Cleaning and Maintaining Your EDC

Even the most dependable gear wears down over time. Luckily, there's something you can do about it. By following a regular maintenance routine, you’ll keep your EDC in working order and get the most out of your gear. To put it simply: take care of your EDC, and it’ll take care of you. In this guide, we’ve made maintenance easy. Read on to learn how to keep your gear in tip-top shape for the rest of this new year, and to ensure they're in it for the long run. Keys 1. Remove keychain items that aren’t keys, including car remotes or decorative items that shouldn’t get wet Plastic keychains may be able to withstand a run through the dishwasher, but if there’s any question that it may melt, wash it by hand. If you have plush key chain items, follow instructions for washing stuffed animals. You can shake them in a bag with baking soda and then shake off and spot clean. Or you can hand wash and hang to dry. 2. Fill a bowl with a solution of warm water and a few drops of dish soap. Swish and swirl your keys around inside the solution. 3. Use a brush to scrub any dirt or debris that’s lodged in the grooves and crevices of your keys. You can use a special detail cleaning brush, but an old toothbrush works just as well. 4. Swish around again in a bowl of clean water to remove the loosened grime. Replace the water from before so you’re rinsing with a clean, soap-free bath. 5. Dry your keys thoroughly with a towel. To make sure no moisture is left behind (you don’t want to risk rust), wipe down your keys with cotton ball moistened with isopropyl alcohol. Pen Maintenance Make Your Metal Like New Again: Carrying some brass or copper gear that's loaded with patina? If the aged gear look isn't for you, bring those tools back to a brilliant shine with some Maas metal polish. A clean cloth, a dab of polish, and little bit of elbow grease can have your metal gear looking as good as new. BUY: Maas Metal Polish on Amazon Time for a Refill: Lots of EDC pens accept the ever-popular Parker-style refill, though sometimes the stock ink cartridge writes less-than-great. Blobby, skipping lines, and scratchy writing ruin the experience of putting a pen to paper. If your writing mostly takes place indoors, consider picking up some Parker Gel refills. They're smooth, leave a crisp line on the page, and come in several vibrant colors. Need something more suited to hard use? Grab a pack of Fisher Space Pen refills. They'll get you writing in the rain, underwater, and even in outer space (should you find yourself up there). BUY: Parker Gel Ink Refills on Amazon Flashlight Maintenance Don't Get Caught in the Dark: Just because the sun is out later and later doesn’t mean you should neglect your flashlight. If you pull yours out from the drawer after all this time and it doesn’t turn on, check the battery. Regular alkaline batteries can leak and corrode in your light over time. Consider making the switch from alkaline to rechargeable lithium ion batteries. They’re safer to store in your lights should they go unused for longer periods of time and can be recharged when they’re dead. They’re reliable and last longer than their one-and-done counterparts. After a small initial investment in the batteries and charger, you’ll find it’s hard to go back to the standard. To keep your light in working order, also check the o-rings for dry rot and hit the threads with some silicone grease for smooth operation and some added protection. BUY: Eneloop AA/AAA Rechargeable Batteries on Amazon / Sanyo High-Discharge 18650 Batteries on Illumn Watch Maintenance Wrist Check: Watches have a tendency to get pretty dirty. They’re on your wrist constantly being exposed to almost everything that you touch. Give your watch a good, thorough cleaning, and maybe even replace the strap if it’s beginning to wear out. This spring bar tool from Bergeron makes it especially easy to remove the spring bar (the piece that holds on a strap or bracelet) for greater access to the case. Clean it up, change the battery, and pop on a new strap all with a little bit of help from this must-have tool for watch maintenance. Take things a step further by making sure to keep track of when your last professional service was. It's always a good idea to know when the rubber gaskets, o-rings, and movement have been tuned up to ensure that your watch will keep ticking. BUY: Spring-bar Tool on Amazon Wallet Maintenance Remember to Moisturize: You should take extra care when working with natural materials, and leather is no exception. Not unlike wood, this organic material is prone to drying out, cracking, and wearing. Obenauf’s leather care oil is one of the most popular options for keeping leather goods smooth, moisturized, and protected. Use a clean cloth to apply a bit of oil to your wallet, knife sheath, boots, or any other leather you carry to protect it from the wear and tear of daily use. This odorless oil leaves leather looking like new and ready for carry. BUY: Leather Care Oil on Amazon Bag and Jacket Maintenance Stay Dry: Spring weather is usually unpredictable and more often than not, wet. Carrying a small packable rain jacket is a great way to stay dry. Over time, these jackets tend to lose their ability to shed water like when they were new. Hit your garment with a DWR (durable water repellent) restoring spray like these from Nixwax to keep the elements out. Cover your bases whether you're touching up your hard or softshell apparel and equipment like tents and sleeping bags. BUY: Nikwax Hardshell Duo-Pack on Amazon / Nikwax Softshell Duo-Pack on Amazon Knife Maintenance Sharpening the Easy Way: Perhaps you’ve opened up one too many bags of ice melt, dulling your blade while exposing it to corrosive salts. Your blade could definitely use a touch up. The Spyderco Sharpmaker system brings a knife edge back from dangerously dull to razor sharp with just a few steps. The kit includes two sets of sharpening stones and an ergonomically designed base to get your blades sharp in a few minutes. Each set also includes a set of detailed illustrated instructions and a DVD if you still don’t feel confident with the process. BUY: Spyderco Sharpmaker on Amazon Spruce Up Those Wooden Handles: Wood-handled knives look great, but that natural beauty can fade without proper care. Wood is prone to drying out, cracking, and wearing faster than the metal and plastic alternatives. Hit the handles with a light coat of mineral oil from time to time so they stay moisturized and crack-free. Just a few minutes of care can greatly extend the life of your favorite knife. BUY: Mineral Oil on Amazon A Well-Oiled Machine: Folding knives are no doubt the most convenient type of knife to carry. Whether you carry a flipper or a lockback, all knives can benefit from a bit of CLP solution on the pivot. A good cleaning followed by a few drops of oil will keep your knife opening and closing smoothly and safely. If your blade is made of carbon steel, you can also add a light coating of oil to prevent the blade from rusting when not in use. BUY: CLP solution on Amazon Cleaning codura case Use two teaspoons of Dawn hand dish soap (NOT antibacterial) and mix with one quart of water in a spray bottle. Directly spray the soapy water mixture on the bag’s inserts and hard bottom and wipe clean with a dry cloth. The shell of the pistol bag can be washed by hand or by a washing machine. To ensure your bag lasts as long as possible, we recommend hand washing only. However, if you do machine wash your pistol bag, double-check to ensure it is empty. Remove the inserts and the hard bottom before washing the bag. Wash with dye-free/scent-free detergent in cold water on a gentle cycle. Oil or grease should first be treated with a dry cleaning solvent followed by a spray cleaner or detergent and water. Avoid chlorine or bleach-based cleansers. Harsh chemical cleaners and detergents are more likely to damage product fabric. Leather To clean a leather wallet, you can follow these steps: • Remove any loose dirt or dust from the wallet with a soft cloth or a straw. • Apply a small amount of leather conditioner or a mixture of white vinegar and neat’s-foot oil to a soft cloth and gently rub it into the leather, inside and outside. • Allow the conditioner or the oil to soak in for a few minutes, then wipe off any excess with a clean cloth. • Pat down the wallet with a fresh towel. Keeping your EDC clean, dry, and serviceable will give you peace of mind when called upon to use anything you carry. You’ll feel better knowing your EDC items are ready for service. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn

Tactical Thinking. Making it a Mindset

The other day I took my wife out to a restaurant for her birthday. As we were shown to the booth, I noticed my wife making a point of sitting with her back to the restaurant entrance. After being married to me as long as she has been, she now understands that I want to be facing the entrance of almost every room I spend a lot of time in. Because of my tactical mindset, she has a tactical mindset. I used to have to fight my family for the “gunfighter seat.” They eventually understood that it might be a good idea for the person that is armed to face the entrance. What is a tactical mindset? You do not have to have a job where you carry a gun to have a tactical mindset. But you do need to have some tactical training so that you can implement it in your life. Tactics in law enforcement are spotty, sometimes barely existent. Military is usually better but depending on your MOS (military occupational specialty), can also be spotty. I was affiliated with military police, and special operations, so I was privileged to receive a lot of tactical training. As a civilian there are schools and courses you can take that will give you something tactical to draw from. I would recommend Gunsite’s Tactical Concealed Carry Pistol course. There are others but that one is pretty good. Having a tactical mindset is putting training to use each and every day and thinking about all possible outcomes. There are more than a few different ways to make entry into a corner-fed room. However, that same room is always going to have that one deep corner. If the room is a right corner-fed room, meaning the door is along the right wall, the left corner would be the deep corner. Checking that deep corner immediately upon crossing the threshold, that’s having a tactical mindset. I check the deep corner of every room I go into. Cutting the pie is another simple tactical concept. Most of that room, depending on how the room is fed, can be seen from the doorway. I don’t cut the pie at a restaurant. Tactics are a perishable skill. You should practice as much as possible. Play the “what if game.” This simply means to be constantly thinking “what if.” For example, what if we pulled up at the gas station and there was an armed robbery in progress? Could you tell? What would be the signs? Continue driving and call the police would be the correct response. That is an extreme example, but asking yourself all of those questions will help prepare for when you do come across a robbery. These are decisions that you have already made. You are exercising your mind just like you are hopefully exercising the rest of your body. When evaluating your decisions, in life or even the “what if game,” there are two important questions that must be asked — “What do I gain?” and “What do I lose?” By simply asking those two questions, it is easy to see what decision is tactically sound. Start looking at every decision this way for about a week and see what happens. You will realize that where you park in the grocery store parking lot, where you stand when picking up your lunch, where you sit in a restaurant, even where you sit at the kitchen table at home all have tactical advantages and disadvantages. Trying to pause to see tactical advantages and disadvantages and checking deep corners may seem like a lot to do, especially not in a dangerous situation. There are law enforcement, and military who are going to talk about being tired, busy, having kids and all the other excuses. Those are all valid. It is a big change, and it does take a little work. But after about a week of simply thinking tactically and forming good tactical habits, it will become second nature to you. You will even start to incorporate more of your training into everyday life. You are going to start walking down hallways different, getting into your personal car different and wondering why you never did before. For those of you reading this and thinking it is entirely too much, I have one question for you. You do these things at work, for the people you have sworn to serve and protect, what makes those people so much more important than the loved ones you are with when you are off duty? I care very deeply for the people I have taken an oath to serve and protect, but I also care very deeply for those I call my family. So ask yourself a “what if.” What if you tried this and it actually worked? It could potentially save your life or the life of another. What if you tried it and it simply didn’t work for you? It is a simple decision; you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If you’ve been trained in combat. If you’ve been trained to shoot. If you’ve been trained in defense of any kind, you are the last line of defense for the people you’re with. The military or law enforcement are not the last line, but you are. Wouldn’t you feel awful guilty if something happened and you had the training and tools to combat the threat but didn’t because you’re tired? Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn