A natural band aid from birch polypore

One of the most important skills in the woods is first aid. You know that I am not too fond of the term "survival". It is not what I claim to do. What I do is enjoying the woods and crafting stuff in the silence and peace of the green. If you have to say "survival" in a realistic scenario, like the upcoming World War III (or IV, I lost count), chance is, you are fooked big time and will NOT succeed in coming out in one piece.  There are things that can help you, of course, but chances to survive the nuclear war are rather dim. In fact, it is maybe waged in order to exterminate most of the populace of the world, because it is no longer needed.  I do not know, and I could not change it.  Old fellas like me almost certainly will not survive it. But I do not know, either.  And I actually don't want to ruin what little time is left with gloomy thoughts of doom. We all will die, what a circus. Of dying and pain I am afraid, of course, but not of death.  

That said, I love the woods. I love carving, and I love having good food in the forest. All of this involves tools that are generally quite sharp, and fire, which is generally quite hot. And sometimes you get eager or nervous or lost in the process, and your knife slips, and you bleed. I always carry an IFAK and some band aids, but I once forgot, and bled all over the place. Good thing there was some spruce resin in my pocket and a birch polypore growing nearby! I cut a band-aid from the porous underside and used spruce resin and a piece of cloth to fix it. 

You can leave the mushroom intact, by the way. In the picture, you can see what I mean. 

Actually you only need the porous part, and it is possible to cut the band-aid quite thin. The pictures were obviously taken for demonstration purposes. The injury was already healed and well at that point.  

Now please keep in mind that this is an emergency remedy. If you have a first aid kit, please, at least use proper disinfectant before treating any wound at all.  I am not to be made liable for any healing impairment or deterioration of the healing process to to the application of natural remedies. I share this as a merely cultural evaluation and for entertainment purposes exclusively.  

That said, the use of birch polypore in indigenous cultural heritage as a natural remedy goes back to the paleolithic age. A later, and rather famous find from the late neolithic/ copper age, showed the multifunctional use of birch polypore. Otzi, the "iceman" carried, amongst other things, a piece of birch polypore as tinder, but probably also as medicinal. Studies have found traces of the mushroom in his digestive tract:

 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1879981718300883, 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378874114003183

and presumeably he had taken this remedy for its anti-inflammatory and immune system modulating properties:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5380686/

The mushroom has many uses and preparation methods.  The dried powder was also used as a painkiller (see: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5380686/). 

Relevant for the use as a band-aid are of course said anti-inflammatory properties. Responsible for these properties are mainly the Tri-Terpenes and Tri-Terpenoids. On the other hand, the wound-healing process might also be furthered by the poly-saccharids in its composition. Hydrogels with Saccharides and Glukose are a therapeutic remedy for necrosis even today. At least, those polysaccharides in the mushroom are said to offer a moisturizing environment for the wound to heal.  For the same reasons, the fresh tissue from Fomitopsis Betulina can be used for skin care and hygiene. The dried mushroom must be rehydrated first.  The dried powder might be best for the purpose.  

So, while obviously cutting a band-aid from some old shroom in the woods can, in that situation, only be an emergency remedy, with a bit more attention to care, hygiene and attention, it could be far more than just that. The mushroom shows a lot of promising characteristics in a lot of fields of use.  

Please harvest the mushroom sustainably.  Take only what you need, and if at all possible, keep the mycelium intact.  As a rule of thumb, take just 20% of the mushroom in order for it to regrow.  Leave the Trama intact, too.  Of course there is nothing wrong with harvesting a whole fruiting body where the mushroom is abundant, too. Just use common sense is all. 

All the best, and take good care! 

 

Helle Knives Skóg blade blank- and the modern relevance of archaeology

This is a fun little project I started in the magic troll 's living room.  Actually there are few things that I love more-we were sitting there, after having some lovely, simple food, with our snacks and cozies and a hot beverage. I mounted a knife blade from Helle Knives, she made her beautiful Naalbindning needles, while there was some sort of documentary on the TV. To me, this is not only the perfect wintertime pastime, but it conveys a lot of meaning to me.  I do think that this, or something very similar, was what our forebears did when the weather was grim, way back to the paleolithic. Well, without the telly, obviously. 😉 If you want to see her work, drop by Koboldkerker.blogspot.de, well worth the visit. 

Anyway, I really do love Helle Knives. The blades always come in razor sharp, and most of them get the task done admireably. We had those Skóg/Fjellmann blades lying around for ages. It is made from H3LS, a three layer laminate steel with a carbon steel as a cutting layer and arming steel sides from 18/8 stainless steel, which offers rust resistance from hell, but cannot be hardened.  It offers a bit of spring resistance, though, when forged.  Blades like that are made by Helle since time immemorial and have been proven to be really resilient. 

I mounted that little blade (80x2,7 mm) with a handle from reindeer antler and birchwood burl. At the first glance, it doesn't look any special, but it is  

A while ago, I made some trial pieces for a replica of the Trollstein knife, a knife unearthed by Norwegian archaeologists at Lendbreen glacier, near #Trollsteinen.  Look here for my thoughts: http://fimbulmyrk.blogspot.com/2024/04/thoughts-on-trollstein-knife.html

This is the original find.  The pictures are copyright by @vegardvike and museum of culturalhistory, Norway. On the pictures you can see that the knife has a rather interesting handle shape, with sort of some diamond cross section and sort of a bevel towards the edge line of the handle. And testing my sample pieces, I found this to be a real game-changer for a lot of applications, from food prepping, to skinning, and it really excels at wood carving.  

