EDC, Watches, & Tactical Sporks

Dropdown: Random notes from drafting

Alright, it is April 2nd and I’m typing out the first couple of characters in this document which I can already guess is going to be another long post. I already have tons of posts that I expected to be medium length which ballooned out, so given I know ahead of time it’ll be long who knows how long it will be. Err, well, editing me and you the reader will know how long it is when I actually publish it. Anyway, regardless, you have been warned.

Editing me: it’s July, guess I’ve been slowly working away at this for a while now. Anyway, I’m beginning the revision now and it’s not actually all that long, currently sitting at ~5k words. I do, however, have another blog post I’ve been working on that’s over double that and still not complete.

I originally thought about making posts on a couple of different things, such as hats, watches, and a little kit-of-random-useful-things I put together that stays in my backpack. Here, though, I thought about just combining everything into one large post that goes over all of that. As for why, it’s mostly just that I’ve put a lot of thought into some of the random portions of what is in my backpack over the years and find it interesting enough to write about. EDC, short for “Every Day Carry” - the stuff you have in your pockets or a bag on a daily basis - has a whole community of people reading/writing about their particular setup. You might find the topic generically interesting, and there’s a small chance you might find some of the information useful, or otherwise, if you’re interested in some of my writings but not this particular topic no hard feelings if you want to close the tab.

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My Pockets ’n Stuff

Before I jump into the deep end I might as well start out with the basics. I got keys, wallet, and phone. Nothing too spectacular there, though it is worth noting a point of contention I have with my brothers: my phone is in my left pocket instead of my right pocket.

I also usually have a flashlight and/or a pocket knife on me. I always have a flashlight with me at work and when I’m someplace it is or will be night while I’m there (quite often, I work odd hours). I used to have a cheap Vont ’tactical’ flashlight, though recently my brother gave me an OLight baton. It’s super small, charges with USB, and can put out an insane amount of light for the size of the device.

My pocket knife is from SZCO, it’s a little flashy but I like it. I’ve probably had it for 4/5 years now and as long as I re-tighten the screws and sharpen it on occasion it works great.

I also wear a watch more often than not. It can be useful to keep track of time or time things, but it’s largely just ‘ooh shiny metal thing looks cool,’ especially since it’s, at least to me, neat to appreciate all the inner workings of a traditional watch powered by springs. I’ll have a section below going over my small collection of watches. I also wear hats a lot and am wearing one as I draft the post, which I’ll also do a specific section dedicated to.

I almost always have my backpack with me that’s full of goodies, and at work or when I’m somewhere I want to have my laptop with me I also have a briefcase. A briefcase might sound like an old fashioned way of carrying stuff around, but I found one at a thrift store and I need to spread the word on how good they are. I can fit my personal and work laptop in there alongside cords and other peripherals, and it’s a hard case that’s durable and somewhat water resistant. If you’re regularly bringing a laptop or two around it’d really be worth checking out, and would be way more protective than a cloth laptop bag or backpack laptop sleeve.

Backpack Stuff

As of recently I’ve upgraded my backpack from the one I’ve been using since 2019. My old backpack is still in great condition, so it was less of a necessary purchase, but the new one has a lot more space. Even though I’m going to go over a lot of different stuff, the stuff I list can actually be Tetris style organized into a couple of very small packages. However, add in other random stuff when I’m out of town, or toss a package or two into the mix and I’m running out of space really fast; and with spring right around the corner I can avoid needing to carry bags or bring a duffel bag + my backpack when I want to walk/bike to the grocery store.

My new backpack is a “Free Knight” brand hiking backpack with 50 liters of storage space. It might be overkill for a lot of people, but as I mentioned above I’ll personally put the space to use, and being a 6ft guy a larger backpack still fits pretty naturally. Being a hiking backpack it’s waterproof and distributes weight especially well having an optional extra strap across the chest and waist. It’s pretty well rated for the price point (under $30). By the time I actually make this post I’ll have probably used it for a month or so to gauge its durability, so if this post doesn’t say otherwise consider it to have my stamp of approval. Free Knight does make multiple sizes of backpacks (both smaller and larger) if you’re interested in one but want a different size.

