Unusual Survival Items

Hi Everyone,

I have just been looking on Wikipedia about survival kits, just out of curiousity really - I have a strange habbit of looking up various things on wikipedia

Anyways, one of the items mentioned was black shoe polish and I quote:

Dark-colored (black preferred) shoe polish for fire-starting (It also gives off a smell that can repel animals and can be used for marking and camouflage)

Link: en.wikipedia.org...

I don't know if the above is true personally as I have never tried using shoe polish to start a fire but this got me thinking about other unusual items that you could or have been used in a survival situation.

What other unsuspecting items have you used in a survival situation?

Is there any strange uses for an object/item that you have heard off?

Two more quick things I can think off are Condoms (excellent for a variety of uses, including water storage and water proofing) & female Tampons (useful for fire lighting)

Dental floss.
Makes the greatest repair thread there is - very light and you don't have to cut it. You can also store needles in most of the dental floss dispensers I've seen. Pop the top off to reveal the spool of floss and store a needle in there.
Thousands of uses for this stuff.
And of course Duct Tape, but any self respecting survivalist always has duct tape.



...taps...

I would not use it as camo on your skin,or use much to start a fire for cooking food.It is caustic stuff.It is highly flammable,I have set fire to the tin for a couple of seconds,then put it out,then apply to leather and it soaks it right up.Then shine them bad boys up.

reply to post by Death_Kron


But how do you start the fire with it?

Originally posted by Raud
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

But how do you start the fire with it?

As I said I have never tried this personally so I'm not sure if it works or how you would go about using it to start a fire.

Presumably you would apply it to cotton wool or tissue paper, or maybe even to your small pieces of kindling you intend you to light.

As more of a 'firelighter' than 'firestarter,' at least in local terms. You would use it as a tinder equivalent, something that lights easily and burns hotter than it lights at, so you can use it to make the logs burn easier when all you have is a cigarette lighter.

Originally posted by silo13
Dental floss.
Makes the greatest repair thread there is - very light and you don't have to cut it. You can also store needles in most of the dental floss dispensers I've seen. Pop the top off to reveal the spool of floss and store a needle in there.
Thousands of uses for this stuff.
And of course Duct Tape, but any self respecting survivalist always has duct tape.



...taps...

Thats a great item to include in a surival kit and I'll admit something I have never thought of before! I suppose not only could you use it as a repair thread but also as string, for tying up plastic bags, etc

Originally posted by Raud
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

But how do you start the fire with it?

It is more of a fuel saving effort I imagine,it is flammable and burns hot.It could save a bit of fuel in your bic because it starts so fast and burns a little while.Maybe with a magnifying glass?I suppose small sparks from flint may start it up.It would be an interesting experiment to find out.It does leave a residue and i would not use it in great quantities for cooking.

A rife machine for Curing disease... A Fresnel lens for starting a fire, cooking food, distilling water, and more. A shovel, It cam provide shelter, find food, become a weapon,..... Dogs provide horse power, can pull wagons, protect you , provide food,...all sorts of things...

Maybe not that unusual but I've just though about a wire coat hanger, someone I know told me he always takes one when he goes camping as you can straighten it out into a square shape, wrap it with a couple layers of tin foil and you have a cooking surface you can hold over a fire!

I'm sure there's probably other things aswell you could use it for, i.e. weapons, in traps etc

I would certainly include a little bottle of oil of cloves.

During an emergency, travelling, evacuating, planning, communicating with relatives... What are you going to do if someone suddenly gets a toothache? An abcess on their tooth? Fill them up with your little stock of painkillers? Go to the pharmacy/doctor/dentist (time? money? fuel?) who will probably be shut/gone anyway?

Things like this are more common in times of stress. It ain't climbin the mountain that's exhausting, it's the stone in your shoe while you do it.

Soak a tiny piece of tissue paper in the lid of the bottle, and mould the paper on or in the tooth. It isn't the sweetest tasting stuff on earth, but it completely gets rid of toothache for hours after. Ache comes back, repeat, indefinitely.



[edit on 4-10-2008 by undermind]

Originally posted by undermind
I would certainly include a little bottle of oil of cloves.

