It's been a while since I've talked about specific skills. Let's leave the political crap behind for a bit, shall we?
I realized when thinking about posts, specifically skill related ones, that it might make sense to build out a list of what I consider critical skills, then get your input to expand it. Without further fanfare, here we go (with "brief" explanations/justifications). I'll also list what critical slot they fill
CookingFood - if you can't eat, life without takeout will suck.
Water treatmentWater - easy to pick up, but even more vital than cooking
Fire buildingEnergy - including fire starting
PioneeringShelter - knot-tying and lashing, allows shelter and tool building on the fly
FirearmsSecurity/Food - good to know about even if they don't fit into your security philosophy, if only to handle safely
ArcherySecurity/Food - your standard backup/predecessor to the gun, takes way more time to become proficient
GardeningFood - growing your own assures a constant source, especially if you add greenhouses
Handheld radio basicsCommunication - when there's more than one of you, you need to talk
Knife use and careFood/Shelter/Security - as your most versatile tool, it needs to be in working order
Food and water storageFood/Water - keeping the basics around
Land navigationNavigation - getting around without electronics
First aidBasic Health - from boo-boos to heart attacks
Foot careBasic Health - if you can't walk, you're a sitting duck
Emergency planningGeneral - without planning, it can all fall apart
Mental fitnessBasic Health - keeping your head (and those of your group) together
Leadership/group dynamicsCommunication - even if you aren't a born leader, you need to know how to deal with them and people
Basic hand tool useGeneral - shovels, hammers, screwdrivers, oh my!
SignalingCommunication - getting found or passing on messages without electronics
Let me know what I missed, and maybe what topics you'd like me to expand on sooner than later. No, really, just take a few minutes and comment right below!
Edited for added skills from readers:
Gathering woodEnergy/Shelter - for firewood, pioneering, and tool making
ForagingFood - Non-animal wild nutrition gathering
Hunting/TrappingFood - Animal wild nutrition gathering
Survival hygieneBasic Health - keeping healthy without running water
Alternate medicineBasic Health - getting by when there isn't 'modern' medicine
Tool makingGeneral - fixing broken tools or crafting from scratch
Primitive laundry and dishesBasic Health - cause getting sick during tough times would suck
Preserving foodFood - making what you gather last
Keeping fitBasic Health - being in shape keeps you in shape when you're working harder
RationingFood/Water - how much do you really need?
Showing posts with label fire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fire. Show all posts
Friday, June 21, 2013
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Bringing young people into preparedness
In August of 2011, my wife and I had a child. Well, not had so much as acquired - a bouncing teenage girl! As you can imagine, going from childless to parenting a teenager was pretty life changing, on both sides. One thing our "daughter" (technically our niece) had to come to grips with was that she was now in a preparedness household. I figured I'd recount some of the ways we broke her into it and how she's adapted.
Food - One thing a teenager can do is eat. A lot. So shortly after arriving, she went with us on a run to our local bulk-food store. She found it fascinating that when she said she liked a particular cereal, I'd add 2 to the cart instead of one. I didn't make a big deal about it, but I did mention we like to have extra on hand. Having siblings, she understood it but found it odd for just 3 of us that we would buy hundreds of dollars of food all at once.
Over the next few weeks, she learned just how much food we had. When we ran out of tuna fish, she immediately cried for a store run. I told her where to look for more. I believe she made some comment to the tune of, "Holy cow, do you know how much food is down there?", at which point my wife pointed out the food in the closet as well. That prompted our first real discussion about what we do. She thought we were odd, but rolled with it.
Now, 1.5 years later, she's rotating food and letting us know what's low in various containers. She's even begun recommending things that should be added to the list!
Firewood - a wood stove wasn't completely alien to her, but she grumbled about helping lug in wood. Of course, when we lost power for while last winter and were able to keep warm with that same wood, it started to click a little why we have all that. She's helped stack and carry since then with a little less grumbling.
Finances - this is an ongoing battle. Honestly, and oddly, the holiday season seems to be what is driving home to her how much finances play into preparedness. Additionally, paying for her own rock climbing has made her notice how fast her money goes. This from a kid who had little to know experience with her own money before moving up.
