Awesome! And yeah, if you’re just planning on tossing them anyway, you might as well see if you can improve them. There’s all kinds of cool things you can do to modify scales like these. (Just be sure to wear a mask. Micarta dust is nasty stuff to breathe in, especially when it’s heated from power tools).

Thanks!

Still alive. And you?

@@AdventureRyan See my comment. It's not made by a ghost.

Ha! I meant how’s it going for you.

@@AdventureRyan oh 😋. Same. Actually, that is my comment , when people at work ask me, how are you. Still alive I answer. So many fall away. Cancer, Covid19 etc. So, being alive is already a good one.

Thanks. And yes, almost everything I film is with a GoPro (anything else I’d probably end up breaking). Sometimes I bring along a Sony Alpha when I want to get certain shots or need some help in lower light.

@@AdventureRyan that's awesome I just got a GoPro and am looking forward to making new content with it!

Thanks!

Haha!

Male or female doesn’t matter. Handle size can sometimes be an issue for those (men or women) with smaller hands, but thats the closest to a gender-related issue that I can think of. One knife I often recommend to people starting out is a basic Mora Companion (from Morakniv). It’s simple and inexpensive, but is one of the best knives you can get for cheap. (I did a comparison review showing a few of the knives from Morakniv if you want to check that out-but I would recommend the “companion”). The Bushlore I reviewed in this video costs a little more than the Mora companion, but it’s a great knife too. As far as cleaning fish go, you do want a good sharp edge for that, but learning how to sharpen and care for your knife is just as important as learning how to use the knife itself. Also, with fish, sometimes an actual fillet knife is helpful. I use a fillet knife for salmon in order to get a clean fillet off the large fish, but for fish like trout (that I just gut and clean), I use whichever knife I have on me (a mora works just fine).

@@AdventureRyan Thank you for such a thoughtful response. It is greatly appreciated. Yes, Mora seems like a popular, good value for the money knife. What about Mora Companion HD and do you recommend stainless steel or carbon steel?

The mora companion HD, as you probably already know, is almost exactly like the regular companion, just with a little thicker blade and a slightly thinker handle. Check out the comparison video I did between the companion, HD, and the bushcraft black and you’ll see some close ups of the subtle differences. Personally, I really like the regular companion. The HD is what its name describes-more heavy duty, but this also translates to a stiffer and less “slicey” blade. Personally, if I need or want something more heavy duty than what the regular mora companion can handle, then I am usually also wanting something with a full tang (which neither companion model has). As for stainless vs high carbon steel. It depends on your environment. If you’re around salt water a lot or in very humid areas, I would probably recommend the stainless. But even here in Alaska with the summer rains, the many lakes and rivers, and even the winter snow, I don’t have a problem with the carbon steel version. I also really like the edge I can get with sharpening high carbon steel. So unless you’re dealing with salt water, high humidity, or just rarely able to dry off your blade, then the carbon steel is just fine. That being said, the stainless steel performs well (much better than some stainless steels I’ve used-especially in this price range). Another nice thing with the low cost of the mora companion is that you can take your pick (stainless or high carbon; regular or HD) and if you find it isn’t right for you, your not out hundreds of dollars and you’ve just learned something valuable about the “perfect” knife for you in your environment. I have a huge pile of knives and each of them have taught me something about what I like and don’t like (and I always appreciate when those lessons don’t have to be expensive).

@@AdventureRyan What a wonderful response. All excellent points. Thank you so much again. I am in Ontario, Canada so I guess the carbon steel should be OK here. There is another Mora Companion I believe that has a fire rod in it. Is it a feature that you like or would you rather recommend a separate fire starter? How do you take care of your carbon steel knives? Do you clean them right away after each use? How? You mentioned that if you need something more heavy duty then you would use a full tang knife. What heavy duty would it be and what knife would it be? Maybe it is going to be my second knife :) Thank you

