A new compass for my kit
Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2022 12:28 pm
I know it's not historic in any way, but I was fed up of carrying this obviously modern one all the time:
so I got one of these: https://heinnie.com/marbles-large-pocket-compass and because I wanted to be able to mark which way I was walking I painted a white line on the inside of the glass (that you can rotate) and cut a notch in the outer ring (that you can also rotate) so I have two markers that I can change the angle between, and I made a leather pouch to protect the real glass face
I know I can't easily site along it to a fixed point on the horizon like I can with the lensatic compass so I will wander a little from my line, but because I almost never use a compass unless it's foggy or I'm in a forest I don't think that will make much difference to me, and if I was going to navigate somewhere I didn't know well I would probably bring the lensatic one anyway. I just wonted something a bit more believable to keep in my kit for emergency's, I've had it for three weeks and tested it a couple of times (learning to trust a new piece of gear like this does take me a while) and it seems good so far
Designing the pouch was a bit tricky though. I wanted it to be tight and secure but the compass has no way of attaching a lanyard, this would mean pulling it out of a tight pouch with cold wet hands would be hard, so I ended up stealing a design from this modern tactical pouch by Maxpedition:
the webbing goes all the way around the thing you put inside so that when you pull the flap it lifts what is inside up, my leather version works in exactly the same way:
I just wish I had made the leather strip longer and put the run of stitches part way up the front so it works better, I might remake it, I don't know yet?
still, it was quite a fun little project
Note: I always have a backup on me (my waterproof camera has a built in GPS compass), if anyone new to this reads this I recommend you have a modern navigation system with you at all times
so I got one of these: https://heinnie.com/marbles-large-pocket-compass and because I wanted to be able to mark which way I was walking I painted a white line on the inside of the glass (that you can rotate) and cut a notch in the outer ring (that you can also rotate) so I have two markers that I can change the angle between, and I made a leather pouch to protect the real glass face
I know I can't easily site along it to a fixed point on the horizon like I can with the lensatic compass so I will wander a little from my line, but because I almost never use a compass unless it's foggy or I'm in a forest I don't think that will make much difference to me, and if I was going to navigate somewhere I didn't know well I would probably bring the lensatic one anyway. I just wonted something a bit more believable to keep in my kit for emergency's, I've had it for three weeks and tested it a couple of times (learning to trust a new piece of gear like this does take me a while) and it seems good so far
Designing the pouch was a bit tricky though. I wanted it to be tight and secure but the compass has no way of attaching a lanyard, this would mean pulling it out of a tight pouch with cold wet hands would be hard, so I ended up stealing a design from this modern tactical pouch by Maxpedition:
the webbing goes all the way around the thing you put inside so that when you pull the flap it lifts what is inside up, my leather version works in exactly the same way:
I just wish I had made the leather strip longer and put the run of stitches part way up the front so it works better, I might remake it, I don't know yet?
still, it was quite a fun little project
Note: I always have a backup on me (my waterproof camera has a built in GPS compass), if anyone new to this reads this I recommend you have a modern navigation system with you at all times