Having a job has also been critical. While she doesn't get enough hours to pay for everything she wants, she's learning that needing to be somewhere on time and planning for your meals takes effort. Is this hardcore survivalism? Heck no! But these are the blocks that build towards that.
Security - A touchy subject to many, this is an area she's taken a slight interest in. After a date that we put a stop to, and a few poor choices since that time, she's started to carry the pepper spray I gave her a while back. She's expressed interest in some basic self-defense, and actually locks the doors when we aren't around. I think that having a large dog helps. We still have to work on letting strangers in for directions (which she did the other night while we were out), but she's moving forward. And no, she is not likely to ever carry concealed. She isn't interested, and honestly, she isn't responsible enough. She knows that and is good with it. So am I
Prepping on her own - this was a long time coming. For the past 18 months, my wife and I have planned around needing to have things in our Bug Out Bags (BOBs) to help support the teen if things required it. We both tend to over-plan, so that wasn't a hardship. However, after my last post on the 2013 plan, she said she didn't have a BOB of her own and wanted one. Well, no need to tell us twice! For Hanukkah this year, we picked up a pack at EMS (a very sweet Four Wheel Jive) and gave her a bunch of items to go into it. This was a hodgepodge, including a travel toothbrush, some snacks, wet wipes, hair-ties...the list was pretty long, but focused less on things like fire-starting and the like. Don't get me wrong, some of that's there, but we tailored it to here.
And the best part? She's now coming up with things to start for herself! In fact, she spent many hours this weekend working on her kit, making lists, and talking about when things would come in handy. They grow up so fast!
Monday, November 5, 2012
Air travel and survivalism
For those of us who travel a lot but worry about things like having basic survival tools with us, 9/11 made things very difficult for us. There are just certain things that you simply aren't allowed to take on the plane any more. The key things for me are light, fire-starting, and a blade, the last of which is completely verboten for carry on. Shy of checking baggage, you won't be able to take one with you. Personally, I find checked baggage an inconvenience, especially if they lose it on the way to your destination! What to do? Here's where I started:
Dealing with the light source is the easiest part. You simply need a small light that fits well on a keychain. I picked up the Led Lenser K3 at the Leatherman store in Portland, but any small light will do. To me, brightness is not as big an issue as battery life, though I might swap to a brighter light in the future. I've been in hotels where power went out and found having a light like this on you can make all the difference. It is the second most commonly used item in my pocket kit.
Fire starting is most easily done with a lighter or matches. You can now take these through TSA, though occasionally you will get accosted by a less updated agent. I like having something that has less failure opportunities, like a magnesium fire starter. Some people refer to these as flint and steel, though that isn't accurate. I found a small, compact striker that expands into a comfortable size, the Exotac Nanostriker.
I have a number of similar strikers, including much larger ones for long term use, but this has the advantage size, a replaceable rod, and attached striker. It throws hot sparks with very little effort. The downside is that there is very little room for tinder in the starter itself, but you can squeeze a tiny amount in the top. Otherwise, you need to plan on carrying more or going without. I'm planning to carry a small pill bottle with some fire starter just in case.
This leads us with our problem of a blade. As I said, not much to do here for a real blade, but Leatherman has decided to build something with our needs in mind. The Style PS is a micro-sized multi-tool built to be TSA compliant, which basically means it has no blade on it.
Unlike most of the Leatherman keychain tools, this one replaces the scissors with pliers and places the scissors in the blade position. The scissors are small, but sharp, passable as an emergency blade if needed. You also gain a nail file with screwdriver end and a bottle opener that is also a caribiner clip. Finally, there is a small pair of tweezers that are surprisingly good for their size. I've found the pliers to be surprisingly useful for their size and use the scissors more than I expected. Honestly, I've been very pleased with these since I've picked them up. Of course, the TSA expects anything that looks like a multi-tool doesn't meet their standards, so I always like to make sure they are out and can be easily checked by agents.
