EKA W12

Disclosure of material connection: I was provided with a free sample from the manufacturer for testing and evaluation purposes. The comments in this post are 100% my own opinion.

Picture from eka-knivar.se

First impression

Wow, it's heavy! When I pull the sheathed knife out of the box, the weight hits me. But when I hold it as supposed to, it's not that bad. The balance is good, some 1½-2 centimetres behind the stopper, and it feels rock solid. The 4 millimetre thick blade gives a sturdy impression and I just want to go out in the woods, grab a log and start carving. Some heavy carving. Or maybe splitting wood :)

The kydex sheath is nice as well. I have been looking at kydex for some time, planning on making my own sheath of it. Now, I don't know. My curiosity has been stilled for the moment, but I still like the material. I might very well get going on my own sheath for a knife soon, but the urge isn't as strong any more.

Design

The scales are a nice orange colour without being intrusive. The option with G10 is a really good choice from EKA. It feels nice in my hand and the grip is good. The size of the handle is about the same as for the older W11, but quite a different feel to it given the different materials. I really love my W11 Nordic with the curly birch handle, but there’s something special about this orange colour that I cannot put away. I like the differences in the two, the nature with all its beauty and the man-made orange plastic with its absolute ignorance of what everyone else thinks. Great!

I'm not sure about the finger stop though... As a general rule, I don't like the stopper, on any knife, but this one hasn't bothered me at all. And as a safety feature it's a good one. 

The sheath is a classic kydex sheath. It is rather wide and of course hard and stiff. It has the standard hole in the bottom to let any water out if it comes in for some reason. The small kydex bit holding the sharpener and fire starter is removable if you don't like it. It's fastened with two slotted screws and comes off really easy. 

A first test

I took the knife out in the field for a first test, and I gave it a good round of hard use. It was my go-to tool for splitting wood for the fire, chopping of branches and cutting line. And it performed very well.
I've also used it at home for some carving and splitting wood for the fire place. No complaints. When it comes to the harder use in the forest, it's great! But for the smaller, finer, works I would prefer a smaller knife. 

Further testing

After that, I dissembled the knife for cleaning (see below) and then put it back together again. I would recommend to tighten the screws quite hard, not to have it fall apart... It would be quite un-practical if it did during a trip. Even though the screws are ordinary slotted screws, and thereby rather easy to fasten in the bush, it is still much easier to do it at home, and do it right from the start.

I more often than not like the thick blade, but sometimes it's just too thick. But that's the thing, isn't it. You can't have the cake and eat it. Sometimes you want a thin fancy blade for some carving or cooking, and sometimes you want a thicker, more durable one for that wood splitting.

But this isn't your everyday carry knife, it’s more for your weekend trip to the wilderness. It's not something you take out down town to split an apple in two, that could get you in some trouble with the law (at least in Sweden), this is more of the knife you take out to split a log in splinters. And for the later things, it performs really well.

Cleaning

The screws could be your nemesis in the woods, but when back home they do the trick. Unscrewing them helps a lot when it comes to cleaning the knife. Just undo two screws and the full tang is ready to be cleaned and cared for. Once done, just put the three pieces together again and you're done. Simple enough and you don't have to worry about any moisture sticking around in the edges of the handle. On the other hand, as everyone is able to undo the screws and clean the blade. I guess a lot of people will do so, but not fasten the screws enough afterwards. But once again, this is a give and take, you can’t get it all.

A good thing with the kydex sheath, except for the durability, is the easy to clean ability. Just rinse it off in the sink and leave it to dry. A tip is to either blow dry it, with either compressed or hot air, to get all the water out. Or, of course, to use some sort of anti corrosive spray to keep the both the sheath and blade clean.

Comparison

Compared to the W11 it's 72 grams heavier, 234 vs 162, and it's of course very noticeable.
The back of the blade is also a little bit different, the thumb grip is a bit more rounded and not as sharp. I prefer the new design of the grip. One thing that does bother me, though, is the small ricasso the W12 has got. I cannot understand why anyone would want a ricasso on a knife. Even if the W11 also has a small portion of space between the start of the edge and the end of the handle, it's still smaller than the W12 version. It's not much, but to me it's kind of a thing... I always look at the ricasso. I've seen a lot worse, but I don't understand why not fully remove it. 

Conclusion

So, what's my conclusion of the knife? Would I buy it or recommend it? If you have the W11, I can't recommend you buying the W12, not that it's a bad knife, it just don't fill a hole.

But if you are on the market for a sturdy knife, that will take bashing and carving as well as being used as a chefs knife, you'll be happy with this knife for many years to come. There's only one problem ahead of you, you have to choose a colour for the handle... 

