Urthgard Hard Kit (pic heavy)
Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:32 am
Here is my Hard Kit in it's current state of evolution. Please forgive any spelling and grammar errors. I really should not be allowed to type late at night.
HARD KIT
1 Oilskin Ground Cloth
2 Oilskin Tarp
3 Swag Strap/Towel
4 Blankets
5 Jute Rope
6 Spare Wool Socks
7 Shoepack style moccasins
8 Hemp Cordage
9 Personal Kit
10 Pipe Bag
11 Rune Bag
12 Food Bag/Tucker Bag
13 Food
14 Cook Kit
15 Water Carrier
16 Camp Ax
17 Bow
18 Quiver
19 Quiver Pouch
SLEEPING/SHELTER
1 Oil cloth ground cloth 87" x 43"
2 Oil cloth shelter/bivy tarp made from a 100% Egyptian cotton queen sized bed sheet 84" x 96". Waterproofed with boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits mixed 50/50 then thoroughly dusted with dirt to reduce the chance of spark taking hold. Dusting it is not foolproof and vigilance is still required. The tarp is still very flammable if it gets too close to an open flame or a large ember lands on it.
Shown here in bivy mode.
3 Piece of scrap cotton cloth that serves as the shoulder strap for the swag and is much softer on the shoulder than piece of leather. Cotton was chosen because once in camp it will become my camp towel. This particular piece of fabric is "fresh". It won't be that bright white color for long.
4 Two Wool Blankets - one thin with a very tight weave, one thicker with a very lose weave. Loose weave blanket goes inside the tight weave blanket for more effective insulation. Can be "pinned" together to form a sleeping bag with some carved sticks. Blankets can also be a part of a medical kit and can be used for such things as shock treatment or padding for splinting/immobilizing.
Rolled up in the bedroll are:
5 50' length of jute rope primarily for bear bagging, hanging my food bag in bear country. Other camp or emergency uses as needed.
6 Spare wool Socks
Dry socks and footwear are a little slice of heaven.
7 Crude brain tanned shoe pack type moccasins. For camp wear and to let boots air out or dry out, as needed.
One moc gets packed with:
8 Two 16' lengths of hemp cordage
9 Pigskin Clasp Purse containing: Tin of personal meds, wooden comb, small tin of tallow soap, brass container of baking soda for brushing teeth, bone handled boar bristle toothbrush, which seems to have disappeared. Now where did I leave that?
The other moc gets packed with:
10 Embroidered Silk Bag containing: Churchwarden style Pipe, Tobacco, Tobacco Tin w/magnifying glass, Tinder Tube
11 Brain tanned rune bag and bone runes (water buffalo) Currently studying runes
Here it is all packed up and ready to be rolled up into the bedroll
If heading into an area known to be very rocky and/or thorny I'll add a pair heavy sole Kiabab style mocs as well.
FOOD AND COOKING
12 Tucker Bag/Food Bag
A simple oil cloth drawstring bag to carry food and cooking gear in.
13 Food
Food is always a variable and I always seem to be trying different things. What food I carry depends on the variables of trip length, season, whether on foot or horseback, pack weight, Carbs - Protein - Calorie requirements, Taste, and Prep/Cooking time.
A. Red & Brown Lentils. Will probably switch to just red lentils as the brown ones take too long to soften.
B. Homemade leavened baking mix - homemade Bisquick basically. Great for ash cakes, dumplings, stew/soup thickener, or bread fried in pemmican fat.
C. Rolled Oats and Barley. Hot oatmeal and barley with some dried apples, cinnamon and honey makes a good dinner too!
D. Dried Vegetables and Fruit - kale, cabbage, carrots, turnips, parsnips, potatoes, mushrooms, apples, onions. Also some apple/blackberry fruit leather. A lot of fiber in here, use with caution! Much of it can be eaten raw but is of course much better in a soup or stew, including the fruit.
E. Black Tea Brick, Tea egg and Coffee Beans. Brick Tea is an ancient way of packing tea for trade on the Silk Road and was used as a form of currency. Tea from this brick tastes like it is millennia old too! The coffee beans I pound into grounds as needed. I used to carry green coffee beans and roast them as needed but it required a skillet (more weight) and added too much time to make a simple cup of coffee. Remember I'm getting old, my modern sole boots and I want coffee now!
