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#280734 - 05/20/16 02:01 PM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: EMPnotImplyNuclear]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
Let me give this a try. For the most part, archaeologists dig and study trash, the things discarded and left behind by people. For that matter,so do crime scene investigators. The methodologies and techniques of these two groups are surprisingly similar.

It is no surprise to me that looking at the material in a second hand store would reveal a lot about the community and their choices and preferences.

Like any investigative technique, analysis of trash, either modern or prehistoric, is not infallible. Trash and residue analysis works best when combined with other analytical techniques.
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#280736 - 05/20/16 04:21 PM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: EMPnotImplyNuclear]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
Originally Posted By: EMPnotImplyNuclear
Hmm, got any exampleS?


Examples? Let me flip the question around.

Consider this challenge: if I were to magically plunk you down in any thrift shop on Earth, with no-one around, the windows and your smartphone blacked out, how long would it take you to find suggestive clues regarding:

- what continent and nation
- rough latitude
- local climate
- proximity to ocean
- languages commonly spoken/written
- general condition of the local economy
- trading partners
- ethnic mix
- leisure activities, sports, hobbies, entertainment
- prominent local employers
- what kinds of foods people eat in this area
- how do they cook
- mix of local politics
- mix of education levels
- high or low crime/violence rate
- predominance of young families or retirees

And that's just a few coarse indicators, off the top of my head. The unsorted donations in the back will tell you even more.

If hikermor's archaeological successors, 10,000 years from now, found a thrift shop encased in amber (or peat or volcanic ash), they'd be over the moon.

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#280737 - 05/20/16 06:23 PM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: dougwalkabout]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
You would not have to wait even 10,000 years. There are folks who examine contemporary trash, with interesting results. People don't always give a written record that corresponds with the physical evidence they leave behind.
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#280738 - 05/20/16 09:03 PM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: dougwalkabout]
AKSAR Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/31/11
Posts: 1233
Loc: Alaska
I suppose this thread is OK as an exercise in improvisation.

However, regarding the initial scenario, I wonder why not just check a bag with your sharps?

Before you all flame me with the "a checked bag is a lost bag" meme, let me relate my personal experiences. I typically fly commercial air about 3-5 times a year, and have been doing so for well over 30 years. In all that time I can remember only two occasions when a bag was delayed. One of those times was at least partly my fault. In both cases I got the bag within 24 hours. I have yet to lose a bag checked on a commercial flight.

I don't quite understand the reluctance to check luggage on flights.
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"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz

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#280739 - 05/20/16 10:08 PM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: AKSAR]
Bingley Offline
Veteran

Registered: 02/27/08
Posts: 1576
Originally Posted By: AKSAR
IHowever, regarding the initial scenario, I wonder why not just check a bag with your sharps?

Before you all flame me with the "a checked bag is a lost bag" meme


For me there is an economic consideration. Most of the domestic airlines I've flown charge a fee for checked baggages. Roundtrip comes up to be $50 extra on top of your airfare. So for me, unless I happen to have hankering for thrift shop archeology or improvisation, the $11 Mora from Amazon Prime looks like a simple, cheap solution.

At the end of the trip you can donate it to the thrift shop. As you leave more and more of these knives around the world, you are basically giving future archeological graduate students dissertation topics: "Population Movement or Trans-National Trade Pattern? A Statistical Study of the Distribution of Swedish Survival Knives in North America 2015-2040."

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#280740 - 05/21/16 12:03 AM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: dougwalkabout]
chaosmagnet Online   content
Sheriff
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/03/09
Posts: 3819
Loc: USA
I fly much less now, but I flew about fifty segments for work in one year recently. I don't check bags when I can avoid it due to expense and time delay waiting for bags. While I've had only one bag lost for good that was pretty challenging to deal with. Far more common for me has been 30-60min delays in getting my bag.

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#280741 - 05/21/16 12:50 AM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: Bingley]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
Originally Posted By: Bingley
Originally Posted By: AKSAR
IHowever, regarding the initial scenario, I wonder why not just check a bag with your sharps?


For me there is an economic consideration. Most of the domestic airlines I've flown charge a fee for checked baggages. Roundtrip comes up to be $50 extra on top of your airfare.


Yes, that surcharge has hit me too, and it has changed my approach. I doubt I could sweet-talk a ticket agent into a free checked anything, no matter how small. So, I now have good sharps stashed with friends in places I regularly visit. And, of course, if I expected to need sharps in another location I would just ship them ahead.

My "improv" approach is for the unexpected opportunity, where I never expected to need sharps. I have pulled all sorts of great carbon steel blades, including Ontarios and Moras, out of thrift shops, and it's rare that I can't find something worth taking along. (And it's a scavenger hunt, which amuses me to no end. YMMV.) So, I'm just trying to connect the dots.

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#280742 - 05/21/16 12:53 AM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: Bingley]
dougwalkabout Offline
Crazy Canuck
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 02/03/07
Posts: 3219
Loc: Alberta, Canada
Originally Posted By: Bingley
As you leave more and more of these knives around the world, you are basically giving future archeological graduate students dissertation topics: "Population Movement or Trans-National Trade Pattern? A Statistical Study of the Distribution of Swedish Survival Knives in North America 2015-2040."


I like it. Need to remember to scratch "ETS" into each blade. I'd love to be a fly on the wall as hypotheses are proposed to account for that. laugh

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#280744 - 05/21/16 12:58 AM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: Bingley]
AKSAR Offline
Veteran

Registered: 08/31/11
Posts: 1233
Loc: Alaska
Originally Posted By: Bingley
Originally Posted By: AKSAR
IHowever, regarding the initial scenario, I wonder why not just check a bag with your sharps?

Before you all flame me with the "a checked bag is a lost bag" meme
For me there is an economic consideration. Most of the domestic airlines I've flown charge a fee for checked baggages. Roundtrip comes up to be $50 extra on top of your airfare.

That is a very valid point.

I tend to forget that sometimes, since I do most of my travels on one airline (Alaska Airlines), and usually manage to get enough miles to make the lowest tier of frequent flyer ("MVP" on Alaska). That gets me two checked bags for free. Alaska Air also does quite well on getting your bags to the carousel in a timely manner.

(All the usual disclaimers that I've no connection to the airline, except as a satisfied customer...yada....yada.)
_________________________
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more."
-Dorothy, in The Wizard of Oz

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#280745 - 05/21/16 04:13 AM Re: Improvised knife sheath? [Re: AKSAR]
hikermor Offline
Geezer in Chief
Geezer

Registered: 08/26/06
Posts: 7705
Loc: southern Cal
I am a very old, elderly geezer, old enough to remember days when flying was actually fun. Perhaps you know this already, but it isn't anymore....Just one big, fee-ridden hassle.
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