Ramblin' Jim

Start Your Own Outdoor Blog in Under 15 Minutes

Think about it … fifteen minutes from now, you could be writing your own blog. Five simple steps will get you there, and I’ll walk you through them. No technical skills required.

I’ve really enjoyed doing my own outdoor blog. I’ve equally enjoyed learning from other blogs. It’s this knowledge-sharing that makes our community so tight. Why not pitch in your own voice? It’s so much easier than you think. This article will help you get launched.

Remember this: If you can type, you can blog!

Even if you can’t type, you can blog … just more slowly 😉
The point is, you don’t have to be a computer guru.

As we get you set up, there will be a couple of steps that sound technical. They’re not. The process is easier than it looks.

Let’s get going.

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Five Things More Affordable than Health Care

Ever since the Affordable Care Act passed, my health insurance premium has been climbing faster than a Titan rocket, which should have prepared me for this year’s rate jump. It still managed to catch me off guard.

To give a little background, before the Affordable Care Act I paid $423/month to insure a family of six. The passage of the Act brought an immediate $250/month increase, with increases every year since. Last year I got sucker-punched with a $270/month blow. I thought I’d gotten numb to these rate hikes. Think again.

This year dished out a whopping $340/month jump. That hurt, but worse than the jump itself was the new milestone my premium reached. As of this year, I pay over $2,000 a month to insure my family. Let that number soak in a minute; I know I had to.

With a nice number like $2,000 the math becomes too easy to hide from. $2,000 a month adds up to $24,000 a year. Twenty-four thousand dollars. TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND. I struggle to even say the number, much less breathe while I do it.

As I continue struggling to wrap my mind around that number, I can’t help but imagine what that kind of money could buy if I didn’t have to spend it on health insurance.

So as my way to help ease the pain, here are five things that, for my family at least, are as affordable as health care …

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Review: HandMadeByHeroes.com Paracord Bracelets and Products

My Grandpa could re-purpose anything. He would take the discarded, broken down trash of the world and shape it back into something not just useful, but so visibly valuable that you’d stop and wonder why anyone would have thrown it out to begin with.

I couldn’t help but think of my Grandpa as I started clicking through the HandMadeByHeroes.com website, probably the premiere source of 550 paracord accessories.

If you’re looking for a cheap, Chinese-made paracord bracelet, stop reading now. If you’re a deeper sort who likes the idea of products with soul — products infused with a backstory — then it’s time you learn how HandMadeByHeroes.com is taking coils of ordinary paracord and using them to repurpose some of the broken things of the world. And turning out remarkable results. How do they do it? It’s all in the hands.

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My Favorite Gear: Knives, Saws & Axes

What’s your favorite blade? A big chopper? A nimble bushcrafter? A small axe? Or maybe you prefer a saw blade to a knife blade? Or a multitool to everything else?

In this article, I reveal my favorite blades and wood-processing tools, from small to large. These are the tools that my hand wants to grab, the ones that perform so well I look for excuses to use them. So if you’ve got a few minutes, step on in. I’d love to give you a tour.

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Swedish Axe Models Compared: Gransfors Bruk, Hults Bruk, Hultafors; Wetterlings Alternatives

Wetterlings. Gränsfors Bruk. Hults Bruk. Hultafors. Husqvarna. Somehow Sweden has managed to carve out a place for itself as the world’s preeminent axe maker — hand-forged axes known for their distinctive style and legendary for their balance and quality, pounded into existence in some of the oldest forges on earth.

Wetterlings played a major role in earning this reputation for Swedish axes. Then, on March 10, 2017 a splash emanating in Sandvik Sweden sent ripples speeding across the Internet, stirring up shock and sadness in axe and bushcrafting forums the world over: The Wetterlings Axe Forge announced it would discontinue the Wetterlings line, a line dating all the way back to 1880:

Wetterlings, by striking a balance between price and performance, had become a favorite in the United States. With its disappearance, which Swedish axe models should you now be looking at? How can you know, at a glance, which Swedish Axe makers have models in a given size? How do they all compare?

In this article, we’ll compare the Swedish axe models by size — Gränsfors Bruk, Hults Bruk, Hultafors, Husqvarna — and show which ones make good Wetterlings alternatives.

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