Survival Gear #1 - The Knife
There is a reason the knife has withstood the test of time and has been at man’s side since we could fashion one from bone or rock in the time of prehistory. In the wilds, the knife has been the most important piece of survival gear a person can have and still is. A knife not only gives the holder a sense of security, but also affords a person who knows how to use a knife options.
If a person should find themselves stranded, and all they might have is a knife, they are already at a huge advantage; it may not seem like much, but the knife makes survival possible. With a good knife one can carve wood. This is essential for making fire when trying to survive. By collecting tinder, a flat piece of wood and spinning rod, you can create lifesaving fire. Friction can create enough heat to start a glowing ember, but with out a bundle of fibrous tinder you will not get fire. In the flat piece of wood on which you are spinning the rod to create this friction, there should be a notch cut into the pit where the spinning rod seats itself; this notch should be located on top of the tinder so when the ember begins to smoke, it will fall onto the small fibers that it can easily burn.
A knife makes it possible to hunt game or fish if needed; now that you have a fire, you can cook food. In order to get food, you will have to kill it. Since mankind’s brain could conceive it, we have used spears for hunting and self defense. A knife will make it possible to find a suitable length of wood, and sharpen a point of it. Using the fire you have started thanks to your knife, you can harden the point of this spear. This is good for rabbit and other small game, or even protecting yourself against a mountain lion. A spear is especially handy for catching fish if there is a river or stream nearby. Once you catch your game, you will have a tool to gut and skin your catch.
It’s possible to make a shelter without a knife, but having a knife makes it much easier. To create a basic shelter from rain or sun one needs pieces of wood. Using a knife, one can hack good branches down that have foliage on them for cover, and even shave the smaller branches. It is much easier to dig a hole in hard soil with a metal blade than your hands, which is useful when trying to anchor a large branch, or bury waste. A knife can be used to signal aircraft overhead with its reflective side. The ability to make tools and use them effectively is what has allowed humans to advance this far. Having only a knife may send you back to early days of man, but you will be able to survive the same way we did thousands of years ago; using your mind and having a reliable tool with which you can cut and fashion things with.
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