#AskPaulKirtley Episode 5 - Knife Sharpening, Knives & The Law, Bears In Sweden And More...

Description

Welcome to Episode 5 of #AskPaulKirtley, where I answer questions about… bears and camping in Sweden, bushcraft/survival knives and what we do with them when we are travelling or in public places, knife and oilstone recommendations for a beginner to learn bushcraft knife sharpening, where to park our car when going for a multi-day hike and how to stop getting bothersome bits in our boot.

#askpaulkirtley is your chance to ask Paul Kirtley questions about wilderness bushcraft, survival skills and outdoor life.

Ask Paul Kirtley is a regular Q&A show (also available as a podcast) with leading bushcraft instructor Paul Kirtley, founder of Frontier Bushcraft and author of Paul Kirtley's Blog. Find out more here: http://paulkirtley.co.uk/ask-paul-kirtley/

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Tags: Knife (Sports Equipment),Knife Sharpening,sharpening,bushcraft,survival,bears,Sweden,camping,outdoors,wilderness,Bear,Survival Skills (TV Genre),law,legality,knife law,carrying a bushcraft knife,oilstone,oil

Video Transcription

welcome to episode 5 of ask Paul curtly in this episode we're going to talk about bears in Scandinavia we're going to talk about knives and what we do with them when we're traveling and to where we're camping or hiking and what the law is around that we're going to look at sharpening and how to learn sharpening we're going to look at where to park our car when we go hiking and how not to get bit in our boots welcome welcome to episode 5 of a sport Kurtley now in the last few episodes I've concentrated on questions from Twitter and Instagram as well as some of the spoken answers via speak pipe and people are still sending me some email questions and I've got a bit of a backlog so I'm going to address as many of those today as I possibly can i do think now five episodes in the most efficient ways for people to send me tweaked and Instagram messages because they're quite short they're quite self-contained and I can give relatively self-contained answers to them but I appreciate that sometimes people need to send longer questions I also appreciate that some people in on twitter or instagram and maybe they need to give a bit more background to the question as well so i'll keep trying to get to the email questions but they they tend to take longer for me to get round to then the quick short Twitter and Instagram questions so if you want if you've got a quick short question send me a tweet post on instagram post use the hashtag ask ball curtly and we will get to those pretty quickly emails can take a little bit longer to get through particularly if they're longer questions anyway without further adieu first question Tom asks you've no doubt answered these questions historically but if you can indulge me please it would be appreciated can you recommend a Maura and oil stone combination clue so that i can start and practice I appreciate as prone article you produce that there is no point in getting a bells and whistles bespoke knife if you don't know what you're doing regarding lubrication of the oil stone which oil is best any suggestions will be greatly appreciated ok good question Tom it's a it's an oft asked question and it's certainly worth addressing and I think you're referring to an article I wrote about sharpening on my blog if not there will be a link to it in the show notes anyway if people have not seen that it's worth having a look at it and it's particularly talking about there's an article about how to sharpen the knife and also I produced a YouTube video on how to get the bevel angle exactly right I'll link to both of them

in the show notes of this video but to answer your general question a more a clipper and moral companion knife is absolutely fine something with a flat bevel and as per you know many bush craft shops many bushcraft schools as per many people use a standard mora 840 companion is absolutely fine to get going with and you can practice with that carbon steel is the one we typically go for and although the stainless ones you'll be able to practice with just as well sometimes stainless knives are a little bit harder to show up and go for it go for a carbon one if you can get hold of the carbon one in terms of an oil stone go down your local hardware store DIY store and seek out a combination oil stone they're not very expensive these days and because they're all manufactured synthetically they're not a quarry stone like an Arkansas stone will be quite expensive but a combination oil stone that's produced and sold for general sharpening and DIY or hardware stores and is not going to cost you very much it's going to cost you you know maybe six seven eight at most ten pounds depending on the quality of it similar price in dollars if you're working on the other side of the Atlantic that is that's all you need and then you'd need some oil and I typically just use three-in-one oil that works fine you need to get quite a lot on the stone to start off with because a lot of it will soak in and then you just need to make sure every time you use it then you just put some more on so that you've got plenty of oil to work it and that and that's all you need to do and then follow the instructions in the article that I've written about sharpening and full of the instructions about getting the bevel angle correct and then you should get a really good sharp knife and once you're confident with that you'll get a lot quicker at it in terms of producing a good sharp and sustainable edge once you're confident with that if you want to then get a more expensive knife then you're going to have the confidence that you're not going to ruin it and by making the basic sharpening mistakes and the basic sharpening mistakes are not maintaining the angle and you get a rounded bevel and putting a secondary bevel on it by increasing the angle too much those are the sorts of things that you want to look out for by to say if you look in those two things that are linked in the show notes you'll get it right so watch those read those and