F. Dried meat (plain dried beef, no seasoning) eat as is or add to soup or stew.
G. Thin oat & barley cakes (crackers) made from: course oat flour, barley flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, salt, butter, honey, and egg. These aren't that good actually and may play around with the recipe. What drew me to the recipe was the fact that I could make my own oat flour simply by grinding up some old fashioned rolled oats in a blender.
H. Pemmican made from: dried beef, suet tallow, dried blueberries, dried flathead cherries, and dried cranberries. Can be eaten as is and isn't bad but it is really tasty fried up into a hash. Summer mix, rather crumbly. Winter mix would be made with more tallow. More fat = more calories.
I. Cheese sealed in wax. These get eaten within the first day or two.
Depending on exertion and calorie needs I would consider this about five to seven days worth of food. Augmented by - but not dependant on - foraging for wild edibles in a given area (not an expert by any means, always learning). Hunting or snaring small game - rabbits, squirrels, rodents - where and when legal. As well as aquatics like fish, turtles, frogs, crayfish etc.
14 Cook Kit
A couple of tin billy cans that nest nicely together. A pair of well used old friends.
Inside the nested billy cans goes a linen drawstring bag that contains:
Honey in a very non-traditional bottle (Never have found a consistently reliable yet period way to carry the stuff without it leaking.) Food and medicine all in one. Multitude of uses in or on a body (Natural antiseptic, Energy, Wound care, Sore throat/coughs, Itching dry skin and many more)
Wooden Spoon
Poudre Douce (Sweet Powder) in a sterling silver encased blue glass shaker containing: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves
Rawhide bottle with a mixture of dried Herbs: Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Tarragon, Cumin Seeds, Bay Leaves.
Poudre Forte (Strong Powder) My old flintlock priming horn repurposed. A small scrimshawed cow horn on twisted leather hanger containing: Black Pepper, ground Ginger, ground Cumin & Cayenne Pepper
Food and cook kit fits into the food bag with room to spare.
WATER
15 Enameled British style canteen.
Someday I'll get around to making the carrier and strap more period but it's been so durable and just plain works as is.
WEAPONS
16 Camp Axe
In lieu of a sword I carry a camp axe while trekking. The leather wrist loop helps give it more chopping or pounding power while keeping it under control. Though small it can be used as a weapon if the need should arise.
I carry this handy little camp axe in a very adjustable shoulder sheath.
17 Bow
I don't always carry my bow and quiver on a trek as I'm rather a noob when it comes to archery. However, if I'd have known how much fun this stuff was I'd have been shooting a bow a long time ago. Anyways here's what I've got now.
60" Hickory "You-Finish kit " hunting longbow from Ringing Rocks Archery - 45lbs@26".
18 Quiver
Made from scraps from the local leather store and recycled belts from the thrift store with a somewhat elven influenced design. Holds 24 arrows with bodkin style tips.
The straps that wrap around it can be used to lash my bow to the quiver or multitude of uses. I also use these straps to secure my bedroll/swag.
I designed this quiver with flexibility in mind. Using the ladder system on the back I can configure it to be worn slung over one shoulder, backpack style, at the small of the back, or hung from the hip simply by reconfiguring or adding straps.
19 Quiver Pouch
This pouch seems to be in just the right spot on my quiver to be out of the way, yet convenient. For those times when I don't trek with bow and quiver it could just as easily slide onto a haversack strap or my belt.
Inside it I carry:
Fishing stuff in small tin: variety of hooks on deer sinew leaders, lead strips for weights.
20' Length of thin brain tanned leather. Several strips tied together to form one length. Multiple uses (fishing line, guy line, general cordage around camp, repairs and more).
Two spare arrow tips
A spare bow string
Tin of beeswax/tallow mixture (need to make up some more). Multiple uses - sun block, chapping relief, fire starter, leather treatment and many more.
Two glover's needles, embedded in brain tanned leather scrap, for repairing equipment - and humans. Glover's needles have a triangular cross section rather than round which helps to punch through leather which eliminates (almost) the need to carry an awl.
