18 Clever Survival Hacks
Editor’s note: The following tips are excerpted from Survival Hacks: Over 200 Ways to Use Everyday Items for Wilderness Survival by Creek Stewart.
Having taught survival skills to thousands of individuals from all over the world for nearly two decades, I’ve come to one conclusion: the most important survival skill is innovation. Using what you have, to get what you need is what will ultimately make the difference between life and death in a sudden and unexpected survival scenario. I often call this “survival hacking.”
Over the years, I’ve learned (and sometimes invented) some very interesting survival hacks that I think everyone should know. Why? Well, it’s like I always say: “it’s not IF but WHEN.” Below are a few survival nuggets for the when.
Framework Collar Connector
Using a battery power source is a very popular fire starting method. There are many different ways to do it using many different types of batteries. This one involves using a car battery, jumper cables, and a regular No. 2 pencil. Start by shaving down an area on each end of the pencil to expose the lead. Then clamp on the positive and negative jumper cable clamps, one on each shaved area. Be sure the clamps are touching the pencil lead. Place the clamps and pencil on top of your tinder bundle, clamp the other ends of the cables to the car as you normally would, and turn on the engine. The electricity from the cables will turn the lead into a red-hot ember and the wooden pencil will erupt into flame in about 2 minutes’ time. Use the flame to ignite your tinder bundle.
9-Volt Razor Hack
As mentioned above, batteries can be used in all kinds of different ways to make fire. Another way is using the very thin blades from a disposable razor to short-circuit a 9-volt battery. A tiny spark will fly when a blade touching the positive terminal is crossed with a blade touching the negative terminal. The correct tinder at this intersection, such as char cloth or thin shreds of tinder fungus, can be ignited with little effort.
You can use nearly any metal or wire to short-circuit a low-voltage battery, but it must be extremely thin in order to deliver positive results. Also, keep in mind that repeated attempts can drain the charge from your battery source.
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