We were out in the forest this weekend with two members of my team for the forest phase of their survival training. We had the chance to test a few pieces of equipment in the real environment.
One of the team members had a pocket chain saw. It is a very good piece of equipment but the loop handles can easily fall down and get lost (it did on the "stop what your doing and run away" exercise :-) ). We made handles with cord and wood but as the saw got hotter the cord melted and we had to change the cord often. So two metal loops like the ones on the key chains is a good idea to use with the cord. Other then that it is a magnificent tool and did the job perfectly.
Two of us had Muela military type knives. One had a loose handle grips after some chopping. Still does the job but annoying feel in your hand.
I had a Fiskars hobby axe (I think the same as Gerber). Excellent tool. Very light weight, good balance, still sharp after abuse. You can carry it on your belt easily. The fiberglass handle is very strong.
In the exercise they had to make camp, break camp, move, make camp again, break camp, move again many times. This means a lot of cutting and chopping.
We were also able to bend a small size folding Coleman shovel while doing regular work.
Also last week there was a huge wildfire on one of the islands of Istanbul. By the evening the town on the island also was at stake too. We have been in the area and fought against fire on the forest border where it met a neighbourhood. It was up on a hill where no fire engine could reach and only a fire hydrant was present. The gasket on the hydrant was seized and the hose could not be connected. I was able to slice the gasket in two with the Wave's blade so it lost some meat and we connected the hose. Then we could not turn the water on because the top did not move by hand and we didnot have the huge wrench it required. There was a torx bolt that held the top in place so we decided to move it. Only a small piece of the bolt was available on the top. A regular plier and the swiss tool could not grip the round head as it was two small so I tired it with the wave's needle nose pliers and was able to remove it. But if it required more power I am not sure if the wave would stand it. After removing the top we reached the stud that operates the valve and with some gentle (!) touches of the shovel and a make-shift small wrench the water was on.
Anyway we managed to stop the fire before it burned the houses. But small things had been found very useful by all of the team that night (we were 6 men strong that night): We all had no name blue bright leds on all of us. It is really good for signalling and distinguishing each other from the locals running around with flashlights aimed at anywhere. I had a Saphire red led also so all my men could see where I am easily and I could signal them. We had PMRs with us but after a while in the smoke ash and mud it becomes hard to use.
I also keep one side of our shovels sharp which had proved to be very useful when you want to take a burning branch down or remove burning shrub. Silicone-kevlar working gloves are also nice too especially if you run into hot LPG bottles that have to be removed away from the fire :-). The Petzl duo also worked wonderful under constant spray of water. I found the zooming also very useful when aiming at a spesific target at distance.
When you are small in number and you work in an high angle slope with smoking boots there is not much chance to carry lots of equipment and you have to rely on what you have in hand. It was about a 2 acre area that we had to work in and my most favorite item was the blue leds.
I have no affiliation with any of the brands mentioned above just my personal experience with them.
Burak
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