Note during drafting: I’ve been working on this post for a while and I’ve actually been using the backpack for about four months. So far so good, it’s held up really nicely, and aside from wishing the zippers were a little smoother I have no complaints.

Stuff in my backpack

Utility Kit (non-first-aid)

• Writing Stuff You can never go wrong with a pencil, marker, and a mini pad of sticky notes.
• Sewing Kit: Just a cheap sewing kit, you can sometimes find them for under $2 at a dollar store or on eBay if you sort by the cheapest. It’s definitely come in handy once or twice, either for sewing or just randomly needing a needle.
• Matches A lighter might be a little more handy, but sometimes I’m in a facility where I’m not supposed to have any sort of compressed gasses so a box of matches works best for me.
• Earbuds Just a dollar tree pair of earbuds, not the best sound quality but still very handy if I forget my headphones and want to listen to a podcast, and depending on if it’s supported by the device that you’re using they can be used as an FM radio antenna.
• Poncho A single-use plastic poncho. Has come in handy.
• Mylar Blanket I’ve never needed it luckily, but it’s a plastic and metal sheet that’s folded up into a tiny little package. It’s single-use, but is supposed to be a really good way of retaining heat, and being from WNY it’s a handy assurance.
• Bandanna It folds up pretty small, and it’s got a lot of uses. I’m on an odd sleep schedule so a bandana works great as a sleep mask, it can keep mosquitoes off my neck, and it’s a favorite of the EDC nerds since it can be used as anything from a makeshift tourniquet to a prefilter for water.
• Rubber Gloves They’re really small and once in a while you want to do something without getting your hands dirty.
• Safety Pin, Rubber Band, Twist Tie, Zip tie Small items but invaluable if you want to keep things organized or fix something that’s supposed to be together but is not.
• Batteries I’ve got three AAAs on hand, my old flashlight took them so a fresh set on hand was handy. Since then though I’ve gotten a new USB-charged flashlight that I usually have on hand instead so I might remove them from the kit.
• Toothpick I have a toothpick on my Swiss Army knife, but it doesn’t take up any space so I might as well not take it out.
• Quarter Stores like Aldi usually require a quarter to use the cart that you get back when you return, so having one on hand beats trying to juggle groceries.
• Lockpicks Gloves, zip ties, and now lockpicks - I promise I’m not doing anything criminal. But I’ve lost a key to a safe and occasionally use a padlock to lock my bike, and a universal key is useful for exclusively my own locks. Funny story, I wrote this part of the post in a courthouse. Was just for jury duty though.
• Multi Tool An Ozark Trail multitool that my parents got me when I was 9. Has needle nose pliers with a wrench-style cutout to grab bolts, wire cutters, Phillips & flathead screwdrivers, three knives (regular, serrated, and mini), a bottle opener, a can opener, and a saw.

Utility Kit (first aid)

There are two types of first aid that I’ve got packed into the kit, the stuff I use occasionally and the stuff I hope I never use. Chances are that at some point you’ll need things like band-aids, tweezers, and antibiotic ointment - doubly so if you’re clumsy like me. I’ll never die without any of that, but it’s still handy to have if I’m out and about (especially if I’m outdoors) and do something like cut myself or get a splinter. The other half is more for emergencies that I’ve never used and hope I never use. I’m not a medical expert by any means, but did take an emergency first aid course through my local church some years back (and have done some additional reading/video watching since); so I am confident that in a situation where it was needed I’d make the situation better instead of worse.

At least here in the US, your number one chance of death is a heart attack. The number one reason for preventable deaths (read: anything not caused by eating McDonald’s) is vehicle accidents. From those numbers, if you’re looking to lessen the probability of avoidable harm or death, (outside of campaigning against Mcdonald’s) your best bet is to make sure your tires are in good condition and think about putting together a first aid kit to keep around; and I’d personally prioritize it first over something like carrying a weapon since first aid is more likely to be needed and covers a larger variety of circumstances. Though that’s just my personal philosophy and I’m already kinda outside my wheelhouse and the scope of this post.

