How To: Make a Slammin' Fire Piston for Under a Buck
Did you know that there's a way to start a fire by squishing air? In this project, I'll show you how to build a tool that does exactly that—and I'll give you a sneak peak into the principals of how a diesel engine operates!
How To: Build & Hide a Campfire from Your Enemies — The Dakota Fire Pit
Fire. It’s everywhere— always has been. From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene. Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, incendiary bombs, combustion engines, controlled burns, wildfires, fireplaces, campfires, grills, candles, gas stoves and ovens, matches, cigarettes, and the list goes on... Yet with our societies' prodigal use of fire, t...
How To: Make a fire piston from a flashlight
Learn how to make a fire piston or fire syringe from a MagLite flashlight.
How To: Make a Fire by Rubbing Two Sticks Together!
Here's a survival technique for making a fire with the most basic of resources—assuming you can find two sticks to rub together!
How To: Purify Urine for Drinking with an Emergency Solar Still
It’s called Urophagia—the art of consuming urine. There could be any number of reasons for having the desire to drink your own urine (or somebody else’s). There’s the so-called term “urine therapy,” which uses human urine as an alternative medicine. In urine therapy, or uropathy, it’s used therapeutically for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes. There’s also those people who drink urine as sexual stimulation, where they want to share every part of each other. And then there’s the o...
How To: Tie a Great Hangman's Noose (Or Hangman's Knot)
The hangman's noose is infamous for its use in hanging prisoners during executions. It was supposedly invented in Britain but eventually spread throughout the world, going beyond the prisons and even into our own homes. But the hangman's knot isn't all doom and gloom. There are plenty of practical (and non-lethal) applications for the hangman's knot, like a fishing or boating knot. Everyone should know this roped knot; this tutorial will show you the knot-tying process. Just remember, to be a...
How To: Make Your Own Charcoal
Hello, all. In this article, I will be showing you how to make one of the most useful products known to man. I am talking, of course, about charcoal.
How To: Build a Homemade Portable Water Heater for Your Outdoor Camping Adventures
Warm water is an essential part of life that we sometimes tend to take for granted. Over one billion people, or roughly one-seventh of the world's population, have no access to hot water.
How To: Make mosquito repellent
Ray is in the outback making smudge fires out of termite mounds to ward away the creepy crawlies, bugs and mosquitos.
How To: Tie a loop in the end of a rope with a bowline knot
This video describes and shows you how to tie a loop in the end of a rope with a bowline knot. A bowline knot is used in rigging by the ground rigger to create a point for the up rigger to have a point to pull up. This is how you create a bowline knot. First you must create a loop in the middle of the knot. With the free end, come up through the loop, then you go around the standing end of the rope and then you move it back through the loop. You pull the knot tight. That is how you create a b...
How To: Light a match without a matchbook cover
When your matchbook cover is shot, you can still get a light from a match. Learn how to light a match on the bottom of a coffee mug. Fun survival skills when you have a match and no cover - the ceramic of the mug provides the friction necessary to light a match.
How To: Tie the basket weave knot
In this video, we learn how to tie the basket weave knot. First, place the string on a hook, then cross the two sides and make a loop. Next, make the loop wider and take the right and left strings up, then pull the loops down to make a pretzel shape. Now, twist the bottom loops around and place one on top of the other. After this, push them on either side of each other, then bring the right string around and loop it through the left loop, then bring the left string into the right bottom loop....
How To: Start a fire with the "fire saw" friction method
This video illustrate us how to start a fire with the "fire saw" friction method. Here are the following steps:
How To: Make your own compass
Matt Preye shows you how to make your own emergency compass. Here are two ways of making your own compass: If you have a sewing needle and a magnet you can magnetize the needle by running it down the magnet a few times. Find some stagnant water and set a leaf in it. Now set the pin down on the leaf, and the leaf will swing just like a compass. If you don't have anything other than the sun, you can do the following: Put a stick in the ground and then add more sticks at 9am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm and ...
How To: Build a fire in the snow
What to do if you're lost & freezing in Antarctica? Build a fire to keep warm! Yes, fires can be built successfully in cold and wet conditions with the right tools & preparation. In this eight-part series of short videos, Fitclimb survival instructor Ali teaches how to build a fire in the snow in 15 minutes. You can build this fire with just two tools: a knife and a metal match (magnesium stick). In part one, Ali talks about site preparation and how to choose and prepare the right site for a ...
