Showing posts with label Outdoor Survival. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Outdoor Survival. Show all posts

Friday, March 27, 2020

Dual Purpose Items


When selecting what to put in our backpack, we should look for items with more than one use.  For example:
  1. A poncho can be used as tent, tarp, solar still, and when worn, keeps you warm, dry and covers your hands so you can be holding a pistol and no one realizes it. The real point here is that a poncho has four (4) uses, for about 2 pounds of weight.  That said, you can only use it for one use at a time.  So lets look at some other items with multiple uses. 
  2. A mesh hammock can be slept in, a net for catching food, and a bag for carrying things, or securing them high and away from animals (bear bag).
  3. Paracord can be used for building shelter, hanging your hammock or bear bag, setting up your poncho as a tent, it can have the individual filaments used to make a fish net, or as fishing line. It can be used as a bow string, shoe laces, bow drill to start fire, snare traps, and sewing. Paracord can be used for so many end uses that we could never list them all.  Mason line, #18 or #36 tarred, twisted line are good additions and alternatives to paracord. 
  4. Military Survival Shovels have multiple uses, axe, saw, entrenching, hoe, etc. depending on the model you choose. 
  5. Safety Pins are small, but serve many uses. 
  6. A Leatherman Multi-Tool serves many functions and is great for Every Day Carry.
  7. A metal water bottle can be used for cooking, boiling water as well as carrying it.  Avoid insulated bottles and those with plastic on the bottle.  Plastic on the cap is okay. 
The more purposes an item has, the more valuable it becomes.  What other valuable Dual Purpose items can you suggest?

 
 
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019

EDC - Women

Every Day Carry or EDC Survival, is the most common survival scenario, where a person must survive with only what they carry on a daily basis.  In this post, we are focused only on what a Woman could easily carry on them. 

In discussing this, its important to note that most women are more discriminating than men in what they wear, which limits what they might carry on their person.  For example, women are not likely to wear survival jewelry, or fish hook ear rings, or a para cord bracelet, but it they will, great!  There are some beautiful options. But also, women are more inclined to carry a purse which gives them far more options.  Without her purse, a woman can be at a disadvantage survival wise compared to a man, but with it she can have a huge advantage. 

What a woman should / could carry on her person every day
  1. Charged cell phone; don't let it get too low! 
  2. Money - Cash, in small bills & a few coins.
  3. * A small key chain knife, and there are many options in this category.  A multi-function fingernail clipper for example; or a key shaped multi-function tool, or a key shaped knife, or even better, a discrete key shaped folding knife.  Pick one or more that suits your needs. 
  4. A decorative Tactical Key Chain ring. A pack 5 different colors is only $10.
  5. Key Chain Pepper Spray.
  6. Key Chain Compass.
  7. Key Chain Whistle.
  8. Comfortable shoes for walking great distances (NOT flip flops or sandals).
  9. Comfortable clothing that will protect you from the sun or cool weather.
  10. * Concealed Carry pistol with extra rounds of ammo.
So lets discuss what she might carry in her purse as this practice gives her a distinctive advantage over a man.
  1. A phone charger for plug AND Auto (very important).
  2. * A Leatherman Multi-Tool
  3. * A Magnesium Fire starter  & bic lighter for starting fire
  4. Band aids (with antibiotic) or small first aid kit.
  5. Condom (un-lubricated) or small metal bottle for carrying water.
  6. A Tactical Pen.
  7. Waterproof covering, wind breaker or survival blanket.
  8. * Extra rounds of ammo.
  9. Long shelf life snack foods or beef jerky.
  10. Water Filter Straw. 
  11. Water Treatment Tablets.  
* Cannot be carried in certain places such as when flying.

Now I can already hear many of the women I know saying "I'm not putting all that junk in my purse."  Okay, that is fine; you can still pick out a few of them to add.

As you think about what to carry, remember the Rule of 3.
Know when it is time to get home with our Bug Out Red Flag Warning Signs.


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Saturday, September 21, 2019

EDC - Men

Every Day Carry or EDC Survival, is the most common survival scenario, where a person must survive with only what they carry on a daily basis.  In this post, we are focused only on what Men could easily carry on them.



What a man should / could carry on his person every day
  1. Charged cell phone; don't let it get too low!
  2. Money - Cash, in small bills & a few coins
  3. * A multi-function knife &/or even better, a Leatherman Multi-Tool
  4. * A small key chain knife, and there are many options in this category.  A key shaped multi-function tool for example, or a key shaped knife, or even better, a discrete key shaped folding knife.  Pick one or more that suits your needs.  
  5. Key Chain Compass
  6. Key Chain Whistle. 
  7. A ferrous rod (wallet size) &/or bic lighter for starting fire
  8. Band aids (with antibiotic) in your wallet for first aid
  9. * Concealed Carry pistol with extra rounds of ammo 
  10. Comfortable shoes for walking great distances (NOT flip flops)
  11. Long sleeve pants/shirt &/or waterproof coat or wind breaker
  12. Condom (un-lubricated) for carrying water
  13. Para Cord Bracelet
  14. A Tactical Pen
  15. Know your edible wild plants; this is free and adds no weight 
* Cannot be carried in certain places such as when flying.