let us know how you get on thanks to the question tom ok jaron or heroine asks i'm going to make a trip to swedish lapland the area that i will be visiting is the wilderness between Surak and karuna so that's right up in the North up up near the Arctic Circle and beyond if those of you that don't know that what precautions should I take for bears okay well I'm assuming you're going during a time of year that the Bears will be active clearly they hibernate and there aren't many bears in that area and in my experience there are some and I know there are some bears in that area but it you know I know people up there they're not a particular problem and European brown bears are a lot less aggressive in terms of getting food than say the American brown bear or the other grizzly and they're also still hunted certainly in Sweden people will shoot bears and not very often there's a very strict quota but they are not habituated to people and they're afraid of people so they will typically go in the opposite direction if they smell a person and you won't have a problem with them it's much less of an issue than North America where particularly in grizzly country where you've got the American brown bear or even in black bear country you really do have to take precautions all of the time because it's a serious issue so I would say don't worry about it too much you'll be fine okay next question okay this is a good one Andrew Buchanan Andrew asks much of the information regarding survival and wilderness pastimes include suitability of different types of knife and I would like clarification of the legal position regarding carrying a knife in a public place does the fact that I am practicing outdoor survival skills albeit on my own and an entirely unofficial capacity constitute sufficient legal excuse for carrying a knife okay Andrew that's an extremely pertinent and good question it's one that I get asked a lot and it's also an area that there's a lot of misunderstanding about a misinformation there's a lot of ill informed people and posting comments on youtube videos I've had it on mine as well and it was a video where I was showing how to create a large spark with a Swedish fire steel somebody commented on that saying that the knife that I had in that video was illegal that's complete and utter rubbish okay and certain knives are illegal flickin in the UK flick knives are illegal butterfly knives are illegal okay but it's the type of knife that's illegal now the legislation around what are commonly called bushcraft knives or survival knives there is legislation around them but the knives themselves owning them and using them is not illegal so people that say that are just wrong okay that's the first thing okay but there are some caveats and you're right you talk about using them in a public place now I am NOT a police officer and I'm not a lawyer and I'm not in a position to give you legal advice but I will tell you what I do and what my understanding is now having a bushcraft knife or a survival knife is no more illegal than owning a chisel or a screwdriver yeah all those could be used as weapons let's not forget that and and the legislation really is around them not being used as weapons so if you're in your local supermarket and and you've got screwdrivers on your belt that is as much of a threat to anybody as if you've got a bushcraft knife on your belt and that's what the legislation is meant to you two cover so just the same as if you're a carpenter and you had chisels with you in a nightclub that's not appropriate nor is it appropriate to have a bushcraft knife and it's those sorts of situations their extreme examples but is those sorts of situations where and that the law is aiming to cover now walking down the street to a bus stop from your house with a bushcraft knife on your belt or a survival knife is inappropriate you don't need to have it there and you would likely be stopped and and it would be confiscated at least and possibly you'd be prosecuted if the police found you at my understanding and similarly if you've been canoeing and you've still got a rescue knife on you and you're driving in your car if you stopped by the police and you've got that on you that is an issue you don't need to have a rescue knife on you in the car you need a rescue knife on you in the river when you're paddling but now you can lose on the roof when you're driving your car you don't need to rescue knife so it's about the context of where you are the knife itself is not illegal it's where you are now the knives you are allowed to carry around with you all the time without any sort of reason is a folding non locking blade that's less than three inches long so your typical kind of Swiss Army knife blade that doesn't look you do not need to have a reason for carrying that around on your person at any point in time otherwise you do need to have a reason so if you are going camping and you've got a rucksack and your knife is in your rucksack and you're on the train and you're going camping in Scotland and you want the knife for your camping trip that's absolutely fine there's no issue with that now you mention official capacities there is no official capacity for survival training and bushcraft training and in the sense that I'm no more entitled as an instructor to have a knife in a public place then you are as a student at bush before all student of bushcraft we're all students of survival and there is no official piece of paper that you can get to say yes you are more entitled to carry and this thing with you than anybody else so we've all got to abide by these rules so what I do is when I'm traveling and when I'm driving I make

