I mean the stuff like making fires with shoe laces and sticks. What scenario exactly are people preparing for this kind of shit? Imagine any world ending scenario and you're a survivor, the chances are you're in a town or city and there will be a thousands lighters, magnifying glasses/glass bottles, batteries and matches along with all kinds of flammable material and substances. I can't imagine any scenario where everything is gone but you could survive it.
Oh and fire sticks are the biggest con, if you can carry a fire stick you could easily carry a lighter which ironically is also lighter.
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Quick update, I am not shitting on general outdoors skills but I am shitting on the idea of prepper saying these skills should be learned because they will save your life. I cannot see any scenario they are needed, so just say it's for fun and I am happy.
I think most people do it for fun. Not because they think the world is going to end.
You can learn a lot of shit about building a shelter and other survival skills. In an end of world scenario people will become like animals and rape and murder will be everywhere. I’d rather venture off into the woods away from all the stuff that people made back in society because that is where all the violence and gangs will be. They won’t be able to live in the forest or in real nature. With zero training they are likely to die.
Not against people doing it for fun, I like bushcraft in general. But I keep getting YouTube video recommendations for survival stuff and it's always prepper type shit implying these skills might save your life. They won't.
I don’t know much about preppers. I just like bushcraft stuff. Making shelters and fire pits and using axes and saws and knives and rifles and hunting and knowing what berries are edible type shit. That’s fun! But for me I wish I could live alone out in the wilderness cuz I hate humanity lol.
On the joe Rogan podcast recently There was a guy on there who was living out in the wilderness of Alaska. Cool shit. He did really deep research though. Like crazy deep research! He learned how to cook using the stomach acid of elk and shit lmao. All kinds of cool stuff.
I am the same, I make knives for a living and my life has been about falconry and being outdoors. I just wish they'd day 'this is for fun only' but it's always presented as this super serious skill that we should all learn for the end times. Even if the end times comes I just can't imagine any possible scenario where you would ever do it.
Probably depends on what they are doing. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the doomsday stuff is all made up fluff.
The real survival shit is in old books apparently. I don’t know. Maybe there is good survival information out there that would help. I wonder exactly what sources would be considered reputable.
It's a romance/poetry, no? It is like lifting epic weights. Who actually needs that? We have machines. But you know, just in case, and even if not, there's a romance/poetry to it. I suspect it ties back to our evolutionary programming. I can think of a lot more bullshit that we engage in daily than learning to make fires with shoelaces and sticks.
I see. I don't like paranoia and fear. But you know, maybe they have a romance too... Road Warrior! I don't know what drives them. But maybe everything is absurd that we do. I only know I like butts and twerking at the end of the day. I would like to learn how to make fire with shoelaces.
I see... understand obnoxious now. :-D Well, I think it's funny. We're all silly rolling around like ninjas and get shot in the head. Good times. Role-playing... you know. "Chuchuchu! I am a superhero!"
Some skills are werid, and unless there's an apocalypse, you are probally good... sometimes it is just an interesting skill... There are actually some werid skills like this with everyday objects that can save lives... the one I was taught doing first aid is if someone punctured a lung, if you place a credit card or something like that and tape 3 sides over the hole put of 4, it will allow them still to breath and let the air out giving them a higher chance of survival
It really depends on where you are when you need the skills. If flint is available then no you don't need to know how to make fire with a bow drill. But if you have no other way to make fire it is best to know how to do it. Your lighter won't last for ever.
I think a lighter would last several weeks or months. Longer than most people would survive for I think, living in the wild is so much harder than I think most people appreciate. Even those that regularly practice survival skills and prep themselves with knives, axes, fishing gear or maybe even a rifle tend to not last long doing their YouTube challenges.
That's because they have a full camera crew on hand to save them is something goes wrong, and to feed them if they can't find any food. And yes your lighter would last for a while, but I like to know how to get by when it does give out.
I am saying they fail anyway. Also that almost anyone will fail to survive alone for weeks or months alone so whether or not a lighter would eventually run out is a moot point, especially considering that you can have several lighters and I can't imagine many places a person would get to by foot where they would be lost for weeks and not find any trace of civilisation.