Anyone else out there travel a lot by air? What do you carry with you?
Dealing with the light source is the easiest part. You simply need a small light that fits well on a keychain. I picked up the Led Lenser K3 at the Leatherman store in Portland, but any small light will do. To me, brightness is not as big an issue as battery life, though I might swap to a brighter light in the future. I've been in hotels where power went out and found having a light like this on you can make all the difference. It is the second most commonly used item in my pocket kit.
Fire starting is most easily done with a lighter or matches. You can now take these through TSA, though occasionally you will get accosted by a less updated agent. I like having something that has less failure opportunities, like a magnesium fire starter. Some people refer to these as flint and steel, though that isn't accurate. I found a small, compact striker that expands into a comfortable size, the Exotac Nanostriker.
I have a number of similar strikers, including much larger ones for long term use, but this has the advantage size, a replaceable rod, and attached striker. It throws hot sparks with very little effort. The downside is that there is very little room for tinder in the starter itself, but you can squeeze a tiny amount in the top. Otherwise, you need to plan on carrying more or going without. I'm planning to carry a small pill bottle with some fire starter just in case.
This leads us with our problem of a blade. As I said, not much to do here for a real blade, but Leatherman has decided to build something with our needs in mind. The Style PS is a micro-sized multi-tool built to be TSA compliant, which basically means it has no blade on it.
Unlike most of the Leatherman keychain tools, this one replaces the scissors with pliers and places the scissors in the blade position. The scissors are small, but sharp, passable as an emergency blade if needed. You also gain a nail file with screwdriver end and a bottle opener that is also a caribiner clip. Finally, there is a small pair of tweezers that are surprisingly good for their size. I've found the pliers to be surprisingly useful for their size and use the scissors more than I expected. Honestly, I've been very pleased with these since I've picked them up. Of course, the TSA expects anything that looks like a multi-tool doesn't meet their standards, so I always like to make sure they are out and can be easily checked by agents.
Anyone else out there travel a lot by air? What do you carry with you?
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Fire building 101
One of the most commonly discussed skills in survival is fire-starting, but too often the actual building of a fire is overlooked. Don't get me wrong, I like using odd methods to get a fire going as much as the next wilderness buff, but if you get a flame going but have nowhere useful to put it, you'll end up doing all that hard work again.
I recommend practicing this at home to get to the point where you can start a fire in any condition and in short order. Pick a spot where you aren't likely to cause a fire to spread and ring it with rocks or bricks. Don't do this on a driveway as you can damage it with too much heat. You'll notice in the pictures below that I didn't ring the fire for ease of photographing only.
Prepare for the burn: Possibly the most crucial step is the one before you make the fire; gathering your materials. The rest is pretty easy if you get this down.
Fire building materials fall into a few basic areas:
Tinder - The stuff that starts to flame. Thinks small, thin stuff. Common tinders include cotton balls, wood shavings, thin bark and twigs, paper, artificial fire starters, dry pine needles, and leaves. I don't generally like leaves myself unless they are very dry. Below you'll see dryer lint in a toilet paper tube, and old Scouting favorite (if you mostly wear natural fabrics and don't stuff it too tightly)
Kindling- Once you get a flame going, you need something to catch and spread it. While the tinder is always smaller than @ 1/8", kindling goes from 1/4" to an inch. There should be a variety of sizes, generally 8-12" long, and as dry as possible. Some dampness can be dealt with here as the tinder will smoke it out, but dry is better while you get your skills tight. Kindling can be gathered as dry sticks, or split from a dry log, as shown here.
Fuel- Everything larger than kindling is fuel. This is the big stuff to be added after the fire is going BUT never too soon! More on that later.
Putting it up: Take a few pieces of fuel size logs and build a windscreen. I like to stack 2 logs on top of each other to form a log cabin style. This leaves room for wind to come in and give air to the fire. Remember, a fire needs ignition, fuel, and oxygen, so don't choke it.
If you're dealing with a windy day, you may want to put all 4 logs flat on the ground. For the rest of these pictures, I've removed these pieces for photographic reasons. Usually they will be some of the first wood to catch.
