If you ever found yourself stranded
or lost in the wilderness, would you be able to fabricate your own
weapon out of whatever materials were around you? And could you
also build a fire to stay warm? Below are instructions on how to
make a primitive knife and a fire-plow if you ever find yourself
in a survival situation.
To make a primitive survival knife
that is sharp and efficient, you will first have to find a large
stone. The best type of stone to use will be one that is smooth
with a glass-like surface since it will produce the sharpest edge.
You will have to break the stone by hitting it with another larger
stone. Your goal is to chip off a piece that will be sharp and similar
to the blade of a knife.
Be aware that breaking stone is a
dangerous operation. When dropping the larger stone, make sure to
turn your head after releasing it to protect your eyes and face
from any flying shards. After breaking up the stone, look for a
sharp piece with a handlelike portion on one end. Shards split off
from stone in this way were mankind's first type of knives. Men
in primitive times also used edges of clam shell for knives, or
broken pieces of bone that were sharpened with rocks.
Now that you have your knife, you
can make a fire-plow, which is a tool for starting a fire. Make
your fire-plow by cutting a groove into a soft, dry piece of wood
such as willow, poplar, or cottonwood. This will be the base for
your fire-plow. It should be about one foot long and pointed at
the end. Next, find a piece of harder wood for the plow and rub
it back and forth to deepen the groove in the base. To start a fire,
it will take a lot of effort, but keep moving the plow in the goove
until a charcoal powder is formed. Before starting to rub with your
plow, have some wood tinder next to you. Eventually with enough
back and forth action, a glowing ember of charcoal will be formed
at the end of the base of your fire-plow, which can be tapped off
and dropped onto the wood tinder and then blown on to create a flame.
Also, if you are in a survival situation,
a good thing to have is a hole in the ground. That's right, something
so simple as digging a hole in the ground can help you a lot when
you are lost in the wilderness. This is mankind's oldest receptacle.
Use your knife and a large stick to dig the hole. Then you can use
it as a fire-pit or an oven, or it could serve as an animal trap;
you can also use it for storing things that you find, or as a hiding
place.
If you are near a stream or a lake,
digging a hole next to the body of water and waiting for it to fill
is a good way to produce valuable drinking water, which will naturally
settle and filter itself inside the hole. You can even heat up rocks
in your fire and use tongs fashioned from sticks to place the hot
rocks into the water, which will cause it to boil and kill any germs
or impurities. -Jason Earls
