All Gear and no idea?

Well here's some territory that may get a bit awkward, this is my way to stop what I think is becoming the biggest scourge of the bushcraft world. There is a growing tendency for the armchair bushcrafter, who just buys a load of expensive gear and doesn't realy use it, or even how.

Well here's my point, how much do you realy need, and how much do you really have to spend. Don't get me wrong I know as good as anybody there are things in life that will cost, but there are some poor excuses for crass consumerism that is going on these days.

Take my first example, the woodlore Clark Gable belt, yes it's real. This belt is sold at a stupidly expensive amount of money and I wouldn't say it's anything special. I have a basic good quality full grain belt, it is strong and durable and will go on for many years. Best of it is was very reasonably priced. 

My next example of monetering I can menting is the price of blanket shirts. I can make a blanket shirt with the very little skill I have for less than £50, now I've seen some being sold for up to about £250. Seriously if I can make one all be it a bit more no frills, for 1/5 of the price it makes you question.

As you can see though high priced gear is all around us. 

So now we've waded through that let's discuss the hoards of crap we can buy as gadgetry to help us get through a night. 

Now somthings are worth their weight in gold, the head torch for instance. But there is a whole barrel load of junk that is accumulating on the market as we speak. 

Let's mention one to begin with, the joyous survival kit inside a bracelet. If you do your homework this is pointless, I wouldn't trust anything I'd find inside one of these. But it's a fashion statement. If I need ultra heavy duty cordage I have it in the form of a hank on my belt. Next piece of useless tat I've found was that they still make the SAS survival kits. Now if I'm covered in gear and I have an SA80 to boot this will make sense. To joe average bushcrafter it's useless. Anyway you get my point.

It's fair to say spend your money wisely, good comfortable boots are worth spending your money on rather than a bit of tat or some rediculously expensive bit of overpriced Gucci gear.