One man's junk ...

Just a Bottle?

Everyday objects have a great number of uses beyond those for which they were originally designed. Sometimes, even a basic modification can transform the mundane into a life saving tool. We've covered a nail, a piece of string and now this third article on imagination covers plastic bottles.

Plastic bottles are more likely to be found with you and your situation or washed up the beach than occurring in the woods or desert sands. If, however, you were to find such an item in a remote survival situation, then you ascertain that at some point, human kind were around and this may be a useful datum for signalling or locating civilisation, should you resort to navigating your way out. Though plastic itself has a huge lifespan, labels and colouration can be affected by the sun and the elements, so a tatty old bottle with a faded label might indicate that someone was here, but it was a while ago. As with all packet food, take a quick check for an expiry date. This can be a ballpark indicator of at least the minimum time since the owner was about.

As Long as a Piece of String

After the very popular Hard as Nails article on the numerous uses for a nail in a survival situation, I posed the question, "what could be done with a metre of string or cord?". Here are the more sensible replies which I got back and a look at versatility and imagination.

Paracord

1. tie something to something else (lashing)
2. a ridge line for a tarp
3. tie bags around you to keep dry
4. snare
5. trip wire
6. fishing line
7. string for fire bow
8. string for hunting bow
9. washing line
10. dental floss
11. climbing, winching or pulley aid
12. lasso for things out of reach
13. safety line for equipment you might drop
14. make a sling or bolas
15. leach water from a rock face
16. use as thick, thin or fine thread
17. handcuffs
18. net making
19. hanging food off of the ground
20. belt or shoe laces

As you can see, some standard and not so standard uses for cordage. Many of these rely on the string being of the Paracord variety. This appallingly over and misused term should describe cordage that was originally used on parachutes, though it is now manufactured and sold by the roll. It is a multi-core, sheathed cord which has an incredibly high breaking strain. However, there are many in the world who would market their garden twine as paracord since it's an unregulated term being used for anything that comes in green and has a camo label on it. Don't be fooled, the real deal has a breaking strain of 550lb (which is why it's called 550 Paracord) and has seven strands, which are braided and sheathed. The strands themselves are twisted of three cores, see above. Accept no substitute if you're buying paracord. There are other quality cordages available, but in my experience, none match the quality and versatility for the price. 

Cordage is one of Dave Canterbury's five/ten Cs of Survivability (see Acronym Insanity) and represents something important in acquisition of resources in a genuine survival situation as well as camping and everyday outdoorsiness. Cordage can be made from natural fibres such as nettles, roots or various barks, but having done so myself, I can tell you, for anything other than lashing a few poles together, it's a time consuming process to make good quality cordage.

Cordage is versatile, but cordage is time consuming to make and a practised skill. If the shit hit the fan, then having no cordage around is going to be a pain. Compared to many other things, cordage is cheap and light weight. With this in mind, it is clear that the return on investment on having such an item is huge, compared to, say, a plastic tent peg, which is comparatively bulky, largely single use and could easily be fashioned from nature. This is why I have spare lines for my tent, but only one spare peg. 

Can you imagine one of those catastrophic shoelace breaks on your speed looped boots which just makes it impossible to tie properly once knotted. How much of a ball ache would it be to make new shoe laces out of nettles? On the subject of shoe laces, I recently provided the local game keeper with a  length for his boots, since he was unable to locally source laces long enough. Even though you need a slightly more secure knot, because it's slippery in that context, they made a quality substitute. Some replace their laces with paracord as a matter of course.

Sometime, however, you can avoid using cordage and it is certainly the case that if you only had a little, you wouldn't want to waste it on some task that could be achieved with a little engineering, such as propping or with some alternative, like a little a bit of seat belt or ripped rags. Like all difficult to replace or maintain resources, we try to limit their use when possible in order that we have them at their best when there is no alternative.

There are those among us; paracordists they are known as, who are masters of weaving and fashioning paracord into all manner of items and at any moment might be wearing 40m or so in laces, belts, bangles, cup holders and string vests. It's worth a google, I assure you. My friend and trusty assistant Wurz is never without paracord and in a genuine survival situation, his apparel might be considered a resource in itself. 

So, don't forget how useful cordage can be, don't forget to pack extra, choose the best, wear some if you like and if you are up the proverbial creak, remember that your shoe laces are cordage, as is your tie, belt and the wool from your jumper, but having said that, not even the best paracordist will be able to fashion you a paddle from it.

Keep an eye out for further versatile object articles and do keep up to date via Facebook on the Survival's Cool Blog Page.

Hard as Nails

I posed a question on Natural Bushcraft recently on the possible uses of a nail. The original forum post can be found here. It raised some interesting results, so I thought it worth presenting them. Take a moment to think of a few yourself before reading on.

1. nail something to something
2. make a blade out of it
3. use it as a fire steel
4. use it as a hook for hanging things on
5. make an arrow head
6. make a hook for baiting
7. use as a fishing lure
8. make a compass from it
9. use it as a bradawl or punch
10. use as the head of an ice or glass breaker
11. fashion into a large needle
12. as an electrical conductor (as opposed to a fuse)
13. use to play "bang the nails into the log" on your own
14. throwing knife toy
15. sap tap hole maker
16. plumb-bob
17. marlin spike
18. scribe, marking gauge or scratchy pen
19. clapper for a metal or glass bell
20. manicure tool
21. snail and winkle extractor

A lot of uses, I'm sure you'll agree. A humble nail, providing us with many possible tools, a fire lighter, fishing & hunting potential, navigation, a component or utility piece, entertainment as well as giving us the ability to nail things together.
As I mentioned in my article on compact survival kits Things in Tins, it is important to have equipment that has multiple uses. It is also important to view all resources, natural and manufactured with wide eyes and an open imagination. Our nail is simple, but has much potential. How about the following items, what could we do with them?

• bottle of water
• tin of beans
• paper cup
• bin liner
• packet of Wotsits
• mince pie

I remember an episode of Survivorman, where Les Stroud developed a scenario where he had become isolated due to a failure with his mountain bike. As a good survivor, he carried a multi-tool, but more importantly, he viewed his now defuncted bicycle as series of new connected resources, each with numerous uses. He proceeded to take detach parts which he deemed useful, leaving the bulk behind. There was no good reason to take it all, as it's quite large and heavy. Trying to take the whole thing would have been a bad investment of energy.

As you may recall from my article on basic decision making All Things Being Inequal, we have to view our actions in terms of energy use, and water too, of that's in short supply. With this in mind, when deciding what to carry, we have to take into account how much it weighs, since every step will cost us extra energy.

So, what sort of thing do we take? My view on this related to how easy it might be to replace that we're taking with resources from nature. Food is a bit of a no brainer. Also, we can boil water in a knot hole with hot rocks, but it's so much easier in a metal container. Yes, we can make cordage from bark, roots and plants, but it takes time and energy. Conversely, gallon of diesel, a laptop, a truck tyre or a copy of the the Oxford English Dictionary might better be left behind, at least in their entirety. A bit of oil, rubber and a few pages might be quite useful. The laptop might contain some useful bits too, but I'll bet there's something better in that truck.

Remember that it's always a good idea to stay where you are of you can, but if you have to go, resources are all around us and their use is only limited by our skill and imagination. Keep an open mind and think about weight, convenience and how difficult or otherwise it would be to replace from nature that which you're about to put in your bag and if do bump into something on your travels, give some thought to other uses beyond it's primary function.