 On the picture below, you can see what I mean. 

I wanted to incorporate this idea in a more modern handle design.  Because, while the handle on the Trollstein knife is actually really efficient, it also makes the sheath design a bstd to get right.  Also, I do like a little more contour and purchase in the handle.  So I put those facets on a more modern design.  It is obviously not a replica, but really works awesome. It is about the principle of signalling your brain and body which way you hold the blade.  And what I want to say is, that I would not have known had I not tried to make a replica of the find.  

Archaeology gives us insight into the knowledge of the past. The principles that people applied historically still are relevant.  

In Germany, there is something going on that can only be called a culture war against all things of cultural heritage, science and craft. I do know it is even worse in the US.  At the Uni, there is currently a move of the administration, and behind that, possibly altright political forces, to close down entire ethically relevant faculties like Archaeology, literature and philosophy, but also actively defunding medicine, mathematics and physics.  

Think about the relevance for your actual life situations.  For Archaeology, it might not seem obvious, but the relevance actually is pretty commonplace. Call it "the knowledge of the ancestors" if you want.  

I am not actually asking "cui bono" yet, because I do not need to. Suffice to say that this handle design is really a rather enlightening experience.  

And it was first designed in the iron age. 

If you possibly can, try it out to get my meaning. 

All the best, and take care! 

A fun little carving practice- whittle a pig

I have the feeling that, even though times are grim, you guys might appreciate a little lighter post. Actually, this is why I carry a knife (one of the many reasons, actually). Whittling is proven to be a very wholesome activity, 

 (https://summit.sfu.ca/_flysystem/fedora/sfu_migrate/15910/etd9350_GHamilton.pdf)

with therapeutical benefits for individual mental health.  The creative possibilities are infinite.  This is a simple project that is well suited for beginners and kids with a bit of experience.  Start with cutting a hazel branch that is long enough to give you a bit of a handle.  

Carve a flat on either side.

Carve the snout by using reverse grip power/chest cuts. 

Carve a notch using a thumb pressure cut and reverse grip chest cut to shape the body. 

Using a pinch grip cut, carve the eyes. 

Shape the butt of the little piggy. Essentially it is just a notch you can carve with a chest clutch cut or by applying thumb pressure on the spine of the blade. 

Before cutting all the way through, you can do some refining cuts on the body and shape and refine the legs. 

 Cut or saw off the notch, and in no time you get a stylized piggy.  You can refine it with more details, of course, but as is, this project can be done in 20 minutes. It is a really satisfying lunch break project and is pretty well suited for grounding yourself when you feel stressed out, and you can keep little piggy in your pocket to aid comfort and resilience.  

Take care, play it safe, and I hope you like it and have fun!

A boy scout knife and thought on a "culture"

This is an old German hunting knife I recently got for very cheap on a local flea market. Knives like that were popular as youth Knives from the 50s on, and even sold as "Boyscout Knives" in Germany. It was one of my very first fixed blade knives, which I got at the age of  five.  These knives were the go-to knives for any Outdoor activities that requires a more robust blade.  Before bushcraft knives, this is what we used in Germany. We built our forts in the woods with those, prepared wood for the campfire, prepared food, carved sticks and whittled ugly sculptures and made toys and whatever came to our minds. I never left home without a SAK, and most of the time, a fixed blade knife. In school, it sat in my backpack next to my food pack and my lamp.  I rarely took it out, except for snacking.  I never, not once, drew a knife in anger. Never at all.  Instead, it was a means to solve problems, and when there was something that needed cutting, the teacher always found someone who had a tool. For a tool it was. I got mobbed a lot in school and beaten up a lot. I still have the scars. But even this kind of violence never involved any weapon. There were unwritten rules that even the bullies dared not break. You never whacked someone in the face who had glasses on, you stopped when someone was on the ground or bled in a worrying manner, and under no circumstances at all you used weapons. That was elementary school, of course. On Gymnasium, that changed, but those were the bankster kids using knuckle dusters on me.  This was in the Eighties.  There was a rather subtle shift, almost unintelligible.  

Now, according to studies by the WHO, the world suffers from a mental health crisis. There is a significant loss of empathy and creativity worldwide in college students. More than 40% of Brokers suffer from a narcisstic or psychopathic mental disorder, and this holds true for "the upper echelons" in general. 

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11301-020-00194-6 

On the other hand, there is a rather worrying process of a drastic increase in anxiety and depression and a drastic decline of empathy and creativity.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9517193/

https://www.childcreativitylab.org/the-creativity-crisis

It is quite the scientific commonplace to state that Outdoor activities for children can enhance mental health, further creative thinking and empathy.  Carving with a knife has been proven a century ago to be beneficial for the development of children, and taking responsibility and indulging in social activities like Scouting, Camping and Woodcraft furthers empathy and creative thinking.  

It is only logical that we ban and stigmatize a knife, especially and explicitly stated for children in an educational setting.  

Not. 