Deer sinew for repairing equipment. Can be used on humans in a crisis.
Small amount of linen thread on bone shuttle for repairs. Also used for dental floss. If I need more thread than this it can be (and has been) pulled from the hem of my shirt(s) or from a silk bandana.
Another piece of archery kit that I have been playing around with is this archer's thumb ring, made from recycled sterling silver spoon. I'm not experienced enough with it to go into pros and cons. I stumbled onto this website - http://www.primitiveways.com/archer%27s_thumb_ring.html - and it triggered my curiosity enough to try it out.
Knives
I carry two knives on my main belt. One is a small utility knife recycled from an old carbon table knife. The other is a nice sharp long knife, another old friend.
I own two swords, neither of which I pack on a trek.
One, an Irish Bastard Sword, is strictly a costume piece. It's a cheapo costume sword for show only that never comes out of it's scabbard. In fact I have it solidly "peace tied" with a set screw securing it to the scabbard.
The other sword is a Cold Steel Grosse Messer, MAA version. This thing is heavy and sharp. It's a beast. The weight to use ratio is just to high for me to justify packing this guy on a trek but I love the thing though, including it's blackened blade. Makes me think of Túrin Turambar and his cursed black sword Gurthang, re-forged from Anglachel.
In my Soft Kit write up I mentioned my belt pouches and haversack but not the contents, so...
Small Belt Pouch Contents
Tinder box
Flint
Steel
Char
Tow
Pitch Pine
Large Belt Pouch Contents
Somewhat dwarven looking wallet for modern requirements (ID, plastic, cash, permits & licenses, spare vehicle key, etc.) In it I carry pages printed out from internet (double sided) texts, diagrams, pics etc along with handwritten notes. Basically a field "To do list" for skills training that I want to accomplish for this trip. Typically a mix of new stuff to learn along with old stuff to revisit, lest knowledge grow stale. Blank paper for general notes and recording info that medical personnel will want to know regarding an emergency (onset, vitals, mechanism of injury, application times, subject data). A map of the area printed out on coffee paper - used more for marking caches and/or for exploratory goals than for way finding.
A small antique silver pencil.
Two small sharpening stones in greased leather pouch; a fine grit stone and a honing stone.
Folding knife, with a folding fork that separates from the knife.
Medieval Purse
This where my modern stuff gets hidden.
Camera or smart phone - not shown. (I got tired of not taking pictures because my camera or phone was too buried to be convenient.) This well built little bag hides my camera from view, offers some decent protection and is easy to get to. I sometimes carry a smart phone & spare battery(s) in here too. I am finding that a smart phone, though obviously modern, can be a great training tool on the trail as it can hold a lot of notes, full texts, diagrams and pics while weighing far less than a full size book. Battery life and risk of damage of course are it's biggest drawbacks.
Leather wrap pouch for spare batteries
Leather wrap pouch for spare SD cards
Bleach in a small eye drops bottle. (I can't use iodine due to thyroid issues.) An eye drops bottle is just right for counting drops. Don't want to over do it. Filled fresh each trip. Combined with filtering and boiling works for living organisms. Toxic metals and chemical contaminants are another story and require a modern multistage filter (carried in the haversack), which I will bring depending on the area and type of trip.
Haversack/Forage Bag
No-cook trail food for the days hike consisting of: dried meat, apple & blackberry fruit leather, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts & cheese sealed in wax.
I will also toss in a few toilet paper packets from MRE's in here as well.
FIRST AID KIT
As far as a first aid kit goes I don't really carry one per se. As I've alluded to in these Soft and Hard kit descriptions I've tried to identify and incorporate medical uses of gear wherever possible. Though not a professional by any means I do have a keen interest wilderness medicine/backcountry first care and continue to build on that interest through self study as well as coursework. I know that whatever kit I carry into the backcountry is going to be incomplete to some degree so I figure the best kit is knowledge. These words sum it up best for me: "Do the best you can, with what you've got, where your at." - Theodore Roosevelt
The weight of the packed bedroll alone is 11lbs. The food bag/cook kit is the variable and is the only thing that would be dropping in weight as a trip progresses. Alone it weighs 5lbs.
