Here’s an interesting way to heat water when no flames or conventional cooking apparatus is available. A friend of mine used to work in the maintenance department at a facility where an upstairs water leak dripped through to a lower floor light fixture. He responded to a call only to find a water-filled globe with [...]
Not long ago, while perusing a country store, I came across an innovative lantern known as the Dietz “Warm-It-Up” Lantern, also known as the “2000 Millennium Cooker” Lantern. It was developed around the Y2K phenomenon. Folks were concerned about eminent danger back then, and, a decade later, folks are STILL concerned about the future and [...]
Recently I was visiting family and friends out-of-town and wanted to show them my signal mirror that I carry in my “bug-out bag” (an emergency travel bag supplied for 3+ days sustainably). They live in town so I didn’t have a field to demonstrate the mirror’s effect from afar. However, the city street did offer [...]
When disaster strikes and the electrical grid goes down, how are you going to see in the dark? Without a backup generator It boils down to two ways: battery/dynamo powered lights - or - fuel based flames. An exception to these two catagories would be a cylume stick which is a safe, self contained, luminecent [...]
The basic slush lamp has 4 parts: 1) a small vessel that holds oil for fuel, 2) oil - whether vegetable or mineral in nature, 3) a wick that draws the fuel by capillary action, 4) an optional but helpful wick holder that stabilizes the wick and limits the flame spread. Fats can be used [...]
About 2 weeks ago I wrote a blog (Technomania… has it gone too far? - 14 June 2009) that questioned technology and it’s reliability for survival. However, technology CAN be a tremendous asset… I just like to know how to survive without it. But let it be known that I DO carry a lighter… why [...]
I started exploring the idea that safety match-book matches might be lit if I treated them like fire-by-friction wood… that is, if I pre-heated the match by rubbing it slightly before I used a mild friction surface to strike on. It worked on the ceramic bottom of a cup, so I enthusiasticly showed my son [...]
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Because I like to be prepared, I have constructed a detachable key-ring full of small tools that I wear on my belt at all times. My belt loops through it and it passes over the top of my trousers and hangs on the inside. This placement prevents a bulge in my pocket and can easily [...]
