Widowmakers, Umbrellas, Resinous Bow-Drill Wood, Shorts | #AskPaulKirtley 55

Description

Welcome to Episode 55 of #AskPaulKirtley, where I answer questions about shorts, longevity of pathogenic organisms in water containers, magnifying glass specifications for fire lighting, branches dropping in woodland, umbrellas for bushcraft and camping, resin content in bow-drill materials...

TIMESTAMPS:

02:05 Shorts and waxing

05:35 Longevity of pathogenic organisms in water containers

07:31 Magnifying glass specifications for fire-lighting

10:54 Branches dropping in woodland

15:19 Umbrellas for bushcraft and camping

19:35 Resin content in bow-drill materials

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Tags: bushcraft,survival,wilderness,camping,hiking,outdoors,question and answer,advice,questions,answers,bushcrafting,nature,self reliance,self sufficiency,outdoor skills,outdoor knowledge,Paul Kirtley,askpaulkirtley

Video Transcription

in this episode of a sport curtly we are going to talk about shorts longevity of pathogens and containers magnifying glass specifications branches dropping on you in woodland umbrellas and the resin content of bow-drill components [Music]

welcome welcome to episode 55 of ask pool curtly where I answer your questions about wilderness bushcraft survival skills and outdoor life and I will mention it again please follow on Instagram as well as subscribing to this video series or to the podcast series however you like to consume this Instagram lots of little nuggets there things that I share things that you can easily consume on your key break or just before you finish work or after you finish work on the bus home whatever just a try and share like a mini blog post there of a photo and some context in the text and everything from tree and plant ID to basic bushcraft skills to what we're up to and I try and keep it fairly current and share something every day if I can if I've got some sort of connectivity which I don't always have of course but and there you go that's the nature of what I do but Instagram is the place to get more stuff from me if you want things on a pretty much daily basis alright let's get into the questions because the midges are out I mean suffix it's a nice Sunday evening when I'm recording this and but I've got little gnats or midges and feasting on me so a question from Louie and this is a voicemail question by speakpipe not a lot of those coming in sitting next to work I pull loved the show and the great work you do the listening of quite some time it helps boring bus journeys and studying at the moment so I thought either I'd send you a question as the summer months are approaching looking into buying a pair of shorts for small hikes general camp lighting bushcraft if you have any recommendations for brands etc and also it's waxing a good idea alright thanks so much low well Louie I think you're asking about waxing the canvas or waxing the cotton not waxing your legs but you never know you never know if you're a cyclist waxing your legs could be good I don't know maybe and but short I would say if you're out in the summer you just want something that's going to be tough something that's going to dry relatively quickly I like short that have I'm not one for the short shorts that certain people like and not naming any names I like kind of cargo shorts so almost like a pair of cargo pants or a pair of fjällräven tight pants that are being cut off just above the knee that have still got the pockets that I like to have and that I can arrange my kit but that just allows a bit more fresh air on the lower leg helps with your feet not getting sweaty as well all that kind of stuff helps so a couple of brands that I've used over the years and that I quite like er raven will make some shorts and kind of like the trousers and Carhartt as well and they're one workwear relatively tough cotton shorts I've used those a fair amount and using in more tropical places use them in Australia using in Africa and where it's appropriate now wearing shorts in some places even in hot climates is not necessarily appropriate you might not want to have your lower legs and exposed of course you might even need to wear small Gators between the top of your boots and the bottom of your trousers to stop nasties ticks and whatnot getting in but if you are wearing shorts is okay to wear shorts those are the two places I look still have some Carhartt shorts that I've had for years that I really like and they they work well in the same sort of way that my typical outdoor trousers work as well in terms of pocket arrangements getting a decent belt on etc and coming frames of natural colors as well so hopefully that helps and waxing if we're being serious there's not a lot of point because if you're wearing them because it's warm you know it doesn't really matter if they get wet they're going to dry quickly and waxing doesn't really stop the fabrics getting that wet anyway I don't tend to wax my shower raven trousers typically once I've washed them just because it takes it's a lot of effort so for not a lot of gain and that's why life's too short and you like the pond there okay some jelly I don't know why I found that question so humans Louie I'm not taking the mickey out of you it's just there's a few things that amuse me whether a question from Rob aka Wolf Walker and his question is as follows hi I've been following since before the ask for curtly episodes which is good thank you thank you longtime listener first-time caller

