Knife Upgrade

Main blade, nail file with screwdriver tip, scissors, tweezers, and toothpick: the Victorinox Classic SD Swiss Army Knife is a marvel of design in a lightweight form factor respected by long distance hikers. I do not really need the toothpick, though, so can something else go in that slot? The plastic toothpick is roughly 1.75 inches long x 0.12 inches wide x 0.047 inches thick.

Swiss Army Knife SD Classic with toothpick
Swiss Army Knife SD Classic with toothpick

FireSteel.com sells blank rods of ferrocerrium in various sizes, including the FireSteel Tiny, 1/8 x 2 inches, at less than US$1.00 per rod. 1/8 inch is close to the width of the toothpick, so we just need to grind down one side flat, grind down most of the opposite side to a thickness of 0.047 inches. We must leave a thick tip at one end as with the plastic toothpick, to allow fingers to remove the gadget from the handle of the knife.

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Grand Enchantment Trail Preview

After learning about the Grand Enchantment Trail from listening to The Trail Show podcast, I was intrigued to discover it passes only a few miles from my house. The trail goes between Phoenix and Albuquerque, passing by several locations that have good memories with me and my family. The summer of 2016 is already reserved for finishing the CDT, but perhaps 2017 will be my year to thru-hike the GET. But I cannot resist spending a week on the trail near where I live, to try out the maps and GPS waypoints and get a feel for the trail.

My solar panel failed on the first day, so I had to conserve cell phone power and could not write a daily blog. But here is a slideshow of the trip starting in Monticello, NM on September 20, 2015, and ending in Polvadera, NM, on September 26, just five miles from my house.

(Oops, Google deleted Picasa, which I used to make the slideshow.)

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