So, this raises questions.  There are a legion of studies linking a narcisstic or psychopathic mental disorder to hyperconsumerism. As an example, please see:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3968766/

Narcisstic mental disorder is linked to materialism and the symbolic value of status symbols. Now narcissm in Leaders is quite a commonplace nowadays.  And in order to maintain a system of civil obedience that is based upon trained helplessness in times of crisis,  you need to take away the capability to solve problems from the broad populace. I postulate that the decline of empathy and creativity is manufactured, not by all Leaders per se, but by political and economical leaders, mostly, but not exclusively so, from the far right and far left.  

The harsh reality is, making a kid understand why a tool is a tool, takes time, empathy and patience that most parents nowadays do not have, and cannot have, because they read silly pamphlets on blogs getting political about beautiful knives😉, but, more probably so, because they need to work three jobs to pay rent and/or mortgage. And they need to because high property prices are manufactured to control.  If kids do not learn responsibility and creativity around tools, hey presto, they are incapacitated to think creatively, effectively creating a slave caste.  And do not call me comrade, because the commies are just as bad as the far right assholes.  As are some centre politicians. Because it is not a matter of a political orientation any more, but of a mental disorder diagnosed by leading scientists.  The implications are grave. We currently experience a loss of democracy worldwide. And I cannot emphasize enough that this is not due to just one party, politicians or even the super rich (although a lot of them are supposedly stark raving pissed mad). It is a global mental disorder. We are going conkers. We know that our economy, our society and culture are at stake and maybe dysfunctional.  Our Planet can sustain a system of sustenance at the moment and nothing more. 

And the solution is not to buy a Tesla. 

The solution, if there is solution any at all in the first, is gardening, farming, foraging, making and repairing. What now would we need for that? 

Community, cooperation and creativity, and above all, empathy and the will to take responsibility. To care for the elderly, the unfortunate, the weak. Not because someone told us, but out of an intrinsic motivation. 

To achieve this, we need to stop this shit. 

Teach your kids how to carve, how to garden and make things. They should be able to identify plants rather than know the disgusting stories that narcisstic assholes aka celebrities tell about themselves. 

A rant, you might say. Also, noone is capable of living in the Mesolithic, you might say. 

Because you are told (and do not get me wrong, I fall for it myself most days) that we have to go back, and far. 

This knife is presumeably from the Fifties.  The blade is older, because Fred Mac Overland used old blanks from before the war at first (1920s-1930s), but it was in the Fifties, Sixties up to the late Eighties, that those knives were quite commonplace, especially as youth knives. Production rates skyrocketed first in WWI and then again in WWII and ever since. In business promotion you calculate a minimum growth of pure profit p.a. of 300% in order to even stay in the game. Just so you get the picture.  

Actually, postulating infinite growth in a very finite system is necessarily leading to collapse in physics.  If you put a high pressure pump to a bicycle tyre and do not stop, the tyre will explode. There is no "but" or "if", it does.  Infinite cell growth in your body, aka cancer, will kill you sooner or later. 

Growing anyway in a finite world is the ideology of a cancer cell.  98% of all money is bound in the Portfolios of 3% of the world populace. The money just isn't free, so there is little to no chance that common Joe can earn it. The fact is concealed, whether on purpose or not, I cannot say, and I need not say, by printing money and generating fictional value assets.  Again, not everything that happens must necessarily happen because of some sinister world conspiracy.  And please do not get me wrong: I suck at economics, so I might get the details wrong. 

The frightening thing is, that it doesn't matter. There is a culture war of some raving madmen who simply want to impose their own hubris on the majority of people. 

I cannot put it any other way. I cannot put it politely, and it sucks.  And well, there is no such thing as a "deep state" or "reptiloid elites". Just a small group of people gone completely conkers and who are so powerful that they shit on law and order or contributing to society. What they do, however, is buying media. Follow the flow of money and you get my meaning.  The really frightening facts about climate change are definitively NOT a scam. But if we are talking about depriving e.g. Standing Rock Reservation (wopíla was'te, Piymayelo was'te aikiçitan, tunkasíla kiçi'un!) of water rights in the name of some weird notion of sustainability, well, you do not need some weirdo's blog to tell that this might be a bit bold.  Or depriving the Sáami of herding rights because of the claim their herding economy were not sustainable (they have done so for at least 3000 years and the Tundra depends on the reindeer for ecological balance. I call bs and I am not the only one. 

Fact is, in the last half of a year I signed a petition against one or the other kind of assault on civic and human rights almost every week, at the most five petitions per week. I wrote a shiteload of letters to politicians.  It keeps one in a constant state of agitation and will eventually burn you out, and it is designed that way. Because it is warfare we experience.  It is a culture war. 

It is not fought with weapons, and you are not the enemy. You are not even prey. You are meat in the larder, cultivated for the harvest.  And there is little you can do against it.  Not every politician is a criminal, but those who are, are working highly efficiently.  

They have proactively destroyed the educational system in Germany and progressively cut back on funding in the social care and healthcare sector. There is a well-documented correlation between poverty, lack of education, and lack of social integration and perspective.  Social violence is a reality. 

Noone in their right mind would start a knife fight or see a knife as a weapon. But the kids cannot possibly be in their right mind. Successful psychopaths become top managers or political authorities (sources: Time magazine et al), less intelligent psychopaths become felons. 