Band-Aids and more are always useful. Like I said above, everybody gets a cut or a splinter now and then. In the kit I put together I have the following different items:

• Band-Aids
• Butterfly Band-Aids
• Alcohol Pads
• Dental Floss
• Tweezers
• Nail Clippers
• Medical Tape
• Earplugs
• Elastic Gauze
• Super Glue For cuts in between ‘can be fixed by a butterfly bandage’ and ’needs stitches.’ Been glued back together several times, once by a doctor and several times by me. Also handy as just regular glue.

If you were looking to setup something like this and wanted my advice on where to start, I’d probably say you’d be best starting with the following: first, you’d probably want regular band-aids to cover up any run-of-the-mill cuts; and as a bonus butterfly bandages can hold a somewhat bad cut closed to make sure it heals right. You would also probably want some sort of disinfectant to clean up a cut, and never underestimate how badly you’ll want to have tweezers around when you need them.

Trauma supplies, as I mentioned above, are the kinds of things that you hope you never use.

• Cat Tournequette
• Rat Tournequette Smaller and can be used one handed, but potentially less effective.
• 2x Vented Chest Seals
• Gauze Rolls
• Sutures & Medical Pliers

The cheapest, most minimal way to stop bleeding (as I’ve heard from people who claim to actually know what they’re talking about), would probably be a bandana and a roll of gauze. You can usually find a two-pack of bandanas and a cheap roll of gauze for about $1 each, and you can tie a bandana to an appendage to cut off/reduce blood flow to it (ideally tightening it by twisting it tighter with a pen or stick). You can also pack gauze into a wound and apply pressure to stop bleeding anywhere that can’t be tied off. A tourniquet + gauze is still very cheap when looked at from the perspective of insurance, and the chest seals are a lot more specific to the type of injury, but still the same concept.

As for the sutures, while I theoretically know how to suture, unless it’s the apocalypse I would not recommend being stitched up by me. Still, it’s small, and it’s also a cord more durable than thread that’s pre-attached to a needle. And maybe one of these times I cut myself in the woods it’ll be bad enough to warrant stitches before I can get back within cell service or something.

Medications I keep around aren’t at all life-saving, with the potential exception of aspirin, but still handy. If you’ve ever had a bad toothache or got hurt/sore when doing something you’ll know how handy over-the-counter painkillers are, and having a few pills on hand has gotten me through the horrific situation of no coffee at work.

• Acedominophen + Ibeprophen
• Benzocaine - Topical painkiller safe for oral use
• Triple Antibiotic Ointment
• Aspirin - A potential lifesaver if someone is having a heart attack
• Chapstick
• Caffeine Pills
• Mini Sunblock Bottle

Other Backpack Stuff

Outside of my somewhat organized kit, I’ve also got a handful of other things floating around in my backpack. Outside of random things that come and go, I’ve usually got:

• Chargers and adapters A USB C cable + the inverter that the USB connects to, my flashlight charger, a micro USB cord, USBC to USB adapter, and a SATA to USB adapter.
• USB Charging Brick Keeps things charged when I forget to charge them or use them in a place where I can’t charge them.
• Lighter I’ve got a Zippo lighter with a Thunderbird butane torch insert which works really well as a lighter and feels nifty.
• Prescription Sunglasses
• Pair of Contacts
• Headlamp Never discount how useful a dollar tree headlamp can be, even if you have a flashlight, but now that my new flashlight can clip to a hat I might end up taking the headlamp and button batteries out.
• Tissue
• Pen I have a brass ‘bolt action’ pen that accepts Parker G2 gel ink inserts and writes really well.
• Paper I’ve usually had a notebook on hand. I had a Tul notebook that let you take out and re-organize the pages, but started writing it a lot more so I ended up defaulting to a generic cheap notebook since the Tul pages are like 20x as expensive. Very recently I started using a clipboard instead since I can have a bunch of cheap lined paper and still re-organize the pages as needed.
• Tin Whistle I’m on and off trying to learn to play the tin whistle. It’s a very good thing for my co-workers that I’m the only one in the data center when I’m on shift.
• Tea and Coffee I usually drink two cups of coffee every day, so I have two individual packs of instant coffee on hand. I also have an individually packaged tea bag as well.
• Spare Keys I keep a spare car key on hand. Of course the one time I locked my keys in my car I also locked my backpack in there with the spare keys as well :(
• Hand Sanatizer
• Swiss Army Knife Contains a pocket knife & pen knife, bottle opener, can opener, flathead screwdriver, cork remover, awl, tweezers, and toothpick.
• Phone Stand Just a Dollar Tree phone stand. Handy if I want to watch a video on my phone or if I want to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and do some typing.

