It’s been a whirlwind of a second year here at More Than Just Surviving. I feel like things were still pretty quiet back when I published last year’s first anniversary post – a lot has changed since then, for sure!
I’m really excited about the direction More Than Just Surviving has taken this past year. Thomas and I have met so many amazing people through this blog that I wouldn’t be able to count them if I had ten sets of fingers and toes. Crazy lot of you who’ve stopped by in the past year, even just to leave a comment to say you were reading, though most of you did take the time to post tonnes of insightful information that Thomas and I learned a great deal from! We’re very lucky to have readers like you and are so happy that we’ve gotten the chance to connect with y’all. :) Thanks a bunch for sticking with us.
And now for a sort of second year anniversary recap!
In terms of highlights from the past year on this blog, our most popular articles published, determined by the number of page views they’ve received, have been the following:
10 Most Popular Survival & Preparedness Articles
- 10 Things You’ll Regret Not Having Enough of When the SHTF
- Self-Sufficiency Skills That Will Save You a Bundle
- Stitches, Bandages, or Super Glue?
- 25 Most Popular Survival Books (My Favourite is #5)
- 10 Tips for Building a Stockpile on a Budget
- A Careful Look at Bugging In VS Bugging Out
- 28 Benefits to Prepping Even if TEOTWAWKI Doesn’t Come
- Communication After an EMP
- The 13-Step Path to Becoming a Better Survivalist
- So When Will the Shit Finally Hit the Fan?
5 Most Popular Gear Articles
- 5 Popular Knife Myths and Why They’re Not True
- Recommended Gear
- What’s the Best Way to Sharpen Stainless Steel Knives?
- Are Knife Super Steels Worth It?
- A Massive List of the Best Everyday Carry Knives on the Market
Of course, same as last year, we’ve also gone through with publishing a heck of a lot of knife reviews as well. I daresay some of you only stick around here for those, actually. ;)
Our top 10 knife reviews published in the last year (again, organized by the number of page views they’ve received) are listed below!
10 Most Popular Knife Reviews
- Kershaw Emerson CQC-6K Clip Point EDC Knife Review
- Spyderco Manix 2 Lightweight FRN S110V Knife Review
- Opinel No. 8 Traditional Pocket Knife Review
- Buck 110 Folding Hunter Knife Review
- Benchmade Griptilian 551 Folding EDC Knife Review
- Kershaw Cryo II SpeedSafe Assisted Open Knife Review
- Spyderco Dragonfly 2 Little Big EDC Knife Review
- Benchmade Adamas 275BKSN Folding Knife Review
- CRKT Hissatsu Tactical Folding Knife Review
- Cold Steel Recon 1 Tanto Blade EDC Knife Review
Those of you who were around for last year’s anniversary post may notice that we’ve gotten a lot more variety into the mix this year – a lot less Spydercos & Moras, and a lot more from everyone else!
Hopefully this upcoming year we’ll expand further into the “other gear” (and not-just-knives) department, and thus will at least have a good chunk of new multi-tool, flashlight, and other such reviews for you – enough to make a list of not just knives, but a second “top misc gear reviews” list for you as well.
Can’t say how much we’ll scale down on the knives considering just how much we love ’em, but we’ll do our best to sprinkle some more other products in than we have these past two years. :)
In last year’s post, we also thought it’d be interesting to show you what the most popular gear items purchased by the More Than Just Surviving community over on Amazon were.
