Set A Course For Survival: Compass Basics and Survival Drills

Last week we finished out our series on our EDC kits. If you missed any of those blogs feel free to go back and read them, there was some very good information there! The videos are also posted on our Youtube channel (backpack bushcraft) if you missed those as well. This week we are going to begin a new series on compasses. I have three compasses that I am going to be going over and discussing advantages and disadvantages. Afterwards we will be going to a local park and doing two survival drills. The first is finding yourself on a map using just a compass, and second is getting from point A to point B using just a map and compass. Lastly we will review the compass and we are going to do a new little ceremony of adding the item to our backpack. Let's get into it.

First we are going to talk about button compasses. Mine is not a traditional button compass as you can tell as it comes with the button compass, a whistle, a thermometer, and a magnifying glass. The button compass has a travel arrow, a floating needle, all the cardinal directions already labeled, and will spin to point north at all times. Because the compass always points north the travel arrow indicates which direction you are more than likely facing. The one problem that I have with this is that it does not have the degrees labelled on the compass, instead there are just tick marks. Now, you could likely easily enough figure out the degree based on the tick marks, as well as get around pretty well with it, however, if you are going to be using a map, you're going to want to check out the next compass.


The next compass, what I call the modern compass is what I was trained to use. It has a clear base with a ruler as well as a mile and kilometer indicator. This lets you line it up on your map and estimate how far away a destination on your map is from your position. The rotating dial and housing which allows the needle to find north by locking it into the two dots (what David Canterbury call the "doghouse"). This allows you to find your true position. An advantage of this type of compass is that it is clear so you can lay it on a map to find your way and still be able to read the map underneath it. The disadvantage are that the tick marks are very fine and can be difficult to read when pinpointing your exact position. I would still prefer to use this compass, however the next compass is even more precise.

Lastly we have a traditional or military style compass. You can see that it has the floating needle similar to the button compass as well as a rotating dial similar to the modern compass. Some key features of this compass is the level in the bottom corner as well as a spot for a tripod so you can hold it on the ground and make sure it is level. There is also a set of cross hairs which you can use to more accurately pinpoint the location of a far off object. At the base of the compass there is a scope which magnifies the degrees to get a more accurate reading. Facing my camera with the button compass I was one tick east. With the modern compass I was facing roughly 120 degrees. Now with the military compass I have pin pointed myself facing exactly 125 degrees.

Now we are going to go to our local park and do some survival drills with our compasses. First I want to talk about my map and how I made it. I started by going to Google Earth and finding the park that I was going to. I found where I wanted to start and oriented the map as north as possible. I then took a screenshot, transferred it to MS Paint, and blew it up to an 8x11 size. Voila. Map. This is good to practice with especially bearing in mind that you aren't going to find topographical maps of a park. The other thing to keep in mind is you can control how zoomed in or out the map is, but if you aren't careful you won't be able to accurately pinpoint mile markers. Another thing to remember is making sure your map is up to date. For a lot of topographical maps this isn't a problem. You also want to be mindful of trees because if they are dense they may blur or cover a path or important map marker.

The first thing I am going to do is look at my surroundings, then look at my map and try to locate specific markers. The first thing I notice is a dirt circle with two ride-on toys. On my map I can clearly locate what looks like a marked off circle with two objects in it so I can say that what is in front of me is that feature on the map. Now I need to figure out what direction this feature is from me. To do this, I am going to set my traditional compass to north, followed by setting my map to north. Now I am going to turn my compass from north, toward the feature, and see what direction I get. My reading shows about 310 degrees.* Now I am going to lay the compass flat on my map and draw a line from my location to the feature I have identified. Now where the lines cross is my location. I appear to be a little off so I need to practice more.

Now we are going to move on to the next feature on the map from the same position I was when we got a bearing on the first feature we identified. I identified this feature, which in this case is a playground set of slides, by determining it's relative location to a very large playground set, a very small playground set, and a bench and trash can. When I take my bearing, it is at about 350 degrees. Now, just like we did previously, I am going to position my compass on the map, and draw the line.

Now that we have located ourselves on the map, we are going to go somewhere with it. I have marked a location on the map that we are going to call the ranger station and I am going to simulate an emergency situation where I need to find the ranger station to get aid. Based on where I am on the map facing as north as I can, and relative to my position from the ranger station on the map I am going to guess the direction I need to go. I am going to guess 315 degrees. I am not going to put my compass on the map and try to get a bearing. If I lock my compass in to 315 degrees, lock myself in north position and draw a line from my position outward on the map I find that I will actually overshoot the ranger station by a few degrees. If I dial it down to about 305 degrees, it gets me pretty close to where I need to go, so I am going to draw a line and go with a bearing of 305 degrees.

Now that I have a line drawn from my location to the ranger station it is important to travel that line on the map and see what features I will come across on my way to my destination. This is important because these features will let me know that I am going in the correct direction if the bearing wasn't enough. The first thing I notice is that my path leads right through a large set of playground equipment. Past that a little ways and to my right is another feature which I cannot identify simply by looking at the map, but we will be able to identify on our walk. Lastly just before I reach my destination there is another set of playground equipment to my left. Now, at the first feature I encounter, instead of walking straight through the playground equipment I am going to instead turn left 90 degrees and walk for a ways, turn right 90 degrees and walk for a ways, and then once again turn right 90 degrees and get back on my bearing of 305 degrees. This allows me to walk around the playground equipment instead of through it. I will show you how to do this without losing your bearing as well.

For my walk I am actually going to be using my button compass. I'm not really staring at it and closely monitoring my direction, I'm just headed generally northwest and using the x's I have placed on my map as I guideline for what features I should be encountering to make sure I am heading in the correct direction. When I encounter my first x, I know that I want to go around it and not through it. I am currently facing northwest, I am going to turn 90 degrees to my left and go southwest. I am going to walk 10-20 paces, enough to get past the equipment, then turn 90 degrees to my right and go northwest once again. I am now going to take another 10-20 paces to get out in front of the playground, turn right 90 degrees now heading in the direction of northeast. After my 10-20 paces I am going to turn 90 degrees to my left and head northwest once again and in my original direction.
Continuing on our original trail I am able to identify the feature that I was to encounter to the right which was another bench. Shortly after it to my left I locate the playground equipment and right in front of me is what we have identified as the ranger station.

That's it for today guys, however before we wrap this up I wanted to take a minute to talk about my backpack (yes, the one from the three day camp). In my backpack right now are just items from the 5 C's. I did have some personal items in there, but I have recently removed them. Now that we are talking about a new set of 5 C's I would like to take some time at the end of the blog if I choose to add an item, and talk about which item and why. Today I am faced with a difficult choice of whether to add the modern compass, or the traditional military style compass. The button compass has earned a special place, not in my pack, but instead in the EDC kit we spent last month building. For right now I am choosing to add the modern compass to my pack. I know we didn't work much with the military compass this blog, but we will in future blogs. I like that I can put the modern compass on the map and still be able to see what I'm doing. I also like the housing dial on it as opposed to the one on the military compass which has two arrows that don't seem to line up when they are supposed to.

Next week in our series we are going to be talking about a compass' best friend and you know you don't want to miss it.As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.


*After further review the bearing was NOT 310 instead 290. This was the reason my location was off on my map.

I Will Survive: Comparing the Survival Water Bottle to My EDC Kit

Last week we finished building our EDC Kit and we talked about the three characteristics we want our gear to have: familiarity, compactibility, and re-usability. We packed away all of our stuff into a fanny pack as well. We valued this kit to be about $57, however I only spent $10 on my kit for the fanny pack. The rest of my gear I already had lying around the house. I did not buy gear for this kit. This week we are doing the review. That’s right, this week we will be comparing the survival water bottle to my EDC kit.

First let’s get into the survival water bottle and see what we are getting for $20. The water bottle itself is a 1000 ml. plastic water bottle with a red carabiner attached to it. I have some black 550 paracord at the top of the water bottle, one bandage (the card says there were supposed to be three),

an aluminum carabiner with a compass and an LED flashlight. It also comes with a tiny pocket knife with a tiny nail file. The next item I remove is an orange safety whistle, and a floating compass with a container that stores matches, however, no matches were provided. The last few items are a survival blanket that reflects up to 90% body heat, an emergency poncho which I can see from the package is very thin and will not last long, (I may be able to fly it like a tarp), and an emergency sewing kit with a button and a latch pin. I am not satisfied with what I have for $20. I do not feel that it meets the criteria of 3 minutes without air, 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. My final note is that repacking the bottle was extremely difficult and all of my gear was crammed back inside.

I am going to be testing the survival water bottle in the same location where I had my 3 Day Camp. I

am going to attempt to set up my shelter, start a fire, and boil water. Now, I am not going to spend all day out here trying to accomplish these tasks with this kit. If I hit a road block that I cannot overcome or at least overcome quickly, I am going to say the test is done. I am going to follow this same practice with my EDC kit as well. One flaw I am going to point out with the survival water bottle right away is that I had to dig a box of matches out of my car to add to the kit, because the kit itself did not provide them.

The first thing I did was use the paracord to suspend the plastic water bottle over the site where I am going to build my fire. I tied the paracord off to a tree, threw the length over a limb, tied a loop in it, and clipped the water bottle to the loop with the red carabiner. The goal is to get my water to boil by controlling my fire. Normally I would use a tripod to boil water, however  I do not believe I could cut down or carve one with the tools provided by this kit. This attempt failed

I used my matches to start my fire. If I had not supplied the matches I would have had absolutely no way to make fire. I could have added a lighter instead, however, the kit was designed to use matches. While setting up, the branch above me became over encumbered and fell out so I had to improvise and suspend the water bottle from a much less distance. I filled it up with 16.9 oz. of water so that it will be boiling the same amount as my EDC kit.

Unfortunately I was not able to get the water to boil. While trying to control my fire the water bottle began to melt and warp. Also the tripod type branch I was using was dry enough that it started to catch as well. I probably could have waited a little longer, but I was not satisfied with how things were going. If you don’t know how to boil water in a plastic bottle pre-emergency, you are not going to know how to do it in the actual survival situation. I’m ranking the bottle a D, not an F, because you cannot purify water in it, but it can hold a significant amount of water and that’s worth something.

For the shelter I decided to use the poncho as a moisture barrier and I used the survival blanket to wrap up in. It is very noisy and if I were to sleep like this I would definitely wake up any time I moved. Other than that it was kind of nice. I rank the shelter a C. If rain were to come I would be left completely out in the open. If I had a fire to sit next to it would be even better, however the blanket says to keep away from fire. I may even consider getting one of these for my EDC kit.

Now that we have finished testing out the survival water bottle, it is time to test out my EDC kit. Right away you will notice that there are things I can do with this kit that I couldn’t do with the other kit, and actually there is one thing that I could have done with the survival water bottle kit that I could have done, but chose not to. We will talk about why a little later.

I will be testing my EDC kit the same way I tested the survival water bottle according to the rule three hours without shelter, three days without water, and three weeks without food. My first order of business is to make a shelter. What I did was lash a branch horizontally to a tree with my bank line. Next I found some small rocks and folded them into the corners of my poncho, tied off the corner to keep them in place, and then tied the corners to the lashed branch. I took a long stick that was smaller in diameter to the one I lashed to the tree and used my 11-in-1 card to saw it in half. The stick was mostly greenwood so the 11-in-1 card had some difficulty getting the job done, but it did get the job done. Next I used my Camillus Seize to carve the two half pieces into tent stakes. I repeated the process with the stones in the bottom to corners of my poncho, attached them to the stakes, and then staked them into the ground. This results in my poncho being set up like I would my tarp.

