Another “duh” equipment moment

[Guest]

Most of the piney woods coastal places where I camp and paddle pose a thorny dilemma in the form of greenbriar or other viney prickers. Those things are heck on tents, tarps, drybags and clothing. Sleeping pads too. Arms and legs. Everydamnthing.

I usually bring a folding saw in those places for downed tree limbs, but a saw is useless (and dangerous) on greenbriar vine. So I end up awkwardly using the cutting edge of Leatherman pliers.

I bought a pair of Fiskars hand pruning shears. Well, duh! Those work immensely better and easier on greenbriar and vines.

And they are equally useful in lopping off dry branches for twiggy starter wood. Chopping up that dry branchy stuff with an axe is inefficient overkill. Have a seat and nip away strategically instead of whacking wee wood with an axe.

It is almost like pruning shears are made for those tasks. Oh….wait….

That realization may have been my Duh-est moment yet gear or tool wise. I have friends who always carry a pair of pruning shears as they walk their acreage, but their tripping usefulness never occurred to me.

Methinks I want a pair to live in the truck toolbox as well.

 

[Guest]

We have heavy river bank briers (Stickers or Sticker-bush) Many times I set up my tent and find thorns and briers are in my intimidate area, I just need them out of my way where my tent and cooking spot will be. I end up trying use a machete or Knife. Small pruning shears could trim both vines and bothersome small limbs. This size tool packs away very nicely

The saw was useless, the machete was OK for some things. All In all had the wrong tools. If I had small pruning shears I could have just snipped back the area I needed for my tent and cooking

I’ve had to do likewise to squeeze in a tent or tarp. I’m not interested in turning the place into an English garden, but the tent area at least needs to be unprickley, and the tarp/kitchen area as well. And maybe the trail into camp if it is tearing me to shreds as I walk in.

Greenbriar, in an especially offensive expensive way, is tough on raingear and if it snags me once on the way in it can be gone on the way back.

My terrible habit of snapping dri-ki over a knee is another nipper avoidance. I really need to break that habit when wearing Goretex rain pants. Half of the taped and repaired slices and tears at my rainpant knees come from breaking small firewood.

Saws are useless, if not downright dangerous, for cutting that kind of flimsy stuff. Keeping an upper tension-hand on a vine and sawing in the same finger proximity at something green, pliable and flimsy is an invitation the kind of accident where you instantly cover the bloody gash with a hand before building enough courage to peek at the carnage underneath.

Axes and machetes are little better. Sometimes I need to cut that stuff at (or below) ground level so it is not poking my tent or sleeping pad, and I don’t like grubbing up a sharp blade whacking at the ground, much less using my Leatherman to furrow dirt.

In the lightweight realm I have seen a pair of small pruning shears in which the cutting blades retracted back into the handle; they seemed flimsier but the retracted tool was only 3” long and weighed but a few ounces. Googling that turned up nothing, but in any case I think I’m going stainless instead of lightweight.

I need a second pair; the ones I bought for the truck box, and a new pair for the tripping kit. I’m thinking stainless for coastal/tidal trips where salt water is a tool killer. In that guise I’m already carrying potable water, so a couple of ounces and inches extra doesn’t really matter.

http://www2.fiskars.com/Gardening-an...ner#.VJWylV4AA

I’ll be interested in what the quality of stainless steel proves to be. I’ve had some stainless steel become rust encrusted in a single season of tidal waters. For $9 I’ll give them a shot.

I may have to commission Oldie to make a leather sheath for them. Or maybe a shoulder holster; I’m often not belted in the backcountry.

 

[Will Derness]

Just this past year I've taken to bringing a pair of loppers with me. I found a nice 15 inch pair, small enough to easily transport yet with enough leverage to break through larger branches.

Last week I was the lead canoe on a headwaters swampy section of a local black water river. I came to a halt where the river ran through a dense section of small branches. While I had my lopers with me, they were not immediately handy. A fellow canoeist about three boats behind me had a long pair and ask if I'd like to use his. "Sure" I said.


To my surprise he tossed them into the river current which drifted the loppers right to me. He had put some foam pipe insulation or sections of pool noodles around the handles which allowed them to float.

Next on my list of things to do is to get some of that insulation around the small pair of loppers I have so this pair doesn't fall to the bottom of the river like my last pair did.

