Tennessee Gun

Tag: survival

  • PRN Episode #27 Interview Survival Punk

    PRN Episode #27 Interview Survival Punk

    Survival Punk is a blog created by James Burnette. James takes a rational, creative approach to self-reliance, applying a punk DIY ethic to survivalism without any of the fear mongering or “tinfoil hattery” found in some other areas of the survivalist movement.

    The Survival Punk blog covers a huge range of his projects, both success and failures along with a healthy bit of myth busting. He also provides a ton of dirt cheap creative solutions to common prepping needs and does a great job of integrating the paleo lifestyle with the prepping lifestyle.

    I respect Survival Punk, and we partnered together on Dual Homestead where he lived on my land and worked to homestead it.  Unfortunately his anarchist tendencies and my need for plans clashed to the point where it just did not work.  However, I still think he knows a lot and he has a great website.

    The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.

    If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.

    Listen to internet radio with Preparedness Radio Network on BlogTalkRadio
  • Using the Survival Still with a Rocket Stove

    Using the Survival Still with a Rocket Stove

     

    Gear Review: Survival Still Rocket Stove
    Buy at Amazon

    When it comes to survival gear I demand that no matter what the other selling points are, if I am going to stake my life on it, it has to work every time. If I don’t get a “do-over” then my gear doesn’t get excuses made for it.

    That is one thing about the survival still that makes me not only keep one for myself.

    I love that the survival still works no matter what is the heat source.  If you can put a pot on it and boil water the still will purify it.

    Today we use a homemade rocket stove powered with scraps of wood and twigs picket up from the ground.

    The small twigs and inelegant build of the actual stove caused the still to work slower than normal.  However, it was not a flaw of the stove, but more a flaw of the builder (me).

    Actually the design came in quite useful as I got mud all over the inside of the still and since the survival still is designed to physically separate the dirty water from the pure steam my fumbling did not cause any problems.

    I know that in the short term there are cheaper alternatives to this stove, but they all will wear out, be used up, or require replacement while the stainless steel survival stove will keep putting out pure water every day for at least one lifetime.

  • Gear Review: Survival Still Grill

    Gear Review: Survival Still Grill

    Gear Review: Survival Still Grill
    Buy at Amazon

    One of the things I love about the survival still is how versatile it is. In today’s video we use it on a charcoal grill and tried to test how much we could get, unfortunately it began raining and messed up our semi-almost scientific test.

    I know a lot of people complain about the Survival Still – some don’t like the inventor, others say that the design is too simple to justify the cost, and some just don’t want to spend close to $300 for a water still.

    I have no opinion of the inventor’s personality as I only met him once and he seemed okay to me but I do agree that it is a lot of money, and that the design is simple.

    I do not think that those two things make it a rip-off – first I look at the value – what the device provides – which is a virtually inexhaustible method of making pure drinking water from almost any type of contaminated water.

    That can be priceless as no other system has the potential to clean up radiological, chemical and biologically polluted waters.  It costs less than a Glock which I also use to protect my family, so to me what it does is worth the money.

    Second – a simple design is to be valued rather than diminished.  It takes time, effort, and understanding to design something so simple.  I am not saying I could not have designed the survival still, but I didn’t and I am not envious of the man that did.  To my mind, he deserves to charge what he wants to for the things he creates.

  • Knots: Bowline (Including Tying One-Handed)

    Knots: Bowline (Including Tying One-Handed)

    Knots: Bowline (Including Tying One-Handed)
    Buy at Amazon

    I had an interesting childhood – my Dad and I were a lot alike, and when I was growing up he jumped with both feet into the world of rope courses – he single-handedly built several small courses in Tennessee which, coupled with his work as a Park Ranger fed my infatuation with survival techniques and self-reliance.

    I spent a lot of time as a pre-teen and teenage years tying knots and lighting fires and I want to spend more time getting back to that as I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, and want to refresh my skills with you so I am ready when Tell gets big enough to keep the rope ends out of the dirt long enough for me to teach him.

    I am going to start with the bowline, the bowline is one of the four basic maritime knots (along with the figure eight, reef knot, and clove hitch) and is a very simple knot used to form a fixed loop in the “bitter end” of a rope (the working end). It is an essential knot for an outdoorsman to know, especially if you climb or sail.

    Like the majority of “good” knots, it is easy to tie and untie. Also like many good knots, if tied improperly it can collapse (capsize).

    Anytime you tie a knot in a rope you reduce its strength through bending, the better the knot the less strength you lose, and a properly tied bowline retains about 65% of it’s strength. Because of this the FFA recommends to tie down light aircraft. More importantly, the bowline is commonly used as a rescue knot for conscious individuals that fell into holes or off cliffs. (because of this I will show you how to tie one using a single hand in-case you are injured or want to show off)

    Procedure for Tying

    Most people learn to tie a bowline using a mnemonic aid.

    If you think of the end of the rope as a rabbit, the loop as the rabbit’s hole, and the standing end of the rope above the loop as a tree…

    The rabbit comes up through the hole, round the tree from the right, and back down the hole.

    It is very important that the loop is formed correctly, with the bitter end on the top of the loop.

    If you reverse the loop (shown in the video) you will make an Eskimo bowline, then when the bowline is put under pressure the bowline will slip.

    One Handed

    If you have the rope secured so you can make it taut, you can tie this knot one handed.

    Simply hold the bitter end in your hand.

    Lay your palm on the top of the rope (the tendency is to use your wrist which is easier, but will probably trap your hand)

    Twist your hand down on the left side of the rope, down, under and back up on the right side of the rope. This makes the loop.

    Use your fingers to pass the rabbit around the tree from right to left.

    While still holding the end of the rope, pull it and your hand through the loop

    Tighten.

    With practice you can do this easier than you can tie the rope one handed.

    Let me know if you want to see more knot videos, I am probably going to do some anyway, but the detail and amount of will depend on you.

    The Morrow Guide to Knots: for Sailing, Fishing, Camping, Climbing

  • Using the Survival Still to Distill Salt Water

    Using the Survival Still to Distill Salt Water

    Gear Review: Survival Still for Salt Water
    Buy at Amazon

    When I did the first survival still review I heard two types of comments

    1. its neat, but too expensive
    2. its cool, but the commenter had a filter, and therefore had no need.

    Those are both valid concerns, but – at least in my situation (and probably many of yours) they aren’t accurate.

    I know $279 seems expensive, but when looking at durable goods you have to balance cost with benefits.  The price of the still is very competitive with filter systems like Berkeys – but unlike filters – they never clog, break, or need maintenance.

    As a firearm instructor – I see students try to skimp on quality – and when they come to class with cheap guns trying to save a few dollars on guns and end up with malfunctions and problems – until they end up buying quality the second time.

    I would not expect anyone to only have one piece of equipment for such a vital need.  At my house we have stored water, multiple chemical purification means, filters, and the materials to make filters.  But each has its own pros and cons.

    Distillation takes energy, but it its 100% effective.  Filters can clog, chemicals don’t work on toxins, and sodis doesn’t work on chemicals.

    In the video below we purify salt water- filters won’t work on chemicals in solution – so salt water will be a problem if filters are your only means of water purification.