Total weight of bedroll, food bag, axe, and filled canteen comes to 23 lbs. Add the bow and quiver and that brings the total up to 28lbs.
HARD KIT
1 Oilskin Ground Cloth
2 Oilskin Tarp
3 Swag Strap/Towel
4 Blankets
5 Jute Rope
6 Spare Wool Socks
7 Shoepack style moccasins
8 Hemp Cordage
9 Personal Kit
10 Pipe Bag
11 Rune Bag
12 Food Bag/Tucker Bag
13 Food
14 Cook Kit
15 Water Carrier
16 Camp Ax
17 Bow
18 Quiver
19 Quiver Pouch
SLEEPING/SHELTER
1 Oil cloth ground cloth 87" x 43"
2 Oil cloth shelter/bivy tarp made from a 100% Egyptian cotton queen sized bed sheet 84" x 96". Waterproofed with boiled linseed oil and mineral spirits mixed 50/50 then thoroughly dusted with dirt to reduce the chance of spark taking hold. Dusting it is not foolproof and vigilance is still required. The tarp is still very flammable if it gets too close to an open flame or a large ember lands on it.
Shown here in bivy mode.
3 Piece of scrap cotton cloth that serves as the shoulder strap for the swag and is much softer on the shoulder than piece of leather. Cotton was chosen because once in camp it will become my camp towel. This particular piece of fabric is "fresh". It won't be that bright white color for long.
4 Two Wool Blankets - one thin with a very tight weave, one thicker with a very lose weave. Loose weave blanket goes inside the tight weave blanket for more effective insulation. Can be "pinned" together to form a sleeping bag with some carved sticks. Blankets can also be a part of a medical kit and can be used for such things as shock treatment or padding for splinting/immobilizing.
Rolled up in the bedroll are:
5 50' length of jute rope primarily for bear bagging, hanging my food bag in bear country. Other camp or emergency uses as needed.
6 Spare wool Socks
Dry socks and footwear are a little slice of heaven.
7 Crude brain tanned shoe pack type moccasins. For camp wear and to let boots air out or dry out, as needed.
One moc gets packed with:
8 Two 16' lengths of hemp cordage
9 Pigskin Clasp Purse containing: Tin of personal meds, wooden comb, small tin of tallow soap, brass container of baking soda for brushing teeth, bone handled boar bristle toothbrush, which seems to have disappeared. Now where did I leave that?
The other moc gets packed with:
10 Embroidered Silk Bag containing: Churchwarden style Pipe, Tobacco, Tobacco Tin w/magnifying glass, Tinder Tube
11 Brain tanned rune bag and bone runes (water buffalo) Currently studying runes
Here it is all packed up and ready to be rolled up into the bedroll
If heading into an area known to be very rocky and/or thorny I'll add a pair heavy sole Kiabab style mocs as well.
FOOD AND COOKING
12 Tucker Bag/Food Bag
A simple oil cloth drawstring bag to carry food and cooking gear in.
13 Food
Food is always a variable and I always seem to be trying different things. What food I carry depends on the variables of trip length, season, whether on foot or horseback, pack weight, Carbs - Protein - Calorie requirements, Taste, and Prep/Cooking time.
A. Red & Brown Lentils. Will probably switch to just red lentils as the brown ones take too long to soften.
B. Homemade leavened baking mix - homemade Bisquick basically. Great for ash cakes, dumplings, stew/soup thickener, or bread fried in pemmican fat.
C. Rolled Oats and Barley. Hot oatmeal and barley with some dried apples, cinnamon and honey makes a good dinner too!
D. Dried Vegetables and Fruit - kale, cabbage, carrots, turnips, parsnips, potatoes, mushrooms, apples, onions. Also some apple/blackberry fruit leather. A lot of fiber in here, use with caution! Much of it can be eaten raw but is of course much better in a soup or stew, including the fruit.
E. Black Tea Brick, Tea egg and Coffee Beans. Brick Tea is an ancient way of packing tea for trade on the Silk Road and was used as a form of currency. Tea from this brick tastes like it is millennia old too! The coffee beans I pound into grounds as needed. I used to carry green coffee beans and roast them as needed but it required a skillet (more weight) and added too much time to make a simple cup of coffee. Remember I'm getting old, my modern sole boots and I want coffee now!