perhaps and thank you for them as well such great knowledge as they have been very helpful to me my question has to do with water filtration I see a lot of people blowing into their dirty water containers to poss them up to make them easier to fill such as the plastic bag that comes with a soy eight filter I wonder how long are the organisms harmful for is it safe to make contact with the dirty bag after it's been dried personally I cut my hand over the top of this type of bag before blowing into it no matter how long it's been sitting but I'm curious thanks for your time and yeah well certainly if is any moisture still in there it could still be pathogens in the water that's in there if it's dirty water it's dirty water pathogens aren't necessarily going to go away and some pathogens particularly protozoa can live outside of a host for a long time with virtually no moisture and so they're going to be around for quite some time and equally you might even if is bacteria in there they might even and they might even grow in number and I know of cases where people have had water that's been drinkable and then there's been a small amount of something in there which they've left the bottle for some time and I'm talking weak they've drunk out the bottle and then we become ill so bacteria and other pathogens can multiply in the water in water that's left as well not just stay the same and so I would not be bringing my mouth into contact with any container that has had dirty water that's got pathogenic organisms in it in direct contact at all at any point in time magnifying glass specifications and this is from mr. Dennison mr. Jennison asks it would seem to me that one of the indestructible tools for starting a fire would be a magnifying glass I've never seen any data on the best magnifying factor or diameter for such an item do you have any data experience with this sincerely

well I wouldn't necessarily say they're indestructible because some of them are made of glass and it's quite easy to break them under the right circumstances so that would be one thing but generally there are two factors in how effective the well as there's more but two big factors and you know how effective a lens is for fire lighting by focusing the Rays of the Sun one is the magnification so if you're putting a certain amount of light into it and how small is the dot that you can create with it that's largely down to the magnification and then the other factor is how big is the lens how--what's the incident amount of light that's hitting the lens that's being focused into that spot you could have a lens that has a smaller area with the same magnification that isn't going to give you as much heat if you like as a larger lens or the same magnification because it's catching more light and focusing it down into an area so those are the two main factors before we start talking about you know the transmission of light through the lens of course and that's a minor factor with a magnifying glass and you know there will be some energy lost as the light goes through lens and there might be some internal reflection and the light doesn't get where it's meant and all those sorts of things but generally if it's a half-decent quality piece of glass it's the size for the area and the and then and magnifications and you can work out we can divide one by the other to kind of give you a factor if you like and in terms of how small the dots going to be so those are the two things so if you get a like a big kind of inspector cluedo and magnifying glass they work great they work really really well and but equally you can get small lens or small hand lens that's designed for looking at really small things that could jeweler's loupe or something and it's a small lens but it's quite high magnification so it's going to come down into quite a fine into quite fine dot so have a play around and and see see what you can what you can do but a normal kind of magnifying lens that you might have for just looking at things more closely in nature that's going to serve you quite well in terms of lighting lighting fires as well and as you say it's not that you know you use the word indestructible something that folds into its own little case is probably going to be the most indestructible type so I've got one that goes into my pocket it's about that sort of side and maybe about an inch and a half two inches two inches across at most four centimetres across and it's got a little plastic sleeve and it folds out the plastic sleeve and then the sleeve is the handle if you like and that's quite a good one cost me a few pounds on Amazon and it works fine even in the UK where the sun's not always that strong

hmm branches dropping in woodland which never a good thing particularly few underneath them and this comes from I have a name on this Jamie I think Jamie yes what my look questions and hi Paula content you produce when you are in dense woodland does the potential for falling branches factor into where you decide to walk or set up camp for the night

I've heard that some tree species are prone to shedding branches after period of dry weather many thanks Jamie from five Scotland and it's not necessarily just in dry weather Jamie there are some species which are quite prone and so for example I'm sitting here I've got a birch tree there got some Norway spruce there got quite a lot of Norway spruce and the birch behind me has our lovely cast good managers Paul Soileau dough

