Home Front: My Precious!

Photo yoinked from my Aunts Facebook page of the view she had

I have family in Colorado Springs who were threatened by the recent fires there and being way over this side of the planet, there was bugger all I could physically do to help, except offer some advice based on my experiences in the Black Saturday Fires. They didn't really have a lot of preparation time, and the fires were fairly unusual, where as here we have a "Bushfire Season"  so all I could do was give them some strategy to escape and avoid, and what to pack when they did.  My Aunt and her husband are no fools, neither is my Uncle, and I had no intention of teaching any of them to suck eggs, but this is kind of my schtick.

 
I recommended my Aunt pack 72 hours of clothes, food and supplies for her pets (if she was taking them), water, as well as extra fuel, her important documents, maps and phone chargers. Being what they were, fires are something you can "go back home, after" even if there isn't much left of home. Once everything is burnt, it won't burn a second time, which sets these events apart from floods or other natural disasters, which leave an area wrecked AND dangerous for a while after the event. Once they were clear of the fire-danger, life would have gone on nicely, and society carries on. You can buy nappies, pet food, and more clothes. Hotels are still open, Credit Cards and online banking still works.

 It reminded me though, of the need to know where all my own precious things were, in the event of a "bug-out, your home is about to go away" emergency. I know I have some difficult to re-obtain documentation: my passports (yes, 2), my weapons collectors permits, divorce papers, financial settlement papers, birth certificates for myself and my daughters. Fortunately, these are in a file that can pretty easily be grabbed and stuffed. It then occurred to me, as it did when preparing to evacuate from the Black Saturday Fires (and to some extent, from my home in Dubai in the lead up to Desert Storm) "What precious things would I hate to loose if all of this was destroyed?". This was not a "society ending" or "head for the hills" evacuation and survival decision, more a "this house may be gone tomorrow, take what you love" one. The list was something like this: my family heirloom American Civil War sword from Gettysburg, our external HDD farm, which holds a lot of our combined music and many of my photos, and my crocheted Godzilla, who's been with me since I was a toddler. Everything else could burn, and be replaced, or is already part of my EDC and/or bug-out loadout.

What about you?

Home Front: Licensing

In the process of making my own laser-tag tagger, I ordered and imported some parts that were seized by Australian Customs. Woops. It didn't occur to me that certain paintball accessories, namely a
SCAR-H stock mockup and a magazine mockup would trip the rules (not being actual markers, but accessories) but I was wrong. I was given the option of giving up my goods and going I record as having been warned, or going through the licensing processes to import paintball markers (and/or parts). This is a two tier process where one needs to apply for an import permit, and to do so requires either a retailers license as a reseller, or a Class P long arm shooters license.

There are a variety of classes of shooters license in Victoria, each covering a particular variety of firearm;
A-(Airguns,rimfire, non pump/semi shotguns),
B-(Muzzle loaders, center fire but not semi or full-auto rifles),
C-(semiauto rimfire with no more than 10rnd mag, semi-auto or pump shotguns with no more than 5 rnd mag, tranq guns),
D-(semi-auto rimfire with more than 10rnd mag, semi-auto or pump shotguns with more than 5 rnd mag, center-fire semi-auto rifles)
E-(military or paramilitary weapons MG's, mortars, RPGs, carbines (less than 75cm))
H- (handguns)
P- (Paintball markers)
Its worth noting that as far as legislation and enforcement is considered, all the above weapons are all treated the same. A paintball marker left in the back-seat of your car is apparently no different to an M-249 LMG, a SPAS-12 shotgun or Dirty Harry's "most powerful handgun in the world" so, I want to do the right thing.

As I've mentioned before, I'm not much of a gun-nut; we don't have any large terrestrial carnivores where I live, armed violent crime is pretty much a non-event here, we are unlikely to ever be invaded, I don't do sport hunting. I have probably an inordinate affection for militaria and I don't routinely hunt. So apart from a casual interest in collecting firearms of the world which I may well peruse to complement my collection of swords, knives and daggers, I don't have what I would consider a -pressing- need for a firearm, especially for my own day to day well-being, as I might were I back living elsewhere in the world. (Libreville, Houston, Dubai). I do like my Stargate LRP Lasertag pew-pew-pew and I have enjoyed paintballing in the past. Bush-ball, rather than tournament style.