F. Dried meat (plain dried beef, no seasoning) eat as is or add to soup or stew.
G. Thin oat & barley cakes (crackers) made from: course oat flour, barley flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, salt, butter, honey, and egg. These aren't that good actually and may play around with the recipe. What drew me to the recipe was the fact that I could make my own oat flour simply by grinding up some old fashioned rolled oats in a blender.
H. Pemmican made from: dried beef, suet tallow, dried blueberries, dried flathead cherries, and dried cranberries. Can be eaten as is and isn't bad but it is really tasty fried up into a hash. Summer mix, rather crumbly. Winter mix would be made with more tallow. More fat = more calories.
I. Cheese sealed in wax. These get eaten within the first day or two.
Depending on exertion and calorie needs I would consider this about five to seven days worth of food. Augmented by - but not dependant on - foraging for wild edibles in a given area (not an expert by any means, always learning). Hunting or snaring small game - rabbits, squirrels, rodents - where and when legal. As well as aquatics like fish, turtles, frogs, crayfish etc.
14 Cook Kit
A couple of tin billy cans that nest nicely together. A pair of well used old friends.
Inside the nested billy cans goes a linen drawstring bag that contains:
Honey in a very non-traditional bottle (Never have found a consistently reliable yet period way to carry the stuff without it leaking.) Food and medicine all in one. Multitude of uses in or on a body (Natural antiseptic, Energy, Wound care, Sore throat/coughs, Itching dry skin and many more)
Wooden Spoon
Poudre Douce (Sweet Powder) in a sterling silver encased blue glass shaker containing: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves
Rawhide bottle with a mixture of dried Herbs: Basil, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Tarragon, Cumin Seeds, Bay Leaves.
Poudre Forte (Strong Powder) My old flintlock priming horn repurposed. A small scrimshawed cow horn on twisted leather hanger containing: Black Pepper, ground Ginger, ground Cumin & Cayenne Pepper
Food and cook kit fits into the food bag with room to spare.
WATER
15 Enameled British style canteen.
Someday I'll get around to making the carrier and strap more period but it's been so durable and just plain works as is.
WEAPONS
16 Camp Axe
In lieu of a sword I carry a camp axe while trekking. The leather wrist loop helps give it more chopping or pounding power while keeping it under control. Though small it can be used as a weapon if the need should arise.
I carry this handy little camp axe in a very adjustable shoulder sheath.
17 Bow
I don't always carry my bow and quiver on a trek as I'm rather a noob when it comes to archery. However, if I'd have known how much fun this stuff was I'd have been shooting a bow a long time ago. Anyways here's what I've got now.
60" Hickory "You-Finish kit " hunting longbow from Ringing Rocks Archery - 45lbs@26".
18 Quiver
Made from scraps from the local leather store and recycled belts from the thrift store with a somewhat elven influenced design. Holds 24 arrows with bodkin style tips.
The straps that wrap around it can be used to lash my bow to the quiver or multitude of uses. I also use these straps to secure my bedroll/swag.
I designed this quiver with flexibility in mind. Using the ladder system on the back I can configure it to be worn slung over one shoulder, backpack style, at the small of the back, or hung from the hip simply by reconfiguring or adding straps.
19 Quiver Pouch
This pouch seems to be in just the right spot on my quiver to be out of the way, yet convenient. For those times when I don't trek with bow and quiver it could just as easily slide onto a haversack strap or my belt.
Inside it I carry:
Fishing stuff in small tin: variety of hooks on deer sinew leaders, lead strips for weights.
20' Length of thin brain tanned leather. Several strips tied together to form one length. Multiple uses (fishing line, guy line, general cordage around camp, repairs and more).
Two spare arrow tips
A spare bow string
Tin of beeswax/tallow mixture (need to make up some more). Multiple uses - sun block, chapping relief, fire starter, leather treatment and many more.
Two glover's needles, embedded in brain tanned leather scrap, for repairing equipment - and humans. Glover's needles have a triangular cross section rather than round which helps to punch through leather which eliminates (almost) the need to carry an awl.
Deer sinew for repairing equipment. Can be used on humans in a crisis.
