Survial practice in Scotland

As you know im enthusiastic about survial and Schotland allowed me to practice with my survivor's paraphernalia. An auspicious start is
always welcome to an emergency situation. Thought I'd show you what i did. Photos below:


Attempting to split the tree with Commando Wire Saw. Needless to say after nearly 50min of suffering the tree was victorious. I was enriched with the knowledge of the "tickler's" limits.


Trying to utilize the condom as water carrier by filling it in
stagnant water. To add I should have contained the Durex within a sock...but I like dry feet.

The result was mediocre in comparrison to attaching it to a tap.


Creating a simple water filter of a discarded water bottle a moss in
order to purify the captured liquid. Sadly in today's enviroment we
need man-made filters to prtect against man made chemical found from the tropics to the inhabitable poles.


Cutting a spoon out of a branch. Natural curve assists a waved form
spoon. About halfway from finishing now...

Also wanted to make a shelter a cook nettle soup in my personal
survival tin but bad weather prohibited it.

Have a great day,
Reinhardt

thats one whoping log your trying to saw ! All i used to saw with my wiresaws where much smaller branches. These days i saw branches with folding saws and bigger stuff with a manual chainsaw. But i never succesfully saw anything that thick ! i did broke off a tip and bended a blade trying to saw thick logs, though....

indeed! What kind of wire saw is it, if you don't mind my asking reinhardt? Did you quit because the saw broke, or because it was just too tiring? It is a pretty large chunk of log

One thing you might consider is bending a length of wood and notching the ends. Now, you have what looks like a bow and arrow bow and you don't have to wear yourself out as much <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Plus, it keeps the wire straight which I think is less prone to breaking

Anyway, there are lots of woods around where I live as well, so I ditched the wire saw and went for a more robust pocket chainsaw.

Yeah it was big alright! But I got over halfway! It just figured that you would not want to expend that much energy in a survival situation so I quit. The saw did not break. Its a standard BCB "Commando" saw.



Sorry, how do you mean? I got to sticks at each end through the folded loops as handles. Adequate as I did not get blisters. Its quite decent as a tree beater now.

PC2K I hear your saws get guite a bit of abuse from you then? <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

i think he ment, making a bow saw out out of your commando saw. Personnaly i got trouble with securing the saw ( or string if it's just a bow for something else ) to the bow with a good tention. It's either fixed, but no tention. Or it's tight, but falls off to easily.

and yes some of my stuff does see hard use. But i usually make sure that it's the cheap stuff that break... <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> I got to say that steelsaw blades are more flexible that i have i thought.

Yep, that's what I ment. I haven't tried it, which is why I was wondering

Reinhardt_Woets:

Fantastic picture quality! What resolution did you use? They loaded fairly fast on my dial up V92 protocol modem.

On that big tree you were cutting, you might want to start from the underside because when the wood finally gives way, you won't pinch the saw.

Bountyhunter

Nic pictures.

I did find this statement a bit ironic

"Also wanted to make a shelter a cook nettle soup in my personal
survival tin but bad weather prohibited it."

Aren't you supposed to practice in bad weather??
<img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Nooo you found it! Well yes but Im a bit of a good weather survivalist :P
Seriously though two days later I had to leave for Holland and with the weather being raining and very foggy I didnt want to pick a cold, honest.

Bountyhunter and Burncycle,
both of you thanks for the tip. I cant remember exacctly what resolution I shot with something like 1260xsomething. Thanks for the compliment though <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I also found that humorously ironic. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Excellent pics. That's a nice looking piece of wilderness there. Very pretty. If I had to survive in the wood, that sure looks like a great spot. Thanks for sharing, especially with the great pics. BTW: You did excellent work on that log. I would have broken my saw or given up much sooner. <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for your words mate, made my day. Where I practiced is basically an extended backgarden of my parents. Indeed, very pretty. Can't wait to go back there in the summer to continue playing there.

that's a nice piece of forest you've got there, perfect for what you're doing. To they have in forest like that in the rest of the U.k?

I don't live in the UK but I was born in Scotland and have been back a few times for visits. Several years ago, I took a long walk from Tobermory to Calgary Bay (on the Isle of Mull) and much of the road went through woods, but it didn't feel like the woods in Nova Scotia where I grew up. I didn't know why until a few days later, when I went for a short walk around Tobermory which went through a very small wood, which was completely different - the smell of decaying wood and the sound of the birds brought back so many memories.