The reason I did not do this with a survival blanket is because I was having so much trouble with the

survival water bottle kit, I just wanted to get any kind of shelter together. I absolutely think that the survival blanket could do this, and it is roughly the same size as my poncho so I think it would do it well. The only problem being with that kit, if I chose to make the survival blanket into a shelter, I would have nothing to cover up with at night. If you have a extra survival blanket in your kit I highly recommend that you try to do this. Unfortunately with the survival water bottle kit, I just don’t think it’s worth it.

With the assistance of my lovely wife, we did a weather test on the poncho. I sat underneath it with my moisture barrier, the black contractor bag I included in my kit and she prepared the water hose to spray down my shelter.  Now the water from the garden hose was a lot heavier than any rain I would typically experience, but it held up well and no water got in. The hood of the poncho faced downward and while it did move and buck with the water hitting it, it did not open up to let the water in.

Now I am going to test the abilities of the second contractor bag that I packed in my EDC kit. First I

can get into it and use it like a sleeping bag if needed. While standing the bag comes up to my arm pits, but lying down I can hunker down into it and it will retain my body heat fairly well. The next thing I am going to test is how well it holds water. I filled the bag up just enough for me to be able to lift it and also so it did not rip out the bottom of the bag. It held up well, I have plenty of contractor bag left to tie it off and store it, and all I have to do is untie it to get more water.

Speaking of water, now it is time for our boiling test. I am going to use the same amount of water as well as the same type of bottled water as I used in my previous boiling test to be fair in judging which boils better. I used my lighter in my combustion kit to light my tinder and get my fire started. After that it was just a matter of placing the metal water bottle into the fire without the plastic lid on top and waiting for it to boil.

Another thing that I want to show you my kit can do is make char cloth. The Altoids tin that is also

the container for my combustion kit can also be used to make char cloth in. Now I didn’t have any cloth packed in my EDC kit so what I did was cut a strip out of the bottom of my T-shirt, placed it in the Altoids tin, closed it, and put it in the fire. It’s as simple as that. Now I can make char cloth while I am waiting for my water to boil, which it did! To remove it safely from the fire, I used my bank line and a small stick to make a toggle, carefully slid the stick into the bottle, and lifted it gently out of the fire to cool. The char cloth actually turned out very nice as well. It blackened well and there were no white spots. Unfortunately the inside of the Altoids tin charred up pretty badly as well so I can no longer use it as a signaling device.

For my final thought, I like to think it is pretty obvious which kit is the winner, but we will still go ahead and break it down. Overall I was very pleased with the fanny pack, more so than I thought I would be. Everything I needed was at my hip and was easy to retrieve. The water bottle just did not have what you needed to survive in my opinion. I ranked the combustion kit in the survival water with a D, because I had to provide my own matches and in that kit that was the one and only way provided to make fire. For cover I ranked it a C because of the survival blanket, but I think there could have been more options in the way of cover. I gave the container a D, because I could not boil or purify water in it. It's saving grace was that I could hold a large amount of water in it. I gave the cutting tool an F, as it was pitiful. It isn't the smallest knife I have ever had, but it was definitely the worst knife I have ever had. I gave the cordage a C. It did it's job, however, I had 33ft. of  550 paracord in the bottle, yet in my kit I had 60 ft. of bank line that was much more compact. Moving on to my kit, I felt it performed above and beyond. My poncho worked very well as a cover, and I was even concerned it would rip but didn't. The contractor bags served their purpose as a moisture barrier and even held up to the task of having extra jobs, so to my cover I give an A+. My combustion kit had a rocky start, but I did have multiple ways of making fire and even created a fourth way to make fire while testing the kit so I give it an A. My container did it's job boiling water and my cordage did a fantastic job setting up my camp. I even had plenty left over. The Camillus Seize performed well in the field. I used it to clean up branches and carve stakes with ease. The 11-in-1 card had a rough start, but it did its job in the end. The final results are the Survival Water Bottle overall is ranked D, and the Fanny Pack EDC Kit is ranked A, at the lowest, maybe a B.