As you think about this to carry, remember the Rule of 3.
Know when it is time to get home with our Bug Out Red Flag Warning Signs.


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Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Vote for the Prepper Handbook

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Top 3 EDC Survival Knives Under $50


Regardless of your budget, you need a good survival knife as part of your bug out bag. If you’re like most preppers, you want the best knife you can get for your money – but you also have to consider balancing out how much you can spend on any single item when you’re on a tight budget.
You may want a cheap (inexpensive) edc knife, but that doesn’t mean you need a cheap (quality) knife.
Most high-quality knives easily run $150 and up, with custom options going above and beyond even $500. While that’s nice if you can afford it, chances are you need a few knives around, one for your main bag, another for your get home bag. And they need to perform if the need arises.
Quality
When looking at quality edc knives at an affordable price, we wanted good knives, made by manufacturers with a reputation for great knives. This isn’t the place to find cheap knockoffs; we wanted options you could use in the field and be proud of.
Size
We wanted to look at knives that were right in the middle on size. There are much smaller knives (less blade material, less production cost), but they often lacked the minimum amount of blade necessary for a “general use” survival knife. Each of these every day carry knives feature a blade 4.1″ to 5.2″ in length which is a great size for a medium knife. While bigger knives were available in the same price range, comparing survival knives to machetes just isn’t a proper apples to apple comparison.
Affordability
The knives that made the list are all under $50 on Amazon, which should be affordable for any prepper or budding survivalist. While there are a lot of good knives in the $50-100 range, we stuck to a firm $50 limit for this list as we wanted 3 knives that were all within about $17 of each other.



The least expensive of the 3 knives, the Mora Bushcraft is a great first survival edc knife for a beginning prepper, or the perfect backup knife when paired with a more expensive primary knife. This Mora knife is shorter and has a thinner blade than other comparable knives. Not to say this knife isn’t of high quality – there are few stories of people managing to break a Mora.
Its 4.3" blade made of high-quality stainless steel and 0.10" (2.5 mm) thick. The knife features plastic made high-friction grip handle and with a belt clip sheath. The Morakniv Bushcraft full length 9.1" weight only 5.0 oz as well as comes with limited lifetime manufacturer’s warranty.
The only major complaint about this particular knife is the rounded spine, which doesn’t seem to take well to use with Ferro rod fire starters. I take that complaint minimally, as most starters come with their own striker, and I’d prefer NOT to use my blade if I don’t have to.



The Schrade SCHF10 comes in with our biggest blade at 5.2″ and is all around a good, meaty knife that performs well. The micarta handles is molded well to provide great grip, even in wet conditions. Also, it has a lanyard hole. The 1/4″ thick blade makes for a solid knife that can take a beating but is still fairly well balanced and capable of accurate cuts as well as more bruising tasks. It has all the features you’d expect in a good edc knife under 50 dollars.
To protect this 10.5" knife Schrade provides a heavy duty Nylon sheath with an additional pouch for a sharpener, Ferro rod, tactical flashlight or other accessories. Most importantly the manufacturer offers a limited lifetime warranty for this Schrade SCHF10-BRK Fixed Blade Survival knife.

The negatives are this knife’s alleged sharpness from the factory. Having not tested other Schrade knives, we don’t know if that’s just a shipping standard with the company or just a bad run. That said, you should always sharpen your new knife prior to use anyway – so we think it’s a stupid complaint.



The SOG SEAL Pup knife is another great every day carry knife with a proven history of use by Special Forces operators. It has a 4.75” AUS-8 stainless steel made quality thick blade which is partially serrated and powder coated. You would be surprised to know that this inexpensive knife’s blade made of SOG’s patented cryogenic heat treatment method.
The ergonomic finger grooves handle of this knife made out of Glass-reinforced nylon. There is a lanyard hole bottom of the handle. This SOG SEAL Pup Survival EDC Knife comes with MOLLE-COMPATIBLE SHEATH and limited lifetime warranty. The full tang knife has 9” overall length weight with sheath 5.4 ounces.
My only issue with this knife is only because the model looked at under $50 had the partially serrated edge blade. For about $10 more on Amazon, you can move up in the knife to a slightly longer blade that is a plain flat blade without serration. I would buy the better model if I had the extra $10, but this list was only looking at the sub-$50 models.
Conclusion
You can’t go wrong with any of the knives mentioned here. They are all high-quality knives under $50 from manufacturers with a reputation for great knives that will perform. If you’re looking for a secondary knife for your bag or a good, inexpensive knife for a secondary bag – these are the best of the group.

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