I think the first wood (which was very large) was a tree farm - it had a cultivated, "dead" feel to it. I suspect what made me uneasy was the lack of any birds.

In the days of William the Conqueror (1066 and all that) there were over a dozen "Royal Forests"; by the 1800's only a few of them still existed. The Forest of Dean owes its existence to Admiral Nelson, who was concerned about the elimination of oak trees to build naval vessels and lobbied the British Parliament to turn the Forest of Dean into a nursery for growing oaks. Of course, 60 years later, the ironclad was invented and the need for oak trees to build ships disappeared, but - like any good government sinecure - the mandate to grow oak trees remained on the books. Today, the forest is an ecological display piece, and they are working to restore it to its original form.

But by and large, most of the people in the UK simply don't understand the concept of getting "lost in the woods" because it's virtually impossible to do so. That may have changed; over the last 30 years or so, there has been a movement to try and replant ancient forests that had been cleared for farming and other purposes (often hundreds of years ago). But those efforts are still pretty much in their infancy, I'm pretty sure.

Couple of pics I would also like to share here of my recent trip to scotland. Enjoy!

It was great but
very cold first thing in the morning!!. The trip just concisted of a drop-off,
march from A to B where we would be picked-up again at the end.


dry run in the local forrest testing and checking equipment. `


equipment for the trip.


Our en suite, bit small but it made sure that we didnt get cold even
though, come morning, our maggots were frozen to the canvas.




Landscape


Dark pic of another night. During the day we hardly stopped. Thats we got cold.
When walking I was only wearing a vest and coat, with hydration pack of
frozen drinking water in between to melt.

We had little daylight so walked right into the dark hours
when in the mist sets in which made for interesting navigation!!
Luckily The military spec compass I carried allowed for
night navigation to be made easy. All In all was great trip
and cant wait to go to the Ardennes for the weekend during
in Febuary.

EDIT: Couple more pics:

Mug set of my traveling companion. His was superior to my BCB standard issue metal mug as it allowed to be hung from a stick aswell as being able to with pour it better and a perfect fitting lid (important!!).






landscape.

beautiful landscape!
I wish I had places like this for weekend trips.....

nice pictures. The food looks formiliar, from the Lidl isn't?

Yeah! I found a cute, traditional scottish shop called lidl. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> However I cannot recommend their pasta, however convinient... far too salty! Their shortbread OTOH <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

well i think the funghi one is pretty good. I don't eat them often, but that because i usually go solo (cooking thats is).

Do you actually carry a real roll of tape, or do you roll it around a plate piece of cardboard first? Looks pretty bulky. And toilet paper, with cardboard centre? You do remove them don't you? Or do you leave them that way to prevent your self from overloading?

The tape is in the top pocket for First aid: similar to using clingfilm when immobilising parts of the body. A roll rolls easier <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> As for the toilet paper my mate just gave it to me: I tend to pack Kleenex's for men tissues <img src="/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />

It looks like where I am, but prettier. I'm jealous.

And I've had the same observation of prepackaged noodles regaurdless of who makes them, re the salt. In the US, there are packages of flavored mash potatoes. I find those a little more platable, and a lot faster to cook.

Yes, this is lovely landscape.

As for the noodles, isn't the flavoring in a packet separate from the noodles? If it is, you can self meter to taste. If not, then I too would be looking for an alternative.

I dunno. In a lot of ways I think Ramen noodles are like an ultimate backpack food. They are cheap, easy, and usually quite satisfying on the trail. There's been more'n a few times I've made up a pot, with a dollup of pemmican mixed in for body and depth. A right proper way to do up a quick 700 calorie meal.

BTW, if you replace that wire saw a hand chain saw (like the sabre), you'd have been through that log in about 2 minutes of easy cutting. I keep mine in a container that's a little smaller than an Altoids tin (about like a shoe polish tin). Sure is handy at buckin' and buzzin' firewood and camp poles.

How's the rabbit population out in that area?

The pasta is salty, the noodles come unflav but can powder is packed: add to taste.
PC2K Yes fungi is the best one! But I was nearly sick in the night after eating tomato...
rabbits are plentyful in the area of very first set of pics.
No complaints about the saw though: was it a real surival situation I would burn the log through... rationing energy and water.