in our showers but not bake too much in.
Here's were it gets interesting. at each flank a zipper runs up about half way. This not only improves your donning/doffing of the jacket, but also adds the additional feature of giving you clear access to not only items on your belt, on either side, but items worn under the jacket.

Getting access to your kit, especially when you are buttoned down to stay out of the weather, out of the cold, or just away from prying eyes is a real boon.



With the flick of a wrist, or a hooked finger, the zipper slips up, revealing your side, and access to all your belt-borne goodies.


I found that the sides being open also assisted me with my heat management, all the while allowing me access, or the security of secreting, my Hazard4 EDC harness with all my goodies, till I needed them.

The real benefit from these side zips however would definitely be access to items on your belt. Be that a holster, sheathe or pouches, these are perfectly placed to access all manner of goodies.



The cut of the hoodie also seemed to cope very nicely with my selection of items. A Platatac FUP pouch and the on-loan Boker-American Kami Colubris Mid-Tech simply vanished in the folds below my arms.

I thought my Hazard4 Loader RG harness holster, filled with my EDC gear would be too much bulk for the SORD hoodie to manage, but not only does it zip up and over the whole lot without a struggle, a quick pull and flip gives me access to all my kit, be it keys, lights or wallet.

I was really pleased with this garment, not only with its technical performance, but the thought that went into making a simple, effective and inconspicuous piece of midwear. Now if only it wasn't so hot, I'd get to wear it more. I'll put it away for a few months and get back to it.

I look forwards to showing you all other items from SORD too.

Home Front: Cherry Harvest

This past solstice weekend, I took my whole family up to a cherry orchard, and we spent an hour or so, three adults, and late teen and two little ones, running about, foraging and feeding, till we had 10 kg of cherries picked, (and who knows how many eaten in the process).

This particular orchard was selling them at $10/kg so whilst we did spend a lot, it was massively less than the $20-$30/kg that they are, at the shops currently.

This is my partner Anstia helping Triceratops Girl collecting cherries (from every ladder they came across).
We aimed to take only the good fruit, and as few stalks as possible, because that sped up the prepping time later on, but does also speed up the rotting process (its an open wound ...).

Here is a bowl full of this years harvest, served chilled on a 30oC evening. However, 10 kg (22lbs) of any fresh produce is a lot of organic matter for even a tribe like mine to consume, especially a rich a source as these cherries were. So, it was time to can and jam!



My family (mothers side) is Danish, so we celebrate a Danish Giftmas, on the 24th, and one of my favourite deserts is the dark cherry soup, Kirsebærsuppe. We used 4 kg of cherries to make a giant pot of the soup, which left us with 2L (0.5gal) of leftover soup, which we jarred up hot in an old olive jar.

I wanted to try a few other ways of preserving the cherries, without making jam (we have the last two seasons of fruit windfalls as jam still and are just finishing off jars from the first year we did it. Some went into the duck-stuffing for example).

We candied (boiling in 1:1 sugar:water by mass), then dehydrated one set of pitted cherries. This worked out really well and we filled two trays of my dehydrator with them, and two jam-jars as a result.

I also preserved a jar's worth in simple syrup (which has a terrible leaking habit, seemed to bypass the seals on its jars every time I make it). These were unpitted and I expect them to take a while to candy up, and slowly leach flavour into the syrup.

Here's a side-by-side of the cherry soup,  beside the one of the jars of pitted cherries in Glögg. Glögg is a spiced, sweetened red wine (in this case) with an alcohol content of 12% vol which always seems to have more kick that expected. Perfect for preserving fruit and will make for a welcome treat come winter.

We used the similar sized olive jars as for the soup, and filled them with the pitted cherries, followed by a 750mL bottle of Glögg in each. Perfect size!

A welcome side effect from doing the candied cherries was that the syrup that remained was infused with the cherry juices that cooked out, and I was not going to let THAT go to waste. So, we found some swing top bottles that I had been keeping (always prepared), and funneled it in.

This home made cordial was almost black, it was such a dark red, and tastes amazing diluted with water, soda water and poured over ice-cream. I imagine I will make use of it in constructing boozy cocktails in the near future.

All of these preservation methods (candying, pickling, canning in syrup and reducing to cordial) are all super simple, cheep and will result in a long lasting commodity and resource, for trade, and off-season boosts to our table.

Lots of preppers recommend having tradable items, and this is a great example of one we're only too happy to produce and stock.

Here's the one tool that made the whole job SO much easier (and praise be my partner Omega, who used it to such effect). A cherry pitter!

This little tool took so much trouble out of de-stoning the 8kg or so of cherries we needed pitted. If you plan on doing a big load of cherries, you would do well to pick one or two of these up. Here's a cool link for a person who made their own!