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Fredrik

DD Hammocks Scout

Two and a half year ago, my son got his own hammock. A DD Hammocks Scout. So, since last year, when I started this blog, I've been thinking about writing a review for it. But what am I to say? I haven't spent even five minutes in it.
So I asked my nine years old son. "Could you help me with something?" And this is what we told me...

Comfort

It's really nice and cozy. It's not so hard, but just enough. You don't have to have so much stuff in it to get it to be softer, like some hammocks you have to put in jackets or blankets to get it be soft enough to lay in.

The lay during the night is good. You lay very nice, but I don't know what's the best about it. Compared to dads DD Frontline and UK Hammocks Woodsman X, my DD Scout has better balance and is a little tighter which is good.

Materials

The material is soft to the touch. Very smooth. It doesn't let the cold air in.

What's missing

If I want to change something?... I don't know... Yeah, one thing is to have the bag a little bigger. It's a little hard to put the hammock back in the bag. The ropes could be a little easier to tie. Today they are a bit... Hm... Hard? Other than that, it's perfect!

Conclusion

It's a good and comfy hammock. I really would recommend it!

Dads additions

The hammock is quite nice. It's cheap, and rather light. The weight doesn't bother me that much, most of the time we go car camping together. But in a year or two we might do a little hike, but then he'll have to carry it for himself ;)

For my ease of mind, I made a bug net for it. I didn't want him to wake up and have mosquito bites everywhere. I asked him if you would prefer an attached bug net, but he doesn't know. This is most likely due to that he doesn't like change. If something is in a certain way, it should stay like that.

It's not that easy to setup. I don't like the lines attached to it when you get it, but my son won't let me change them :) I would like to have either tree huggers and rings or tree huggers and whoopie slings. That would have made it so much easier for me. But hey... It's his hammock.

But I like the size of it, 2.35 by 1.3 meters. UK Hammocks has one fairly the same size, 2.1 by 1.2 meters. And they are both the same price (£15 at the time of my writing), shipping might vary though, and availability.
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Fredrik

Trangia billy can

Slow cooking over fire

I've been hiking in the woods on and off for the better part of my life. In the military we cooked our own food, most of the time at least, using a single burner alcohol stove. The same kind of alcohol stove my father used when I was a kid, and the same as I got around to buy when me and my family headed out for our first trip.

That burner hung around for a bunch of years, but last year I didn’t wanna play that game no more. I wanted to cook my meals over an open fire, be a little bit more laid back :)

So the Trangia Billy Can came into the picture. It holds 2.5 liters, which is more than enough for two persons making a stew or cooking porridge or whatever, but it’s not bulkier than the big pan of my alcohol stove set (from Biltema), but in this I just have a coffee pan and a chain for hanging the can on the right height from the flames. The chain can be seen in the picture to the right.

The biggest difference in terms of how much to carry is the heat source. For the old stove, we carried the alcohol, a liter or so. But for this one we don't carry anything. Instead we get the pleasure of collecting fire wood at the site. During the time I have used this can, I've hung it on a chain, placed it standing on two logs or stones over the fire, put it on a stone beside the fire... All depending on what sort of stand was available at the place for meal making. And of course, if you preference is a gas or alcohol stove, or why not a woodgas stove, I'm sure it will do just fine there as well.

Breakfast porridge for me and my son

Material

The use of aluminum has been discussed quite a lot, on and off. Some persons I know wouldn't eat the meals cooked in this due to this fact. But I'm not so sure about the black magic of aluminum. On the contrary I'm sure it's not more harmful than many other things.

The knob on the lid is plastic. To me, that's fine. To someone else... That's their issue. I won't eat it, so... ;) All in all, the can weighs in just under 400 grams. Maybe not a super light weight, but it's not meant to be either. To me this is a relaxed way of cooking in the wild. Just as I want it to be.

Ease of use

As I wrote above, it's quite easy to use. Just make a fire and leave enough room above for tehe pot to hang free, and get started. Given the problem of getting a nice even temperature from the fire over time, I think it's easier to cook stews and soups in it. But that ain't all bad, that's among the best things to eat when your out in the wild, if you ask me.

Dinner's ready!

But given that you will have it over open fire, it will get a lot of sooth on the outside of it. So a tip would be to bring a small bag for the pot when packing up and moving to the next site. Or going home. Otherwise you'll get all other gear coming in contact with it black from sooth and that might not be what you want.

In the picture to the left you two of the three legs in the tripod (the coffee pan is on the third at the bottom left of the pic) and the chain coming down from the top. By using this setup it's fairly easy to adjust the height of the can, which will help you avoid burning your food, and you can let the food simmer a bit before serving. Or raise the can enough when it's done and just keep it there to stay warm.

