Emergency one-person survival stove- the best choice is alcohol, 91% of the time.

So, we have trail equipment stores, hardware stores of various types, liquor stores, drug stores, convenience stores, grocery stores, boating equipment stores and marinas as possible sources if you’re afoot on your own. That’s pretty versatile. I don’t think any other liquid fuel comes close, unless you’re willing to use automotive gasoline, which requires special stoves and a lot of ventilation and there’s still danger.

Survival: Mini Life-Lessons: A bald spot is a helluva thing to have to deal with.

Some years back I rented a convertible for a week in Maui, the selection of vehicles at the rental place being almost entirely convertibles or Jeeps. That’s when I was forced to come to grips with one of the hard realities about growing older.

A bald spot is a helluva thing to have to deal with.

Survival – The Heels-Down Squat. You May Want This.

Put another way, how enabled, how independent and self-sufficient can you possibly be if you cannot get into a comfortable, non-reclining resting position without the aid of a wooden or steel framework that is designed and built specifically for that purpose? We are handicapping ourselves with what has become an actual medical dependence on chairs, just as though we were dependent on any other medical appliance.

Survival – The Importance of Fire

While I was being told about this, standing around in our kitchen, wearing only shorts and a t-shirt since I hadn’t gone out yet on a Saturday, I reached in a pocket, pulled out a lighter and flicked it into life. No, I don’t smoke, I just understand that fire is really that important. I could have just as easily produced a knife or a flashlight, and I have an electronic compass in my casual watch and another in my phone. That’s lounging around the house, not going anywhere. When I’m leaving the house I carry more. If I’m driving or walking more than a block or two, much more.

Survival – I Carry Too Much Stuff

When I go out the door on a typical out-and-about day, I have my wallet (with some unusual items inside but no cash), a folding knife, a lighter, spare car key, money clip with bills, a Chawley Changer pocket coin dispenser (okay, that’s a little weird, but it’s fast, convenient, and I hate having loose change sloshing around in a pocket), a full-sized multi-tool, one of may folding knives (occasionally two), a lipstick-sized flashlight around my neck on a stainless dog-tag chain .. and of course my phone. That’s not counting the stuff on my key chain, miscellaneous keys, a tiny titanium peanut lighter, the tiniest ferrocerium rod I’ve ever seen (Boy Scouts of America, smaller than a house key), a photon lighter, a P38 can opener, and the car-door opener/alarm remote control.

Survival – Is anyone really enthusiastic about the new Leatherman Signal?

All in all, this just reinforces the impression I have from pretty much all of their carabiner-tailed tools and impression that Leatherman has completely lost direction in recent years. I’ve been disappointed with every Leatherman tool I’ve seen since the Charge series, and even more disappointed with the ones I’ve actually tried (Wingman). This looks like it was designed to appeal not so much to even the casual but serious camper as to young kids and armchair survivalists, like Gerber’s BG stuff, like almost all multi-function “survival” tools, it just seems gimmicky and toylike.

Survival – Making fire without technology (or tools!) turns out to be easier than anyone thought

There’s a new, relatively easy way to make fire entirely with “primitive” (or found) materials, and it’s much, much easier than any other method I’ve seen over the decades.

Anyone who knows something about the subject of primitive fire-making will probably consider that incredibly unlikely, and possibly an outrageous statement. After hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions of years of making fire with primitive materials new techniques simply don’t appear out of nowhere. Indeed, it’s very possible that this is a very, very old technique… even, just possibly, the first and oldest technique used by our ancestors to make fire at will, that it was very nearly lost in recent times, and is just now becoming known again.

Survival – Tip – Real DIY Ranger/Pace Counting Beads

Beveled faucet washers make good sense too. If you think about it their normal use requires to resist abrasion and to be constantly immersed in water without ill effect, so they have to be durable and reasonably weatherproof. I have no idea what their ultra-violet (UV) light resistance is like over long periods, it’s probably fine, but if you’re worried you can always hit them with a little spray of Armor-All or similar plastic/rubber preservative, that’s what it’s designed for.

Survival – Tilley Hats

I first became aware of Tilley by realizing, somehow, that my favorite brimmed fabric hat, one that I think I found in a surplus store, was indeed an imitation of something else… something famous. I eventually tracked down the “original” back when there was pretty much just one model, in canvas, in one color. I ordered direct from Canada, lucked out in that the fit was pretty good (more on that later), and over time became impressed with just how much better made it was than my previous favorite.

Survival – Hazard 4 Evac Plan B Sling Pack (in black)

I’ve always lusted after what is probably their most classic and successful pack, the Plan B, or more properly Evac Plan B (I don’t think “Evac” was always in the name, I’m not sure when it was added or why). It’s somewhere in-between the two extremes, large for a “day pack” and small-to-mininalist for an overnighter. I’ve had one in the “to buy later” section of my cart on Amazon off and on for a couple of years…. but I’ve got a LOT of packs, some of them never saw much use, it’s hard to justify the expense, so there it sat.