During an emergency, travelling, evacuating, planning, communicating with relatives... What are you going to do if someone suddenly gets a toothache? An abcess on their tooth? Fill them up with your little stock of painkillers? Go to the pharmacy/doctor/dentist (time? money? fuel?) who will probably be shut/gone anyway?

Soak a tiny piece of tissue paper in the lid of the bottle, and mould the paper on or in the tooth. It isn't the sweetest tasting stuff on earth, but it completely gets rid of toothache for hours after. Ache comes back, repeat, indefinitely.

Another great tip toothache can be severely dehabilitating and would absolutely wreck morale. Traditional OTC painkillers don't seem to touch it and theres nothing worse than getting toothache and it spreading so your jaw and ears hurt without be able to control the pain.



[edit on 4/10/08 by Death_Kron]

What works better than shoe polish is Vaseline soaked in cotton wool balls, the vaeline does not produce such a sooty mess or strong smell.

Originally posted by Northern Raider
What works better than shoe polish is Vaseline soaked in cotton wool balls, the vaeline does not produce such a sooty mess or strong smell.

Thanks for the tip! One thing I have noticed from reading your posts is that you place an emphasis on light sticks/glow sticks, and while they aren't exactly an unusual item for some reason many people don't seem to include them in their survival kits. An invaluable item is you ask me!

Back in the black boot army days (less than ten years ago) we sometimes used to light the tin of polish to make it soft before shinning our boots. I imagine if you had trouble finding dry tinder you could place a tin under some wood to form a base for your fire.

according to the future maps (google that) the british isles are soon going to be under the water...do anyone knows where exactly the "uk survival team" plans to go?

i would also appreciate the advice on how to change the password here.

reply by U2U svp, or directly to [email protected] , as i occasionally have troubles with navigating various web sites.

according to the future maps (google that) the british isles are soon going to be under the water...do anyone knows where exactly the "uk survival team" plans to go?

i would also appreciate the advice on how to change the password here.

reply by U2U svp, or directly to [email protected] , as i occasionally have troubles with navigating various web sites.

A condom, filled with water and then covered with a sock makes for a good, improvised water canteen.

Originally posted by Death_Kron

Originally posted by Northern Raider
What works better than shoe polish is Vaseline soaked in cotton wool balls, the vaeline does not produce such a sooty mess or strong smell.

Thanks for the tip! One thing I have noticed from reading your posts is that you place an emphasis on light sticks/glow sticks, and while they aren't exactly an unusual item for some reason many people don't seem to include them in their survival kits. An invaluable item is you ask me!

I bulk buy em as its cheaper, I get approx 50 or 100 at a time, the white ones are great for map work or reading, the coloured ones we use for signalling, and we we go out enmasse camping we fasten light sticks to the kids to see where they are are it gets dark . Light sticks are safe, non toxic and non flamable which makes em ideal for use in tents (no fire risk). In BOBs I tend to store them in Cigar Tubes or Tampon tubes or even 4/5 in a kitchen roll tube to prevent them from getting accidentally activated.
www.theglowcompany.co.uk...


[edit on 4-10-2008 by Northern Raider]

Originally posted by Northern Raider

Originally posted by Death_Kron

Originally posted by Northern Raider
What works better than shoe polish is Vaseline soaked in cotton wool balls, the vaeline does not produce such a sooty mess or strong smell.

Thanks for the tip! One thing I have noticed from reading your posts is that you place an emphasis on light sticks/glow sticks, and while they aren't exactly an unusual item for some reason many people don't seem to include them in their survival kits. An invaluable item is you ask me!

I bulk buy em as its cheaper, I get approx 50 or 100 at a time, the white ones are great for map work or reading, the coloured ones we use for signalling, and we we go out enmasse camping we fasten light sticks to the kids to see where they are are it gets dark

. Light sticks are safe, non toxic and non flamable which makes em ideal for use in tents (no fire risk). In BOBs I tend to store them in Cigar Tubes or Tampon tubes or even 4/5 in a kitchen roll tube to prevent them from getting accidentally activated.
www.theglowcompany.co.uk...


[edit on 4-10-2008 by Northern Raider]

Are you a scout leader by any chance?

Anyways great points made mate, the reasons you have outlined above are why any survivalist should have a decent supply of light sticks!