Next week we will be picking up where we left off two series ago. David Canterbury first started off with the 5 C's of Survivability, later he added an additional 5, which in total became the 10 C's of Survivability. We will be beginning next week with Compass. It will also be our first on location video. Make sure you don't miss out! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

It Was My Last Resort: Cover Option and EDC Kit Packed Away

Last week we talked about the second characteristic of a good EDC kit, as well as added a 17 oz. stainless steel water bottle and 60 ft. of bank line. If you would rather use paracord, I added two other options for paracord, so definitely check out last week’s blog to learn more about those. Our EDC kit is currently valued at about $40. This week we will be talking about the last characteristic as well as adding cover to our kit and packing it away. Lastly we will do a grand total value of our kit and I’ll tell you what I actually spent on it.

The third and final characteristic is re-usability. Re-usability is important for any piece of gear in your EDC kit as well anything you use and like the other two characteristics, gives you two distinct advantages. The first is that reusable items are going to be cost effective. In a world where we have emergency tents and disposable ponchos that are great when you need them and have them, once they are used that piece of gear is gone and has to be replaced. I would rather have a good, higher quality item that I pay more money for and be able to reuse it, This does not just apply to cover options. Matches are one and done while lighters can be reused over and over again. Sure, a single match costs less than a penny, but lighters are a onetime purchase, are compact, and even after they run out of fuel you can still cast sparks off of it. The magnifying glass is easily the most cost effective item in my kit because I use the power of the sun to start a fire.

The second distinct advantage is that these items can be used outside of an emergency. I know this goes against what I said. This is an emergency kit, not a camping kit, however, if you’re going to have this kit on you all day you would be foolish not to use it in your daily routine. I usually have some sort of situation every day that involves a knife. You may use your lighter to light a cigarette for a friend, use you magnifying glass to read a restaurant menu, use your 11-in-1 Card to open bottles or cans, or even use your bottle to provide your own drinking glass at a friend’s house.

Now for our cover option. This item like everything else was chosen because it is familiar to me, it is compact, and it is reusable. My cover option is going to be a reusable poncho that I’ve had for about a year. It has stood up to a lot of rain and a lot of football games, but still has a lot of life left in it. The poncho covers most of my body and I like that the sides unbutton turning it into a serape. Having my ends open leads me to believe that I can them off and fly the poncho like a tarp. On the other hand I can wear it with the sides buttoned up and bring my arms in. The poncho will keep out the rain and cold and help me to retain body heat. If it gets too bad, I can draw string the hood and cover my face more.

The poncho alone is not enough for me in the way of cover, I still need some kind of moisture barrier. I am also going to add some black contractor bags to my kit. You may remember them from my three day camp. I actually chose to pack two. The second can be used as a spare, but can also serves several other purposes. I can fill it with water which will save energy from going back and forth to collect water for my water bottle. I can fill it with leaves to make a bed, I can use it like a sleeping bag, and I can even cut the sides and fly it like a tarp if my poncho were to fail. We also talked about re-usability outside of an emergency situation. The poncho is obvious, but with some careful cutting the contractor bags can be come two more ponchos for two more friends.

Now where will we be storing this gear? I considered using a backpack, but it was too bulky. I thought a haversack might be nice, but I couldn’t get my hands on one. So after looking for an option I found a water-resistant, neutral colored, low key pack to store my EDC kit. I chose…a fanny pack.

 Now, it’s not my favorite option, but it does everything I need it to. It easily stores all of my gear and even has a pouch in the front so I can get to the gear I need the fastest. I have considered using something more military that would appear more like a tactical fanny pack that would cost between $20-$40. However I was trying to be cheap. Once I set up camp I will even have room in the fanny pack to carry my tinder or anything else I collect.