Watches

Like I mentioned, the big reason I wear a watch is just because I think they’re neat. It’s not quite so utilitarian when I have my phone within reach, but it’s a cool shiny piece of metal that does have a little bit of a utilitarian purpose. Bonus points for a mechanical watch, with the idea that somebody designed a spring and some gears to unwind in a way that only gains or loses a few seconds a day. It is also handy to be able to glance down and check the time and date without needing to take my phone out of my pocket/backpack or grab it from another room.

I think the first time I had a watch was when I was a teenager and didn’t have a phone, my parents gave me a watch so me and my brother could keep track of time when I was hanging out with friends. Later I got a phone and stopped using it. Then in college I got a job in the meat department at a grocery store, and while I wasn’t supposed to have my phone on me I still needed to keep track of time and set timers so I picked up a cheap Casio watch.

It ran me like ~$15 at the local Walmart, came with a 10-year battery that’s still going, and was super durable & waterproof (important if I’m taking apart and cleaning meat processing equipment). It was/is the most utilitarian watch I have, seeing I didn’t have any other way to tell the time, and it had a whole bunch of other tools like a timer, stopwatch, calendar, and alarm (all of which except the alarm I used regularly).

After getting used to wearing a watch the next one I added to my collection was a Fossil diver’s watch I purchased used. I’m definitely a fan of the style, as you’ll see, although the watch is pretty big and I found it a little bit annoying to wear when compared to the very small Casio watch.

It’s a quartz watch (battery-powered) which is a little more utilitarian than a mechanical watch (cheaper and more accurate, at the cost of needing to swap out a battery a couple times a year). Eventually the movement broke so I wound up taking it apart and replacing it with a generic movement. I used it for some time afterward, but again it was a bit big so eventually I decided to upgrade.

In 2021 I had just gotten a new job and decided to buy a new watch. I wound up going with a Vostok Komanderski, it’s a mechanical watch that you manually wind up and ran me about $40 (not sure if you can get them from the factory anymore with the Russian sanctions, and resellers charge a heftier price). It’s a fair bit smaller so it was a lot less annoying bumping into things or getting in the way. It also had a rotating bezel, which can be used as a timer.

A few months ago (sometime ~spring 2024) it took on an issue where it stops ticking most nights around midnight. I assume it might have something to do with the date changing over, usually removing the crown and giving it a short wind gets it going again (although I can confirm it’s not because it’s run out of spring tension, it does that even if it had been wound like an hour before). Replacement parts seem more expensive than buying a new watch, and while I could probably take it apart and see if some sort of lubrication would fix it I recently started wearing a different watch.

Sometime back I had also purchased a refurbished Citizen watch off eBay. They usually sell pretty cheaply if you buy them from random sellers that used generic parts to get them working again (in the ~$15-$30 range). It’s an automatic watch, which means it’s got a mechanical inside (springs and gears), but it winds itself when your hand moves. Since I wear it most days it means I don’t need to worry about winding it.

It’s probably my least accurate watch time wise, seeming to get close to a minute ahead each day, so instead of winding it up every day now every couple of days I’m setting it to the correct time. It’s also, however, the smallest of my watches excluding the Casio, making it super convenient to wear. It’s nice and shiny without being too overly flashy, and it’s got a date and day of the week which can also come in handy.