Home Front: candle powered convection heater

Here is a little trick that I saw and wanted to share it with you all. The good folks at Natural Cures Not Medicine posted this, and I was forwarded it by a few people when it did the rounds on Facebook. Now, I'm all in favor of natural and alternative treatments and traditional wisdom, but as Tim Minchen said, in "Storm"  ... ""By definition", I begin, "Alternative Medicine", I continue,"Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work. Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' that's been proved to work? Medicine...."

Ikea GLIMMA unscented tealight candles

So, that aside .... here is the very cool trick.

Through the use of tea-light candles, which are pretty ubiquitous, two clay flower pots, which are even more ubiquitous and a cake tin it is possible to make a very simple radiant space hater. Obviously, as with any fire you will be wanting to do this in a ventilated area, carbon monoxide is not your friend. 

By placing one pot over the other, with the candle inside, you create a space that not only traps the radiant heat of the candle, as it heats up the inner pot, but all that heat is not only stored in that inner pot, but due to the air space between the two pots, convection takes hold and you get more bang for your buck. The cake tin gives you a stable, fireproof base,  allows you to move the rig once lit, and also provides a venting space for the candle to "breathe".

Cool air flows via the open top of the cake tin the two sets of nested posts are resting on, and between the base of the outer pot over and around the inner pot, then up through the drain holes and up into your room. This action not only draws heat from the inner pot heat-sink, but also moves that air through the room, spreading out all that heat more efficiently than a stand alone candle like a passive fan. 

The tea light candles are just a convenient size, cheep and plentiful but any candle that fits in the pots you use would do. 

Here's the original YouTube clip in the article, demonstrating the heater in effect.

Review: Tactical Keychain - TiKeY key holder

In order to try to maintain some discipline with my EDC keychain, I was pleased to back the third Kickstarter project by Brad of Tactical Keychains. What he offered was a fully customisable key-keeper, specifically designed to fit hit fabulous WTF tool. I've had awesome dealings with Brad, not only getting some pre-release items, but also the down-low on the Ti maker community.

Not only does Brad make cool things, but he also offers a great deal of "artistic control" to his backers, with a variety of anodisation options for all his builds, and updates from his machine shop.
The idea behind the TiKeY is that it gives you a milled billet G5 titanium, Quick-Flip means of storing your keys, avoiding the jing-jangle, or "I landed on my keys" thigh injuries. I have always seemed to have a janitors keychain worth of keys, not to mention my ever increasing keychain-tool collection

I opted for the deluxe version, with both the countersunk "pockets" for grip and dropping the weight, and countersunk bolt-holes, to let me jam a little bit more in, along with longer screws for the same reason. I also opted in for several additional elements, the TiFoRk, with its three-tined pointy Ti utility, for those times when the last mussel in the tin is eluding me in the bunker, I have been really impressed with its simple efficacy. I also opted in for the lanyard loop, the simple guitar pic shaped loop, giving me a means of attaching my TiKeY to my larger set (yes, I am aware of the irony here).


I also have a prototype "BottlePik", can/bottle opener which Brad was kind enough to send my way. This ergonomic little Ti blade features a chisel ground two-edged cutting surface, as well as a 1/4" hex driver and a lanyard loop at the tail end, as well as the 1/4" measuring notches that both the WTF and the sides of the TiKeY feature.

Lastly, I have the prototype TiPiK on mine, separate to the full set I have (review to follow).

Here is a shot of the BottlePik in use, which shows off how the TiKeY fits in the hand. At 3.5" x 1" the key holder fits in the palm very nicely, and the 1/4" ruler notches, along with the recessed pockets gives it a very controllable grip.

With the two different sizes of screws available, the TiKeY can accommodate 4-10 keys (4-8, 6-10), with the countersunk wells giving even more room. the corrosion resistant spring washers give you a snug fit to the contents, without being stiff, or grinding. The included plastic tubing can be cut into gap-filling lengths (ive used two different lengths to ensure my TiKeY is spaced the way I like

You might ask "why is how you keep your keys of any importance in a disaster situation, how is it relevant?"

No jingles, for one thing, this greatly reduces the jingle-bell chime of my keys. It also allows you to have a mini-tool kit on hand, safe and secreted. Much like a pocket knife, the items you can put into a TiKeY are only limited by a loop-hole, and your
 imagination!


Hot Brad up if you want one, via
http://dro.ps/tikey-tipik
or
http://tacticalkeychains.com/?page_id=167


FOLLOW UP:
http://apocalypseequipped.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/home-front-help-brad-out-wtfs-tikey.html