Lack of experience/skills shows on some youtube videos !

[Lamewolf]

Earlier today I was looking at some knife reviews on youtube and one video in particular I had to chuckle. The guy was reviewing a knife but also had made the statement about how cheap ferro rods sucked. Some of them do I'm sure, but I've seen a bunch of cheap ferro rods that actually worked quite well. But in this guys case the quality of the ferro rod he was using was not the issue. It looked like one of the Harbour Freight magnesium bar/ferro rod combos and it was throwing good sparks. I have one of these and they do work well for the price - never had an issue with mine. Anyway, this guy picks up a stick that is obviously wet because it was laying in the snow. Then he uses his knife to shave off some fairly thick looking shavings and then tries to ignite them using nothing but the sparks from the ferro rod. This doesn't work for him, so he tries to use the magnesium bar and scrapes a few micro sized shavings off - maybe a couple dozen very tiny pieces which is no where near enough to get anything more than a sparkle and then hits it with several tries at the ferro rod again with no luck. Then he pulls out a Bic lighter and has problems lighting the shavings with it too but does finally get a small flame going. It was very obvious that the guy was inexperienced at this sort of thing because his shavings were too big and thick for damp wood which makes them very hard to get going. Then he expected them to ignite with just the sparks alone, then didn't scrape off enough of the magnesium to even provide anything near a flame, then he faults his equipment for not providing fire. Inexperience like that can mean your life and its nothing to joke about, so make sure you know how to use this stuff before you ever get in a position that you have to rely on it to help you survive.

First, he should have got his shavings from the drier, inner core of his wood and made much thinner shavings. Then he should have shaved off a pile of magnesium the size of a quarter before he ever struck the first spark ! Magnesium burns at about 5400 degrees, and this would have been a lot more likely to start his fire !

[hunter63]

A camera and an ego seems to be the magic combination.

But at least he was learning how "Not to do it" but looking silly in the process.

If I don't open the blister pack..... when I have my whole tool box...... to get the "whatever" out, the thing I need to survive,.... then I won't be able to do it when wet, cold, dark, bleeding............

Good advice to practice with your gear....Before it's needed....and for sure before you make a vid.....LOL

[Rick]

Sadly, all fero rods are made by the same company in China. They must make 20 or 30 varieties, perhaps more, but they are the sole manufacturer today.

[Eastree]

A camera and an ego seems to be the magic combination.

But at least he was learning how "Not to do it" but looking silly in the process.

If I don't open the blister pack..... when I have my whole tool box...... to get the "whatever" out, the thing I need to survive,.... then I won't be able to do it when wet, cold, dark, bleeding............

Good advice to practice with your gear....Before it's needed....and for sure before you make a vid.....LOL

I'm not so certain. I have seen some people making some obvious mistakes like that, and still blame the tool. They ended up not learning anything.

[kyratshooter]

You can buy them the best equipment

you can show them a film

you can buy them a book

you can send them to school

But you can't fix STUPID

[Lamewolf]

A camera and an ego seems to be the magic combination.

But at least he was learning how "Not to do it" but looking silly in the process.

If I don't open the blister pack..... when I have my whole tool box...... to get the "whatever" out, the thing I need to survive,.... then I won't be able to do it when wet, cold, dark, bleeding............

Good advice to practice with your gear....Before it's needed....and for sure before you make a vid.....LOL

You know Hunter, I've seen some big mistakes by some of the well known survival experts too. Like BG building a fire and burning his hands trying to carry it back to his base camp because he had to walk back into the woods to find dry fuel. And Dave Canterbury and Cody Lundin heating water in a snake skin to purify it which in itself is not a bad idea because they showed how to improvise and the snake provided a meal. But they had carried fire in a metal bucket to where they were setting up camp, and the bucket had a few holes in it. I would have used my knife to carve out wooden plugs to seal the holes so that I could have boiled a whole bucket of water ! But maybe I'm too critical ?

[Lamewolf]

You can buy them the best equipment

you can show them a film

you can buy them a book

you can send them to school

But you can't fix STUPID

That's right Rat, some folks just don't get it. I saw a kid on one of Bear Grylls shows trying to get a piece of Wetfire tinder going with a ferro rod without taking it out of the package first ! Yeah, it was still sealed in the plastic wrap and this kid couldn't figure out why it wouldn't light !

The best tool you have in a survival situation is knowledge and experience !

[MrFixIt]

But you can't fix STUPID

I can...

[Lamewolf]

I can...

No you can't ! Stupid cannot be fixed, but ignorance on the other hand can. Stupidity is the inability to learn, but ignorance just means you haven't learned yet. I know, its a fine line !

[Seniorman]

LAMEWOLF - "Lack of experience/skills shows on some you tube videos ! "

Everyone wants to be in "show business." Go-Pro and You Tube give them that pseudo-satisfaction of belief, "Look Ma, I'm a star!!"

S.M.

[Lamewolf]

Everyone wants to be in "show business." Go-Pro and You Tube give them that pseudo-satisfaction of belief, "Look Ma, I'm a star!!"

S.M.

I guess they could chalk it up as a comedy !

[hunter63]

I'm sticking with.....
"A camera and an ego seems to be the magic combination."

Doesn't matter if it's bad.....it just "IS".

[Rick]

This is so confusing. Everyone laments the loss of privacy. There are cameras everywhere. You can't do anything without being on one. Then they post their own stuff on the internet that they shot of themselves. Go figure.

[Lamewolf]

This is so confusing. Everyone laments the loss of privacy. There are cameras everywhere. You can't do anything without being on one. Then they post their own stuff on the internet that they shot of themselves. Go figure.

A wise man will keep silent and make folks wonder, but a fool will run his mouth and remove all doubt ! Yep, they worry about their privacy and then show off their stupidity on youtube for the whole world to see. Does make you wonder doesn't it ?

[hunter63]

No it doesn't make me wonder...LOL.....hasn't changed much....just more opportunities to broadcast stupid for all to see.

[kyratshooter]

I am constantly amazed at not only how stupid people are, but also at how clumsy they are.

So many people do not have the dexterity to accomplish simple tasks like scraping a fire steel efficiently under ideal conditions that I am certain they will not be able to accomplish the process when stressed.

That is especially true for knife handling. I feel that part of the trend to large blades is due to clumsy people not being able to handle a small blade precisely and efficiently. They probably still do better writing with the "fat pencil" they had in the first grade.

[crashdive123]

Hey wait a second! Leave my pencil out.......oh wait.......you were talking about something else. Never mind.

[hunter63]

Take the fat pencil...leave the big crayons..........

[Wise Old Owl]

A wise man will keep silent and make folks wonder, but a fool will run his mouth and remove all doubt ! Yep, they worry about their privacy and then show off their stupidity on youtube for the whole world to see. Does make you wonder doesn't it ?

An odd way of writing "Open mouth and remove all the doubt"

[Batch]

Here is the thing with all things. There are good and bad. I have books where the authors only qualification to write a book on wilderness skills was his ability to write. As was mentioned, sometimes you watch these shows on TV and your asking, "You'd do what?!!!"

Anyone who watched Dave Canterbury's videos on youtube before he was on saw he kinda learned a skill and then treid to do a video on the topic. He was no expert then. So, when you watch him on Dual Survivor and he kind of shows that someone just explained to him what he is showing. You know what is going on.

I would likely never have gotten friction fire without youtube videos. Even the decent youtube stars can be a monumental waste of time. Like Nut-N-Fancy and Hitchcock45. But, you can weed through fast forward and get some really good info from youtube.

More so than not youtube is a great resource. All bad videos aside.