How To: Tie a single-strand ringbolt hitch
JD of Tying it all together, is the instructor. He has many instructional knot tying videos. This particular video is focused on tying a single strand ringbolt hitch, A.K.A. Coxcombing. This was a common knot used by sailors to decorate items and parts of their ship. However, actually creating this tie is much easier said than done.
How To: Use a fire piston to start fires
This video will tell you all you need to know to get that fire of yours started using an aluminum fire piston. Never leave home without this, that is, if you live in the woods.
How To: Use dandelion tinder to make a fire
Need to make a survival fire, but don't have any matches and your lighter is out of fluid. Fear not, this how-to video can help. An empty flintwheel lighter can save the day when you need a fire. Dandelion seed puffs can be the perfect tinder for your spark. Watch this video tutorial to see how it works & learn a great survival tip.
How To: Make a coiled basket to carry water in
Making a coiled basket can have be used for a variety or reasons, including the ability to carry much needed water. This four part tutorial teaches you how to make a coiled basket using the wilderness around you.
How To: Eat & extract water from a cactus
John Campbell demonstrates how to eat and extract water from a cactus. You can eat a cactus from the hedgehog plant family. First, cut off the top of the cactus and skin down the sides, cutting off the cactus spines. Cutting the cactus will not hurt it because it can heal itself. The cactus meat will be like a sticky cucumber. Try to avoid the central core because it is stringy but you can eat the cactus meat. Wrap the meat in a bandana, squish it and wring it out to extract the water from th...
How To: Make a survival fire from a battery and staple
Check out this how-to video to start a fire using an AA battery and a staple. You can do this while listening to the classical guitar piece, "Malaguena" if you feel like it. It could save your life! With your battery: start by cutting the plastic away from the negative terminal. Watch the video survival training tutorial for more tips on starting an emergency fire!
How To: Escape from zip ties tied behind your back
You're being held prisoner, and your hands are tied behind your back with zip ties. You're helpless to escape… Or you would be, if you hadn't watched this tutorial. The helpful folks at ITS Tactical explain how you can quickly escape from zip ties tied behind your back.
How To: Make a milirary bugle cord
Bugle cords are used as elaborate leashes on bugles and trumpets, and make for snazzy ornamentation on military band uniforms. Tying It All Together shows you how to make one. The technique for making one is relatively simple. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to make a military bugle cord.
How To: Heat Your Home in an Emergency Without Gas Using Flower Pots & Candles
Not having power can make everyday tasks really difficult if you're unprepared. You have to find new ways to do things like cook dinner and charge your devices, and if it happens during the winter, you also have to figure out how to heat your home.
How To: Make a simple coyote well water filter
When you're trying to survive in the wild, clean water is an absolute must. This video shows you a simple and easy method to build a basic water's edge, water filter device called a coyote well water filter. Though this filter will NOT remove toxins or pathogens, in an emergency it's an effective way of filtering out the big, nasty stuff.
How To: Get rescued from a deserted island
Whether your plane made a crash landing or your ship got lost on a three-hour tour, now you're stranded on a remote island. Here's how to get help.
News: Make fire with a condom
Condom + Water = Fire Kinda. This is a quick 'survivalist' technique for makeshift solar fire-starting. Harness the power of sun. And at the same time you can make use of all those condoms* laying around.
How To: Tie hammock hanging knots
The knots demonstrated in this how-to video are a good way to hang a hammock, because it makes it so easy to adjust your hanging height. The whipping knot around the tree will not slip if tied correctly. Make sure to tie the second half hitch or the knot may slip and come loose. As with all knots, use your own discretion and be safe. Watch this video survival training tutorial and learn how to tie some sturdy knots useful for hammock-hanging.
How To: Remove Maggots from Your Eyeball
While maggots living in human eyeballs isn't necessarily a problem in the states, it could happen to you one day if a fly decides your warm eyeball is a suitable place for its larvae. If this rare event should happen, before you start gouging your eyeball out, remember this trick from National Geographic explorer and engineer Albert Lin and everything will be okay.
