Survival Container

Being able to transport water and food while on the move in a survival situation is an important step that needs to be addressed while you are in a survival scenario. If you can not carry water with you during your journey can lessen your chances of making it out of some types of climates and terrains, such as a dessert environment where water is scarce.

A good survival kit geared for the desert terrain, or any other terrain, should consist of some type of collapsible water carrying container.  Un-lubricated condoms are used in many small survival kits and can hold up to a quart of water or more.  Having some type of hard container, if you do not have a canteen, can be used to carry the condom full of water to prevent it from breaking.

Containers can be made from birch bark laced together with cordage made from plant fibers or glued together from survival pine pitch glue that can be easily made in the wilderness, providing you have access to the birch tree and coniferous trees that are needed for the resin.

In the video I used the dead stalk of the century plant, also known as the agave plant, to make an arrow quiver to carry arrows for my survival bow.  The stalk can be cut to different lengths to be used for what ever purpose you design them to do.

I used a survival knife and a yucca stalk sharped to a chisel point to gouge out the soft pith from inside the stalk.  You can also use hot coals from a camp fire to hollow out the center.  Just place the hot embers in the center and blow gently to get the coals hot.

Bowls can be made from cut logs using this fire method.  If you have access to a hand saw of some type or an ax or hatchet, you can make different sized containers to carry water and food or to cook in.

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie  

Wilderness Glue

What is Pine Pitch or Pine resin?

Pine pitch or resin is the sap that oozes from an injured part of coniferous trees or evergreen trees like the pine tree, pinon tree, white pine tree, spruce trees and a few others.

These trees use the sap to seal the wound to prevent disease. The resin contains compounds that prevent the growth of microorganisms. This same resin can be used on a open cut on a person to help prevent infection. To use as a first aid treatment use the sap that is fresh and sticky and has not dried for best results.

While out and about on your hunting and gathering mode, pry off a few chunks of the dried sap and keep it with you for when you need it. That's if you are in an area that has coniferous trees. But, if you have the opportunity, gather it when it is available to you. The sap can be heated to mix with the other components when it is time to use it.

The following glue recipe allows for many uses, such as securing arrow heads to the shaft; securing spear tips; mending holes in plastic tarps or fabrics; gluing fletching on arrows. There are many other uses for this survival glue just let your imagination work for you.

The recipe I used in the above video was:

5 parts pine resin
1 part finely ground wood charcoal
1 part finely ground plant material (i.e. rabbit poop)

The reason I used rabbit scat or poop is because the ingredients call for finely ground dried plant material. Since rabbits, deer, elk, moose are Herbivores, meaning they only eat plant materials, their scat is mostly plant material that has already been ground up for you. Just make sure you use the driest scat you can find. It will look grayish or tan when it is ready. Usually when you grind it up it will look green like oregano. So let the animals save you the time in having to grind up the plant stuff.

You can get the charcoal left over from a camp fire. It needs to be ground up as fine as possible to avoid having chunks in your glue.

To make the glue, you need to have a small fire going and something metal to melt the resin in. A flat rock can be substituted for the container, but may take longer to heat and keep the resin flowing.

First allow the resin to melt. The resin may catch on fire, so watch it carefully and blow it out when it does catch fire. Once the resin melts all the way, add the 1 part charcoal and 1 part plant material (rabbit or deer scat). Mix thoroughly.

The mixture will look like roof tar when it is mixed. The glue is now ready to be used. It will dry fast after you begin to use it. Use a small twig to apply the glue. If it the glue starts to harden, you can reheat it while it is on the twig and can be applied to where ever it is needed.

The left over glue can be reused after it has dried. If a metal container with a lid was used, you can store the glue for later reheating and use.

Here are some other ingredients that can be mixed with the resin. A little experimenting may be needed, but usually the ingredient ratio is 5 parts resin to 1 part of two other ingredients.

The follow items can be used:

pitch
charcoal
animal dung (herbivore- plant eaters)
ground plant matter
wood ashes
sulfur
iron filings
hair or fur
bees wax
animal fats or tallow

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie

Sotol (Desert Spoon)

Sotol Spoons Drying

An extremely useful plant to man, sotol has been used to make temporary structures, corrals, roofs, baskets, mats, ropes, tool, liquor ("sotol"), cattle feed during drought, and food for humans.

The base of a cooked sotol stem may be eaten rather like an artichoke leaf (by scraping across the front teeth). This remnant, called a "quid", resembles a spoon and can be used as one. Archaeological sites where "Desert Spoon" was eaten in this way are full of discarded quids thousands of years old.

Sotol and lechuguilla flower-stalks used as atlatl dart hind-shafts were found in Ceremonial Cave (Hueco Mountains, near El Paso, Texas). Sotol may also have been affiliated with fire because the sotol stem was used as a fire-plow.

The Desert Spoon typically grows on rocky slopes in the Chihuahuan desert grassland between 3,000 and 6,500 feet above sea level. Unlike the Agave, which flower only once in their lifetime, Sotols produce a flower stalk every few years.

Once the plant matures, it is harvested similar to Agave plants when making Mezcal or Tequila. The outer leaves are removed to reveal the center core, which is taken back to the distillery. The core can then be cooked and/or steamed, shredded, fermented, and distilled. The core can be baked and eaten as is or dried and pounded into flour to make bread or gruel.

The above figure shows the different size spoons that can be made from the base of the sotol leaf (quid). The spoons shown in the diagram are in the drying stage and will require more work. To make the spoon the length and shape are cut and most of the debris is removed. The spoons are allowed to dry for about three weeks. During that time shrinkage and color change occur.

The curled edges of the spoon are then reshaped the body is sanded and scraped and then polished for to be sold, traded or used.

Stay Prepared! Stay Alive!

Charlie