This year, the list looks like this:
5 Most Popular Wilderness Survival Gear Purchases on the Community
- LifeStraw Personal Water Filter
- Wind & Waterproof Survival Matches
- Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Fire Starter
- Emergency Mylar Thermal Blankets
- Potable Aqua Water Treatment Tablets
5 Most Popular Prepper Gear Purchases on the Community
- Amco Swing-A-Way Portable Can Opener
- 100-Hour+ Emergency Candle
- MREs Genuine U.S. Military Surplus
- QuikClot Advanced Clotting Sponge
- Ball Jar Crystal Jelly Jars with Lids and Bands
5 Most Popular Outdoor Knife Purchases on the Community
- Morakniv Classic No 1 / Morakniv Classic No 2
- Morakniv Companion Fixed Blade Outdoor Knife
- Condor Tool and Knife Bushlore
- Kellam Knives Puukko Fixed Blade Knife
- Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Pro Survival Knife
5 Most Popular EDC Knife Purchases on the Community
- Kershaw Emerson Designed CQC-6K Knife
- Opinel No8 Carbon Pocket Knife / Opinel No. 8 Bubinga Wood Stainless
- Spyderco Tenacious Folding Plain Edge Knife
- Kershaw Cryo II Folding Knife
- Spyderco Sage 2 Titanium PlainEdge Knife
5 Most Popular EDC & Misc Gear Purchases on the Community
- Condor E&E Everyday Carry Bag
- Gerber Shard Keychain Tool
- Smith’s PP1 Pocket Pal Multifunction Sharpener
- Wayllshine Mini LED Flashlight
- Bahco Laplander Folding Saw
A lot of the gear you guys bought through this site we actually don’t own and thus haven’t reviewed yet – or sometimes, have never even mentioned at all on this site!
We’ll be doing our best to get a hold of some of the most popular gear you guys have been into to do reviews on soon. We’ve already bought the Mora Companion (which we’re incredibly impressed with! Even for a Mora this knife is on another level!), and the Bahco Laplander Folding Saw (again, seriously impressed with this one so far as well), and a select few of the rest we’ll be working toward purchasing for reviews as well.
That concludes this blog’s second year highlights!
Again: thank you, thank you, thank you for being here – for sharing, commenting, and reading our posts. As stated last year, it’s definitely no fun making content for ourselves! Writing up long articles – pouring as much time and energy as we do into each post – is a real letdown if no one is around to enjoy the articles after we’ve hit “publish.” And the bigger this community gets, the more interesting posting gets for us, as we’re able to get all that awesome feedback I was talking about in the intro of this article – advice and tips from you guys that help us to learn things we otherwise may never even have known.
So thanks very much for being here with us, whether you were around from year 1, or just recently squeezed your way into being a part of our lovely community.
And here’s to a great third year!
Egi says
A little late but even more warmly: Congratulations and thank you for your excellent work!
Elise Xavier says
Never too late! Thanks so much, Egi! Appreciate it!
Matt says
What a site! I will be following your posts from now on. Very informative and fun! Keep it up!
Elise Xavier says
Thanks, Matt!
Will do, and glad you’ll keep dropping by!
David J Louise says
Love this blog !!!!! Great articles and information !!!!
Elise Xavier says
Thanks a bunch, David! Glad you like the blog :).
Wyzyrd says
Happy Birthday :)
Even though I’m a ‘new’ reader, loving the good info here.
REALLY like the cleaver pic -IMHO, once you start using a similar tool, a regular ol’ hatchet / ‘hawk just seems kinda clumsy.
There’s a simple “howto” for something similar on my site, if wanted:
A 10 Buck (or so) Survival Tool
LOL – if I originally got the idea here, I’ll happily credit you for it (I’m old and gettin’ forgetful)
Thomas Xavier says
Aye, Cleavers make wonderful outdoor tools- I especially like the old school carbon steel full flat ground ones. A ridiculous amount of chopping power in a relatively small package!
Thanks for the well wishes & I am 100% sure you didn’t get the idea from us. Great article.
George N says
Thanks for all your hard work and research – I have found many informative and helpful articles on your site. I have also gotten ideas from others and been able to compare many different EDC and SHTF products. Keep up the good work & congrats on your 2nd year !!
Elise Xavier says
Thank you for the congratulations and the kind words, George! Very glad you’ve been able to find some useful info on our blog thus far. :) We hope to be able to continue that into the future!
Norman Andrews says
Happy Birthday, thank for doing a great job.
Norm.
Elise Xavier says
Thanks Norman! :)
Kate Mccarthy says
I hope you had a lovely birthday and what a totally brilliant very informative blog and websites love and hugs
Kate Mccarthy moragdubh on Twitter