Now it’s time to value out the kit. The poncho cost me $5. The garbage bags came in a pack of 10 for $10. With two in my pack that adds another $2 making our cover value a total of $7. The fanny pack cost $10 and was the only item I actually purchased for my EDC kit. All other items I had or was already using. This brings our total value up to $57. Again the only item I purchased was the fanny pack so its more accurately $10 spent and $47 collected.

Next week we will be testing the EDC kit I put together against the store bought EDC kit. I know I’m excited and you won’t want to miss it! As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Cordage in a Bottle: Container and Cordage Options for Your EDC Kit

Last week we started talking about EDC Kits, what they are, what they should be comprised of, the problems with bad EDC kits and how to avoid them, and good EDC kits and how to get one. I also talked about three characteristics your EDC kit should have. Last week we talked about the first characteristic, familiarity. I then added some gear to the kit and valued it with the current gear to be about $25. I would also like to reiterate from last week’s blog how important it is NOT TTO BUY FIOR YOUR EDC KIT. You are better off building your kit out gear you already have. Buying new gear takes away from the familiarity of your tools. If you were to recreate the kit that I am using, then yes, you will be out about $50, but I cannot stress enough what a bad idea this is. You likely have similar cutting and combustion option of your own to use that you are more familiar with. This is also effective for keeping costs down.

This week we will be adding another characteristic and two more items to our already growing EDC Kit, The next characteristic we are going to talk about is compactibility, which will give us two distinct advantages over non compactible gear. Number one is the obvious: compactible gear takes up less space. The Camillus Seize in my EDC kit is about half the size of the Camillus Bushcrafter in my full size pack, likewise my combustion kit is about a sixth of the size of the one in my bag. Having lightweight and smaller gear is going to make it easier for you to pack it, as well as make it easier for you to take with you every day.

The second advantage is that most compact gear or at least true compact gear will be just as good as a larger counterpart. My Camillus Seize can do a lot of the same things my Camillus Bushcrafter can do. It can baton wood a bit, strike a ferro rod and carve wood. The same goes for my combustion kit. I can set sure fire, spark fire, and solar fire. I’m sure you are wondering now what the point is in having a bigger option if the compactible gear can do all of the same things. Well the answer is that you have more options with the bigger gear. While my Seize can baton, carve and strike a ferro rod, my Bushcrafter can baton more efficiently, is made of better steel so it casts sparks easier, and it has a bigger belly for carving and even skinning. The same goes for my combustion kit. My larger fire kit can create sure fire, spark fire, and solar fire, the difference is that I have more options and more ways to start a fire. It has two lighters, a large ferro rod, and a very powerful magnifying glass. When you are putting together your EDC kit you will likely notice that the bigger and better gear is harder to pack and you will have to use the compact option. This is okay! Remember, our goal is not to go camping with this gear, but to have it in case of an emergency.

This week’s gear is going to be a container and some cordage. Our container is a 17 oz. stainless steel water bottle. I like this bottle because it is metal, it is single walled, and the plastic cap can be completely removed so the bottle is completely metal at the time we are going to boil it. Being a metal bottle means that I can boil my water. If you can’t boil water in your bottle, you don’t need it. Boiling water is the most simple and easy way of purifying your drinking water. Chemicals can be used to purify water, however, you need precise measurements and any variation can result in unsafe drinking water. I prefer to place the bottle of water into the fire, wait for it to boil, boil for two minutes, and my drinking water is now safe. Some people prefer to go with plastic bottles. I think that is a horrible idea. You might be able to boil water in it, but it is extremely difficult and I wouldn’t recommend it. Chemicals may also break down part of the plastic in the bottle and it will end up in your drinking water which is simply no good. The only problem I have with this water bottle I that it is only 17 oz. My larger water bottle is 32 oz. which is closer to the recommended 64 oz. that it is recommended that we drink daily. I believe this is debatable because we outdoorsmen should probably be drinking more than that. At any rate, to get that 64 oz. of water I will have to make more trips and boil more water to achieve this. It is the sacrifice I have made for a lighter and more compact water bottle. You may not want to do this, it is your own personal preference.

