Filing and Cutting Excess Weight on All Gear

[Ultraheight]

Ready for ridicule from those who see this as an exercise in the absurd, but I'm curious if anyone has tried taking a file and scissors to every part of their backcountry rig to reduce weight. Where did you find the most weight savings? Did you end up compromising functionality anywhere by overdoing it? Overall Weight Savings? I'm already going to be running a Kimber Mountain Ascent, a ultralight kestrel knife, KUIU tent, etc, so focusing on miscellaneous gear here, especially in the cooking department.

Also interested in lightest mountain hunting (think elk above treeline) boots that are seriously qualified for 4 seasons include knee deep snow?

One day I'll be able to afford horses and skip this fun part, but for now I'm the mule.

 

[tdot]

Can't say I've used a file on any of my gear. But definitely modded a number of pieces and cut lots of stuff off, in the past. Tripod, backpack, tent, rifle are generally the places that I've saved the most weight. I've generally lost a small amount of functionality, but never so much that I regretted it. The key is to use the items a few times first, then slowly start modifying. But to be honest. So much of the new gear is so heavily optimized from the factory, that my current tents are all stock, pack was modified for fit, not weight and rifle wont be touched. The only two items I've heavily worked on are my tripod, and my toothbrush.

 

[HNTR918]

At 5'7'' and 150lbs prior to elk season I'm working on this exact thing. Model 700 to Kimber Ascent = 2lbs savings. Mystery Ranch to Seek Outside pack = 2lbs savings. Leki Voyager to Leki Micro Vario = .5lbs. Cheap game bags to Argali game bags = .5lbs. 18x56 binos & tripod only, leaving 8x42 & 85mm spotter in the truck = 6.25lbs. Gerber Vital only, leave fixed blade in the truck = .5lbs. ~12 lbs lighter. My hunting buddies and I will all be leaving our 2 man tents in the truck and sharing a seek outside redcliff. 4lbs per tent x 3 guys is 12lbs - 3lbs for redcliff = 9lbs, which is a 3lbs savings per guy in shelter weight. That's a total of 15lbs lighter this year. We will also share one battery pack and one solar panel as well as 1 cooking system with our own fuel canisters. All our sleeping bags are under 2lbs, and sleeping pads under 1lbs.

 

[douglasfir]

For me, cutting extra junk off my pack is really only helpful because it reflects a general habit of identifying unnecessary items and eliminating them. I only save an ounce here or there, but ounces add up. Once I bought a scale and put together a spreadsheet, I started to view every ounce saved as a victory.

I've never filed anything to save weight. Weight savings would be minimal for most items, and I would be afraid of compromising the structural integrity of whatever I was filing.

 

[cnelk]

Simple. Use a smaller pack.

 

[EJFS]

Sounds like you've upgraded the main items, going to a UL quilt might be a good move. If you enjoy tinkering then have fun with it and geek out on all the modifications. I doubt you'll feel much of a difference in real life. I love the experiment though let us know how it turns out!

I think backcountry hunting is just too gear intensive to be truly ultralight.

Why try and use one pair of boots for 4 seasons? Lightweight breathable hikers or trail runners until it gets too cold. Then switch to a full leather waterproof boot, wool socks, and gaiters for winter.

 

[feanor]

I found a MR military pack at a thrift store and cut and seam ripped just over a pound of material and straps and buckles off of it. That was a savings for sure. Otherwise, its just ounces and fractions of ounces to make an overall difference. Shelter is the big weight savings for most I think. Ultralight on food has never been good for me.

 

[justinspicher]

Food and water have always been my heaviest items. It’s hard to be unusually light if you’re going solo and not just doing day hunts. However, I did do a ten day sheep hunt in alaska and was limited to 50lbs, that was a real eye opener.

 

[RazzleDazzle]

This is a funny topic. Its gonna save weight to file and cut and trim every single thing you have. But it's worth can only be determined by you. I watched a podcast once of guys bad mouthing "ultralight" gear but then talking about cutting all the pull tabs off of everything and snipping all the straps as short as possible, saving a whopping few ounces. Is it a savings? Sure it is. But contrary to the bashing of ultralight stuff they found themselves hypocritically slicing absurd things to make up for it. Seems like if you're interested in being as light as possibly you could probably look at one piece of your system and change it to a smaller/lighter model and save much more than the "absurdity" of fileing, and chopping buckles and straps likely making your systems less systematic than it was before. About the only thing I could get lighter in my system is maybe 3 pounds with a lighter pack. I will tell you when packing 80+ pounds of meat plus my camp off the mountain the 3 pounds I save for a less durable ultralight pack has never made much of a difference to me.

