u/Coopdog59

I have been using a relatively inexpensive “Unigear” sleeping pad. I like the size, weight and performance of the pad and have used it for a good number of times. However, it just started leaking. I’m trying to decide whether it’s even worth trying to find the leak and patching it. I’m leaning towards just buying a new sleeping pad. I’ve read a lot of reviews and there are a number of good moderately priced pads out there. There are also some very high priced ones. I’m not sure where to go with this. I would really like to buy one that’s not going to leak again. If I ask for recommendations, I bet I’m gonna get responses that are all over the board. But here goes anyway: what is a good lightweight pad that is not much bigger than a water bottle folded up, gives a decent amount of insulation, but most importantly will not puncture and leak?

Other than when backpacking, I never find any reason not to bring my 3/4 axe for wood processing. I love tools and knives and I love the looks of large survival knives like a Lionsteel M7 or an Architect 6.5 or Joker Nomad 6.5. But when would I ever need them for wood processing when I have my axe? I do a lot of canoe camping, so bringing an axe is not much of an extra burden. I usually bring a 4 or 5 inch camp knife for kitchen duty and light batoning to make kindling. Despite how much lusting I have for a big survival knife, I just don’t see myself ever in a “survival” situation where I am stuck with just one tool that happens to be a huge knife. So, when I have the itch for another knife, I am just going to upgrade my camp knife.

About three years ago, I bought a BPS Adventurer. It is the model that comes in 1066 carbon steel. I bought it off of Amazon and it came with some slight rust already on the blade. I cleaned it up and used it on three or four weeklong canoe camping trips. It performed great. We did some food prep, some fish cleaning and even some light batoning to make kindling. I used it again on a recent trip and forgot to dry it off when I got home. A couple of weeks later it was completely rusty. I ground off all the rust with a Dremel and then blued the steel with Birchfield Case perma blue. I then hit it with Birchwood Casey Barricade. It is back in good shape. It’s only a $35 knife. However, I don’t want to use this knife for food prep anymore.

I’ve been thinking, I would like to buy a knife about the same size (between five and 6 inches) but in stainless steel. I would use it for all the same purposes as above. I started looking around at expensive knives like Reiff and Architect and others. But then I found that BPS makes basically the same knife as the Adventurer but in stainless steel. It’s called the “Nighthawk Adventurer.” it has a nice leather sheath with a dangler and a ferro rod holder, which is exactly what I want . It’s $54 delivered. I just ordered one. I am going to put it through all the paces and see how it performs. I’m relatively confident that it’s gonna do all the things I need it to do for a great price and that I don’t need to spend money on magnacut or other fancy super steel high end knives or even a $150 stainless Morakniv Garberg or a Gerber.

If I were a professional outdoorsman or a special operator or something, it might make sense to buy an expensive super steel knife. But I could buy 8 Nighthawk Adventurers for the price of one of them. I would rather use the money I save and put it toward a nice lightweight down sleeping bag.

P.S. - My grandmother was born in Ukraine where BPS knives are made.

The Gerber Strongarm Magnacut sells for about $174. I am looking for an all-around camping knife. I do a lot of canoe camping (wet environment.) Might do a little bit of light batoning for making kindling. Is there any reason at all to spend any more money on a higher end, knife, such as a White River or Reiff or other? I am specifically looking at Magnacut because I need corrosion resistance. It looks to me that the Strongarm in Magnacut meets all my needs.

I have a BPS Adventurer. It’s a $40 knife made in Ukraine of carbon steel. Comes with a great leather sheath and fire steel. I used it for batoning kindling for starting fires. Worked great.

I recently went on a canoe trip in Maine and it was very wet. When I got back, I forgot to clean up my knife. I took it out of my gear bag about a month later and it was completely covered in rust. So, what I did was this: sanded it down, soaked it in rust remover, fine sanded it again with very fine Emery cloth. Then I coated it with Birchwood Casey gun blue and finally Rem Oil. Last, I sharpened it. It may not be pretty, but it is fully functional again. I like having a $40 knife that I don’t have to worry about abusing!

I just bought an Old Town Penobscot 16 in Royalex. It is in excellent condition with new seats and factory skid plates. The Royalex is faded. Is there any downside to buffing it out with light polishing compound and then treating it with 303?