This knife comes from a time before the rise of hyperconsumerism and Miltoenesque capitalistic Religion. The cultural context and its implications were rather wholesome. Kids were encouraged to climb trees, read books and reenact their content. They camped, learned to build shacks in the woods, built dams and in spite of breaking one or the other bone, they developed a rather healthy outlook on life and its natural boundaries. They were able to act out energy and relieve stress. And, contrary to popular beliefs, they rarely hurt themselves or others with a knife, in spite of the knives being razor sharp and pointy. I am not advocating educational violence, but the parents nowadays simply have no time or attention-availability to firmly lead the kids through situations with difficult orientational challenges.  It is not only the parents 's fault, because our society doesn't generate a safe environment for raising kids. In fact, it is toxic as to creating a sustainable future. 

The elephant in the room is, that this toxic environment is artificed by political forces. Those manipulate the populace in order to create profit for the very few, and, consequentially, themselves.  One cannot possibly expect them to honestly even try to solve the problems, which are undoubtedly existent.  Because their agendas would fail with a populace of responsible citizens that could care for themselves. Because their self-image is that of power, fear, greed and control.  Noone wants kids that are asking creative questions or citizens that think for themselves, because our system of hyperconsumerism would collapse without trained helplessness, as I said countless times. There is a lot of talk of sustainability, but most of it is the aforementioned greenwashing.

That knife is 70 years old. If it would get banned, I would most certainly have to destroy it. One doesn't need to be a clairvoyant in order to suppose that it is only a matter of time. Mrs.  Faeser, Federal Minister Of Homeland Security tried to establish thought crime as felony, proposes the reversal of the assumption of innocence and total surveillance via AI.  

(https://www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/attacken-bundesregierung-rechtsordnung-lisa-paus-nancy-faeser, https://www.cicero.de/kultur/nancy-faeser-spd-terrorismus-bka-wohnungsdurchsuchungen) 

As I have made clear, this is possibly antidemocratic. And it is not even trying to be sustainable or even effective, because it doesn't target the root of the problem and doesn't even try.  

It sucks, because this is our life now. They try to destroy democracy, we try to fight them.  They own the media, though, and it is only a matter of time that the majority of protesters will get numbed and muffled.  

On a more positive note, the mere existence of such a knife is very good news.  To me, as you might know by now, it is not a weapon. It is conveying meaning and sustainability in a world gone conkers. Every time I use such a knife, fond memories are coming up, of childhood adventures, of loong and beautiful hikes with my father through woods that were denser and wilder (or so it seemed), of carving hiking sticks from hazel, a ritual my father and I did at the beginning of every longer hike. Of shacks my pals and I built in the woods, dangerous treehouses 25m above the ground, sitting in the crown of a spruce tree, gently caressed by the wind and the perfume of resin.  Of dams and forts we built, and campfires where we spent whole evenings without even talking, but understanding each other without words. Of toys we made, of bows from hazel and arrows without fletching, of sunlight through the leaves and hot cocoa after a snowstorm outing on skis.  

They do not want to just take the knives from you. Not just the memories. They want to destroy the possibility for you to make such memories. They want to destroy your mental health, and your soul. 

Do not become violent. They are just waiting for you to go off your rocker in order to further diminish your freedom. Protest is still possible in a democratic way.  

Do not talk with them on informal terms.  Do not help them. Do not believe them. Do not sell them bread nor wine.  Do not care about them. That is not to say that you should demonize or dehumanize them. Stay kind to everyone, to yourself, to the last seven generations and to the next seven generations.  I am not saying you should wish them any harm.  Not force opposes the darkness. Light does. 

Make memories for yourself, your family and your kids.  Take the Smartphone out of their hands and put it aside, and fill their hands with the jewels of reality. It is obviously bad if they break a bone. Teach them responsibility and realistic caution, and it might not happen. But it is far worse if they are not allowed to go and test their limits. 

Teach them limits yourself.  Of course, if you put a knife in their hands, they will injure themselves. Given that they hopefully do not damage something crucial, you can see that as an opportunity. It hurts to cut yourself, and when the tears have dried and the wound is better, then is the time to talk to them what went wrong. Not earlier.  Also, you need to make them never to forget that they can still do it, that it is worth it, that pain is a part of life, and the only way to make it bearable is care and help for others and carry on, maybe in a different manner.  

As always, the solution is kindness and resilience. They do not care about children.  But they are not immortal.  Repair the mess we have created, and, yes, it is not "us vs. them". We are all a part of it as well. 

Make fond memories.  Memories that can warm your kids when they will have to deal with bankster or politician scum or get whacked with life's blunt end, and that can warm yourself when your treeclimbing times are over. The world is a very beautiful and awe-inspiring place.  It is a huge and great adventure, even if you never left your tiny village.  These adventures are free. And if you create a place in your mind and soul from adventures and memories, you would even be free yourself if they succeed to establish a real-life dystopian hellscape.  

Take care and all the best! 

What a tiny knife can do-Helle Raud S review

Well, you know, politicians happen again in Germany. At the moment there is a bit of hope we might keep the sorry mess that is left of our democracy for a bit longer (but I wager, not for long) due to massive democratic and judicial protest, but who knows. 