Now you need to build the heart of the fire. The overall structure is pretty straight forward. It is that of a teepee rather than a random pile. Start by placing the smallest tinder in the center of where the fire will go, then begin placing the larder tinder and kindling on it with one end on the ground and the other ends coming together into a cone. Stack it in a manner that you leave space and air between sticks, though not too much room. Do make sure to leave a small opening in the bottom to of the construction to allow your fire to be started. Now you have to decide how to start it.
Traditionally
A fire piston
Or using a more modern method
Weatherproof lighter
Light the tinder at the bottom of the fire:
You might need to blow on the fire a bit to get it too spread, but don't do so until you have a bit of flame going. A little blowing to spread the flame around the tinder can be a good thing, but if you have to do it too hard or much, you may not have placed enough tinder or small kindling in the middle of the fire. With practice you end up with something that becomes this!
Now you have fire! This is the time to start putting on some fuel. Small at first, then add to it. The easiest way is to lay a few pieces across the top of your initial log cabin to catch. As you build up coals, you should have little problem keeping it going. Just remember to put i tout when you're all done, and I mean VERY out. With my model fire burning for under 5 minutes, I stomped it out...
...dropped a few leaves on the remains and blew.
So you can see how forest fires start! Please make sure you can touch the remains of your fire without feeling any heat. Now, do it all over again till you get it down tight. Good luck!
I recommend practicing this at home to get to the point where you can start a fire in any condition and in short order. Pick a spot where you aren't likely to cause a fire to spread and ring it with rocks or bricks. Don't do this on a driveway as you can damage it with too much heat. You'll notice in the pictures below that I didn't ring the fire for ease of photographing only.
Prepare for the burn: Possibly the most crucial step is the one before you make the fire; gathering your materials. The rest is pretty easy if you get this down.
Fire building materials fall into a few basic areas:
Tinder - The stuff that starts to flame. Thinks small, thin stuff. Common tinders include cotton balls, wood shavings, thin bark and twigs, paper, artificial fire starters, dry pine needles, and leaves. I don't generally like leaves myself unless they are very dry. Below you'll see dryer lint in a toilet paper tube, and old Scouting favorite (if you mostly wear natural fabrics and don't stuff it too tightly)
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Putting it up: Take a few pieces of fuel size logs and build a windscreen. I like to stack 2 logs on top of each other to form a log cabin style. This leaves room for wind to come in and give air to the fire. Remember, a fire needs ignition, fuel, and oxygen, so don't choke it.
If you're dealing with a windy day, you may want to put all 4 logs flat on the ground. For the rest of these pictures, I've removed these pieces for photographic reasons. Usually they will be some of the first wood to catch.
Now you need to build the heart of the fire. The overall structure is pretty straight forward. It is that of a teepee rather than a random pile. Start by placing the smallest tinder in the center of where the fire will go, then begin placing the larder tinder and kindling on it with one end on the ground and the other ends coming together into a cone. Stack it in a manner that you leave space and air between sticks, though not too much room. Do make sure to leave a small opening in the bottom to of the construction to allow your fire to be started. Now you have to decide how to start it.
Traditionally
A fire piston
Or using a more modern method
Weatherproof lighter
Light the tinder at the bottom of the fire:
You might need to blow on the fire a bit to get it too spread, but don't do so until you have a bit of flame going. A little blowing to spread the flame around the tinder can be a good thing, but if you have to do it too hard or much, you may not have placed enough tinder or small kindling in the middle of the fire. With practice you end up with something that becomes this!
Now you have fire! This is the time to start putting on some fuel. Small at first, then add to it. The easiest way is to lay a few pieces across the top of your initial log cabin to catch. As you build up coals, you should have little problem keeping it going. Just remember to put i tout when you're all done, and I mean VERY out. With my model fire burning for under 5 minutes, I stomped it out...
...dropped a few leaves on the remains and blew.
So you can see how forest fires start! Please make sure you can touch the remains of your fire without feeling any heat. Now, do it all over again till you get it down tight. Good luck!
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