I haven’t personally used the one that has the fire rod attached. It’s not a bad idea. I think I’d rather have my Ferro rod separate just because I don’t like extra parts and pieces or places for dirt to get in. It might be fine though. One thing to keep in mind on that subject is since you ideally don’t want to be using your knife edge on the fire rod, it’s nice to have a knife with a 90 degree spine. The mora companion does both have a 90 degree spine (but you can always add one with some file work/sanding). I think the one model that has the attached fire rod DOES have a 90 degree spine (that would make sense for it to have one). The Mora Bushcraft Black had a 90 spine as well. There’s also a separate model of the bushcraft black that has a fire rod fixed to the sheath, but the price goes up for that one and starts to stray from the main motivation of going with a Morakniv-the low price. To care for my carbon steel blades, ideally, I’ll wipe it dry before sheathing it. When that’s not an option, I just pulled it out when get home or back to camp and wipe it dry and sometimes set it outside the sheath for a while so the blade and the sheath can dry out. Before heading out, I wipe a thin layer of oil on the blade, let it sit for a while, and then wipe the excess off. There’s some fancy knife oils out there, but I just use mineral oil, olive, or avacado oil. If I get home and there’s a little surface rust on the blade, it will usually come clean just by scrubbing it with a cleaning sponge. If that doesn’t do it, I step it up to either some very fine steel wool or some very fine sand paper. In the field, I’ve worked it out with river silt. The trick is to catch it early. If you put a wet knife away in a sheath and leave it for months, it’s going to be a mess. Just a couple minutes is all it takes if you keep up with it. Coastal areas are the only times I’ve had to really work to keep the rust off, aside from that, it’s just regular maintenance. As for your future full tang knife, that will depend on a few things. Some of it will even come down to personal preference. Your environment, the types of work you do with your knife, whether or not you’ll be cleaning game or fish, other tools you bring (ax, saw…). All this factors in to which knife is best for you. The blade profile, grind, handle shape, blade length…all these are design variables that are important to consider. I’ve gone through a lot of knives trying to answer these questions for myself. Each one cuts stuff just fine, but I’ve learned a lot about the different benefits to the subtle design features that make each knife different. This is one of the reasons I encourage people to start with an inexpensive (but good) knife like something from morakniv. Once you put some time in and get to know that knife, you’ll start to see what you like or dislike about it. You might find yourself wishing it had a shorter or longer blade, had more of a belly on the knives edge, maybe you want that 90 degree spine… it’s a wonderful journey! Ha! But do feel free to ask more questions because I know all too well how easy it is to dump money into knives in search of the right one.

Thanks! It definitely made for a good place to wander.

Very well said! It was a much needed dose of “openness” that had a way of allowing my soul room to drift like the fog and the wind-blown ocean spray.

I love that meditative state the ocean provides. Always feels like a precious gift that I’m more than willing to accept. I actually filmed this footage not for KZbin purposes, but to allow me to, in at least some small way, bring some of this back home with me-a reminder, if nothing else. This is actually the primary reason I filmed most of what I did during this wandering road trip-just to remember and to help me bookmark a few of the moments that stirred important feeling for me. Thanks for watching @starlingblack814

Sounds like you’ve had an unpleasant encounter or two.

@@AdventureRyan Very close a few times. A couple of weeks ago I saw a little one, but it was swimming with a lot of effort. I thought, well, I will go a few meters aside of it. So we will not cross paths. So then I went lying on my back, arms spread. I like the floating in the sea..Keeping arms and legs almost still. But at a sudden moment my knuckles bumped into the 'head' of another jellyfish. And this felt like a big one. It caved in a lttle bit. It was an immediate , now I'm going out of this sea. Next time, my hand will be on the other side of the head.. Maybe the little one asked help from its big brother 🤷‍♂🤔😁. Thinking of it. I was bitten a week ago by a wolf spider or a false wolf spider when I was sleeping. There's was a bit of blood on my left shoulder. Which I didn't notice at first. So, I was sitting on the couch after taking a nap, when I suddenly saw a shadow moving beneath the table. I immediately knew what it was, it can be only one thing moving like that. The spider went under the other couch. It walked with a kind of determination. I stood up to catch or kill it, and only then noticed the blood on my left shoulder. So I went first to wash it off. And then two tiny holes next to eachother were visible. And blood came pouring out, narrow stream , but kept on leaking out. I took out the vacuum cleaner, and I heard a click in the hose, so it probably had a new home right there. The thought of that creature on my shoulder when sleeping. Ughhh🥶 My father, he's from south Italy, once told me, he was on a beach. Sleeping on his back. Then he got awake and noticed a snake crawling over his chest. He waited for it to pass on.. Nasty...