 

[BRTreedogs]

I know this technically isn't what your asking.
But being good at being uncomfortable is the most bang for the buck.
Just leave stuff at home. But you gotta be ok with uncomfortable.

 

[HDwild]

A little off-topic but not really: some SF guy told my squad to cut all the tags and unused pockets off of our field uniforms to save weight during long rucks and missions. We kind of scoffed at him but then one guy cut only the tags off of his uniform (pants, top, undershirt, and jacket) and put them in a ziploc and weighed it.... 2 lbs!

So some may think this is ridiculous but that little tidbit made me a believer in the phrase "ounces equal pounds, and pounds equal pain"

 

[Poser]

Never filed anything, but I do cut tags off, mod and simplify gear where I can and steadily upgrade to lighter gear over time. Most of my gear is firmly in the ultralight category these days and I’ve spent enough time out in the backcountry to know what I can reasonably do without. I am at a point where I’m not going to get much lighter and if I do, it’s going to be costly for a few ounces, but when it comes to to replace some gear, I’ll probably go a bit lighter.

 

[AK_Alpine]

Take a serious look at your food and what you can change out to more calorie dense or freeze dried. Once you have a really light sleep system, pack, and gun food will carry more weight than anything.

 

[Marbles]

I have changed out pull tabs to 1.8 mm dyneema cord, think it saved about 0.5 oz on a pack that is now 78.6 oz, dropping the 6.5 oz lid did more. I cut tags off of everything (don't know how much this saved as I was doing it even before I was weighing my gear). Sometimes I cut pieces off, such as I pulled all the webbing out of the waste bands of my Prana pants as I have not fount it useful. I think that saved about 1.5 oz per pair.

Eliminating stuff sacks and pointless organization saved about a pound, and made packing easier.

Replacing gear has taking around 20 lb off my FSO weight, and resulted in having less gear that I have modified as most of it came pretty well optimized.

Shaving 10 more pounds off my gut would be the most efficient.

 

[ChrisAU]

All bino harnesses seem to be made with enough webbing to fit a 500 lb dude. That is one place I cut without feeling bad.

 

[mrbillbrown]

I trim my packs and bino harness, swap cord on tarps, and my tripod gets a weight reduction. Wouldn’t do it until you know for sure what you’re willing to keep forever or sell at a severely reduced price. As a wise man once said “stuff won’t grow back”


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[Beendare]

I've come full circle.

I find that brushing my teeth is sooooo much nicer....... with a full size handle. grin

 

[mlgc20]

I’ve gone to some pretty extreme measures to save weight. I gave up a sleeping pad for a while. I switched to an alcohol stove and Foster’s can “pot” setup. I had a custom ultralight backpacking made that I still use for all of my non-hunting backpacking or fishing trips. I’ve moved the opposite direction over the last few years. I want a well insulated sleeping pad, a plush pillow, etc..

As stayed above, by far the best way to save weight is to just leave stuff at home. That will have much more impact than trimming the mesh pockets out of your tent or replacing metal zipper pulls with Dyneema cord (both of which I have done). Food, fuel, and clothes are the easy targets. Most people take way too much of all three. And an even easier target is duplicate gear. I am always stunned at the number of “back ups” people take into the backcountry. Things like extra headlamps, extra knives, back up stoves, etc. If carrying those things gives you peace of mind, then via con Dios. But, if your looking to save weight, that is low hanging fruit.

 

[ihunt2eat]

I'm planning on filing away my stove into a cabinet to never be used again and only eat cold food while in the backcountry if that counts.

 

[Marbles]

Both of the modifications where for function, not weight loss, however it involved a hack saw and file along with the removal of a few ounces.

Before


Cut one.


Cut two.


After


Before someone says it; yes, with a different scope, different mounts, and no stock pack it could be sub 6 lb unloaded; however function is my first priority.