I grew up in the city, and we had common modern-day cooking conveniences. In addition, our house had a fireplace, which by today’s urban pollution laws, may now have wood burning restrictions. However, should an extended regional power outage take place, the fireplace hearth would become “cooking central”. Fireplaces in modern homes are mostly ornamental [...]
Have you ever gone fishing and forgot your bobber? I recently went fishing with a Czechoslovakian friend who told me that he used to fish using floats made from feather quills. I decided to explore that concept further and found that floats have been made from many air chambered items found in nature such as [...]
Continue reading about Soda Straw Bobber - DIY Fishing Float
Although my primary interest in survival skills revolves around firecraft, I have begun to research alternate methods of cooking without using fire. A growing trend for cooking, especially in under-developed countries, is by using solar technology. Solar cooking takes time, but requires no fuel or flames. Heat is collected from the sun’s rays and [...]
If you must travel during a winter storm, store an emergency kit in your vehicle that includes: blankets, a flashlight and portable radio with extra batteries for each, a first aid kit, battery booster cables and flares, a road map, a sack of cat litter (for tire traction), a tow rope, bottled water and [...]
Historically, bannock was introduced to America by European fur traders. Using basic simple ingredients, it was easy to prepare and became the food staple for Settlers and subsequently Native American Indians. It consists of these basic ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, water, and some type of fat. It can be baked, fried in a pan [...]
Charcloth is a main element in creating fire using the flint and steel method. It is carbonized cotton that captures the spark produced when carbon steel is struck on the sharp edge of flint or other silicate based glassy rocks. Traditionally small pieces of cotton fabric (I use 100% cotton jeans) are placed in a [...]
Similar to the discovery process of the Silverware Figure 4 Deadfall, I had time on my hands to ponder the usefulness of objects in my environment… in this case, a plastic yoke that holds together a six pack of aluminum cans. I studied the maze of connections within the plastic sheet and realized that a [...]
You have probably seen a needle compass made in science class or in a movie, but I thought it would be good to review the basics and offer perhaps some variations to this phenomenon. It starts with a small piece of metal that contains iron, which can be magnetized. Some items might be needles, pins, [...]
Baking fish goes back to the beginning of history. Not only is it simple, but baking takes advantage of almost the entire fish as a food resource. Shown here is a Talapia which was purchased at a local Superstore food section. It is already gutted and ready to bake.
Fish tastes great by it’s self but [...]
Have you ever wanted to have an impromptu picnic lunch with hot chili or beans but had no cookware to use? By using a P-38 can opener, you can make a handle from the rim of a can, enabling you to hang it over a fire for cooking.
The first step is to cut out and [...]