Mostly tourists, hikers, and rock climbers. Although once I started wandering away from the parking areas and roadways, I stopped seeing anyone.

@@AdventureRyan So even the hikers and rock climbers stay around the road and parking areas. No natives to be seen in these places anymore then. They have all gone to cities and villages..

Some hikers and climbers stay close to the roads, but many go deep into the backcountry. The deeper you go, the less people you find and the more spread out those few people are. There are still Native American populations around the area and there I believe many of those tribes that have ancestral ties to the land still use it for various purposes. It is currently protected land under the National Park designation. I’d like to do some more research to learn more about the people that called this their home. In fact, I purchased a couple book on the subject while I was in the area.

@@AdventureRyan Indeed. Off the roads it will be more spread. Interesting on the Native Americans. I've the feeling that some of them are still frustrated, reading commentaries here and there from some of them. As if the white man was all bad and they were only a victim. But that's what I get from the internet. I read accounts also about how some of those tribes were. And that was pretty extreme. Then again, not all were like the Comanche's.

“Enchanted” -good word choice! Definitely felt that way.

Thanks. I’m grateful to have captured at least a portion of the beauty I witnessed there.

He is.

Yeah, being a national park, there are lots of trails for hiking. This one was actually from an old mining route.

@@AdventureRyan Ah ok. That explains it.

@@AdventureRyan Also the old western movies look . Like the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Though most of that one was filmed funny enough in Spain. The cemetery scene was brilliant.

I’m also always intrigued by who walked this land as their home in other times. There are almost always countless others whose names will never be known. And you’re right, the Mojave Desert is a unique environment that wouldn’t make survival easy.

@@AdventureRyan Hard place to survive for sure... And yes, whom more have lived there aside from the tribes mentioned. It goes back thousands of years people living there. Then again, this is in Europe the case also. People on the move. The Romans were in The Netherlands for 400 or 500 years. etc..

A little hostile with the critic, but thanks for catching that mistake. I had it right everywhere else, but I’m not sure what happened there. I fixed it now. Thank you so much.

You’re welcome! Glad you enjoyed it.

Go get it!

I'm working on it! I am mindful of it! 😊

I’m definitely not suggesting it’s always easy. In fact, for me at least, it seems that the things I most need are often the things that feel the most impossible to reach-almost like they’re blocked or guarded. I often have to “sneak” up on them or find them in small, almost unrecognizable, doses and build from there. It’s a delicate process sometimes, but the good news is that it can often begin with a single moment in a very ordinary place-let your eyes see the shape and depth of a cloud, your hand feel the texture of your own shoelace, your ears become aware of the unique collision of sound that finds you where you are… Bottom line: I’m rooting for you from this random comment section!

That is so true! It take a level of awareness to recognize how we live in a world that is in constant motion with endless amount of noise. As a part of my healing journey, I have been working on slowing down and being more present in the given moment! It's an amazing feeling when you recognize yourself transforming into a higher level of mindfulness & growth!

Thanks!

So true! And it’s so crazy that no matter how many times we discover this great truth, it’s still just as easy to-once again-get lost in our own head. It’s quite the journey!

Thanks!

I most definitely swam in that water. It was very hot that day. I almost didn’t becasue the algae bloom was pretty intense (you can see how green the water is) and since I was doing my wandering nomad thing I didn’t have the best showering options for rinsing off the lake water. But the hot temperatures, my need for at least some sort of a rinse, and the general urge to join with the water I’d been traveling with all were reason enough to get my swim on.

@@AdventureRyan The algae on the body is not fun. But I would also definitely cool off a bit in that water..It clears the mind doing that..calms it.

Definitely worth it

@@AdventureRyan 🙌