Table of contents for August/September #56 2023 in RECOIL OFFGRID

The recurve blade is a design that has been around forever in some form, but in the past 25 years or so, it has really taken off and become a popular EDC profile. At one time, the design was made to facilitate chopping and hacking, but as knives and blade steels have evolved, so has the application of the recurve blade. Depending on which historian you believe, the design originated in the ancient world. The kukri, kopis, falcatta, golok, dao, scimitar, and other similar designs exhibit recurve styles with a larger curve and more weight toward the front of the blade. They were all almost undoubtedly choppers — whether meant to hack through thick vegetation or a warrior’s leather, metal, or wicker armor. The geometry of the recurve potentially allowed…

You’ve spent the last few years stacking emergency food in the pantry, in the closet of the guest bedroom, and in the garage. You bought a grain mill and have stuffed pound after pound of rice, beans, pasta, and wheat berries into mylar. You’ve couponed until you’re blue in the face, joined a wholesale club, taken advantage of every sale on oatmeal and canned tuna. Even with all you’ve managed to put away, you realize in the back of your mind that, for the long-term, it will become necessary to shift from food storage to food production, so you’ve planted fruit trees in your landscape beds and stashed an impressive mix of vegetable seeds in the freezer. But what if the transition isn’t as cut and dry? Environmental conditions, social…

Why are yellow or amber lights so popular in the off-road and overland market? Well, as some of you may already know, amber lights help with visibility in less-than-ideal conditions — dust, rain, fog, and snow. However, the reason behind this is a little more complicated. The human eye is adapted to see best in daylight, which is equivalent to approximately 5,000 Kelvin on a color temperature scale. As light becomes more blue (higher than 5,000K temperature values) it can cause fatigue and eye strain to gradually build up. In a video on the Baja Designs YouTube channel, an engineer explains that yellow light (lower than 5,000K) results in “less optical workload to register and define what’s in your environment.” While amber lights don’t physically cut through dust particles or…

To survive, we must continuously grow and adapt. This axiom applies to each of us as individuals, but it’s also relevant to the operation of this magazine. Since our very first issue in summer of 2013, our editorial staff has changed a few times, and we’ve been tremendously grateful to all of you who have continued to follow us on the journey. With that in mind, I’d like to briefly introduce myself as the new editor of RECOIL OFFGRID. My predecessor, mentor, and good friend Tom Marshall is stepping up into a new role as network manager for all of our brands, including RECOIL, CONCEALMENT, and CARNIVORE. He’ll still be writing for us, albeit on a less frequent basis. This provided me with the opportunity to take the helm of…

Without water, there is no life. Since the dawn of mankind, people have congregated around sources of water which provide the ability to stay hydrated, bathe, attract the prey we hunt, create fertile soil to grow crops, and travel by boat. From the Nile Delta to the Mighty Mississippi, water isn’t just the primary component of our bodies, it’s also the glue that holds together our communities. We often consider the collapse of our government or financial institutions as the most severe blow that could be dealt to our society, and eras such as the Civil War and Great Depression attest to this severity. But the failure of our water supply has the potential to be far worse. Take a look at the most impoverished nations, or areas decimated by…

Remember playing games as kids to see who could stay under water the longest? Although it’s probably been a while since you did it, how long do you think you could hold your breath? Think you’d be able to do it for the same amount of time when you add panic and confusion into the mix? Imagine all the situations where air may quickly run out and you have no breathing apparatus to rely on. Whether you find yourself in a car that’s quickly submerging into deep water, a home consumed with smoke from a fire, or you’ve been exposed to a harmful aerosolized chemical, there are no shortage of ways you may suffocate or risk severe respiratory damage if you don’t know what to do. While gas masks or…

A good knife is considered by many to be the foundation of a good survival plan. More than just a tool, a handcrafted knife tells a story — not just of the blade’s intended use, but of the crafter and their life experience. It was this story that brought us to Stroup Knives. Chris Stroup is a medically retired veteran of a specialized JSOC unit, who formalized his knife-making journey with his wife in 2017. Since then, Chris has made a point of target-recruiting military and law enforcement veterans looking for both a trade and a purpose. From wounded Green Berets to retired police officers, the machines in Stroup’s shop are manned by folks who’ve dedicated their lives to the service of others. Their catalog is straightforward and easy-to-navigate, their…

The last decade has seen a veritable explosion of firearms and tactical instructors. While these skills are no doubt vital to possessing a well-rounded survival repertoire, the underlying historical and psycho-emotional factors of interpersonal violence are rarely discussed — let alone trained — by most of our favorite instructors. These issues are far less entertaining to talk about, and require far more effort to reach instructional proficiency. Enter John Hearne and his company Two Pillars Training. Part professor and part gunslinger, Hearne has carved out a unique and under-served niche in today’s go-fast social-media-forward training market. He possesses both an extensive career as a federal law enforcement officer and advanced academic degrees requiring finely tuned research capabilities. This unicorn combination of personality and experience has endowed him with a unique…

Hiking, camping, shooting, and off-roading — these are a few of our favorite things. Even if you’re not a custom vehicle enthusiast, it’s hard to deny the value that a well-equipped truck brings to each of these outdoor activities. It offers the space to load up all the gear you want, the ruggedness to make it through mud and snow, and the emergency supplies you need if you get stuck or injured. Essentially, it offers the freedom to go on a variety of adventures. This was the realization that led me to start our Toyota 4Runner overland vehicle project, which began with the installation of off-grid communication and navigation equipment inside the cab. The next phase involves some more noticeable upgrades: a Westcott Designs roof rack, an array of Baja…

“The final weapon is the brain, all else is supplemental.”— John Steinbeck Most survival skills are environmentally dependent. The way you’d build a shelter in the arctic tundra is quite different from the way you’d perform that same task in a rainforest. But camouflage is perhaps the most environmentally varied survival skill of all. In nature, we see animal species that are uniquely adapted to blend into the exact colors and textures of their surroundings — mottled brown owls, bright green caterpillars, stealthy tan lions, and so on. Many species, such as snowshoe hares, even change their coats seasonally to maintain concealment year-round. Some of you may recall our feature article in Issue 54 about Greenside Training’s Camo Craft class. The author of that article, Patrick Diedrich, attended a course…