OUT & ABOUT

If we had a category just for customers who lust after Jules Verne inventions and elegant gadgetry, this would be in it. The wonderful brass sundial, a reproduction of an antique, is approx 3" dia x 11/16" thick overall, and actually works! A latitudinal gauge lets you tilt the engraved dial to the correct angle for your location, and a bubble and three leveling feet allow the 1-1/2" dia lock-down compass to point in the precise direction. And if you never took it out into the sunshine, you'd still love it for the look and logic of it.

They don’t give them away in bars anymore, so you’d better buy this Matchstick Fire Starter. Has a 1-1/2" x 1-1/8" x 3/8" flint housing and a 1” striker with a small cotton wick around the end. Fill it with a little lighter fluid and you’re ready to start something. Includes a 1/2” clip to hang it on something. A must for camping.

You say your Humvee® won't fit through the woods? Cut down some trees with this Humvee® Adventure Gear pocket chain saw. Also good for just sawing up some campfire wood. Has big T-handles and (65) vicious, carbon steel, 1/2” wide chain-saw-worthy teeth. Measures 27” long. Comes in a black nylon pouch so you won't cut yourself.

Daytime, too, or whenever you need to start a fire, especially outdoors. These pressed resinous-pine tinder sticks measure 4" long x 1/2" square, and our each is a box of a dozen. Marked as being from the “Survivor Series,” they’re water-resistant and slow burning, lasting approx five minutes each. 

Not just a snowman anymore. This Frost bottle is from Alpha Outpost™, the outdoor gear geeks, and despite its name, its double-wall construction will keep your soup hot as easily as it keeps your margaritas cold. Measures 10” tall x 3” dia in black with the Frost logo and a stainless steel screw cap. Holds 16 oz, and includes a rubber infinity loop for your belt.

Newly manufactured P-38 Can Opener from the same folks who supply them to Uncle. It folds! into 1-1/2" x 5/8" flat piece which is easily carried and lost. Reportedly works much better than the Asian knockoffs for those who really want to gain entry to the Spam!

You will survive with this Survival Candle, a 3-wick burner made of soy and palm wax in a 3-1/8" dia 2-3/8" tin can with a lid. Rated to last up to 36 hours.

Certainly not. It's 4” long stainless steel spork with a set of little hex wrenches on it, along with a screwdriver slot and bottle opener, and it comes with a carabiner so you can hang it on your belt or backpack. Dork. No, no, we didn't mean it. Just lost our head there for a minute. You're a person who likes multi-purpose tools. And camping. And sporks. Just like us.

Once upon a time, tweeting is what birds did, and also what people calling birds did. Return with us now to those trilling days of yesteryear with this little hand-held Audubon bird call. Measures 2-1/4" long with a cast-aluminum shaft inside a birch barrel. Twist it to tweet, and there’s no limit to how long you go on.

Put your silverware on your belt. This 4-1/4" camping implement separates into a fold-out fork and spoon, and the spoon has a fold-out knife at the other end so you can use it with the fork to cut your pork chops. Also includes a corkscrew (we recommend a nice Grenache or Tempranillo with pork chops), a can/bottle opener and the ubiquitous awl. In brushed steel with a black canvas belt pouch that you should put the thing into fork-down or the tines might catch on the fabric and make you crazy.

And you’ll get found again, and you’ll also know what time it is. This 1-3/4” dia x 1/2” thick device has a pull-up pointer flap that makes it a working sundial positioned above a compass. Folds flat and has a ring that’s attached to a lobster clip, so you can hang it on your belt or pocket clip. A handy companion for traveling through time and space, if that’s your thing.

They have the look of something designed for the space program. They're mylar, a paper-thin shiny metallic sheet, that comes in handy when your car breaks down in winter, or when you're separated from your climbing group on the slopes of Mt. McKinley. Barring that, they're also a perfect material for a do-it-yourself cold-climate Halloween costume-near impossible to rip by hand, but cut easily with scissors. There's no padding, so they wouldn't be too comfy on your bed, but they sure are warm. They both come folded about the size of a wallet. The Blanket is 52" x 82", the Sleeping Bag is 34" x 84".

The last grill brush you will ever need and you gotta keep those grates clean. Do it with our 17” long grill brush from Silberspitze. Has a 6-1/4" long x 3" wide business end with (3) rows of helixed stainless steel coils that easily get rid of grease and grime on grates. No more worrying about steel bristles sneaking into your food, or nylon bristles melting. Also comes with a handy non-stick copper grill mat that measures 15-3/4" x 13". Your grill, and your dinner guests, will thank you.

Just toss this little pack, unopened, into a wood fire and watch all the pretty colors. (For you chem majors, it contains 25 grams of cupric sulfate, cupric chloride and PVC crystals.) And do we have to tell you not to eat or inhale it? OK, don’t eat it or inhale it. Just watch it blow your mind.

You can only carry so much bottled water in the woods. Campers and preppers alike will want this water purification tube, eminently backpackable at 9" long x 1" dia x an ultralight (2) ounces. Called the Water Washer, its microfiltration membrane is good for 1,000 liters. Meets EPA and U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards, and filters out 99.9% of waterborne protozoa and 99.9999% of bacteria, including E. coli and salmonella. No batteries, no BPA, no chemicals, no aftertaste, and no reason to go into the wild without one. Or two.

It’s always hot somewhere. Stay cool with a hyper-evaporative towel. In a sports-jersey-ish fabric, you wet it and wear it--around your neck or head--and the evaporative quality keeps you cool. Measures 40” x 12” in a flattering blue, and comes in a plastic bottle with a carabiner-like clip on top so you can wet it and hang it on your belt until you heat up.

Not when you’ve got this puppy at your side. Our latest and greatest COB LED flashlight is 7" long, rated up to 2,000 lumens with a visible distance of 100 meters. Has three modes—max, low, and strobe—and is focusable, but the best part is not needing to hunt for batteries because it has a built-in rechargeable battery rated at 2,200 mAh. Just plug it into a USB charger and you’re good to go when you need it. The real best part is it has a second USB port to charge your phone or other devices, which makes it nice for camping, fishing or other adventures. How’s that for handy!?

And now two heads can be brighter with this (2)-pack of rechargeable headlamps. Settings for 120 and 350 lumens in low spot and flood beam modes. Has a head strap with a snap-in mount for the light so it can be removed to charge via a Micro-USB jack. Light swivels 90-degrees and has a magnet on one end for your magnetic convenience. Stretchy headbands fit the largest noggins and the lamps are water- and impact-resistant.