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Rules that are always applicable are as follows:

  1. One photo per answer, and no more than 5 answers per user per contest.
  2. Post only photos taken by yourself/person with you.
  3. All entries should include at least a line of text with the what it is and how you made it.
  4. Refrain from posting sensitive/debatable content

Rules for May are as follows:

  1. DIY Outdoor Gear - Outdoor Gear that you have made yourself.
  2. The contest will last the whole month of May and to be clear, we use UTC, just like the site itself.
  3. There is no constraint on when the photo must have been taken.

Suggest a theme for the next contest.

  1. Leave a single comment below in the format THEME - ONE SENTENCE DESCRIPTION
  2. Upvote the comment(s) with the theme you would like to see next month.

Good luck!

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  • Quick clarification request: this include any hardware or clothing used outdoors? Hiking, climbing, gardening, fell running, kayaking, sailing??
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 13:47
  • 1
    @RoryAlsop It's any outdoor gear that you made that is used in any activity that would be on topic for this site.
    – Charlie Brumbaugh
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 13:57
  • 3
    I thought so, but just wanted to make sure I wasn't barking up the wrong tree. I like this one - be interesting to see what folks have created.
    – Rory Alsop Mod
    Commented May 1, 2019 at 15:55
  • 1
    Next Contest: More pictures of animals, as @Paul Paulsen suggested two months ago. Maybe call it Critters this time.
    – ab2
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 12:52
  • 1
    Next Contest: Another suggestion -- Theme: Fresh Water. Picture should feature fresh water in TGO -- running, still or melting snow; people allowed. Specified fresh water, because adding salt water might expand the category too much. Could have salt water in another contest.
    – ab2
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 13:09
  • 3
    @ab2 Unless someone comes up with a better idea I was going to do Baby Animals cause its spring and there should be plenty of ducklings and fawns and so on pretty soon.
    – Charlie Brumbaugh
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 15:03
  • Good idea. The first animals contest had three pics of baby animals, two with their mothers. Would be nice to see more.
    – ab2
    Commented May 22, 2019 at 21:17
  • 1
    @Charlie, I've upvoted your suggestion for next month, but remember that it's spring in only half the world (possibly less, given that seasons are less pronounced in the tropics). I don't think that detracts from the theme, as many southern-hemisphere folk will likely have some pictures taken back in the spring, so aren't excluded by the assumption.
    – Toby Speight
    Commented May 27, 2019 at 18:07
  • 1
    I'll suggest landscapes with no artificial object. :-)
    – WedaPashi Mod
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 5:44
  • 1
    Or, it could be shades of skies with no artificial object in frame. Would be easy and fun.
    – WedaPashi Mod
    Commented May 29, 2019 at 5:44
  • We appear to be on the verge of reaching a tie; I suggest that the earliest posted answer wins in that situation (which would by fyrepenguin's tent pegs for this month).
    – Toby Speight
    Commented May 30, 2019 at 16:56
  • @TobySpeight Fortunately, there seem to have been a couple last-minute votes, and your answer (rightfully so) has pulled ahead. While I'm proud of my tent pegs, I appreciate the ingenuity of your rope meter.
    – fyrepenguin
    Commented Jun 2, 2019 at 6:05

5 Answers 5

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Rope meter

I made this last Friday as a cheap alternative to a professional meter (costing hundreds of pounds) for measuring SRT ropes for caving. The measuring wheel was £10 from Amazon, and everything else was offcuts or leftovers from previous projects.

Home-made rope meter To use, unclip the white swinging arm at the right-hand end, loop the rope over the pulleys, and swing the arm back up again so the rope is pushed against the measuring wheel. Then simply feed the rope rightwards and read the measurement.

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Baling wire tent pegs

DIY tent pegs. Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of these in action, and they're a little beat up from use.

Back in college, I was going on a camping trip with the outdoors club, but realized the day before that my tent was lacking tent pegs. So, I used a roll of baling wire that I had on hand (because who doesn't keep baling wire and duct tape around to fix things) and I fashioned myself a set of tent pegs. They worked surprisingly well on non-rocky ground, and did the job well enough that I could set up my tent and have it look like it was supposed to.

To make:

  1. Start with a circle of wire
  2. Fold circle in half, then again. You should have a quarter-circle of wire
  3. Twist the side without any cut ends together to make the pointy side
  4. Fold the side with the cut ends to make the loop
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I'll submit an entry:

My messenger bag

I am in the process of sewing a canoe portage pack. However, as the portage pack is requiring about $100 worth of material, and I have limited experience sewing bags, I decided to warm up and practice by making a messenger bag daypack, as my existing messenger bag was too small for some of my items and it was starting to get really worn in the corners.

Looking around at pictures of similar bags and doing some measurements of existing products at the mall, I drew up a pattern and got to work. The outside is 1000 D. Cordura Nylon, the inside has a Nylon Taffeta liner.

Stiched on a Singer 4452 sewing machine.

I'm pretty pleased with it except for one aspect, it's rather "floppy" compared to its predecessor, which would maintain its shape a bit better even while empty. Perhaps if I make this again I'll put in some fusible fleece or something to give it a little more structure.

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Setup for making wag bags (bags to carry out human poop) at Summit Adventure. I explained the process for making them here.

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This is a 22 caliber Form 1 suppressor. Above you can see the tube, two endcaps, blast chamber spacer, and 7 very dirty baffles. The point of this is not to make the gun silent but to reduce the noise to safer levels.

To build this I,

  1. Setup a trust, got it notarized and scanned.
  2. Got fingerprint cards ready.
  3. Filled out, signed and scanned the Responsible Person's Questionnaire.
  4. Filled out the ATF online application where I uploaded the trust, selfie and other paperwork.
  5. Upon the ATF clearing the application to proceed I mailed in the fingerprint cards.
  6. Sent a copy of the application to the local Sheriff.
  7. Waited for the ATF to run the background check and approve the application.
  8. Upon approval bought a solvent trap.
  9. Stamped the tube with the required information (serial number and so on).
  10. Drilled the holes with a drill press.
  11. Shot it.

As for how well it works, you still want ears in with supersonic ammo, the crack is still pretty loud. With subsonic ammo, it's much quieter but still a gunshot.

The reason for doing this yourself is two fold, it saves money over buying a commercial one and the ATF is way faster to process the background check to build vs to buy.

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