Since I wanted a pocket knife that is capable of carving and didn't look threatening to the Karens or our Slytheen that rule us, I came across the Helle Raud S.  Normally, I would not have thought twice about a knife that small. Actually, the Vics are awesome and those are actually rarely incapable of doing things, but the proposal for the novelty offensive weapon act would have banned a Swiss Army knife, because it would be too long.  Actually, the new proposal, which still is not aborted, would ban all things not Teletubby from the public, including all kind of tools, knives, bottles or anything heavy or sharp. 

I spare you the rant.  It is pathetic, and we all know.  

Anyway, I was asking myself, could one find a capable knife with a tiny blade that were still able to do some of the things I want or need to do in the woods? Forget tactical neckknives, those are toys for people who will open boxes at the most.  And I thought, well, my Mora carving knives are actually pretty decent for a lot of things I do. But them being fixed blade knives, they still look too threatening to the Karen Teletubbies. So, a folding knife it had to be.  Originally, I thought about the Helle Kletten, but dismissed it because it would not work with a ferro rod, because of its three layer laminate steel, so it had to be the cheaper Raud S.  To be honest, I wasn't too fond of spending 120€ on a knife I normally would never have bought.  

Well, the little knife arrived. There was a rather silly #nancysapplechallenge going on in the interwebs where you tried to demonstrate that you could not cut an apple with a short knife, which is a logical fallacy, because you cannot prove a negative claim. But, anyway, apple harvest was on the way and I had to make and conserve apple sauce from 5kg of crap apples anyway, so I put it through its paces. It obviously needed some adaptation, but it proved really not as inadequate as I expected.

Also, it actually did not work too bad prepping potatoes for soup and slicing up sausage and spring onions. 

It had its shortcomings, but it is possible to use it for food prepping in a pinch.  

Where it excelled, however, was carving.  

It performs several classes above its size when carving wood. The blade shape and Scandi grind and short blade all combine to add up to a really great detail knife. 

I made wall hooks, 

spoons from seasoned oak,

a walking stick from holly, 

wallhooks from dry cherry,

And after all that hard use it still made shavings like that. 

Using it to help with cordage, foraging, mushroom hunting, it really does a lot of things. 

Its biggest advantage is obviously that it goes into the small pocket of your jeans and is so light and nimble that you do not really notice it until you need it.  The blade is 55mm long and 2.7 mm thick. It is made from 12C27 steel, tempered to 59HRC. The grind is a medium Scandinavian grind with the tiniest of micro bevels. It locks reliably by a sturdy back lock.  There is no radial or side play whatsoever. The liners are made from sturdy tempered steel (almost a millimetre thick). The handle from beautiful curly birch , which is stained red, is 85 mm long. To me, that means, the pinky gets to rest behind the handle. This led to a bit of pain in my joints of that finger after several hours of hard carving.  The handle, being rather stubby and chunky, lends itself to powerful cuts, though.  Inverse cuts, chest cut, scissor cut and all Slöjd positions need a bit of adaptation, but are perfectly doable.  

So, if you are looking for a non-offensive and light carry knife for Slöjd in the woods, and can live with the limits of such a tiny blade, this knife, apart from it being in line with the removal of your civic rights, performs admireably well for little Slöjd projects.  It might also be a really great first Slöjd knife for kids.  

So, apart from the political shitshow going on, it is a great companion that you do not notice until you need it, but that is amazingly and surprisingly capable. I currently always carry it alongside my SAK, because for carving, it performs really great. If you can afford it, and can live with its limitations, it might be a great addition to your EDC.  

Thanks for tuning in, take care and have fun!

Acorn coffee with Chaga and hazelnut

On a recent outing, I collected some acorns and hazelnuts to try out a new recipe for a coffee alternative. 

I cracked the nuts and peeled the acorns.  You need to thoroughly leach out the acorns.  I was sort of in a hurry, so I chopped them and boiled them three times for 20 minutes, changing the water every time. You could keep the batches for staining cloth or tanning leather. When the bitterness is gone, you can take the nuts and acorns and roast them to a dark brown or even black colour.  

Grind them like coffee and boil them with a walnut-sized piece of Chaga for about 20 minutes, until a golden-brown froth rises from the Chaga. If you want to make the drink more substantial, you can add some sweet chestnut and some cashews or unroasted hazelnuts. 

Sweeten with honey. 
Enjoy! 😉
 

A new and very different bike and some thoughts on the ""bugout bike concept"

It has been in the making for a long time.  Ages ago, as it seems, when the World was a very different place, I was looking for a new bike.  There was a Surly Troll sitting in the window of my then favourite bikeshop. I was all for riding Enduro trails, though, and, well, that frame came with a rigid fork. Actually I was being aware even back then, that the party was nearing the end. I do love riding a lot. I have been riding with passion for a good 40 years almost, I have been riding races and down places and trails with 35mm of rubber eraser suspension up front that are not open to the public, including hikers, because they are too dangerous nowadays. I thought I would live to ride back then and even designed T-shirts with that slogan. I now know that it was more that I rode to live. 