How To: How the Headrest in Your Vehicle Can Potentially Save Your Life One Day
If you ever find yourself in a car that's submerged under water, your first instinct should be to try and open either the window or the door in the first few seconds of touching water. Unfortunately, if you wait any longer than that, the lopsided ambient water pressure subjected to the car will make it impossible to open the car door, and the now ubiquitous power windows will likely short out. Sure, you could wait until the pressure has equalized on both sides of the car, but this usually hap...
How To: Make Fire-Starting Char Cloth from a T-Shirt Using a Tuna Can
For this project, I sacrificed some of my kids' clothes and a can of tuna to make some high-quality fire starter! Here's how to make a great batch of char cloth to add to your emergency survival kit.
How To: The End of the World Survival Guide: Staying Alive During a Nuclear Holocaust
Will the predicted apocalyptic date—December 21st, 2012—really be the end of the world? In this ongoing five-part series, we examine what would happen if zombies, nuclear weapons, cyber wars, earthquakes, or aliens actually destroyed our planet—and how you might survive.
How To: Assemble a compact survival kit to carry on a belt or in a backpack
In a survival situation, the four most important things for you to find are shelter, fire, water, and food, in that order. This video will show you how to pack a compact survival kit that can be carried on your belt or in your backpack and contains everything you need to acquire those four things more easily.
How To: Make dogbane cordage or Indian hemp
In this tutorial, we learn how to make dogbane cordage. Dogbane is also known as Indian hemp, which is a plant which is used to make cordage. Once you identify the plant outside, you can process it into a raw and finished product. First, you will simply peel the bark off of a branch of the dogbane. After this, you will squeeze along the inside of it and start to peel the layers back. You will then get a bushy type of wood that looks like it's hair. After this, you can tie these together or br...
How To: Make a coal burned container
John Campbell shows you how to make an all natural bowl with spout using hot coals to burn the desired shape into a block of wood. First you'll need to make a straw from a cattail stock by burning through the center with a hot coat hanger. John next demonstrates how to use this straw and some hot coals placed on the wood to burn the shape of a bowl and spout into the block. Finally, John uses a stone to sand the bowl down and remove the charcoal leaving a clean wooden container. The final res...
How To: Make a primitive wilderness loom
Staying warm is important to making sure that you survive. Whether it be the end of the world or you find yourself lost in the wilderness, keeping dry and warm is key to survival. In this two part tutorial find out how to make a primitive wilderness loom and a mat to sleep on.
How To: Start a fire with your cellphone
Ever wanted to know how to make a fire with your cell phone? All you need is a cell phone, a brillo pad, and material for tinder. First take the battery out of your phone and find the positive and negative contacts on the bottom of it. Next tear off a chunk of the brillo pad, roll it up until you have a twisted piece about an inch long. Bend the steel wool over and touch an end to the positive and the other end to the negative contacts on the battery. That causes the steel wool to smolder--no...
How To: Create a spring spear trap
Kruder, from The Pathfinder's school, teaches you how to make a spring spear trap with almost all natural materials. This is a very dangerous trap so be warned and be very careful if you practice this. By using any springy tree (he uses a Maple), and a toggle tied to another tree, you can make a trip wire for any sized animal. Add a spear to make it more effective. You'll learn everything from the materials to construction in this video.
How To: Make a Chinese paracord snake knot
The Chinese snake knot is a considered a representation of good luck, or its considered as an embodiment of the Snake in the Chinese Zodiac. This Paracord Snake Knot can be used as a bracelet or another decorative piece. This snake knot technique would make a great time passer to have some fun in your leisure. In this video you will learn exactly how to make a Chinese paracord snake knot, and if you were born in '89 you should make one too.
How To: Tie a bloody knuckle knot
A bloody knuckle knot is the result of a row of half hitches fused with a blood knot--this video teaches you how to tie one. Make two loops with your rope then loop them over your thumb. Take the tail of the rope and keep making loops and adding them to the others on your thumb, to produce a row of loops. When you have five loops, slide them off your thumb, take the end of the rope and pass it through the loops. Pull out the slack but do not tighten, then take the other tail and pass it throu...