Dropdown: A Very Brief Watch Buying Guide

So, real quick, I figured I would pass along a few pointers if you’re interested in finding a watch. My first advice would be to look around for all the different styles. I like diver’s watches, but there’s a whole bunch of different styles so I’d recommend going down a YouTube rabbit hole and looking at the different options.

When it comes to prices, while there’s nothing wrong with buying a really nice watch that will last a very long time, you can usually find a much cheaper watch in any particular style if you see a particular watch that looks cool but is expensive. That’s especially useful if you’re vaguely interested in picking up a watch after reading this, but not sure if you’d actually plan to wear one a lot and don’t want to dump a whole bunch of money on one. Cheap quartz watches are definitely a good choice, you can usually pick one up in any style for fairly cheap on Amazon or at a big box store, and extremely cheap someplace like Aliexpress (talking like ~$5 kind of deal). Stick a battery in there a couple times a year and it should last a while without any fuss.

There are also plenty of refurbished watches on places like eBay (often referred to as ‘Franken’ watches since they’re often refurbished with used or generic parts). If you’re a collector then that’s probably not the way to go, but if you’re looking for a cheap watch that works then it’s absolutely a great way to get a working one. You can find plenty of mechanical watches for under $30 in a variety of styles.

Last, you may want to look into different watch bands/straps. If you want to customize your watch or swap out the bands to have something that looks different without needing multiple watches it’s a cool thing to do. All you need to do is figure out what size of strap goes on your watch, pick up a spring bar tool, and you can swap them out nice and easily. It’s also mildly funny to put a NATO strap on a Russian watch.

Hats

I wear hats a lot, usually just a baseball cap, which I am wearing now while writing this. Keeps the sun out of my eyes and rain off of my face, and keeps my hair in check if it’s too long or hidden if I’ve done a subpar self haircut. If it’s cold I might replace it with a beanie, but I’ve got a couple of different hats that also are really handy for specific situations.

Since it’s currently July while I’m drafting this paragraph I’ll start with the most warm weather hat. I’ve got a boonie hat, it’s just a fairly generic cotton hat with a very wide brim, with the hat being able to snap the sides up or fold up entirely since it’s just fabric with a flexible ‘skeleton’ for lack of a better term underneath. It’s super light and breathable, and when blocking the sun it’s really good at keeping me cool if I’m doing something outside on a really hot day. In ye¹ olden days a straw hat would serve a similar purpose, but it’s got a lot of the same features in a slightly more modern material.

I’ve also got an Akubra, which is just Australia’s take on a cowboy hat that’s a little bit smaller and a little bit flatter. It’s made of wool felt which seems to be a good all-round material. The brim keeps sunlight and rain off my face and neck, and the wool makes a pretty good insulator. The insulation seems to work well both ways, insulating my head from any heat generated from sunlight that the hat is keeping off my head, and insulating my head from any cold weather. It’s not as cooling as the boonie hat and it’s not as good as other hats at keeping me warm since it doesn’t cover my ears, but still works good in a fairly wide range of temperatures. I also think it looks neat, and it’s a great outdoor adventure hat (even if the ‘adventure’ is just a walk on a dirt path).

Last I’ve got a fur hat, which could be called a trapper hat or a ukeshenka depending on who you ask. It’s just polyester lining with fake polyester fur, but it’s extremely warm and way warmer than a beanie. I was actually going to draft up a blog post about hats when it came in handy 6 months ago, being super warm despite temps below 0F (that’s below -18C for those who don’t use bald eagle units). I’ve thought about buying a pelt and sewing up one with real fur, which is supposed to be way warmer, but even the synthetic fur is very warm and way warmer than anything else I’ve worn.

Cutlery

As weird and random as it may sound I’ve come to find my tactical spork really handy. What makes a spork tactical? No clue.

Anyway, I work fairly long shifts so I usually eat everything I’m going to eat for the day at work, and some silverware can come in handy and can cut down on the waste using plastic forks/spoons every day (though disclaimer, the day I’m drafting this paragraph I left it at home and am using a plastic fork from the work stock instead lol). The same goes if I plan to go for a walk/hike/biking and want to bring a snack.