I have been a people-pleaser all my life.  And a huge part of my riding with others was because I never got respect for anything I did and most of the time, for no other reason than the fact that I am different, I was actively denied it.  Mountainbike riding gave me acknowledgement, even though it came at a price.  The fact that few people talk about is that a lot (not all of it, obviously) of the progression of a lot of riders is driven either by the need for acknowledgement or a rather narcisstic impulse.  I did ride with a lot of narcisstic assholes, and, well, that seems to be, amongst a lot of awesome people, be a rather integral part of Mountainbike culture. 

This leads to a rather unforgiving culture on a ride. You got an old bike? Of course there are always great and awesome groups who will always wait for you and encourage you. I have even been gifted old freeride bikes in order to have more fun, and, Totopete, if you read this, you should know that I never forgot that act of kindness.  Others, however, see this as an opportunity to ride you to mincemeat to enlarge their tiny egos, and, unfortunately, the Club I helped found, while of course not exclusively so, developed into that category.  So, when I was shopping for a frame, while I knew perfectly well that the Surly Troll, that rigid steel frame, might be the more sustainable option, I instead opted for a Dartmoor Primal Enduro frame with a big fork up front. And do not get me wrong, I did have a lot of fun with it, and it was more than adequate riding with the morons.  

But my riding style changed. I do still love me some gnar.  But I started to go on epic rides more and more. And people want to ride the same sanitized trails and lines in the City limits over and over again in order to scrub off some seconds on STRAVA. For prestige or success, or whatever it is.  I go out riding in order to see places, wild animals, look into remote valleys and ride natural trails. Maybe have a cuppa trailcoffee or riding out to some trailside Café. Of course this is neither better nor inferior, it is just different. Often I would rise early and come back well into the night. 

Well, maybe my riding style didn't change that much.  I adapted to the group, but I have always ridden that way when I have had a choice. I find it way more wholesome than what we are taking for "progression". Progressing happens naturally when you are just doing what you like. 

That steel frame sat in the back of the shop all the while. Every fecking day the world turned into a huge pile of shit a little more.  Every day, it became a little harder to afford riding for sport alone. A sprocket suddenly cost 30ü€. That is 300€ for a wear item that maybe lasts a year. Don't get me wrong, you still get Chinese spare parts for a halfway decent price, but they are obviously not compatible. It is more cost-effective to replace the cranks and (because you then need to), the bottom bracket, than just buy a new chainring, because this is what needs to be replaced.  An overhaul of your suspension costs as much as a good, used fork. 29" is essentially just 700C or 28" with beefier rims and bigger tyres, but can cost up to 150€ more.  Nothing wrong with the idea, actually.  I am just not quite enthused if someone wants to sell me moonbeams. 

So, the Enduro hardtail getting a bit tired, so to say, and with a bit of money that I unfortunately inherited, I just said "screw it" and bought that Surly Troll.  Because it has a steel frame that you could weld back again in a smithy, because it comes with a lot of bosses for carrier racks, because it comes with a fork that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and, well, also because a pre-2012 Surly Troll had reportedly legendary ride properties, and because you do not read a lot about it. 

Why that, you ask? Well, I no longer trust the media a lot.  I was fortunate enough to learn a bit early on concerning bike engineering. Essentially, we built our own components in ' em days.  To do that, you have to delve a bit into mechanics, ergonomics, and plain old physics. Also, having ridden for 40 years means you know what works on paper and what works, when the rubber hits the dirt.  At least for me. And while the media don't report utter nonsense, they are also dependant on advertising for financing. If you follow the flow of money you always arrive at the very few corporations still left on the open market. And, believe it or not, some corporations are actually part of the military industrial complex.  I shit you not.  On the other hand, well, I just want to ride.  To be honest, I try not to be a part of the shitshow, but here I am, using a Google product.  And since I simply don't matter at all, I simply allow myself the luxury of just getting away from it all when I go riding.  I know pretty much that while I obviously still push myself, I most certainly will not master some triple backflip can-can busdriver-to-hospital, and I no longer care. I know if I break a crucial part of my body it will hurt double and I will take triple the time to heal.  And I like doing things that are good for my soul, given that it hurts a bit after a life that was not exactly easy, and five un-treated burnouts in a row lead to a mindset that I do not need unnecessary stress in my life anymore. Don't misunderstand that, though. I still do push myself, but it is a part of what I am. I do not want to push myself anymore if anyone tells me I have to.  My attitude leads to performance. I like to work hard and give it my best, because it feels good.  I just refuse to adapt to toxicity anymore.  The bike industry, however, is partly rather toxic, as you will see.  

Building up the bike presented a lot of challenges.  I had to go around in my county a lot in order to find spare parts. Corporate policies of the bike industry can only be called diabolic these days. 

The aftermarket chainrings, I got, were designed not to fit the old cranks by a fraction of a millimetre, just so you get frustrated and throw the old ones away. Not with uncle Fimbulmyrk, tho', who knows which end of a file to hold.  

 Next issue was the rear derailleur.  The cogs on it where ground down by years of hard use. It was cheaper to get a new one than to fecking replace the goddamn cogs. Frustrated, I just hauled that sorry wreck to the shop. I got the impression that they were not too enthused.  Their mechanic proudly showed me his new electronic shifting system. You get an app to adjust it, and the app can also measure your torque and cadence and offer you training advice. Maybe even give you nutritional "suggestions" via AI.  Also, it is connected to Google or Komoot or STRAVA, imagine that, what a brave new world we live in! Isn't that marvellous?!