my tools axes swords knives are in a bag in the boot of my car where they are not immediately accessible they're not in the glove compartment they're not in the side of you know in the compartment in the side of the door and they are out of reach similarly if I'm in a public place they are in the bottom of a bag probably wrapped up in a carrier bag as well so they are demonstrably not easily accessible with a rucksack as well they're in the side pocket with other things in there or the down the inside of the main compartment again not accessible what's not acceptable is for you to be walking around with a knife on your belt when you don't need it now when you get to your end destination and you get off the train and you put your rucksack on you have to go for a hike in the woods or a hike in the in the in the hills if you want to have a knife then it's arguably that's fine you need it you want it to have to hand and you can put it on on your belt now whenever you speak to a police officer it is largely down to their discretion in terms of how they interpret the law so you may still have to have a conversation with somebody but you don't want to have it out in the train you don't want to have it out in accessible in the car or a public place or a train station or or a garage on the you know a service station on the way home just put it out of the way and and then in terms of using it when you get to your end destination and if you're on private land most things that you can do with a knife you actually need landowners permission to do you know starting cutting things then that land belongs to somebody the trees and plants on that land belong to the landowner and you going around damaging them effectively M is one interpretation with a cutting tool and is illegal unless you've got landowners permission and that then that's another issue and so as long as you as long as you're sensible as long as you can show that you're going on a camping trip or what have you and or in a bushcraft course or you're heading to the airport to do an overseas trip and it's in your it's in your hold luggage of course don't have it in your hand luggage and all those things it's daman stably there for a reason you got it for a purpose you got it as part of your outdoor equipment and it's there for part of your personal safety in terms of use in the outdoor so that you can do the things you need to do to look after yourself and all that's demonstrable as long as it's not easily accessible either from the boot of your car from your belt or from the side of your pack as long as it's packed well away I don't think you're going to have an issue and frankly how are they how is somebody even going to know it's in your rucksack if it's not immediately obvious so hopefully that helps those thoughts have always served me well and that's the approach that I take I've never had an issue and and hopefully neither will you so thanks for the question good question okay next question this is from George and George has been on a few courses with me and his question is and when you're out backpacking in the UK on an overnight trip or longer where do you leave your vehicle assuming you've driven to the start location I've often wondered if you ask permission at a pub or to leave it in a car park or use roadside car parks etc what tends to work for you knowing your car will be safe on your return yeah it's a good it's a good question George it's not quite happiness before but that's one of the things I like about doing this series of videos is that I get asked things that I wouldn't put out as information necessarily you know I think in a certain way what's going to be useful to people but people have always got questions in and amongst that and this is a great format for me be able to to get bits of information out to people based on my experience that I would never probably put into a video unless somebody asked me the question so thanks and