So, in order to get my paintball parts, to build my laser-tag marker (which in and of itself doesn't yet require a license, but may soon, as an "imitation firearm" depending how the laws go) I fronted up, and sat a paintball safety course exam, and joined a paintball club as a financial member. I have filled in the forms to get my Class P license, and to import my parts. I already have a suitable storage container (being a steel locker, which can be "permanently affixed" to the place of storage, as it is less than 150kg empty). I will also submit my "Permit to Acquire a Longarm" form and THEN apply for customs to release my parts, which they may, or may nor do. They may also bill me for their trouble if I am unsuccessful.

A lot of trouble for a trumped up toy, perhaps, but I want to do things by the book.

I did so in getting my Governor in Council Exemption Order for the Control of Weapons Act 1990, as a bona fide collector of swords, knives and daggers, which along with my membership to the Australian Kendo Renmei keeps my collection of pointies above-board.

Review: Ontario Black Wind

Say hello to my little friend. This is an old faithful of mine. Let me introduce the now discontinued Ontario Knife Co.'s Black Wind.

It came into my collection when my parents moved to the coast in 1999. Their house was surrounded by tea-tree (which for the non-Australians, is a dense, scrubby tree) and they wanted a path cut to the beach. Sure I could have used a machete, but I'm a two-hand blade kind of guy. I could have used a chain saw too, but that might have alerted the neighbors to our plans. I had seen this in the display at a disposal store in the city, and decided to offer my parents to cut the path for the cost of the tool to do it. They were dubious. Dubious that I could clear them a path, dubious that I could do it by hand, and dubious that I could do it with a sword. It took me about 45 minutes, and I cleared a path wide enough for two to stroll down, with overhanging branch cover, for about 170-180 meters, in about an hour, through to a clearing which led to the beach.

The blade is a single piece of 1095 steel, 76cm from tip to end. It has a short cross guard built in, and a tightly wrapped paracord grip. The whole sword weighs 900g. It is both marked and was marketed as a "katana" and whilst it is a gently curved, single edged, two handed blade, it isn't really a nihonto it is however, more than a machete. I was cutting tea tree tree trunks and branches as thick as my wrist in single cuts. The entire piece is powder coated with black paint, except the edge, which was razor sharp when first purchased and appears to have been sharpened with wire brushes, as it had many micro-serration like lines along the whole length of the edge. It sheen many years now, and lots of chopping later, and I gave it a test cutting not too long ago and this is the result... Bamboo shinai slats, dry but very flexible. The one in the middle was shattered (hence why it was replaced) but as you can see they all cut very convincingly. It's weight fills the hand nicely, the balance is well suited for both one or two handed wielding, and whilst a little shorter than I am used to, this rigid and stiff blade makes short work of any gardening tasks I've used it for. It comes with me on every camping trip I go on.

The scabbard is kydex, and comes with a wide webbing belt loop, and several kydex loop fittings on the back and fed a length of himo to assist in tying it off. I moved the webbing from opening at the top of the scabbard to fitting it through the included eyelets around the middle balance point, so I can wear it on my belt in approximately the the right position for a katana, blade up. It has an odd scimitar looking pattern pressed into it, which was odd. The blade is held into the scabbard with a very secure and easy to fit by friction alone. It's never come undone inappropriately, and with the adjustments, sits on my hip very comfortably. I've found that when cutting through thick or tough material it can be a bit jarring, as the paracord doesn't provide much padding for shock resistance, but does give a good positive grip. This is the blade I leave by my bedside. I have far nicer swords, but I can trust the Black Wind to do what it does. It was marketed at battle ready and I have no doubt it would excel at that.

I call it my Tree Chopping Sword, and until I lay my paws on a Zombie Tools blade, this is the tool I'll be reaching for to cut my way to freedom and survival when the dead rise.

For Christmas. Zombie Christmas....

Wish Lust: Sword- The Deuce

It's the festive season, and that brings up the topic of wish-lists in my family, which in turn gets me looking around for needfuls and lustfuls. There are things that I want that I know are big ticket items, which were I not already buying things for my friends, loved ones and family, I would have already snagged. This is one of those. The Deuce by Zombie Tools. I really like their attitude, marketing and the looks of their pieces. 

And here is why.