Yes, it is NOT.  Starting with the very simple fact that it needs energy, and originally, a bicycle has an efficiency ratio of 98%. A bicycle is maybe the last beautiful machine that mankind has invented.  That would be or should be completely sufficient in times of climate change crisis to completely dismantle it as unnecessary. 

But unfortunately, it is more to it. It is about customer control, and, ultimately, the ultimate citizen control.  I spare you the elaboration.  Uwe was just intrigued by the technology, and I can perfectly relate to that. Don't get me wrong on this.  It is a fascinating technology, and would be just awesome.  But I know politicians intimately, and there are, while a lot of them are pretty decent people, some, and in rather powerful positions, that are not.  Not every politician is a crackpot technocratic would-be dictator. But the very few that are should make you very careful around anything that says "digital", " AI", "Networks" , "surveillance" and "control" in one description.  And do not get me wrong again, either. I honestly cannot say, because I cannot know.  I really just want to rather be safe than sorry. 

And actually, my main reason is that I want to keep it simple and reliable and serviceable.  I want to ride. I am the one who rides, and my capabilities are propelling the bike. I haven't trained for ages and I am getting old and out of shape. I do not want to cheat myself into believing I were 20. I am not. I do not want to constantly worry whether or not I charged my motor or shifter battery or whatever. I want to be able to leave my Smartphone at home and just take along some brick phone. Not that I would, I do love the camera. But I do not want to worry about it telling Mommy in the US about my torque and cadence and heart rate and speed and calory intake or where I have been. I do want to emphasize that I cannot know.  But I go to some pretty remote places with wildlife and serene little forest trails, and I would rather not have some STRAVA- nutters spoil that for good.  I do not want to think how long my fork will hold up without service. I do not want to bother to monitor my heart rate and calory intake. I don't have a talent for racing. I do not want to indebt myself in order to belong.  I have learned the hard way that everything I could do would not make me fit in. I tried, and I tried hard, and broke myself in the process five fucking times in order to belong to fucking Karens, male or female.  Debt is a method of control. And I decided to rather be more feral.  This is the hard way.  A rigid fork means pain. But I fail to see the point of taking the sport too serious, because I do not take myself too serious. I know that I am not the centre of the world.  I want to ride.  I want to ride free. I might not be the best rider there is, but I am also not the worst, but all that doesn't matter. 

The  bike, which I brought to the shop in the state you can see on the photo, wheels and everything pre-installed and with little technology on it, took said shop three months to complete.  

Do not get me wrong again, all good, and I did not get mad at them. But I simply propose they were, while on the one hand, somewhat relieved about the bike that was, quote unquote "like to those in the good ol' times", also a bit pissed off by it.  Because, well, it doesn't generate a lot of money.  A big bikestore in Marburg, where I was looking for an alternative, told me they would rather not have the customer do anything on the bike her- or himself, and even offer rescue repairs in the woods..."if you get the App" in order to prevent you from even repairing a flat. When I objected that I also have worked as a race mechanic when applying for a job as a product manager with a corporation most of their wheels come from, that guy didn't even reply but elaborated endlessly about their leasing programs and how I could get bonus points when I "got the App". The magic troll and I would sit there still, had we not interrupted his mumbo jumbo by simply rising and walking out of the door.  And that is a reality. The bike industry is about making money and generating data and NFTs, not about bikes or even sustainability.  

Well, you might know how much that pissed  me off. It makes me angry what they try to create from a sport that is utterly democratic and inclusive.  Fact is, a certain percentage of riders are and have always been the rich kids. This percentage is apparently rising.  You don't meet a lot of riders on ratty bikes on the trails, and next to noone at all on the backwoods trails. Well, very well, fairnuff for me. I do not want or need company.  It is the lack of company I strive for, or rather, less, but quality company, and this mindset enables me not to give a runny shit about my bike being compatible with an average group speed. I mean, I don't think I would be too slow at all for a group ride. It is just a luxury to no longer care.  

Now you guys know that I am very much into forest and nature, and this means I also have my contact with bushcraft and survival.  And in the survival and prepping community there is that "bugout" concept. Means, when SHTF, you got a spare car or motorbike or quad or other ATV to get away from the crisis.  One famed YouTube prepper featured a bugout bike (I think it was by Jeep or something). It was a fat bike concept with an E-bike configuration. Some racks, rather martial looks, weighs in at some 25kg and obviously needs a battery.  And it sits in your garage most of the time. Because most of the prepping guys are rather overweight gun-nutters. And of course you need to spare it so that it will work in that special scenario.  It is a piece of gear you buy, and, unfortunately not necessarily often linked to mindset or attitude. 

