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Running missions: 3 reasons you should keep an item of faith with you

ArdyMay 22, 2019Adventures,Current events,Earthquake Preparedness,Emergency Preparedness,Uncategorized0 Comment

If you are the type of rugged individual who enjoys the use of military surplus tents and equipment, (and it’s obvious you are or you likely wouldn’t be reading this), then you know what it’s like to run a mission.

And since the last installment was about the legendary Case™ trapper style pocket knife, I wanted to play off of that line of thought this week and talk about my personal Case™ trapper and explain why it has significance and what three very important reasons are that I carry this particular knife.  My particular Case™ knife has an excerpt from The Lord’s Prayer engraved on it’s white bone handle. This knife goes in my pocket everywhere I go and there is a distinct reason I carry this knife.

For those of you who were Ernest Hemingway fans, perhaps you will remember that he always had a good luck piece on him. Now, in his case the lucky piece changed regularly because he was prone to losing them. I personally don’t carry mine for good luck. I don’t believe in luck for one thing. I’m a man of faith who believes in the God of the Bible, and I carry mine instead as a connection between me and my Maker. Here are three reasons why I carry the blade I do, and why you should keep an item of faith on you as well.

  1. It gives me courage. If you believe in God, then you know that he is an ever-present help in times of danger. I have seen many people draw bravery from religious artifacts over the years, everything from Stars of David to St. Michael medals.
  2. It keeps me focused. When things are spinning fast and I feel like my mind is going ten thousand different directions a second, a brief pat of my palm on my left trouser pocket brings a feel of that familiar bundle that connects me to the Lord. That touch is often enough to get me focused.
  3. With it I’m always armed. I used to work in a maximum security prison, and I’ve seen dudes get killed with soup spoons sharpened on a concrete window sill. I know how much damage I can do with a knife of that caliber.
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Survival essentials: 3 reasons to keep a Case Trapper with you… no matter what

ArdyMay 16, 2019Camp Cooking,Camping,Camping, Adventures,Earthquake Preparedness,Emergency Preparedness0 Comment

I have been a survivor all of my life, but I became a survivalist in 1987 when I took the Standard Course with the Old Tracker himself, Tom Brown Jr.

One of the things I had learned long before ever taking my first survival course was the importance of having a knife in your pocket. I grew up on a horse farm that also had a working herd of black angus cattle. My father, an old time cowboy, used to carry a pearl handled Solingen Cutlery stockman’s knife in his front right pocket which he used for everything from farm/ranch work, to entertainment. He even had one of the four blades on his full size stockman reserved for eating. He called it his apple blade. It didn’t escape my attention that the “apple blade” was also the preferred utility for cleaning the grit from under his fingernails when sitting around the stables at night after working horses.

We all know how important it is to have a good survival knife in your kit when on an expedition. However, you need to ask yourself how often the likelihood might arise for you to be thrown into an unforeseen circumstance where you won’t have time or opportunity to grab a kit bag, but will be forced to go with just what you have in your pocket. That’s why I always carry a Case™  brand trapper pocket knife. There are many companies that make these knives, however, few companies make them as well as Case™ does. Here are three reasons to keep a Case™ trapper in your pockets at all times.

  1. It has two blades. One is known as a clip point utility blade which comes in handy whenever you come across something that needs stabbed through… your belt for instance, if you lose weight and it needs to be tightened by making new holes. And lastly, the “spey” blade, which gained it’s name from the design which works perfectly for castrating livestock. It is also good for skinning by not having a sharp point that will slit your hide as you are skinning your game.
  2. It is well crafted. You might find other trapper style knives, but you won’t find one that is as well made as the Case™ brand. It is made to last and will hod up to the hardest abuse. There’s a reason you don’t find any cheap used ones on eBay.
  3. It has a lifetime warranty. If you manage to break this thing through normal use, you can get it replaced at no charge. Yet another reason you don’t find cheap used ones anywhere.
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Old school survival: 3 items you should not be without

ArdyMay 29, 2018Adventures,Camping,Camping, Adventures,Emergency Preparedness0 Comment

By Mr. X, Survivalist

So, we have discussed the use of muzzleloading, black powder firearms, and we have touched on, in previous articles, how to make your own knives. Now I want to talk about the fact that there are three things you should always have with you in any situation, survival or not, because any situation can become a survival situation.

It is these three things that make up my survival kit and believe it or not, having a gun is not one of them. The three things that I absolutely can’t live without, (no pun intended), are these:

  1. A fire kit. By this I mean a good piece of flint, a hardened steel striker, and some charred cloth, or at least some strips of cotton fabric to make charred cloth with. We will go over exactly how to make charred cloth in a later blog but for now you should understand that charred cloth is a luxury but not a necessity.
  2. A good blade. There is nothing more important than a blade in the bush. The blade can actually take the role of the other two if needed, to an extent. If it is heavy enough it can chop limbs and trees, if it is hardened enough, (a trick you can learn if you forge your own blades), you can use it to strike your flint for fire-starting, and if your point is fine and sharp enough, you can use it for the intricate necessities of survival.
  3. A tomahawk.  There is nothing quite as luxurious as having a blade and a tomahawk together in the event of an emergency you have a weapon in each hand. Beyond that the tomahawk does great for breaking bones during butchering, cutting poles for shelters, and it even works great for striking flint for fire starting.
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Survival 101: 3 ways to make your own knives

ArdyMay 18, 2018Adventures,Camping,Current events,Emergency Preparedness,Prepper0 Comment

Two handmade knives constructed from re-purposed materials

If you are reading this the chances are that you are the type of person who is self sufficient and who wants to do things on your own.

I am the same way and am even self sufficient to the point that I make my own knives.  Though I am a big fan of shows such as “Forged in Fire“, I actually learned to hand forge and craft my blades from a American Blade Smith, (ABS), certified knife-maker.

The good news is that if you want to learn how to make your own knives, you don’t have to set up an apprenticeship for yourself, there are lots of resources available to you that will allow you to easily learn some simple ways of making your own knives.

Here are three methods that you can use to make your own knives for both survival and utility use. These are just concepts. The scope of this blog is too narrow to allow for the intricacies of techniques involved; however, these will give you some research direction if you are interested in pursuing these ideas.

(1). Forging and grinding. We forge first so that we don’t have to grind so much. Plain and simple, the easiest way to shape your steel is to get it pliable and hammer it in. This type of blade can usually be finished by hand with files and sandpaper and don’t actually require a grinder.

(2). Hollow grinding. This is a different form of bladesmithing that usually involves just grinding to shape the blade you want from a piece of steel. The blade angle in a hollow ground knife is very different from the blade angle in a forged knife usually, it is less tapered.

(3). Flint napping. This is the lowest form of knife-making but is the best to be known for survival situations.  Basically you take rocks to make the knives you need to use as tools.

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