That is potentially true, assuming they are in an environment where they can consistently find enough of these creatures every day to survive. It would take a lot of insects and spiders to get to the 2000 or so calories you'd need, plus you'd be using a lot of energy scavenging and trying to survive so it could be a lot more than that.
I've run into a number of scenarios where knowing survival skills made my life a lot easier. The whole point of learning that stuff is that you might find yourself in a situation where the modern amenities aren't available. A flint and steel, for example, is better than a lighter, because you can get a flint soaking wet, and it will still spark.
Why would a lighter be wet and why would you then be totally unable to dry it off? I bet I can dry a wet lighter faster than anyone can make a fire with sticks. There's also such thing as waterproof lighters and matches, also both that work in a hurricane. It's just for fun to learn random skills which is fine.
I feel yah... I think people also learn that kind of stuff because they enjoy the simplicity of doing something that doesn't rely on other people.
As for drying out the lighter, you ever run a lighter through the washing machine by accident? It usually takes a good while to dry out, that's all. A flint will be ready to go in a second. Waterproof matches, again, those bad boys can get SOAKED, and they'll be useless. I can't speak to waterproof lighters, as I've never owned one. I keep a flint and steel with me on the trail because I like to get away from dependence on modern conveniences.
A lighter uses the exact same flint material as a fire steel. I have pondered making a survival lighter that just had a giant flint inside but works like a normal lighter. It would solve any issue with a lighter being unreliable because you just pull the flint out and it's a fire steel. I probably should have mentioned I am in the UK so that's my reference, it's pretty damn difficult to find yourself in any situation you can't walk out of. Or at least find a glass bottle to use as a magnifying glass etc.
Oh... yeah... in the US, it's not hard to go so far out of the way that you aren't going to encounter any humanity for days, possibly weeks, if you're traveling by foot.
People go out in nature a lot on hikes, camping, bike riding, star gazing, kayaking, rock climbing, geo caching, fishing, hunting, wild crafting, wildlife watching, photography, motorbiking, off roading, etc. and things happen that they didn’t expect and are not prepared to deal with. Knowing basic skills that most people don’t have anymore makes something that would be an emergency for an average person into a slight inconvenience.
You’d be surprised how easily people get lost these days without GPS. I’ve walked like 10 minutes into the woods with a group of people and they were all arguing about which way to get back (none of them were right, but some of them came to a consensus on the wrong way). Luckily I have a good memory, strong observation skills, and basic tracking skills to read for spoor and foot prints. To me it was like you guys are crazy, just follow me and I lead them right out. For them they would have walked deeper and deeper into the woods until they were stranded and search party would have to go looking for them...
well it is "bullshit" as in you will 99.999% never use that in your life because you "have to" to survive... that's just paranoid and delusional (at least for most people). however it is absolutely not bullshit as in that "hobby" connects you with nature because you are litterally in nature and manual crafting which both has evidently a huge positive impact on mental health and overall happiness.
Agreed, lots of these skills are really fun. I am just taking the piss out of prepper acting like they are going to survive a nuclear blast whilst every single building around them is vaporised.
yeah :D you should show them the "shadows" of the people in hiroshima and nagasaki, which actually are just a grime reminents on the floor left by the people who were litterally pulverized at the speed of sound and ask them about their plan of how "dooms day prep" would help them survive a nuclear war.
at best, dooms day prep will buy you some time if you weren't in the kill zone of the blast. bush crafting will actually help you survive in some very far fetched scenarios but i think the common intellect will be able to improvise that shit anyway when that happens.
i think however that civilization has it's issues as you can read in "civilized to death" which bushcrafting or similar hobbies can really help with.
No it’s not bullshit. It’s learning how to get things done with minimal equipment. Most people won’t use it nor care to learn. But it can save your life when the time comes.
Yeah. Going on a day hike and getting lost. You were expecting a nice day, and being home for dinner. But it’s getting dark. You have a lighter but you start finding out that wood isn’t the easiest thing to burn. You try burning leaves, and they catch fine. But they don’t last long enough to get the wood alight. It’s dark now and you are getting cold. You can hear animals in the woods around you. You’re hoping that rescue is coming soon, that they’ll be able to find you soon. But alas, not everyone is lucky. It’s not hard to freeze to death depending on where you are and time of year. It’s not hard to be attacked by a bear in the dark, or fall and break your leg, or get a parasite or infection from contaminated water in a stream. Etc etc.