amid there's a lovely beech tree over there but I'm not going to sit underneath it and record one of these because beech trees are one of the species that are prone to dropping branches and you get this lovely open area so you can see behind me nail the Bracken's coming up here and it'll get denser than this in here as the summer progresses and you come in here and you want to set up anything oh well is this lovely open area over there underneath that beech tree where all the leaves are that might be quite comfy to sleep on as well but that's not a good place to to sleep branches have a tendency to drop for various reasons from beach and it's quite short grained wood and the branches tend to be quite long and a bit spindly for the length there's a lot of weight there and it's prone to infection it can be damaged by wind over the winter as well and as the SAP rises in the spring and the leaves get heavier they can fall off and there's a number of reasons why beech trees are prone to dropping limbs and they do and don't camp under them and personally I don't even tend to loiter under them for too long frankly Oaks also surprisingly given the reputation Oaks have for strength I've seen some really big limbs come off English oak trees in the woods and I'd be the reticent to sleep under one of those and for that reason you and I'm not talking like a small sapling I'm talking about something that's got sizable in the branches that if they drop on you are going to hurt and damage you and and so that's something I would avoid and those are the main ones you're in five those are the main ones that you need to be worrying about big Oaks and big beaches avoid being underneath them so yes I absolutely do look at what's there in terms of those species and then just generally what you want to be doing when you get into an area is of course you want to be choosing an area that's suitable for sleeping on it's not going to fill up with water is not a wasps nest at the base of the tree and all of those normal things I won't go into all the details and what you need to look for and but one of the in the context of this question you should also look up people don't always look up and there might be perfectly viable tree here but the top of the tree is dead for some reason the crown is dead and if you get some wind that may come down equally there might be a partially fallen tree over there which is laying against another tree and if they start to move you might slide down again you need to think about that and assess that also if it's particularly wet the ground is wet what can start to happen is roots can start to loosen and if that's combined with wind you get heave and in the root Bowl and the whole thing can be moving around and you start to notice areas of ground moving up and down or root starting to appear you want to avoid those trees as well and certainly you want to avoid being on the downwind side of those because I've seen trees come down because of that as well perfectly good trees otherwise but the ground gets so saturated combined with strong wind but it's enough to basically prize and and tear the tree out the ground unfortunately so those are other things that I look for dead branches dead crowns half fallen trees things that were overhanging where I might want to sleep and then depending on weather conditions

what's going on with wind water as well those are all things you need to be looking out for speaking of wind and wet a question about umbrellas who's this from Robin Robin you got a hat trick Robin and that's just complete chance third question on a show in a row live a sport curtly master sport coat you ask me about philosophy bushcraft and here you're asking me about barela's and this is from a little while ago and his question is an umbrella is a vital piece of bushcraft equipment we'll come back to that and I have found ok personal experience on a warm summer's night where I decide not to use a tarp it has been used to keep light showers off my head the rest of me is in the bivi bag it can be used to carry things sailor canoe signal with Morse codes not that I can remember hanging how and but what else can you think of any other uses for this vital piece of equipment regards Robin PS the shows are great thank you for giving up your time to put them out well you're very welcome Robin as always and it was great speaking with you at the bush craft show and yes so is it a vital piece of bushcraft equipment no and is it something that could be potentially very useful combined with other pieces of camping equipment absolutely and I always remember reading Nicholas cranes books clear clear waters rising and account number the name that he had I probably mentioned this before I recall that I've discussed this before he had a name for his umbrella that he used and he liked to use an umbrella and on his walk that he did from the Atlantic coast all the way to Istanbul through the mountains of Europe and quite a walk and one of those walks that I kind of always fancied doing that have never found the time just to go off and do that that type of long long walk but it would be would be a great experience I'm sure and yeah and he found an umbrella very useful for that and yet I've heard of people using umbrellas to just pop up over your head clearly if it's too windy that can be an issue it can blow away but in wind yet you can use them for sailing a canoe and I've done that and that's useful and having using them kind of like a mirror if you can put a silver survival bag type material on the inside with a with a lamp in the center again you can use them to signal and I think that might be what you're alluding to with Morse code and collecting water is another one you you know turn it in turn it upside down and use it for collecting water in a rainstorm if you're short of water and that would be another use that I could think of and where there might not be much surface water but you get a downpour you can collect quite a lot and then you can decant it into into a water bottle and so so yeah I think they can be useful I like the idea of just having them as a quick put o put up over your head and shower proof thing because that is the issue with sleeping out in your not using a zip bivi bag and a double hoop bivi bag or a bitty bag with a zip at the top and lying down in the rain is problematic and I mentioned before I think it was a question about the snug pack special-forces bivvy and from our friend in Australia I think it was on us from near Bell in Abilene and and his question was about using the snug pack special forces and could you sleep out in it and my answer was yeah absolutely you can but in the rain where the water's going to get in is not as if it gets in the hole at the top and the best way I found with with Bibby base is to lie on your front the bit that is the hood then cows over your face but I prefer sleeping on my back or my side sleep lying on your front face down in a rainstorm isn't the most pleasant way to spend the night so yeah I like the idea of using an umbrella in that way if that's if that's what you want to do and you want in your happy carry an umbrella makes quite a good walking stick otherwise I guess so yeah now I like the idea and good stuff last one where as in content in bow-drill components and this is from Scott this is from a little while ago apology Scott is taking me a while to get around to this one

