EDC, please.

Yes, the wonderful "Everyday Carry", or as I prefer to call it, the EDC; n. Meaning the items, often those which are used everyday, in conjunction with certain commonly-needed tools, which are carried on the body of person. I finally have my set in near completion. It is currently missing a tritium glow marker (look it up - they are really neat, and only *slightly* radioactive), a knife, and a quick-release A&P Aircraft Mechanic's key ring. I've already a knife to go on there, but, because I bring it to school, I don't usually attach it. The admin/staff "frown" upon such things, and as such I would rather not risk it.

What I have on it currently:
-House Keys
-Bike lock key
-Ultrafire MCU-C7 flashlight
-And one capsule lighter
-Knife (occasionally - not shown)

The flashlight is real bright - 200 lumens on max. For comparison, the average incand. flashlight is ~25 lumens. The machining ain't great, but for $12 CAD, it isn't too crappy. I, for a period of time, had it modded with a 2mm led in the tailcap to glow at all times - using a 6000 ohm resistor(if I remember correctly), it drew .2 miliamps. No mistake, it was .2, and still very visible. This made for a runtime of  >6 mos. on one battery. This, along with my capsule lighter, was bought from Deal Extreme. Be prepared to wait for 2-month shipping.

In the sink: Beamshot under water. Everything is 100% waterproof
The capsule lighter is pretty nifty. It's waterproof, and darned near bullet-proof with its metal container. Runs on the standard liquid fuel, but here's where it shines - the fact that it screws shut prevents it from drying out! I can't tell you how annoyed I've been when I've picked up my zippo after a month of it sitting idle, only to find it in need of a refill.

Oh, and it is much smaller than a zippo:
It may be smaller, but its got a lotta heart...

For knives, I have a choice between my classic Victorinox "Camper" multi-knife, or my new favorite, the cheapo mini Maxam lockblade.
Swiss Army knife vs. Maxam knife

Now, if  TEOTWAWKI were to occur while I'm out 'sploring, I'll be at least a little more prepared.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gear Review: Butane Canister Refill Tool

Image
Update 13/05/13: It has been noted by someone that the company's policy of shipping their adaptors in simple sealed, unpadded envelopes can cause problems - the unpadded envelope may rupture, leading to package loss. I suggest voicing any concerns with shipping to the owner. An $8 piece of equipment which I highly recommend to any canister stove or lantern user is this butane canister refill tool. I managed to find it from the Camping In Taiwan website/webstore,  here. * The bayonet-to-threaded refill adapter With butane, there are two standards: the wide and squat EN417 threaded style canisters used in camping applications, and the thin and tall bayonet-style butane canisters often used in home applications. This above tool allows anyone to refill their isobutane/butane blend EN417-threaded canisters with the bayonet type butane cartridges. The benefit of using these bayonet cans to source fuel is obvious: they are cheap, cheap, cheap! But, becau...
Read more

Arrival in Italy: Days 1-3 in Florence

Image
On Friday we flew in to Florence, after a 7-hour flight from Toronto to Frankfurt, and then a short 2 hour commuter jet brought us into the Gallileo Gallilei airport of Florence. Understandably we were slighty worried about how well our bicycles fared in the flight - or if they even followed us to Italy in the cargo hold of the plane. However, everything went smoothly and our bicycles survived undamaged - likely due to our "leave them no chances to break something" approach to packing them. It took us a little over and hour and a half to unpack the bikes again and move all our equipment from the duffel bags to our panniers, and then off we went. But very slowly, due to the narrower italian roads and zippy cars scooting about haphazardly. Our babies - they are ok! All packed and loaded on the way from the airport to the hotel. Although initially scary and seemingly devoid of order, we have come to find that Florentine roads have polite and highly skil...
Read more

All-rounder Update: 200km Mark

Image
All is well on the bike front, and I've now made it up to the 200km mark. I know, not a lot of riding in three weeks, but I've been completing the final push of school into exams (I finished my Chemistry exam today, yay! Only physics left, which is tomorrow). The tires are wearing well enough, but the compound of the CST Critters is fairly soft, so even gravel skids have worn the rear tread down a *weensy bit*. Just enough so that the "herringbone" pattern imprinted on each of the knobs is barely visible. The Herringbone pattern is wearing away quickly... the skid spots are worse than the above picture. So far, here's what I'm liking: - Off road handling - On road handling! - Overall weight - Load Capability - Comfortable seat/steam/handlebar height and position - Top Tube length is good - Rolling resistance ( Speed!) - Gear range (it hasn't been changed from before ) After about 125km offroad (light trails, gravel, a bit of chip seal road...
Read more