Man, the one thing I won't give up is my second pair of shoes. I did a 9 day trip out of a 30L bag last year and tried to get by with just the shoes on my feet, and by day 4 my feet were wrecked from wearing the same damp sneakers every day. Now I strap a pair of light sandals to the outside and just wear the bulkier shoes on travel days. Takes up zero room inside the bag and honestly saves the whole trip for me.

That "micro cracks" line made me dig into some old heat treating books, and a few of them say warm oil helps the steel cool at a steadier rate instead of shocking the edge. Cold oil pulls heat out so fast that thin sections can't keep up, which is where those tiny splits come from. Wish I'd read that before I wasted a good piece of 1084 last winter.

Wow, drone shots doing your job for you now?