With a battery and some steel wool you can start a fire. Also don't forget about a magnifying glass as a fire starter. I light my cigars with one on sunny days.

Pikaru! what's the thin stainless steel wire for?

Quote from jlasud on Mar 31^st, 2012, 5:20pm:

 
I would guess for making traps to catch small animals.  
Or for building shelter.
Or hanging you cooking pot over the fire.
Or for repair things.
 
Am I close?
 
 

Quote from Rat Man on Apr 1^st, 2012, 11:30am:

 
Wire can be used to repair so many things. Wire with resin can work on any number of things, wire is a conductor, it's kind of like tape, a very strong binding material. Stainless because it won't corrode.

that's true..here in romania the old  DACIA cars could usually be repaired with pliers and wire then the fraze became famous: don't skrew around ,tied it with wire

Hej, Halla' and God Dag, Suvivors.  That's Hi, Hello and Good Day in Swedish because our survival tip of the day comes from Ulrica in the exact middle of Sweden.  She say's:
   
  "Duct tape has many uses. One is that it burn very well. So wrap some duct tape around a cigarette lighter and you can unwrap a little bit , fold it double and use it for tinder.  
 
//Ulrica"
 
  You can't beat duct tape.  A million uses,  and Ms. Ulrica is right, it is probably worth a thread all it's own. I like to duct tape my Bic to my second favorite Swedish thing, my Mora knife that hangs around my neck.  My first favorite from Sweden are those Volvos, those things never break down.  A big frozen Slinger's shout out and Thank You Ma'am to Ulrica.  

I have used wire snares, actually aircraft cable, for raccoons, foxes, coyotes, beavers, otters and feral pigs.  Once you learn how and most important, where to set them, they work very well.  However, you will quickly trap an area out, three weeks to a month is about all it takes, then you pull traps and move.  If you stay longer, you will catch everything and it takes 5 to 7 years to recover.  Leave a sustainable level and you can come back the following year.  Deadfalls and snares work, what most people don't understand is how many you will need to construct or set, figure one out of fifteen will catch an animal if you are good.

Ola Survivors, today we have another excellent tip from El Raton.  The RatMan say's:
 
 " Hi, fletch;  
   Here's another suggestion.  I come from a time before video games, VCRs, Cable TV, DVRs, computers, etc..  I can even remember when there was no color TV.  In other words we played outside.  Consequently, mostly through osmosis, we learned what plants were edible and which you don't want to mess with.  My suggestion is to learn to recognize at least some of the edible plants in your area.  You might loose weight in the field but you need not starve.  Just off the top of my head here are some of the main, easy to find and recognize edibles.  Starting with the lawn you have Onion Grass.  Some call it wild garlic.  Both the plant and the bulb underneath are edible.  Just don't plan on kissing anyone for a while.  There's that plant that looks just like clover but tastes just like lemons.. even the little yellow flower part of it is edible. I forget its name.  Dandelions and any of their many relatives with "saw blade" leaves are edible.  They don't taste that great but they're full of iron, fiber, and vitamins.  Though too rough to digest, you can chew the seed tops of the wild grass plants for some nutrition.  They taste pretty good but make sure that you point them out of your mouth or they'll crawl down your throat and make you cough your head off.  Same with the stalks.  They're too rough for our stomachs, but you can chew the juice out. In the warmer weather there's wild berries and fruit to be had.  The season starts with mulberries.  Next to ripen are blue berries and huckleberries.  Then blackberries and raspberries.  Later in the summer and into fall you have wild cherries (Choke Cherries) and wild Concord Grapes. (Chicken Grapes)   The buds, leaf stems and to some degree the leaves, and inner bark of the sassafras tree are edible and the roots make a good tea.  Almost all of the cat tail (punk) plant is edible depending on the time of year.  The root bulbs of Water Lilly plants are edible.  The inner bark of a blue spruce is edible, though I've never tried it.  You can make a good tea from pine needles, eat pine nuts, and prepare acorns to make a very nutritious, good tasting flour.  I could go on.  As I said, these are just the easy ones.  Unless you REALLY know what you're doing you should avoid wild mushrooms.  I don't touch them.  Of course there's also fish, game, and bugs, but that's another subject.  As I wrote, you might loose weight, but there's no need to starve in the woods.  
Sorry for being long winded.  
 
Rat Man"
 
  Thanks Senor, I could stand to lose a few pound, but, this sounds pretty delicious.............
 
  A big Vegan shout out to RM, is he a Rat?  Is he a Man?  You decide.............