The Straw trick

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The straw trick
This one I just learned to do myself and I must admit it’s turned out to be pretty damn handy!

The idea is to use clear plastic drinking straws to store things like salt, pepper, chili and other powdered spices to keep them safe and dry during your woodland or fishing adventures. Where I’ve come to find this trick useful is in the storage of my tiny white blood pressure control pills. The straws turn out to be just the right size to safely pack a couple weeks worth of those pills.

So what you do is take a clear plastic straw and heat one end just enough that it starts to melt. Then quickly crimp it closed with a pair of pliers…

In the original magazine where I first learned about this they said to use your fingers… don’t do that… burning plastic stuck to your thumb really hurts… Trust me…use the pliers…

Anyway, once you’ve sealed off one end you carefully fill your straw up with whatever you like… then repeat the sealing process on the open end creating a nice water tight seal! When you want to use the contents simply snip off an end pour out however much you want to use then reseal to keep the rest safe for another day!
And there you have the straw trick…

A word of note… I don’t believe you have to have clear straws for this trick to work… but if you use a clear straw you can see what’s inside without having to guess…

reply to post by DaddyBare


Nice trick! I'll have to remember that one next time I take to the bush. Thanks for the extremely useful tip.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Neat trick. Zip lock baggies work also I've found and can be re-used more often though and their durability is better because you can fold it.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Yep. If you like ultralight backpacking, straws are the way to go. Straws can be handy in a survival situation as well!

Even better for chocolate milk in the bush!! Anything to make raw whole milk to go down the pipes!!

Good Idea. I certainly have plenty of straws lying around the house. I'll give it a go! Those big fat smoothie straws could hold larger items!!

Used this for a while , but be careful with things like potassium permanganate .
Excellent for your survival tin to keep the size compact and to keep it dry but can ignite if your not careful when heating the straw .
(caught me out before now)

*edit*
I usually but some cotton wool in the end before sealing.

Originally posted by Isolation
Used this for a while , but be careful with things like potassium permanganate .
Excellent for your survival tin to keep the size compact and to keep it dry but can ignite if your not careful when heating the straw .
(caught me out before now)

I never thought about storing flammable things....
I wonder if we could get the same sealing effect if we heat the pliers rather then melt the plastic???

Big heavy pliers would take a lot of fire to heat them to the right temp...so maybe if we used something smaller like a pair of forceps???

It may be safer to heat the tip of the pliers, it would still heat the plastic enough to seal it but not damage the contents (especially important with certain meds). That is how the FoodSaver vacuum sealers work.

Another tip:
I heard, that in a survival situation if there is no water available, you can drink your own urine.
So I always take a two liter bottle of it wherever I go just in case.

Now Tony Montana can take to the bush in style!
"Who do I trust? ME! That's who!"
"Main, deez straws full of my product can get me through ennything main!"

It ain't often I hear of a trick that's new to me in the survival realm, but this one is.
Thanks, I'll be passing this on to Tony

Originally posted by DaddyBare

Originally posted by Isolation
Used this for a while , but be careful with things like potassium permanganate .
Excellent for your survival tin to keep the size compact and to keep it dry but can ignite if your not careful when heating the straw .
(caught me out before now)

I never thought about storing flammable things....
I wonder if we could get the same sealing effect if we heat the pliers rather then melt the plastic???

Big heavy pliers would take a lot of fire to heat them to the right temp...so maybe if we used something smaller like a pair of forceps???

Heating the pliers will just create an issue of the plastic sticking to them.

reply to post by macman


There got to be a way...
I wounder if in the case of flammable things were couldn't use a "Seal-a-Meal"
just make smaller single use packages???

That is an awesome idea. My head is spinning with the possible uses for this technique. Thanks for posting it.

Originally posted by DaddyBare
reply to post by macman

 

There got to be a way...
I wounder if in the case of flammable things were couldn't use a "Seal-a-Meal"
just make smaller single use packages???

I use my Seal-a-Meal for food and ammo. I don't know if the straws would damage the device or not.

Heat forceps instead of pliers and just wait for them to cool before you release them.

I first heard about this on instructables. I love that site. You can spend days looking through the survival/camping sections.Link

Great idea DaddyBare I've got tons of straws around the house this idea would be great on my next camping trip ..thanks for the tip..

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
Heat forceps instead of pliers and just wait for them to cool before you release them.

I bet your right...
I'm still at the office so I haven't had time to go try some of my crazy ideas out but I was also wondering if a magnifying glass heating the tip would work too???

I have some bullseye powder at the house I can use... just a few grans of the stuff will tell me if works or not???

reply to post by sugarcookie1


Well Cookie
if you gonna be doing and fishing while your out there then go read this thread too
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Originally posted by KaiserSoze
It may be safer to heat the tip of the pliers, it would still heat the plastic enough to seal it but not damage the contents (especially important with certain meds). That is how the FoodSaver vacuum sealers work.

Another tip:
I heard, that in a survival situation if there is no water available, you can drink your own urine.
So I always take a two liter bottle of it wherever I go just in case.

take a two liter bottle of it?

Your own urine?

On topic though, Cool idea, ill be sure to do up some of those straws of spices and cooking needs for my BOB