Ep 41: Reuben Bolieu on Travel, Blades, & Minimalistic Gear

Explicit content warning

02/09/22 • 113 min

Reuben Bolieu shares about his many travel adventures over the years and how it's shaped his outdoor lifestyle and work. He also shares some woodsman hacks, favorite gear, knives, and why we should care about spending time in nature.
Reuben is an adventurer, writer, photographer, musician, world traveler, and survival instructor for Randall's Adventure & Training, the makers of ESEE knives. He's spent most of his life hiking and backpacking through the wildernesses of the world. He's traveled abroad in extreme environments, from the cold climate of Alaska to the desert heat of Egypt & Jordan and the humid conditions of Southeast Asia & South America.
Reuben continues studying survival techniques, construction, and use of knives and edged tools from South America, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, and numerous countries in the South Pacific and Scandinavia. He's a part-time knife designer and created the TOPS Knives C.U.B. and ESEE Knives RB3. He has published many articles on survival, knife and tool use, woodcraft, shelters and remains a lifetime survival student.

Quotes:

"Like laughter, the next best free medication for anything is to be outside, to be outdoors."

Topics Discussed:

Getting into the outdoor industry
"Peak Bagging"
The glory days of Forums
Knives & the backpacking community
The necessity of signaling
Altitude sickness & preparation
Packing your fears
Trail runners & moccasins
Thin polyester dress socks for hiking
Having strong ankles
Rewarming cold extremities
Breaking the gear rules
Avoiding the "ugly American" stereotype
Climbing mountains
Knife preferences

Resources Mentioned:

Adventure Ready Brands
Gossamer Gear
Tuff Possum Gear
Wazoo Survival Gear
Uberleben
Victorinox
Platypus
Morakniv
TOPS Knives
Asolo Boots
S.O.L.
Wilderness Athlete
Coalcracker Bushcraft
Randall's Adventure & Training
ESEE Knives
Reuben Bolieu
Adventure Food Guy
LMNT
Dave Canterbury
James Gibson
Book: The Ultralight Backpacker by Ryel Kestenbaum
Book: Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine
Book: S.A.S. Survival Handbook by John Wiseman
Book: Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties by D.C. Beard
Book: Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart
Book:

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!

Quotes:

"Like laughter, the next best free medication for anything is to be outside, to be outdoors."

Topics Discussed:

Getting into the outdoor industry
"Peak Bagging"
The glory days of Forums
Knives & the backpacking community
The necessity of signaling
Altitude sickness & preparation
Packing your fears
Trail runners & moccasins
Thin polyester dress socks for hiking
Having strong ankles
Rewarming cold extremities
Breaking the gear rules
Avoiding the "ugly American" stereotype
Climbing mountains
Knife preferences

Resources Mentioned:

Adventure Ready Brands
Gossamer Gear
Tuff Possum Gear
Wazoo Survival Gear
Uberleben
Victorinox
Platypus
Morakniv
TOPS Knives
Asolo Boots
S.O.L.
Wilderness Athlete
Coalcracker Bushcraft
Randall's Adventure & Training
ESEE Knives
Reuben Bolieu
Adventure Food Guy
LMNT
Dave Canterbury
James Gibson
Book: The Ultralight Backpacker by Ryel Kestenbaum
Book: Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine
Book: S.A.S. Survival Handbook by John Wiseman
Book: Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties by D.C. Beard
Book: Camping and Woodcraft by Horace Kephart
Book:

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!

Previous Episode

Ep 40: SHOT Show 2022 Recap

Seth and David recount this year's SHOT Show experience, what they expected, learned, company updates, their favorite part of Vegas, and what they're excited about in the months ahead.
Seth and David Spears are two of the four founding brothers of Rewild Gear. They are deeply passionate about helping others get back into the great outdoors, living an adventurous life, and being conservational stewards of the land.
Topics Discussed:

Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade Show
Highlights & expectations
Getting into retail & wholesale
ROI & expensive booths
Fulfilling pre-orders
New product ideas
"Unwilding"
Pricing
Product feedback
Newest product release
Las Vegas experience
Next trade show

Resources Mentioned:

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!

Next Episode

Ep 42: Stu Shank on Starting a Family Knife Business

Stu Shank is the Co-Founder and CEO of Reiff Knives, a new direct to consumer, family-owned American made knife company,

Last summer, I first became aware of them when they launched a very successful crowdfunding campaign to back their knives. I was super impressed with their branding, marketing strategy, and, most importantly, the quality of their blades.

My brother Adam and I had the pleasure of hanging out with Stu and his brother Ben last month at Blade Show Texas, and all four of us really hit it off over drinks talking about family-owned businesses, the outdoor industry, and our passion for creating high quality, American made products.

Quotes:

"Be passionate about what you do."

"If you're going to be stressed out about something, it might as well be your thing and not somebody else's."

Topics Discussed:

Stu's background & previous work experience
Starting a family business
Going full time with Reiff Knives
Working in the outdoor industry
From conception to launching a company
Navigating a Kickstarter & pre-orders
Knife designing
Being a steel nerd
The "perfect" knife
G10 handle benefits
American Made
Drop point vs. Tanto
Crowd Funding
Industry relationships
Being in love with the outdoor experience
Personal responsibility for nature
Building quality products
Principals, ethics & a moral compass
Scaling a startup
Building a generational business
Essential outdoor gear
CPM3V Steel

Resources Mentioned:

The Adventure Made Podcast is sponsored by Rewild Gear. Essential gear built for the great outdoors, designed to fuel your next adventure. Come find your wild at RewildGear.com!