WHAT SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT WILL I NEED?

SURVIVAL EQUIPMENT FOR EVERYBODY -

So following on from our last read explaining what bushcraft and survival is the next thing we need to know is what do we need to practice bushcraft or survival? Now this question can have a fairly short answer or be quite expansive. But im going to start with some basics here and delve into survival for a while as we discussed last time survival comes first, then bushcraft afterwards on a timeline of events, so it makes sense to first look at survival equipment and what really are the basics of most kits now days.

So a question we dont have to think about much now-days - how do we stay alive?

Firstly for the human body to stay alive and functioning to some degree we must stay hydrated - water is our number one priority in most situations as the body cant survive more than 3 days without it, way less in some more humid, high temperature environments such as deserts or rainforests or anywhere across or near the equator.

Secondly again depending where you are you need shelter and warmth to stop your core body temperature dropping too much. many places across the worlds night time temperatures would be enough to cause hypothermia if you didn't have the right kind of clothes, shelter or couldn't get fire, so shelter from the elements is also essential for survival. Our bodies core temperature only needs to drop 2 degrees and you will have a real case of the shivers and another 5 degrees C and your body will stop moving all together permanently if you dont get some serious medical attention.

Lastly the body needs food. Simple… protein and fat predominantly naturally but our bodies over time have been way more accustomed to high carbs and sugary meals which are pretty difficult to find in nature especially during winter months, so protein and fat. 21 days is about as long as you have got before your body starts to enter a severely catabolic state where it starts to eat away at its own reserves including your muscle and organ tissue and we turn into something elses dinner. The matter of fact is we need food!!!

So to acomplish these theorietically easy tasks - to stay hydrated, to stay warm and to stay fed what do we actually need in terms of help? Tools are about as good as it gets when it comes to getting help staying alive in a wilderness situation apart from a rescue team but were assuming you haven't got to that point yet. Tools and natural resources but thats another vast topic so we will stick to tools and kit for now. But what tools??

In terms of survival it’s what you have brought with you before you find yourself in the survival situation. Thats your survival kit, but this is an argument which many people will also have their own awnsers too but im giving my own opinion.

What would you want to have on you? - Well to be prepared for a survival situation firstly you must take your survival kit with you where ever you go or you may find yourself one day in a survival situation with nothing which can often happen, so what is most useful, what would we really want in a compact lightweight portable kit that can be taken everywhere without being at all cumbersome?

Im going to make this easy and say apart from, what our bodies need ie - water, food and shelter the first thing you need is clothing suited to your environment (which does actually fall under shelter) and a high carbon steel blade.. A knife is invaluable in many tasks and even if you your familiar with flint knapping and making natural blades a steel knife is a

luxury in the wild compared to those of way back when.

Now.. why high carbon steel as opposed to stainless steel? Obviously both have benefits but high carbon blades can produce sparks when paired with some rocks like flint or iron pyrite so you have a chance of making fire, or greater your chances or expand your options at least. And higher carbon steels like 1095 or 01 tool steel can be hardened more than stainless making them better as a more reliable tool over time or when you really need it.

If your going to choose a stainless blade then make sure you have another ignition source or you are fairly well versed with natural fire making methods like friction fire. A full tang Knife like those pictured below is pretty important too id say for durability but not always essential, the basis of this is making the best with what we have, and is sort of a mantra in both bushcraft and survival, you just make do and improvise in lots of situations.

A good example of some 01 tool steel well built survival knives i own, made my MBK Knives

The point im getting at here is that all of your items should be made from as high quality materials as you can afford and serve as multi purpose tools to keep the weight down especially if your taking it with you everywhere as part of an EDC (every day carry) kit, for me an EDC would be something like a small survival tin with a few essentials in other than a fixed blade knife and water container. For a practiced survivalist an EDC could be as little as. Multi tool like a leatherman or swiss army knife which are also great options but not as durable as something like those pictured above. But on the flip side an EDC can be made fairly comprehensive if you are say on the move a lot in a vehicle or possibly on horse back as you can store your EDC in different places, ie - you can have an EDC pouch, bag or tin that you carry on your person or you can have a larger kit that stays in your car, locker, or somewhere else thats relatively local that can have more items in it than you would like to carry 100% of the time. To simplify this last section a good blade and a means to make fire are a MUST and should go into every survival or bushcraft kit unless you seriously know your stuff.

