Hot Disaster Preparation Posts
How To: Tie the highwayman's hitch knot
This is a great knot to use if you need to release the knot quickly using one hand. This is great for magical tricks or for tying things that you would like released quickly, without the mess of a tight and tangled knot.
How To: Tie a reef knot (also known as the square knot)
The reef knot is one of the best knots for joining ropes, also known as the square knot. What more could you want?
How To: Use a soda bottle to make fire
Clear plastic bottles may have more uses than just holding soda. Whether you bring one on a picnic or find one in a trash can, you can use it to make fire on a sunny day. Watch and groove.
How To: Survive a tiger attack
Watch this trainer wrestle with two full grown tigers, while showing tips and tricks to survive a real tiger attack in the wild. It's amazing how tame these obviously domestic tigers are, even when full-grown!
How To: Make fire with steel wool and a 9 volt battery
Learn how to make a magical looking fire with steel wool and a 9 volt battery.
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 stove for survival training out of a soda can
In 2 minutes you can make a stove from household materials that you probably already have. Learn this great survival trick by watching this how-to video. You will need rubbing alcohol, a soda can, a sharp knife, and a food tin. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to build a survival stove out of an aluminum can.
How To: Make a barometer and forecast the weather
If the indicator is showing high, the weather will be sunny and warm, if it falls down below the middle, the pressure in the air is low and it will probably rain. Make a barometer and forecast the weather.
How To: Use five points to improve your wilderness survival
Watch this long but entertaining video on five points that will help you to succeed in a wilderness survival situation.
How To: Make a survival bow
Mors Kochanski quickly demonstrates making a simple bow.
How To: Prepare for surviving in the desert
How far would you get if you tried to cross a desert on foot? Learn how to prepare for surviving in a scorching environment,including how to substitute a piece of parachute nylon for a headdress! Use what is at hand to protect your eyes.
How To: Make a tin can survival cook stove
This is a how-to on how to make a survival cook stove instead of spending $25 to buy one online. It is a simple projecting that requires an old can, a pair of scissors, and a knife. Be careful and pay attention to his excellent instructions! Watch this video survival training tutorial and learn how to build a cook stove out of a tin can.
How To: Make a spark by using flint and steel
This video shows how even the cheapest file can act as a striker. Use a standard micro file to make a spark. Do not prep it in any way and, in fact, don't even remove the teeth from the file. This a good, but short, closeup on the process.
How To: Do a flint and steel striking technique
Learn the proper method of striking a flint, how to hold the flint, and the angle of attack. Use a slow, downward scrape--make a spark even on a dull edge!
How To: Make a survival bush bow and arrow
Watch this how-to on making a survival bow and arrow using material you can find in any wooded area. Start with a branch and avoid dulling the knife by going around the piece and making cuts and grooves. For the arrow, use a hardwood. To learn more, check out the video!
How To: Survive when lost in the rain forest
Learn the first rules of survival and avoid panicking. Ray Mears from the BBC gives rain forest survival tips including how to use a machete and to build a shelter from available materials.
How To: Survive spiders, snakes, & scorpions
Watch Ray Mears from the BBC explore the most dangerous threats in the desert--spiders, snakes, and scorpions--with a desert ranger. Learn how to avoid black widows by observing an area before you sit down! Do not "mess with any animals you know nothing about." If stung, stay calm.
How To: Drive off road and get un-stuck
Learn how to stay in one piece while driving off the road. Ray Mears from the BBC shares his top tips on driving on the sand. With patience, concentration, and the ability to keep your thumbs out of the wheel, you can learn how to float across the top of the sand before getting stuck! (Getting stuck is inevitable, he says!) This video is helpful in teaching tricks for how to get un-stuck.
How To: Make improvisational snow shoes to survive in the snow
Ray Mears from the BBC demonstrates how to make a snow shoe and explains the vital importance of improvisation in making snow shoes. Any wood will work, as long as it is flexible. How far could you walk in deep snow?
How To: Build a fire in the desert with fire by friction trick
Watch Ray Mears from the BBC give you a how-to guide for making fire in the desert. (You don't even have to carry matches!) Put on your gloves to handle the fauna for cutting wood. Make a notch in the wood--good luck trying to make fire by friction!
How To: Use a car battery and wire wool to start a signal fire
Lost in the wilderness? Did you forget your emergency personal beacon (EPERB)? Learn from the BBC how to start a signal fire using your car battery and a piece of wire wool. Let's just hope you have a car . . .
How To: Survive when you are lost at sea
Learn what to do when you find yourself lost at sea, including how to gauge your rate of drift and make a sextant (a reflecting navigation instrument) in order to locate yourself and--hopefully!--find your way back.
How To: Open a can with a knife
Learn how to open a can with a knife. This is a very useful skill because, in many situations, there's often no can opener to be found. What did people do before can openers were invented? Watch and learn!
How To: Make fire with a flashlight
Start a fire using a flashlight a aloevera, hydrogen peroxide, and a magnifying glass. Super Easy!
How To: Make fire with flint & steel using tinder fungus
Using materials collected on Bois Blanc Island, Michigan you can create a fire quickly with the flint and steel method. Tinder fungus is common in North American woods.
How To: Build a shelter
Ray shows us how to make a strong shelter in wet forest, and the right and wrong ways to strike a match.
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: Conduct a lawful strip search in prison
This is a government video issued to teach the correct way to conduct a strip or visual search in prison.
How To: Take a bullet and survive
Where's the best place to take a bullet? Probably not something you want to experience, but if you have to ask to be shot in the arm. Head, stomach, crotch, leg are all worse ideas and could cause greater vital damage.
How To: Make an emergency oil lamp from a can of tuna
Here's how to make an oil lamp out of a can of tuna. It will burn brightly for at least a couple of hours just from the tuna oil and the tuna isn't wasted either!
How To: Use and assemble an emergency preparedness kit
Description of contents and usage of Preparedness-In-a-Box Kit. Be prepared when disaster strikes with the right materials to survive.
How To: Survive an elevator freefall
How many floors can you fall in an elevator and still survive? Step one, lie down on the floor and step two, duck and cover your head.
How To: Survive interrogation
Andy McNab survived six weeks of torture and interrogation in Iraq. He gives us an exclusive guide on how to get through it and win the physical and psychological battle. Watch now! Survive interrogation.
How To: Make fire in an emergency using a hacksaw blade
Learn how you can use a hacksaw blade to start a fire in an emergency or survival situation.
How To: Make fire using an empty flintwheel lighter
You can make fire using an empty flintwheel lighter. Watch the video to see how.
How To: Make an emergency signal with a CD
If you plan to travel in a remote location, grab a CD before you go it could save your life. Here's how to use a CD to make an emergency signal.
How To: Make an emergency candle from a crayon
When you're without power, and, you don't have conventional lighting, you can use crayons for candles. See how it's done.
How To: Make a fire with an empty lighter
For the technique in this how-to video, you need: smoking papers, receipt or any thin paper and a hard surface like a cd case or book and a piece of paper on top for friction. If your lighter runs out of gas you can still start a fire with these items from your pocket. Watch this video survival training tutorial and learn how to start a fire with an empty lighter. Make a fire with an empty lighter.
How To: Make fire with a condom
If you're ever stranded alone with your special someone and you remembered everything but the matches, this how-to video should help. It will show you how you can make fire using just a condom and some water. Watch this video survival training tutorial and learn how to start a fire with a condom.
How To: Tie a taut line hitch knot
Perfect for attaching the guy line of a tent to a peg or a post, this sliding loop is prized for its ability to adjust up or down, tighter or looser. If only pitching the rest of the tent were so easy.