Conclusion

I really like this can! A lot! I cannot compare it to other cans, but it sure does what it's intended to do. And given the cheap price it's absolutely worth it. It's light, rather versatile and great to use. So, what are you waiting for? Get up, get a can and start cooking :)
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Fredrik

UK Hammocks 3/4 underquilt

No matter how you sleep, you still need bottom insulation. When tent camping, that is usually done by using a pad of some sort, (self) inflatable or regular cell foam pads. Those can be used in a hammock as well, but according to me, it's more comfy with an under quilt (uq).

So, how does and uq work? Of course, it depends a little bit on your uq of choice, but generally speaking, it traps the warmth inside of the hammock, just like a sleeping bag. But the main difference compared to a sleeping bad is that an uq will not get squashed under you, instead you hang it under the hammock. Hence the word under quilt.

About a year and a half ago, I got my uq from UK Hammocks. It's a 3/4 length, which means that it will go down to approx your knees. This will save you some weight and pack volume compared to a full length one. The lower parts of your legs are covered by your sleeping bag or top quilt. I still use a sleeping bag, haven't found a reason to step up there yet...

The under quilt is, simply put, just two layers of fabric and some insulation in between. In my case, it's down. Different manufacturers have different solutions on how to keep the uq up against you in the hammock, but UK Hammocks go for the simple and very good solution of shock cords. There are lengthwise cords going from one end to the other, and then there's one cord at each end. The first ones are there to get it up and close to you, otherwise it might get chilly during the night. The later ones are there to make it possible to close the opening in the ends and prevent cold air to seep in. That is nothing you want to happen in the middle of the night, I can tell you. To adjust the end shock cords, it can help in having a friend there to assist you. Either your friend is in the hammock (if similar size to you) and you adjust the cords, or vice versa. Otherwise it will be a lot of jumping in and out of the hammock adjusting the cords and you still don't know if it's good enough when you go to sleep.

Testing the under quilt in the back yard

I have spent several nights in my hammock with this uq as bottom insulation and have never been cold. The coldest temps are about -5ºC, and I was warm and toasty throughout the night.

A night in the hammocks with my son

The gap you see at the end of my hammock (the one to the left) is filled when I'm in the hammock. But that's the reason for the end shock cords, you don't want that gap when your in the hammock.

Can I recommend the under quilt? Oh, yes! I love my under quilt and would never go back to using a foam pad again. The uq is much more comfy and you are not as dependent on staying in the right place as you are on a pad. If you're using a pad as insulation, you might roll of it and then get a cold spot. That happened to me a couple of times, but never with my uq.

So, if your on the market for a new bottom insulation for your hammock, pay Mat at UK Hammocks a visit!
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Fredrik

Lansky Knife Sharpening Kit

When I was about to get me a sharpening system for my knives, I had a look around at different forums and pretty much everyone told me to get a Spyderco Triangle Sharpmaker. As you can understand from the headline of this post, I didn't listen :)

Instead I got a Lansky Knife Sharpening Kit. It contained three stones, honing oil and the angle tool. The included stones are 120, 280 and 600 grits, and in addition to this, I got a finer stone, 1200 grit, as well to be able to really get that extra sharpness. The angle tool help you keep the same angle all the time throughout the sharpening of your knife, and to me, this has been very helpful.

The system is very easy to use, you just fasten your knife in the clamp, chose an angle for your knife and fasten the stone on the rod. Put the rod in the hole for the chosen angle, and off you go. In the beginning it's a bit tricky to get a hang of the use of the tool, but after some five minutes, you got it. It's that easy.

So why did I get this one instead of Spyderco? Well, the major reasons were...

• The price. This system was 450 SEK including the extra stone. The Spyderco was about 750 SEK.
• The Lansky system helped me sharpen the knives in four different angles, the Sharpmaker only two. And besides that, to use the Sharpmaker you have to hold your knife vertical to get the correct angle.

So, what have I used it for? Pretty much every knife in the house :) I gave our kitchen knives a good overhaul, the bush craft knife came out really sharp and the folder on the picture above is now a pleasure to use.

Given the difference in price, I would say this is a really good buy! I cannot say anything about Spyderco, so no shame on them, but for me, Lansky is a very good system and I would recommend it to anyone's on the market for a (new) knife sharpening system.
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Fredrik

Osprey Kestrel 68 - a first glance

I have two backpacks at home. One I've been using for some time, a GoLite Quest 70 litres. The other one is new, an Osprey Kestrel 68. Both are fairly light weight, but here's why I just got the new one...

