This bag has quickly become a very popular day tripper bag but the Bushcraft community. It seems to be readily available, holds a good ammount of gear, and can be found very inexpensive. I bought mine for $3.99. It is made of cotton canvas and as it comes is not water resistant at all. I have done nothing to mine yet to ammend this but there are folks who domod them to make them more waterproof. I will, at some point do this and you can be sure that I will post the process and results here on the blog.
It has a strap system theat is pretty common to protective mask carriers. What I mean is, it has a waist strap and another ssmaller strap usually wrapped around your thigh to hold the bag closer and tighter to you so you can open it quickly when needed. Using it for a day bag I wear the waist strap asa shoulder strap across my body. I simply tighten up the unused leg strap and let it hang.between me and the bag.
On to the pictures!
Here is the Finn bag next to my packed ALICE medium rucksack for size reference.
Another shot of the loaded bag.
And now a pic of what I have in the bag in these pictures. Again these are the things I have found useful at this moment. More will be added or modified as I will explain. One problem I had was overpacking this bag. I used it a few times with a standard sized Nalgene and my Gransfor Bruks Wildlife hatchet packed inside. The was far too much and the snap closures couldn't handle the strain and constantly popped open. This led me to have to devise another method of carrying water and a hatchet if needed. Again this issue has been noticed by others and a quick internet search or a search of the forums in my side bar will give you more ideas of what to do if you need a solution. My solution was to carry a water bottle in my pocket and my hatchet on my belt if I really need it. I carry a fixed blade on my belt at all times out in the woods so if I need a hatchet I either add it to the belt or replace the knife.
Now for the contents
Really a pretty basic set up here. At the top of the photo are my work gloves and a roll of about 50' or so of military paracord (aka 550 cord). On the left side is a Kellam Puukko. This knife, or a Mora Classic 1 are always in this bag. Both knives are solid users and I know I can trust them if needed. Next to the knife are a survival blanket, a GI Lensatic compass (self luminous), a small altoids tin packed with Petroleum Jelly cotton balls, a box of stormproof matches which I need to get a watertight carrier for, and a ferro rod and coffinshaped striker. Next is a plastic spoon from an MRE. I got used to always having one on me in the military and now it has become a habit. A can of SPAM to eat if needed. The green altoids is a small personal survival kit, the red altoids is my fire kit. Next is a signal mirror, a fox 40 whistle and a piece of cloth cut from a military VS-17 signal panel. The panel piece is bright orange on one side and bright ink on the reverse. It is big and bright enough to use to signal a searching aricraft if neede and or a safe landing zone. Finally I have an OD/Black Shemagh, the uses for which are numerous. Earth, wind, and fire protection; arm sling, dew rag....you name it.
And that's it. As always it is a work in progress. SOmethings that go in or out as need are sunscreen and bug reppellant. I bought a bag for each of my kids and am starting them on their own "adventure" bags which they add gear to as they acquire it.
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