Small amount of linen thread on bone shuttle for repairs. Also used for dental floss. If I need more thread than this it can be (and has been) pulled from the hem of my shirt(s) or from a silk bandana.
Another piece of archery kit that I have been playing around with is this archer's thumb ring, made from recycled sterling silver spoon. I'm not experienced enough with it to go into pros and cons. I stumbled onto this website - http://www.primitiveways.com/archer%27s_thumb_ring.html - and it triggered my curiosity enough to try it out.
Knives
I carry two knives on my main belt. One is a small utility knife recycled from an old carbon table knife. The other is a nice sharp long knife, another old friend.
I own two swords, neither of which I pack on a trek.
One, an Irish Bastard Sword, is strictly a costume piece. It's a cheapo costume sword for show only that never comes out of it's scabbard. In fact I have it solidly "peace tied" with a set screw securing it to the scabbard.
The other sword is a Cold Steel Grosse Messer, MAA version. This thing is heavy and sharp. It's a beast. The weight to use ratio is just to high for me to justify packing this guy on a trek but I love the thing though, including it's blackened blade. Makes me think of Túrin Turambar and his cursed black sword Gurthang, re-forged from Anglachel.
In my Soft Kit write up I mentioned my belt pouches and haversack but not the contents, so...
Small Belt Pouch Contents
Tinder box
Flint
Steel
Char
Tow
Pitch Pine
Large Belt Pouch Contents
Somewhat dwarven looking wallet for modern requirements (ID, plastic, cash, permits & licenses, spare vehicle key, etc.) In it I carry pages printed out from internet (double sided) texts, diagrams, pics etc along with handwritten notes. Basically a field "To do list" for skills training that I want to accomplish for this trip. Typically a mix of new stuff to learn along with old stuff to revisit, lest knowledge grow stale. Blank paper for general notes and recording info that medical personnel will want to know regarding an emergency (onset, vitals, mechanism of injury, application times, subject data). A map of the area printed out on coffee paper - used more for marking caches and/or for exploratory goals than for way finding.
A small antique silver pencil.
Two small sharpening stones in greased leather pouch; a fine grit stone and a honing stone.
Folding knife, with a folding fork that separates from the knife.
Medieval Purse
This where my modern stuff gets hidden.
Camera or smart phone - not shown. (I got tired of not taking pictures because my camera or phone was too buried to be convenient.) This well built little bag hides my camera from view, offers some decent protection and is easy to get to. I sometimes carry a smart phone & spare battery(s) in here too. I am finding that a smart phone, though obviously modern, can be a great training tool on the trail as it can hold a lot of notes, full texts, diagrams and pics while weighing far less than a full size book. Battery life and risk of damage of course are it's biggest drawbacks.
Leather wrap pouch for spare batteries
Leather wrap pouch for spare SD cards
Bleach in a small eye drops bottle. (I can't use iodine due to thyroid issues.) An eye drops bottle is just right for counting drops. Don't want to over do it. Filled fresh each trip. Combined with filtering and boiling works for living organisms. Toxic metals and chemical contaminants are another story and require a modern multistage filter (carried in the haversack), which I will bring depending on the area and type of trip.
Haversack/Forage Bag
No-cook trail food for the days hike consisting of: dried meat, apple & blackberry fruit leather, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts & cheese sealed in wax.
I will also toss in a few toilet paper packets from MRE's in here as well.
FIRST AID KIT
As far as a first aid kit goes I don't really carry one per se. As I've alluded to in these Soft and Hard kit descriptions I've tried to identify and incorporate medical uses of gear wherever possible. Though not a professional by any means I do have a keen interest wilderness medicine/backcountry first care and continue to build on that interest through self study as well as coursework. I know that whatever kit I carry into the backcountry is going to be incomplete to some degree so I figure the best kit is knowledge. These words sum it up best for me: "Do the best you can, with what you've got, where your at." - Theodore Roosevelt
The weight of the packed bedroll alone is 11lbs. The food bag/cook kit is the variable and is the only thing that would be dropping in weight as a trip progresses. Alone it weighs 5lbs.
Total weight of bedroll, food bag, axe, and filled canteen comes to 23 lbs. Add the bow and quiver and that brings the total up to 28lbs.