On the right is the ’tactical’ spork, it’s a regular spork with a small plastic knife in the handle (a plastic butter knife would probably make a better weapon, so if the tiny little plastic food knife is what makes it ’tactical’ it’s not exactly succeeding on that front).

On the left is a homemade cutlery holder with a regular fork, spoon, knife, and bamboo skewers that can be used as chopsticks. The regular fork and spoon can be a little more effective than a spork, the regular knife cuts and peels much better than the little spork knife, and after watching Johnny Harris’s Dorito video I found (makeshift) chopsticks to be a great way to eat finger food at my desk while keeping my hands clean.

Most of the time I just use the ’tactical’ spork since it’s just simpler, but it has been handy occasionally to have a full-sized silverware set on hand. If you’re looking to pick up something like that there are a million different plastic/steel/titanium sporks made for backpacking. There are also plenty of travel silverware sets that resemble my homemade setup.

If you’re looking to make a set like I made, I took a pant leg from a pair of torn pants, folded it twice to make three pockets, sewed the bottom closed, and put a stitch on the side to keep it folded into three pockets. The top can just be tied off with a piece of string to keep things closed. The fork & spoon came from my kitchen, the makeshift chopsticks were cut from a set of bamboo skewers, and the knife with a silicon cover I found at Dollar Tree.

Flashlights

Flashlights are a little bit different than watches in the sense that there’s not a whole lot of benefit watches bring to the table that phones can’t do; whereas while you have a flashlight built into your phone a dedicated flashlight can do more than your phone can. This obviously depends on whether you actually use a flashlight regularly or not (which I do, I work odd hours when it’s often dark outside, and inside where it’s also sometimes dark regardless of daylight or lackthereof outside).

For a while I had a Vont flashlight, it was cheap but decently bright and pretty durable. Nothing crazy, just took three triple-A batteries and had adjustable brightness and focus (could have a wide light or very concentrated spotlight). More recently my brother gifted me an Olight Baton, which despite being considerably smaller gives out a lot more light with more brightness options. It’s charged via USB, and given I have a USB charger in my backpack I can always top it off if need be, plus with the clip it also allows me to attach it to a baseball cap making it a headlamp as well.

Hiking/Outdoors Kit

In case you were thinking I couldn’t have any more to throw in kits, well, I’ve got a curveball: another kit. It’s fairly small so I can just toss the kit in my backpack and grab a bunch of potentially useful stuff at once. Depending on what I’m doing I’ll still bring other stuff, but it’s just a bunch of misc stuff that I’d never take the time to grab individually; though having all of them can come in handy as I’ll often use something from the kit while I’m out.

• Tissue
• Telescopic Bellows Super handy for fire starting
• Wax fire starters
• Telescopic Fishing Rod Barely larger than one of those mega Sharpie markers. Probably bought it off Wish or something forever ago, but it’s super tiny.
• Morakanov Knife
• Collapsible Mini Woodstove Collapses to the size of a couple of credit cards, and allows you to cook with a small pot or pan.
• Styrofoam Medical Tape Just tape with a fairly thick styrofoam-like later on top. Great for preventing blisters, though works as standard tape or medical tape too.
• Pencil Sharpener Shavings from small sticks make a good fire starter.
• Poncho
• Trash bag x2 Can be used to make a seat on the ground, dispose of a body, become a makeshift poncho, and more. Relax, one of those was a joke. … I’d be stupid to use it as a makeshift poncho if I already have a regular one.
• Multitool containing a: thermometer, whistle, mirror, magnifying glass, compass, and a pen light that probably has not had a battery in 15 years.
• Lighter and Matches
• Tealight Candles x2 Could be used as a fire starter or a source of light.
• I also had a larger fancy looking brass compass, but seem to have misplaced it atm.

Wrap Up

Well, that about does it. I’m sure I’ll realize I forgot something later, but this concludes my unorganized post about EDC and stuff I keep in my backpack. If you do usually have something with you like a backpack or purse it might be handy to think about what you have floating around and what things to have on you that might come in handy in your case. Otherwise, I hope you at least found some interest in my ramblings.

Footnotes