Made in the USA Gear! (lost photo)

This is another photo that was misplaced when we had to relocate during the catastrophic Colorado wildfires of 2012. It was meant to accompany a companion piece to our Made in the USA Gear write-ups. Dave, my former field assistant and his daughter Stephanie, kindly volunteered to pose for the photograph with US made gear we've reviewed on the site.

RMB was proudly THE first site in the outdoor genre to have a "Made in the USA" gear review section. We took a lot of flack for it from some big name people and companies who said it would turn too many people away from our site. We stuck to our guns, and 2.4 million pageviews later, proved ourselves right. 40,000 Google Visitors per month can't be wrong!

Cheers!

Jason

Wild Hawthorne Berry Cakes

Last summer, I camped out near Provo, Utah along the Spanish Fork River. There were a number of River Hawthorne Trees full of berries there, so I grabbed some and brought them back to Colorado. I thought it would be fun to make berry cakes in the way Native Americans once did.

Hawthorne berries tend to be mildy sweet and rather mealy. When pounded into cakes and sun dried, they become much sweeter and quite tasty. In a survival situation, this is the best way to preserve them as a long term food source. They can also be pounded into jerky to make pemmican.

Cheers!

Jason

About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder and senior editor of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft. He is a former Red Cross certified Wilderness & Remote First Aid Instructor, and has taught bushcraft and wilderness survival techniques to the Boy Scouts of America, interned with the US Forest Service, and studied wilderness survival, forestry and wildland firefighting at Colorado Mountain College in Leadville, Colorado. Jason has also written for magazines such as The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)

Has NutnFancy come out of the closet with axes?

It's amazing how popular axes have become these days. I remember how people thought I was crazy back when I wrote RMB's first axe review in 2011, because I included a "featherstick test" and a "fine carving test" in it!

Glad to see more people are appreciating this awesome wilderness tool nowadays.

So what's your favorite axe? Leave a comment below or join the discussion on our Facebook page!

Cheers, Jason

Rocky Mountain Bushcraft lands first-ever review of Jimmy Lile "First Blood" Rambo Knife

RMB is honored and excited to have been granted the first ever field review of the world's most famous survival knife-- the Jimmy Lile "First Blood" Rambo Knife. Jimmy Lile was the famed Arkansas custom knifemaker asked by Sylvester Stallone to create the knife for the 1982 film "First Blood."

Rambo "First Blood" Trailer:

Although cheaper copies of the First Blood Knife have been on the market for decades, none of the handmade Lile First Blood Knives have ever been officially reviewed or field tested. This is due in part to the fact that any First Blood Knife with a "Lile" stamp on it goes for at least $2,000 for an un-numbered version, and up to $75,000 for one of the numbered knives used in the film.

There has been a lot of speculation about how an actual Lile Rambo knife would perform in real life. Compared to the cheaper copies that have been on the market for decades, the original Lile knife is a meticulously hand-crafted custom knife made with premium knife steel (440C, premium for its time, still a very respectable knife steel with the proper heat treat). Jimmy Lile was quoted as saying that despite its over-the-top appearance, the First Blood Knife was actually designed for real world survival.

The Jimmy Lile Knife Company (now owned by oil magnate John Hill), has granted RMB an exclusive, first-time-ever review of their First Blood Knife.

Hill has authorized famed knifemaker Vaughn Neeley (Timberline Knives, Emerson-Neeley SPECWAR Knife, etc), current knifesmith for the Jimmy Lile Company, to begin hand-crafting a movie-spec First Blood Knife for our review. We expect to receive the knife sometime in February. After roughly 30-60 days of field testing in the Colorado Rockies, we should be posting our review this coming Spring.

Want to see how the authentic Rambo knife performs in real life? Stay tuned! Make sure to "Like" the Rocky Mountain Bushcraft Facebook page or sign our email list on the right side of the page and we'll let you know when the review goes live.

For more information, visit Jimmy Lile Knives at:  

http://www.jimmylile.com/home.html

Tip and Tricks: Loose Axe Head? Add A Second Wedge

If the head on your axe is coming loose, here's a relatively simple fix- drive in a second metal wedge. You may need to use one that's smaller than the original wedge for it to fit correctly.

I've used this trick on axes that wouldn't tighten after soaking the handles in linseed oil. Worked like a charm!

Off to SHOT Show in Las Vegas!

Hey friends, come Monday, Leah and I will be off to SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada! I'm proud to say that this will be the third SHOT in a row we'll be covering. If you're not familiar with SHOT, check out our January 2013 writeup for more info. We will be on the lookout for cool new survival tools/knives/gear/survival guns to share with you.

If you are attending the show and see us, make sure to say hello!

Cheers,

Jason

Chiappa X-Caliber and M6 Field Test UPDATE

Unfortunately, we've had to halt testing of both the X-Caliber and M6 Survival Guns due to function issues, and are awaiting an official response from Chiappa before proceeding further. With SHOT Show coming up next week, it's unlikely that we'll hear from them until sometime after the show but we'll keep you updated as soon as we receive more info.

Cheers,

RMB

Photo: Beautiful dusk sky in the mountains

I captured this beautiful dusk sky after a day of field testing in the mountains using our new Nikon D5300 test camera.

Enjoy! Jason

(click to enlarge)

Hello Readers!

Hope you are well and are off to a great start in 2015! FYI we haven't forgotten about the giveaways! Stay tuned for more info which will be posted soon.

Cheers!

Jason

NEW ARRIVALS: Chiappa M6 and X-Caliber Folding Survival Rifles

The Chiappa M6 and X-Caliber Folding Survival Rifles have finally arrived! We will begin field testing them immediately, so make sure to check back for the full review (best way to be notified is to sign up on our email list on the lower right hand side of the page or by liking the Rocky Mountain Bushcraft Facebook page).

For those not familiar with these cool new survival guns, check out our First Impression Review from last January.

Cheers! 

Jason and Leah

Chiappa M6 20 Gauge/.22LR

(click any photo to enlarge)

Chiappa X-Caliber 12 Gauge/.22LR w/ multiple caliber adapters

For more information visit: 

www.chiappafirearms.com/product/2677