I do if I'm backpacking in the UK I do where I can try and get the train and and that's partly an environmental issue it's partly because I spend enough time driving anyway and if I'm going on a trip I quite like to get you know if I'm going to Scotland I quite like getting on the train and going up to Scotland all the way up through the country getting off aviemore or Inverness or whatever i'm going to and then you're already kind of chilled out when you get there and you can walk and then you can do it you don't have to do a circular walk either you can do an A to B walk get back on the train or the bus somewhere else and travel home that said I do use my car I do do trips and you're never going to be a hundred percent sure even on a day walk and then you mention overnight trips but you can park your car somewhere and it can be broken into during the day now clearly there are some hot spots you know there are places with the thieves target they know people are going to be parked there to walk to a particular waterfall or walk to a particular beauty spot that takes them you know 30 minutes 45 minutes an hour and they know that the car is going to be left alone for that period of time and those places are targeted there are places I know of in the northeast of England where my parents live and that are targeted by thieves you try not to to park your cars in those places and if you're parking your car more randomly because you're just setting off on a walk it's less likely that thieves are going to be targeting it but you can never be a hundred percent sure that somebody's not going to break into it but there are some things that you can do to sort of prevent that and try not to leave any indication of how long you're going to be you know if a thief drives past and they're an opportunist and they think oh well that car is it is sort of deserted they're more likely to maybe have a look at it than think you know you might be in the bushes I just round the corner so certainly don't leave a notice in your windscreen saying you know my name is George I've gone for a walk I'll be back in four days and if I'm not back please call the police or the rescue services which some people do that's going to tell somebody that that's a sitting target between the dates that you've mentioned in your note don't do that leave word with some buddy else phone and when you get back have a different system equally try not to leave anything in the car that looks like it might be worth stealing and that can be hard sometimes you know if you're if you're getting changed and you've got other equipment in there as well are you doing a hiking trip as part of a longer trip where you've got other things in the car but try and leave it looking like it's not worth the bother of breaking into your car as well and so again put things in the boot make sure they're covered and if you've got a cover in the boot make sure it's on put a rug over it those sorts of things so that it doesn't look like there's bags and equipment and useful things in there and you know don't leave phones or even cables that look like they might be leading to a phone or iPods or sat navs or anything like that there it's all common sense but just make it look not that's not worth bothering with and and that's the best advice I can give you I don't think there's any more general advice yes in certain circumstances you might ask to park in a particular place of pub car park or what have you but that's a case-by-case basis I've never had a problem and particularly parking in Scotland and Wales and places for several days and the only other thing I would say is try to park you know don't park next to a busy road where traffic is going to be going back and forwards and again an opportunist might go past one day they go past the next day and they say oh that was there yesterday that maybe it's worth is having a look at that if you can park off the beaten track where people are not going to be passing very often but equally are not going to be one of those hot spots then that's probably the best advice I can give you and hopefully that serves you well thanks for the question George alright last question okay this question comes from grahame-smith and I like the way he frames it and he said probably the daftest question ever but how do you stop or prevent small stones or rubbish getting inside your boots when on the trail or paths I'm having to stop a couple of times to get rid of items that irritate the bottom of my feet see told you it wasn't afti great okay Graham well again like George's question and that is not something I would ever think of putting into a video but clearly it's an issue for you and it's likely to be an issue for other people and so I don't know what type of footwear you're wearing whether you're wearing low-cut sort of trail shoes or whether you're wearing boots with a bit of ankle support or at least a higher ankle and I tend to find the higher the boot the less stuff that I get in them and but you know that's that's one consideration and I find walking through undergrowth and Heather if even with ankle boots on if they're relatively low I'm going to get bit into my my boot and stuck onto my socks and and higher leg boot is the better option but they can be hot and sweaty and too heavy and particularly in summer months so you want something else that can that can bridge that gap and a couple of things I find useful first off trousers with elasticated bottoms or bottoms that fasten with a bit of a draw and so if y'all Raven and lund Hanks make trousers like that and many other companies do as well and that just helps create a bit of a seal around your boot and to stop things going into the top of your boot you know it's certainly walking through undergrowth Heather is always my that the bane in my life walking in Scotland or it used to be I always was always getting Heather into my boots walking through short Heather and bit stuck into my socks and i found that wearing trousers that sealed onto my boot was a good way of solving that another obvious solution of course our Gators and if you put Gators on your boots and seal your let even if you're wearing shorts you know if you put Gators on that's going to stop a lot of stuff going into the top of your boots but equally they can be quite hot and sweaty as well they stop moisture to come

at the top of your boots and you can get hot hot sweaty your feet and that in turn can cause your feet to be softer over a long period of time you know day and hot weather wearing Gators you're going to get very sweaty feet potentially that makes them soft that makes you more like to get blisters so it's a it's a kind of trade-off and you can get quite short little Gators that are cotton or poly cotton and not so waterproof as the gore-tex Gators but they help seal the gap between your boot and your trouser leg as well I've used those in Africa I've used as for walking in the Serengeti to stop ticks and other things getting in you know we're short short ankle boots and trousers but there's going to be a bit of a gap there sometimes bridge that gap with it with a short Gator that's another option so that day would be my recommendations really a higher leg boot in some some circumstances a gator to cover depending on the conditions waterproof one in wet conditions and a shorter poly cotton or cotton one in dry conditions and also trousers that fasten over your boots or even just have a little some trousers like the ones I'm wearing now and actually and I won't show it because people are listening to this as well they have a little hook at the front which you can hook onto your laces and which helps that stop them from riding up and helps keep that to keep that seal so any of those things I think will help and let me know how you get on and thanks for the question right well that brings us to the end of episode 5 of a sport curtly thanks for your questions keep sending them in remember instagram twitter using the hashtag ask paul curtly and occasionally i'll get round to doing a slew of emails like a have done in this one so thanks again for all your questions and i will see you on episode six take care