The biggest reason for me to start looking at a new backpack was actually that I wanted to be able to store the sleeping back and under quilt in a separate compartment. This way I can set up my camp without having to remove all the kitchen stuff and clothes. Or vice versa, I don't have to remove the hammock sleeping gear from the sack just to reach the extra shirt. There are a lot of backpacks with the separate sleeping bag storage, so this is nothing extra ordinary. But I also want my backpack to be around 70 litres. Yeah, it's a bit on the big side, especially as I don't tend to go on any week long trips. But I like to be able to bring along what I want, and weight is rarely a problem. At least, it haven't been so far. And, secondly, I use my backpack when going on holiday with my family, and then it's not just my things that goes down in my sack...

Even though the weight don't tend to be an issue for me, I still want my pack to be as light as possible, but still have the above mentioned feature. And the Kestrel matched it for me weighing in at 1.82 kg (according to Osprey), including the integrated rain cover.

So far I have just filled it with the sleeping bag, under quilt, spirit stove and some more to get a feel about it when stuffed. And it feels really good. I still have some adjustments to do to make it perfect, but that'll come. I'll give it a more extensive test in a couple of weeks when I'm off to the woods for the first time with it.

Until then, you can have a look at the YouTube video from Osprey

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Fredrik

DD Hammocks Frontline

About two years ago, I bought my first hammock. A DD Frontline Hammock. I've been rather satisfied with it, but not 100%, so I've been looking at others all the time. Sometimes I've been looking at making my own, and other times looking at buying a new one. Why? I'll try to sort things out below...

Size
The size of a hammock is very important, both the length and the width. Your length and build determines what is needed for your comfort. Me, I'm about 1.86 meters tall and weighs in just below 80 kg. I'm fairly athletic and guess that I my shoulders are a bit wider than average. DD Frontline comes is 2.7 m x 1.4 m and that gives you a rather small space. There are much bigger hammocks out there if you're a big guy, but you might manage with this one as well.
As I said, this is a bit on the small side for me. I have read several other persons saying that this is big enough for them, and they have been taller than I am. So... It's very much a personal preference.
The width might give you some shoulder squeeze though. It does for me if I don't find the right lay. This can be handled in different manners, they say, but I haven't been able to fully adjust to it.
The weight of a hammock obviously depends on the fabric, and the amount of fabric. And DD Frontline is 860 grams (hammock only). To that you need to add the weight of your preferred suspension system.

Design
The design of the hammock is really straight forward. It's a rectangle of the above mentioned size (2.7 x 1.4 m). The extra you get, is a attached mosquito net and spreader bars for the same. The new model also has tie-outs, for spreading the hammock and pegging it to the ground (that might help with some of the shoulder squeeze I get in it). The suspension system is of the simpler kind. One long piece of rope that you tie around a tree. I don't really like this set-up as it's very hard to adjust once you're done.
One good thing though, it has zips on either side of the mosquito net which allow for entry/exit on either side of the hammock. And this also gives that you don't have to decide which side is head and foot.
When I got mine, it came in one colour (green), but now it's available in four different colours.
In the package, there are two spreader bars for the mosquito net. that helps getting the net up and out of your face when you're in the hammock.

Lay
Most often I lay on the diagonal in my hammock. The reason for this is (as you might know) to get a more straight lay. Many people say you should string your DD Hammock rather tight, but I think I prefer it a bit more slack, almost 30 degrees.
One thing that I have noticed on some occasions is that a crease/ridge can form in the middle of the hammock. I have gotten rid of it by forcing the sides of the hammock outwards.

Insulation
The hammock has two layers, so you are able to use a sleeping pad in between for bottom insulation. I have tested with both a foam pad and an inflatable pad. Both work really smooth, but I prefer the inflatable one for comfort. The only down side of this solution is that it can be a little tricky to get the pad to be exactly where you want it. When you move around during the night, it's a little to easy to end up outside of the pad and it can get a little cold.
Instead I would recommend using an under quilt.

Modifications

I have made some modifications on my Frontline. The biggest is the change of suspension. I actually just hung it once using the stock suspension before moving over to whoopie slings and tree huggers. Now that has been changed as well, and I'm now using a strap with a carabiner around the tree, the same strap then goes down to the hammock where I have two rings. Fasten the straps in the two rings and tie it of using a quick release knot and you're done! This is very easy to adjust and is a lot quicker to set up than the stock solution.

Conclusion
I think DD is a fairly good hammock. I don't have many to compare it to, but it does what you expect, keep you of the ground :) Though the size is a bit small and therefore it's not for me.
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Fredrik