My next gear item is 60 ft, of bank line. I am choosing to use
bank line because it can set up just as well as paracord, and you can make a net with it. This type of cord can store easily, but I will be saving even more space by storing it in my water bottle. Now bank line is not my only option so I thought I would talk about some other choices that are worth a mention. You could wear an 8 in. paracord bracelet. I believe the rule of thumb is that there is 1 ft. of paracord for every inch of bracelet which equals out to about 8 ft. of paracord. This is plenty enough to construct a shelter and with bright colors, you could even signal with it. If you would like an option with more paracord, I’ve made a one ring belt out of 6 strands of paracord that are each 16 ft. The single ring belt is super easy to wear, and yes, the colors I used are very flamboyant, but you can use browns or blacks to make it more discreet.

If you want to make your own paracord belt, you will need a 2 ½” metal ring, 6 sections of 16 ft. of paracord, four strands being the same color, and two being a different color. You will also need a knife to cut paracord to determined length and a lighter to melt the mantle so the cordage will not unravel. Next, you will want to place your ring on something at chest level or higher so that you can work. You will first begin by draping one piece of paracord over the ring with a lark’s head knot. You will want to do this for all 6 strands of paracord. I recommend for beginners a single color, followed by four of the primary color, and the last strand being the color you started with. Now to begin the weaving. Begin by taking the far left piece of cordage, and weave it in front of or behind the cordage directly to its right. You will then alternate weaving over and under until you reach the end and there is nothing else for you to weave against. It is at this point where it is recommended for you to place your line that you have weaved all the way through somewhere to rest so that you can begin weaving the next line. It’s brother line will follow the opposite path that the first line took all the way to the end, for example, if you started weaving over with the first line, then you will start weaving under with the second line. The resting line will then be treated as the last line being weaved and will either come over or under depending on how you are weaving your current line. You will continue this way until you get to the end of the project; you will know you are at the end when you do not have enough cordage to weave through again. I recommend tying them off in pairs so it will all stay together; tying it in any way possible so that it doesn’t come loose, or cannot be undone until  you want it to.

Now let’s talk cost. The paracord bracelet should you choose to pack it is about $5. The paracord belt ran me about $15 to make. These two items are not going to factor into the value of my kit. Y water bottle I bought for $10, but you could easily find it on sale for less. The bank line came from a spool of about 120 ft. that I purchased for $20. I used about half the spool so I will value what is in my kit at about $5. This brings the value of my EDC kit to $40, the equivalent of two of the plastic survival water bottle kits.

Next week we will be discussing the last characteristic, our cover option, and what we will be packing our gear in and why I made these decisions. As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.

Every Day I'm Carryin': Building EDC Kits and Choosing Cutting and Combustion Options

Last week we highlighted and briefly talked about five blogs that I thought would help prepare for the next series we are going into: EDC kits. If you aren’t sure what EDC stands for, it is an acronym for Every Day Carry. This is a collection or group of items, equipment and gear that when working together can improve survivability in an emergency situation.

EDC kits range from very small to very complex. The smaller kits can be as simple as containing one item such as a knife, lighter, emergency poncho, or a gun. The problem with these simple kits is that they often don’t contain enough tools to improve survivability in an emergency situation. On the flip side, complex kits which are much larger and are filled up with anything and everything from take down bows, full fishing tackle, pop up tents, and a dozen or so MREs. The downside to this type of kit is that they are often too large and too bulky to be conveniently carried around every day. I believe your EDC should be right there in the middle. It should contain just enough tools to improve your survivability in an emergency situation and it should be light and compact enough that you will be willing to take it with you everywhere you go every day.

