My plans for the next week or two

Within the next week or two I plan on doing a couple things based on what I've been learning.

For one, I'd like to get familiar with the local plants of my area (Southern California) so I'm going to visit a local nature preserve that's focused on highlighting the natural vegetation of the area and educating the public about it. I'll definitely take my camera along and try to get some cool pictures.

Secondly, I'm going to attempt to make my own charcloth, which is basically a like charcoal. It's made from cloth that's been charred so that it catches a spark very well, keeps it for a fair amount of time, and therefore is very helpful in starting fires. I just need to find a small gas micro-stove first and I'm not sure where to go. Should be fun though.

I also ordered some Swedish firesteel and 550 parachord which I'll talk more about when I receive them and take some pictures.

Baby Steps

The first thing I've done is purchased a good multi-tool.

I've checked out all sorts of websites and blogs by guys who are eithor survivalists in the at-the-ready sense, or are hardcore nature enthusiasts who are into nature in general and like camping and surviving out in the wilderness, and most of them say one of the most important things you can have besides a good knife, is a good multi-tool. But even for no reason at all, they're convenient to have just in general.

A multi-tool for those who don't know is exactly what it sounds like, something with multiple tools for any job, but to liken it to a phrase more people are familiar with, think of a Swiss Army Knife, with all those cool little tools on there.

I went for one of the most popular ones out there (in the U.S. at least), the Leatherman Wave.

I think my Dad has one, or some other style of multi-tool made by Leatherman, and now I see why he was happy when he got it.

This baby is a beauty.

It's got one standard blade, a serrated blade, a saw and a combo wood and daimond coated file on the outside. On the inside is a set of needlenose pliers combo'd with wire-strippers, a pair of screwdrivers, a can & bottle opener, and scissors inside. Plus the handle has an 8inch ruler on it and a few other nifty little things reside here and there.

And ALL of these things are sturdy as hell. It's all stainless steel and made very tough to last. And let me tell you those blades are pret-ty damn sharp!

Now of course something like this could be used for various little outdoor needs like fashioning things from wood, gutting and skinning an animal to eat, etc. But something like this is also extremely versatile for use in all sorts of situations in normal life. Are you a techie or just like to tinker with things? Well you've always got screwdrivers and pliers to get things done. If you ride a bike, or even a motorcycle, it could be nice to have a few tools at your disposal in case you need to do any on-the-spot maintenance. Use the blade to cut an apple, the bottle opener to pop open a beer, or go ahead and file down a nail or something if you need to.

Basically multi-purpose multi-tool is just a badass thing to have, no matter what your reason. It'll likely come in handy sooner or later.