For me personally i love the swiss victorinox ranger, both versatile and fairly durable when it comes to a survival blade. It has a lockable blade but just be careful not to be too heavy handed with it when say batoning wood.

Next we should look at something called the five C’s. The 5 C’s enables us to choose kit of varying amounts that should cover us in most situations, now for survival you dont always need all of these but you will definitely need some or most of them at some point in a survival situation, wether you have them with you or you can make them from natural materials is a different story.

The 5 C’s are as follows in no particular order.

1 - cutting tools

2 - cover elements

3 - containers

4 - cordage

5 - combustion

To explain a little bit more your cutting tools are obviously your knife, or blade you decide to take which can be an axe, machete, a multi tool or even a shovel. Just something that enables you to cut depending on your environment and whats best suited.

Your cover element is something that can shelter you from the elements, the first thing some may think of is a tent or a tarp but it could merely be just a space blanket, or a poncho or even just a good waterproof coat.

Containers, your going to need to boil water for purification purposes so some sort of container that can carry water and preferably withstand the heat of the fire generally meaning a metal pot wether it be a saucepan, a billy can or a military water bottle with nesting cup, you will definitely want something to boil water in unless you have a good knowledge of how to purify water without one. Boiling water isn't always the only thing you will need this for, in most situations you are going to want to transport clean water, again unless you have knowledge how to make water containers then this is pretty important stuff, although not always totally essential to survival situations.

Cordage is a high value item in nature so make sure you have some of your choice with you, or know where to find it, personally id say fishing line is probably what you will want cordage for the most in a real survival situation but the inner strands of paracord can be used for this just make sure you know where to get it, if you don't have any in your kit.

Lastly combustion, something to make fire with, wether this be your knife, a ferrocerium rod, a flint you have found or a fresnel lens for solar fire its up to you, but id take at least one way of procuring sure fire.

Your 5 C’s could look like this. But here they are all covered, including a tomahawk head, military canteen, ferro rod, jute twine and a mylar poncho.

Apart from this i would definitely say in most survival situations some fishing hooks and snare wire would be a great addition to keep the risks of starvation to a minimum but both can be made naturally if you know how. Also a schemagh is an amazingly versatile piece of equipment i think everybody should carry when venturing into any wilderness situation. - a shemagh can be used for a variety of purposes including hats, scarfs and facial coverings, a water filter, a bandage or wound dressing, a sling, you can make cordage from it, you can use it to make char cloth and just about anything else you can think of using one for, the main take away is that its highly versatile and thats exactly what we need.

An old smelly shemagh i take everywhere that could save your life.

So for survival purposes we can look at this list of kit and if you use your brain it can be kept in a relatively small tin that could fit in your pocket whilst wearing a shemagh and carrying a metal water bottle and could have everything in it that could keep you alive for a good while, hopefully until you are rescued or you find some sort of civilization.

Home made slingshot wrapped in fishing line secured by rubber band which doubles as an emergency fire starter

A compact hunting kit which includes a slingshot with fishing line wrapped around it to use as a reel, and a tin with 2 means of making fire, a survival card, a solar fire fresnel lens, fishing hooks, fishing weights, hooks, flies, leaders and pre made snares. The rubber band is a great emergency fire starter when paired with a lighter.

As i said at the beginning of this post this can become a vast subject which i will go into greater detail into later on varying posts, kit will always be a hot subject for debate but for now i would like everybody to just become familiar with the 5 C,s and think about how multi functional their tools are when choosing them to include in any survival kit. Its really down to you to consider what the body needs and decide for yourself what you thinks best. These are just some sound guidelines to point you in the right direction.

Thanks very much for reading guys if you have gotten this far. Hope to catch you here soon.

Heres a link to all our products to take a look what we can offer you in terms of affordable survival equipment - www.bushcraftsurvivaluk.com/equipment

Why not come join us on our facebook page, group or our instagram

Links below

Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1ByYR7uJoE/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/share/12KwuL7jna9/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bushcraft_survivaluk?igsh=YTJpN3I3bTNwM25q&utm_source=

Im also going to share a link here to Self Reliance Outfitters BLOG - dave canterbury and his instructors have in extensive knowledge in survival and has worked with other amazing survivalists like Cody Lundin who appeared together in the TV programe Dual Survival.

https://www.selfrelianceoutfitters.com/blogs/survival-blog?srsltid=AfmBOoq7HlrWtTc_x6Vlz_Wx2mY0tACkj8VWrIGv-JNCcfcT2XifHYBD