and but it's a good one and first of all I'd like to say you I enjoy your blog keep up the good work I've developed good skills over the years when it comes to the bow drill method of fire lighting and have become quite successful at it and I follow all the guidelines that you stated in episode 21 and the linked article on the subject of that episode I too am a firm believer in practicing with the most abundantly available materials which brings me to my question I live in New Brunswick Canada and the most common tree is balsam fir I have used it extensively however on average I will only be successful about one in three times when it doesn't work because the drill is screeching excessively due to high resin content the problem is I just wasted time preparing the components only to realize that it contains too much resin so I find some more dead dry balsam fir make another bow drill set and try again I will repeat this until I find a set that works once I do it works very well indeed is there a way to check for resin content to save me the trouble of trial and error

thanks and much appreciated well you I have used balsam fir and for bow drill in Canada and I found it works very well and I found I use small dead standing trees in amongst the forest understory that hadn't made it as it were but was still standing and I was able to get the spindle from higher up and the heart from a little bit lower down and that's always and I say always on the few occasions I've done it that's always worked for me and that's in Ontario specific area same type of trees done a few times so my sample size is small you've got a bigger data set than me but what I would say is that screeching I don't think is necessary specific to resin content I think it can often be down to moisture content and although it can also be down to the ends cracking it seems

but that could also be related to moisture content but we'll come we'll set that aside but what I would say in terms of resin content there is a with any needled resinous species there is a difference if you cut into something that's green like flesh and I know you're not using fresh stuff if you've cut into something that's green and fresh it's got a real resinous smell to it it's got a real specific smell to it and then is it it's dead and dry it's being dead and dry for longer that diminishes and it's got a different smell to it and I would I would say perhaps one thing to do is try and when you've got one that works well is try and Ouimet is try and get some data you know anecdotal as it is but smell it and see how it smells when it's right and and then maybe also compare that to how it smells when it isn't like and try and build up a little smell database also in terms of assessing moisture content and we can include resin content it isn't always easy to do with your hands it can be easy to do with your lips does it feel warm that it feel cold that's a good way because your lips are more sensitive than your fingers so as long as it's not toxic which clearly isn't you can with with relatively dry lips put your lips on there and does it feel slightly cold slightly damp maybe even or does it feel really bone-dry and that's one way of assessing whether or not it's it's properly dry and that would be something that I would try so maybe get some data on smell get some sense of how it feels on your lips as well that would be something that I would try and correlate with when it works and when it doesn't work and try and up your a success rate that way those would be a couple of things that I'll be looking at and consistency as well and clearly if it's if it's not long being dead it might be firmer and it's being dead longer then it might just be a little bit more prone to working and it's not necessarily just down to moisture content it could also be just down to consistency so there's that variable there as well I think and in my experience with some of the other PI natio and some of the pinus species the pines in particular and it's often down to slight changes in consistency whether it works well or whether it's a bit of a struggle that brings us to the end of episode 55 more good questions there and stuff on technique stuff on nature and and a few bits on equipment as well so that's fine hopefully that's a useful spread and that's giving you some things to think about please keep the questions coming in as you're out and about over the summer doing different things as questions spring to mind please get the questions in to me because I am getting through the questions now some of these questions are from a while ago I'm getting caught up and if you've got questions now is a good opportunity to get them answered fairly soon because I know I don't have a huge backlog at the moment so speakpipe I like the voice questions they're always good it's always good to hear people's voices and Instagram I like with it with the pictures and give some pictorial context twitter is a good way of getting a concise question and of course you can always email just make sure it's got asked for curtly in the title or in the context of the of the actual question so that my inbox filters it puts it into a file of a sport collecting questions and then when I'm selecting them to put them across onto onto my phone to prepare these sessions it's easy for me to find the questions so and please like and subscribe if you're watching 5 YouTube videos please subscribe to the audio podcast and also if you're on my blog if you're not on my mailing list why on earth not get into the corner get your email in there because you will get updates on all of the content that's coming out whether it's blogs audio podcasts interview podcasts whether it's videos a sport Kirklees special stuff you will get all of those emails so if you really like most of what I do make sure you are on my email list and if you're not watching this on my blog then go to my blog now Paul Kelly okay dot uk'

and pop your email address in there and I'll send you lots of the good stuff as and when it comes out you'll be the first to hear about it so thanks again for your attention thanks for your questions I'm going to go now because I'm starting to get eaten here and not badly how many people worry about bugs in the UK but with the exception of the Scottish midge and I'm a long way from Scotland here and nothing much to worry about but I'll stop scratching myself in front of you and leave it at that thanks again take care of yourselves enjoy the summer and in the Northern Hemisphere as I know the some of you further south and I will see you soon I'm gonna be canoeing on Windermere soon might do an episode from there if I get the chance so keep an eye out from that different venue I would imagine on the next episode so see you there enjoy wherever you are whatever you're doing stay safe and I'll see you soon kiss [Music]

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