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A Word in the Woods

A city-dweller's outdoor travels, gear reviews and field tests, survival tips and tricks, camping and canoeing.

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The basics of building a fire

January 21, 2016 by Michael Zimmermann Leave a Comment

The bloggers over at Fix have provided an excellent infographic that highlights the elements of building a safe and successful fire. Source: Fix.com

Filed Under: Bushcraft, Conservation, Courses and Education, DIY, Front Page, HowTo, tips Tagged With: campfire, Fire, Fire-building, how-to, kindling, tinder

Throwing knives for survival

October 8, 2015 by Michael Zimmermann 2 Comments

From the first time I saw James Coburn play the ultimate badass in the 1960 classic The Magnificent Seven I (and I suspect many of my readers) thought, “How cool would it be to have that skill?” Possessing an awesome skill is, of course, impressive, no matter what the discipline, but let’s put this into context. Does throwing a knife make…

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Filed Under: editorial, Front Page, Personal, Questions, Technology, Things to try, tips

Winter Power Outage Tips

December 24, 2013 by Michael Zimmermann Leave a Comment

  December, 2013 — although it usually means mild times in Toronto, a severe ice storm has left a good many residents without power, and by extension, heat. The temperature as I write this is -10° C (about 14° F), and will be dropping, not rising throughout the day. #icestorm2013 and #darkTO are the only things on…

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Filed Under: Front Page, HowTo, Things to try, tips Tagged With: off-grid, shelter, survival, warmth, winter

Advising new campers? Here’s some advice.

March 4, 2013 by Michael Zimmermann 3 Comments

“…but I’m not looking for anything hardcore, yet.” I’m often asked for advice about outdoor trips, and every once in a while, the person ends the question with the above statement.  I find this interesting, especially the “yet” part. The inference is that there’s a hierarchy to the camping world; your first trips start with…

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Filed Under: Courses and Education, editorial, Front Page, HowTo, Questions, Things to try, tips, Trip Reports Tagged With: advice, education, featured, guiding, planning

The evolution of the gear closet (part 1)

April 4, 2012 by Michael Zimmermann Leave a Comment

Gear: Fit is everything. Good gear selection comes from knowing what you want out of it, and a large part of finding that out is by knowing what it’s like to deal with an inferior product, or having to improvise to fill an unanticipated need along the way. I wrestled with myself for quite a…

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Filed Under: Front Page, Gear, Technology, tips Tagged With: buying, Gear, improvised

Are survival kits the “good” silverware that gather dust?

February 16, 2012 by Michael Zimmermann Leave a Comment

I recently read a brace of posts from fellow outdoor blogs, The Oak and the Mountain, and Wood Trekker talking about survival kits. Now, the reason I came across these posts was because I was actively looking for survival kit ideas. I thought it was high time I re-visited my personal kit. Given that it’s…

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Filed Under: Front Page, Gear, HowTo, tips, Uncategorized Tagged With: emergency, shtf, survival, survival kit

Packing up your gear for the end of the season

September 27, 2010 by Michael Zimmermann Leave a Comment

I came across an article on this subject from the Ontario Parks Insider enewsletter. It’s a quick overview of the main tasks to think about when you’re squirreling your gear away for the off-season, or just to give your gear a good clean after some hard use.

Filed Under: Front Page, Gear, HowTo, tips Tagged With: enewsletters, Gear, maintenance, Ontario Parks Insider, storage

BushcraftUK Forums

October 6, 2009 by Michael Zimmermann 1 Comment

BushcraftUK: Community Forum I’d like to share a link to a forum I lurk on every once in a while. It’s a great place online to find discussion and knowledge-sharing regarding all things bushcrafty. You’ll also find a decent amount of Ray Mears fans in attendance. I like the distinction that is drawn between survival…

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Filed Under: tips Tagged With: bushcraft, forum, resource

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