Posts by Chris H
Knives which are restricted in some places may still be threatening in others. Obviously this applies especially to large knives, but there are plenty of small vicious-looking knives (such as the o...
If you've got a (waterproof) outer layer, that can be used to retain the blanket, by wearing the blanket under the coat. If you don't have a waterproof layer, the foil blanket will keep the worst o...
Assuming firewood can be found, but it's likely to be damp, how can I best be prepared for getting a fire going? This is for a light hiking situation, so I'm not going to carry a sack full of kindl...
In other contexts a knife and fork icon (or fork and spoon e.g. on UK motorway service signs) is widely used, but I'm a little reluctant to propose it here, as it could equally mean cutlery, or mor...
Given your clarification ("up to small knives") a 10mm diameter by 5mm thick rare earth magnet would work. I've got some and they'll lift my Swiss army knife. However I'd go for a bit bigger, and ...
For calm water towing would work. For short stretches of even the gentlest rapids the best approach would be to tie up one boat, paddle the first down (or pole up), tie it up and walk back for the ...
To address the issues you're having with audio-based solutions, keep the phone inside your clothing and use a "hands-free" headset (wired). This will stop the phone dying due to a cold battery, wh...
The ground is a good insulator though it takes time to warm the soil closest to the heat source. A lot of heat will be lost from the top, but I assume there's a ground-level floor at the top of thi...
Even if it's only for a day or so, you'll need to rebuild your glycogen stores (though many light packable foods are starchy and will top these up quite nicely). That requires carbohydrates, inclu...
A kayak that can handle rocky class 2 rapids can handle inshore waters in benign conditions, or surf a little. Whether it's good for fishing is another matter; for that I'm used to seeing sit-on-t...
You're unlikely to have to eat all your emergency rations in adverse conditions, so apart from a variety of bars I suggest : Nuts. I'm quite partial to chilli peanuts, toasted corn kernels and th...
In British English there's no doubt. Sources including the prestigious Royal Society for the Protection of Birds use Canada Goose every time (often abbreviated to Canada in the field) . But bird n...
Subject to advice from your physio and doctor, training on a (well-fitted) bike can be excellent, as your joints aren't under too much load or twisting. Cycling that sort of distance will make a...
A dedicated GPS is likely to have better signal as well as better battery life. The key is that you don't have to run it all the time - if it's had a fix within the last few hours it will pick up...
They appear to be part of a water tank. I've found a 1954 OS map that describes buildings at that location as "tanks" -- a term also applied on the same map to the water tower itself. Earlier map...
One unusual thing about robins is that they're territorial all year round. Combined with the way they sing from prominent spots to mark out their territory, this makes them really rather obvious in...
An extension of the same things in same pockets approach is kits for specific purposes: a cook kit might include cutlery, lighter, stove tools, washing up necessities, penknife; a valuables or dail...
To address the follow-up, Sweden has four species of large carnivore: wolf, wolverine, brown bear and lynx. The first three are all willing to scavenge, as are some birds, and of course humans (ple...
Isolated clouds are going to be easier to judge than gradually thickening cloud cover, as cloud height is important. I assume you've already established that the cloud is approaching you, though yo...
A further reason is to use the space in the bag for buoyancy and to squeeze the bag into a space securely, by adding air to the bag after it's in place. This generally means a valve on a tube.
I'm always tempted to suggest that if they can put up a sign they can put up a life ring, and sometimes they do. But the rate of vandalism and theft of rescue equipment, while small, is real. Of c...
The problem is that desalinating water is hard; nearly desalinating it isn't much easier (it would be possible to design a bad reverse osmosis system but there isn't much market for that). Instea...
Putting a bed above the wheel arches is common, with storage underneath. The width you get is similar to the width behind the wheel arches, and that's often specified (it certainly could be found f...
The gasifier probably produces a different mix than cooler processes in your other answer. Heat wood enough without oxygen and you get mainly hydrogen and carbon monoxide, leaving behind charcoal. ...
There are fuel cells with 12V output designed for this application, at least considering it as a battery charging task (random internet example at 100W). Methanol cells are more expensive but the ...
