If you are faced with a survival situation and do not have access to your bug-out bag or survival kit, you do have a lot of options.
All around you are opportunities to improvise to get along; here are four.
Bra Cup Debris Mask
Survivors can face serious respiratory problems as the result of breathing in toxic ash, pulverized concrete, particles, and dust. “Believe it or not, the cup of a bra can make an impressive debris mask in a pinch,” Stewart says. Most are sized perfectly to cover the nose and mouth, and the straps can be reworked to tie around the head for hands-free use.
Chewing Gum Fire Starter
In the middle of a catastrophe, that pack of Juicy Fruit serves a far greater purpose than just staving off hunger or freshening your breath. Use the foil-backed wrapper to short circuit an AA battery and create a flame. First, tear the wrapper into an hourglass shape and touch the foil to the positive and negative battery terminals. The electrical current will briefly cause the paper wrapper to ignite. Use the flame to light a candle or tinder.
Tampon Tinder
In inclement weather, starting a fire Boy-Scout-style can be a bit tricky. Thankfully, Stewart says tampons are among the best tinder on the planet. Begin by removing the cotton plug from its waterproof wrapper and plastic applicator. Then pull apart the tampon to expose the highly-flammable individual fibers—these will burst into flame with just a spark from a ferro rod or cigarette lighter.
Lip Balm Candle
When Chicago was hit with a serious blizzard in 2011, dozens of drivers were snowed into their vehicles on Lake Shore Drive. Those who ran out of gas because they left their engines running to maintain heat risked hypothermia. “It may surprise you to learn that a candle can actually provide enough heat to raise the temperature of a small space a few life-saving degrees,” Stewart says. Take the cotton string from a tampon and, using a paperclip, stick it into a tube of lip-balm. Light the end, and you'll get an instant candle that can burn for about two hours. Keep the plastic tube from catching fire by slowly twisting out the lip balm as the wick burns down.
Did you know you can make a very effective crayfish or minnow trap from a used, plastic, soda bottle? How about using a used up water heater, coil copper piping and wood stove to give yourself on demand, perpetual hot water?
Improvisation is the essence of survival and all around you are items you can modify to meet your needs or adapt them through innovation to serve their original purpose.
To learn more things you can modify to make survival tools, check out Outside Online.
Is that obama?
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That’s not how you start a fire with a battery. You need a strand of copper wire first and a wick is going to help too. You have to peel off the plastic covering the battery is wrapped in and from the positive side only you pinch both sides of the positive with the copper wire. Now the middle of the copper wire is going to turn bright red and you’re gonna burn your thumb because it gets hot enough to light a cigarette but with a wick you’re a modern day metropolitan.