While putting together my own EDC kit, I came up with three qualities all of the items in your kit should have. The first of these three is Familiarity.  This is something we outdoorsmen are not new to. We are familiar with our bug out bags, our fishing gear, our kayak gear, and the firearms we take into the field, and so on. For the same reason, you should be familiar with your EDC kit.

Being familiar with your gear is going to give you two distinct advantages. The first advantage is that you are going to know the capabilities and limitations of your gear. For example, if you have a knife that you know you cannot baton with, you are not going to waste energy and resources trying to baton with that knife. You also minimize the risk of injury if something were to happen and the knife breaks while you are batoning and comes back on you. You become familiar with these items during what Dave Canterbury calls “dirt time” which is the time you spend out in the field actually working with your gear. I recommend that anything you pack in your EDC kit is as trusted as your best friend.

The second advantage you will have is knowing how to manipulate your gear into getting the desired result. For example you will know where to strike the ferro rod on your knife, what angle to hold it at when you want a deep or shallow cut, and how much wood and force to use when batoning. A person who carves spoons and bowls out of wood with nothing but a pocket knife has used that knife enough through dirt time that they know how to manipulate to achieve the results they want. It’s not all the knife and it is not all the skill of the person holding the knife, it is a combination of both. This is the familiarity you want with your EDC gear.

Now we can get into actually building our EDC kit. When starting off, it is important to have a framework in mind of what you expect from your gear. You can look for other ideas online, but I am going to base mine around the five C’s of survivability. First up is cutting tool. I have my Camillus Seize which I know can strike a ferro rod, and carve. My second option is the UST 11-in-1 card. It has a knife blade, flathead screwdriver, can opener, bottle opener, saw blade, 4cm ruler, different sized hex wrenches, and a butterfly wrench. It also has a feature called a directional ancillary indicator which I’ll do more on later. I like this tool for its saw blade which allows me to cut notches without having to carve with my knife, as well as it has various 90 degree angles to strike a ferro rod on.

Next up is our Combustion kit. In my kit I have a lighter, a micro ferro rod, and a magnifying glass like what you would see someone reading a restaurant menu with. Each of these tools has a purpose to make a specific type of fire. First, with a flick of the Bic, we have sure fire. This allows me to easily light my tinder and get my fire started. Next is the ferro rod which is not as good as sure fire but does cast better sparks than flint and steel. Both the lighter and ferro rod are non-renewable resources. Lighting the lighter uses butane and striking the ferro rod chips away material. The magnifying glass is a renewable resource because I can always use it to enhance the sun’s rays and start a fire. All items except my cutting tool are stored in an Altoids tin. It is cheap and convenient and can also be used for sewing and fishing kits. These tins are great because you can make them water tight by wrapping the opening with two overlapping pieces of electrical tape. It can be used as a signaling device with the polished metal inside the tin. Lastly there are enough holes in the back of the tin that you can actually char in it.

Now let’s talk price. The knife was the most expensive item, which I spent $30 on, however I have seen it sell for as cheap as $10. The 11-in-1 card was $2 but I got it on sale for $1. If the Seize happened to be on sale you would likely get both of these items for $20. The Altoids tin candy and all cost about $3. The magnifying glass and ferro rod come in a pack of 10 for $10 which translates to $1 each and the lighter also come in a pack of eight and is roughly $1 individually. Altogether we have spent about $25 on our EDC kit. The ones you find in store already put together run for about $20 so you are spending more, however, if you are using gear you are familiar with, these items should already be accessible to you and you really aren’t spending anything at all.

As always feel free to comment, hit the follow button in the top right corner, share this blog, and check back next week for a new one on Sunday 10pm (est). If you want to keep up with me and what I’m doing, Follow me on Facebook: @BPackBushcraft and on Twitter @BPackBushCraft. Lastly if video is more your style check out my YouTube Channel backpack bushcraft where there is a video version of this with the same title. Until next time, keep those fires burning and put another log on for me.