In the 90 degree positiom, an E tool with serrated edges on the sides can make quick work of clearing an area, but not with the precision you can get with a pair of loppers.

 

[sweeper]

We've taken pruners with us a couple times. I use a reflector, pruners will chop up small stock faster then a hatchet.

Pruners also reach dead branches out of reach of campers that don't have them.

 

[Will Derness]

Here's a nice leather scabbard/holster for Corona hand shears. I have this combo at home and the holster works great. The shears are top quality tool steel. Can be hip mounted with a belt, but there's also a metal pressure clip you can use to slide into a pocket.

Could be a solution for anyone wanting a leather holster for their tool.

http://www.amazon.com/Corona-Clipper-7220-Leather-Scabbard/dp/B00004R9YY

 

[Glenn MacGrady]

If you're not portaging, why not bring whatever cutting, slicing and chopping gear you like.

I'm sure hand pruners work to cut sticker vines, but you have to do it with individual cuts and then get rid of the prickly sucker somehow. Too slow for me.

I've cut gazillions of vines and sticker bushes on my 11 acres over the past 23 years. I've used the same short, curved pruning saw for almost all that work. I usually don't "saw" vines with the saw, but slash at them with Lash LaRue quickness as if using a hand sickle or short machete. I can usually slice through just about anything with a few tries, including multiple branches/vines/tendrils simultaneously. Then, the serrated saw blade allows me easily to drag away the prickly bundle without touching it.

I few years ago I got a golok machete, which can make even faster work in many situations. But it's more of a wood chopping machete than a grass machete, so it's sometimes too heavy for individual sticker branches or vines. I need a thinner and lighter machete for that.

 

[Guest]

Not exactly the same thing,but when camping in the ADKs at a bushy or an unimproved campsite, brush and branches often get in the way or rub on my hammock. Since cutting is forbidden,I bring some strings and tie them temporarily out of the way.
Turtle

 

[Guest]

Santa brought me an early Christmas present. Retractable stainless steel pruners.





A friend gave me a pair he had laying about. No idea of the manufacturer, the only marking is “Stainless Steel” on the blades. They work well, feel fairly sturdy with a positive lock open and closed, are small, lightweight and the retracted business end won’t be poking holes in my pocket.

They seem perfect for briars and small twiggy fire starter nipping. If I could find the manufacturer I’d buy a few as gifts for friends.

 

[Seeker]

For those of you familiar with the concept, the traditional "Nessmuk Trio" of small, medium, and large cutters is a 2-blade jack-knife, a sheath knife, and a hatchet or axe... Living here in Louisiana (greenbriar/raspberry/holly/prickly stuff heck) I've had to overcome my Yankee propensity to include an axe/hatchet as part of that trio. I've come to rely on a machete for either the medium or large cutter, usually leaving the axe at home except in "winter" (Dec/Jan). Took about 4-5 years to make that change. I still use an axe in NY.

I've altered the blade geometry on my 18" Tramontina in a few areas, but the most important is the changing of the blade's grind from flat to convex, which strengthens the edge, reducing chipping and speeding up the re-sharpening process... If I'm out for a typical day, I keep a Lansky puck on my ATV and touch up at lunch. Love my machete.

 

[Guest]

For those of you familiar with the concept, the traditional "Nessmuk Trio" of small, medium, and large cutters is a 2-blade jack-knife, a sheath knife, and a hatchet or axe... Living here in Louisiana (greenbriar/raspberry/holly/prickly stuff heck) I've had to overcome my Yankee propensity to include an axe/hatchet as part of that trio. I've come to rely on a machete for either the medium or large cutter, usually leaving the axe at home except in "winter" (Dec/Jan). Took about 4-5 years to make that change. I still use an axe in NY.

I’ve always got a sheath knife, and usually a saw. Although I am careful and fairly proficient with an axe (we heat our home with wood) I have become less and less inclined to bring one when tripping. I have a short (10” blade) machete that is well balanced. It is a beast; the blade is ¼” thick at the non-business end and at 1 ½” lbs it takes abuse well. I use it on the property but have never considered it for tripping.

Having seen and heard of bodily damage done swinging cutting tools in a moment of inattention or tiredness I’ve become more increasingly cautious, especially when tripping solo.

I haven’t yet stuck an axe in my foot or lopped off a digit while holding back a greenbriar vine with one hand. I have sliced the bejusses out of my hand with a knife, which perhaps begs a confessional query.