Well, I actually am not entitled to criticize that.  I learned everything about bugging out from my father. Personally I do think that there is not a lot more to know.  During WW2, my father had been a Hitler youth, until he barely escaped concentration camp for insubordination and was no longer active.  When the allies (fortunately) arrived in the Ruhr region, the Wehrmacht recruited every Hitler youth for the "Volkssturm". Turned out that my father had different ideas.  My granduncle and grandaunt lived in a very rural area in the Sauerland region.  My father deserted and bugged out, not just out of political reasons, but because he was a kid and afraid of being killed and because it was stoopid in the first.  He had some good bike with one speed and a robust frame and balloon tyres he was really familiar with. At one time he rode some 300km to the North Sea in one go on it, so riding it 50km through the woods wasn't a real challenge. He just grabbed a rucksack with a bit of tea and bread and rode away, and it was just a regular ride for him. The bike had a frame pump, he had a repair kit, and a wrench, he went and put on plain clothing and was off.  Nearly got the bike confiscated but lied about a special messenger duty, so that he got to keep the bike and was left alone.  He laid low for a week in a shed on his aunt's and uncle 's property in the woods, the Nazi regime was defeated and he survived.  

Thing is, I want to ride.  I find it rather silly buying a rather high-maintenance bike that requires really complex spare parts to maintain.  When my father broke the cranks on his bike while launching it off a ramp, my grandfather welded them back together in an open coal forge.  Try this with some kind of pedelec drivetrain module.  The bikes of the 1920s were, for the most part, rather simple and sustainable to service.  Why is that important? 

Well, a bicycle is fun and a very beautiful machine for its efficiency.  

There are some goodies I do not want to miss, like decent disc brakes, modern geometry and shifting mechs. 

A bicycle can take you places. If said shit hits the proverbial fan, you need to be able to ride fast and for maybe a longer time through maybe rougher terrain.  

You need a certain amount of training to do that. Relying on a motor is a more complex situation. You want to minimize the chance of things going wrong and a bicycle is not just a single use item.  It is a very useful tool for foraging and going places. And it is also good for the morale, because, if you associate fun with any riding, it offers you a lot of resilience.  So you might consider getting a bicycle also for fun and resilience, not just for some prepping scenario.  

The situation with the bike industry, however, makes it already rather difficult to get a simple, sustainable bike.  The Troll frame and a lot of other Surly frames offer you the option of using rim brakes and a single speed setup.  Making rim brakes is not rocket science, and you can find rim brakes even on junkyards. And fortunately, there are a lot of little corporations like Jones bikes or Binary bikes and other manufacturers catering to those requirements again. Maybe the tides are turning a bit.  

Finally, I could fetch the Troll. Of course, I had to tighten every screw, adjust the mechs and have the brakes serviced (again), but finally got to show it some trails.  

And what can I say? I had heard about the "legendary ride qualities". And, while I have gone to rather exhausting lengths with this post to state that I do not buy into the hype of anyone, well, I cannot but agree with that. 

The bike has a standard, but well-balanced geometry. The fork length is still adjusted to fit a suspension fork, the top tube is 575 mm long. Look here for a spec sheet for the newer model of Troll (but that is no longer available, either): 

https://www.bikeauthority.com/product/surly-troll-frameset-351217-1.htm

Apart from the longer top tube and fork, it is what I have got.  The tubing is Surly 's own triple-butted True Temper 4130 ChroMoly tubing, which can be heat treated.  

The bike, as I said, is quite the opposite of my Enduro hardtail.  But riding it was a rather strange thing.  On the Dartmoor, I got a rather narrow saddle and a dropper post. And get my meaning right: A dropper post is a great thing to have on any bike.  On the Enduro, it is almost as much in use as my shifters.  

On the Surly, I mounted a vintage Brooks Colt saddle, which is not exactly narrow.  

I realized quickly, that, while I intended the Troll to be a commuter and gravel and lighter duty forest trails bike, it asks for more.  If you bang it through some rock gardens, you obviously notice the absence of any squish at all, and of course you go a bit slower, but you don't miss the suspension too much. And when you forget you got a rigid bike and sail off a drop, well, of course it goes #klunk. But there is a rather weird sensation, which few other people might be able to relate to: It whips through as if you were parrying a blow with a really well-made sword. The frame is actually heat treated, and by someone who really knows their shit. This sensation is quite addictive.  Sooner than I had expected, I was flying down trails I also ride my Enduro on. And thing is, I only noticed when I was through the gnar that I completely forgot to lower my saddle at all.  You know, that  Grampa couch of a saddle.  Do not get me wrong: No suspension means you cannot make any mistake at all.  One root not taken on an ideal line will send you arse over teacup into the bushes.  I am most certainly slower than on the Enduro (didn't check yet, because I honestly don't care), but boy, is that fun.  It has its shortcomings on high speed tech, but excels on slow tech and singletrack, up and down, no matter what, you just keep riding.  

It simply does everything. It inspires you to ride, no matter what. 

Epic trails, toodling around in the Skatepark, commuting, getting groceries, bikepacking, foraging, you name it.  I will work on the concept more and maybe build it with some other parts with time (and I also want to get myself some decent racks), but this most certainly is the best thing I ever bought, at least it is the best thing I bought in years.  

If you can still get one, you most certainly will not regret it. And do not fall for the bullshit, in the bike industry as well as in the survival and prepping community.  Have fun.  Get on the bike, if you have one. If you have not, you might want to consider keeping it a tad more simple. It is and always will be about the mindset and attitude. Good gear is fun, but just like some prybar of a knife sucks at real life tasks, so do bikes marketed as "bugout bikes". Don't see it as a primary tool for bugging out in an emergency, too.  Don't forget to play, because it is good for one's mental health and resilience in an emergency.  

Take care, and have fun!