You don’t need sticks to do that. Nor is that really feasible with wind or a wet environment. You’re best bet is fire steel or flint and steel. Both will get you good sparks that can be used to light your kindling. The kindling can be made very small if you baton the wood with a sturdy knife, or if you shave off the heart of the wood into little thin flakes. From there, just add something that’ll catch easier, like small twigs or lint from your pants. You can slowly get a fire going that way.
Because firesteel and flint and steel can be wet and still work, the sparks they make in the case of the firesteel spread over a wider area and allow for a higher chance of it catching fire, the sparks can often be hotter than a lighter, you can use these more than you can a lighter, they don’t break as easily etc.
The flash point of kindling is way lower than the heat from a butane lighter. Getting wet is an issue but like I replied to someone else they can be dried easily, or if you're really prepared for being outdoors you would have some stuff in waterproof bags. Especially if you were kayaking which is the only realistic scenario I can think of a lighter being soaked since you could easily keep it dry unless you were submerged. Also, lighters contain flint.
Depends on the kindling. So you don’t expect things like rain, flash floods, or even merely falling into some water? I don’t leave myself to such wishful thinking.
Correct it does. But if you dunk it in water, how easy is it to get it to light? Now imagine it’s raining and it’s soaked. How long are you going to hold up a wet lighter on wet fuel? :/
See this my point, you have to keep stretching the scenario into ever more unlikely situations to make any sense of it. Firstly you're lost in the wilderness which happens to almost no-one, you're also someone who ventures so far into the wilderness you can't get out for days yet don't prepare. You don't have any batteries, don't wear glasses or anything else that can be used for fire. Or if you are prepared, or putting one in your shoe if it rains or the most simple of all which almost every backpack will have (or you'd likely have with you) a waterproof bag/pocket. Flash floods? Really? That's so incredibly unlikely but either way I can dry a lighter in around 10 seconds. I mentioned flint because that's all a fire steel is, so if you can use a fire steel wet then the flint from a lighter can also be used wet. But anyway this really isn't serious I must think preppers really have the wrong idea when it comes to surviving all their scenarios. None of them would even mean they are in the wilderness, they'd be in a town.
The situations I listed happen to people every year all over the world. Yeah it’s not common at all, but it does happen and knowing what to do with minimal supplies can save your life. You seem to take issue with that, but that’s all on you.
If you spend any time outdoors or even just driving through remote areas it absolutely can save your ass. Even just going for a day trip hike can leave you stuck for days before rescued if you get injured or lost.
If you are driving then you have access to a battery, glass, fabric, shelter, flammable liquids, mirrors etc etc. You are also on a road and probably have a phone. There could be a scenario where you go for a walk and get lost without a phone signal, but if someone is ever venturing out into the wilderness then they would likely have a knife and other things they need like matches.
You’re an optimist if you think you’ll automatically have cell service just because you’re in a road. You lose service real quick out here, and you don’t need to be far off the beaten path for it to take a while before another car would pass you. I’m talking about basic survival skills. Sure the stick and bow fire method is rarely used, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to know how to do it
Absolutely not when I was growing up I was a bona fide Country Boy I killed everything that we ate and we grow everything from the garden that we ate when I would go hunting I would have to build my own fires when it rains a country boy can find shelter I don't care where he's at I'm just a simple man but I'm calling lies and StreetWise and I have my education thanks to be my good mom and dad
Like I said I am not saying all outdoor skills are useless, just pointing out that making fire with sticks is basically pointless in a doomsday scenario.
It seems fun to do all these things, I have nothing against doing courses or whatever for fun. It's just the preppers acting like they will for some reason be in the wilderness with only a fire steel and a knife when the nukes hit I find very silly.
So in what scenario is knowing how to make fire with sticks ever useful? If it's just for fun then fine, but I am specifically saying that as a survival skill it's pointless and prepper are crazy
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