Category: Field Gear

When Do We Change Masks? – Part 1, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

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Editor’s Introductory Note: This is Part 1 of a three-part series.  It was written by one of the most prolific contributors to SurvivalBlog. We’ve posted more than 50 of his articles and letter over the past 15 years. — You have your N-95 filter masks. Now how to you get the maximum use out of them? They’re “disposable.” But can you safely re-use them? Does anybody have “enough” masks? Fluorescent powder distribution. https://bmcinfectdis.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12879-019-4109-x DUST? So, when DO we change masks? Well… The tiny virus-containing droplets take a LONG time to actually plug up a filter mask (unlike dust or smoke). …


Cold Steel AD-15, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve been an amateur knife designer since the early 1980s, and several of my designs have actually been produced by custom knife makers, as well as some factories. One custom designer went so far as to add my design to his inventory – never giving me credit for the design, nor paying me any royalties, but that’s okay, I don’t hold a grudge. Another knife company has been producing several of my designs for quite a few years now, and I actually gave them my design, to help them get their company up and running – no problem there at …


Seven Steps to Survival, by Allen A.

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Back in the day, when my hair was a different colour, the Seven Steps to Survival was part of the survival course that I taught.  This article will discuss those steps and how I applied them in a recent survival event that I found myself in. RECOGNITION Simple as it may sound the first step to surviving is to identify and accept that you have a problem and that it is serious.  Denial of your situation or the refusal to accept how serious it is can get you killed or injured.  Without acknowledging the nature and seriousness of the situation …


Cold Weather Considerations – Part 6, by JM

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Editor’s Note: This is the concluding installment in this article series. Firearms No article on prepping would be complete without some discussion on firearms, and using them in winter conditions can present some unique challenges. Firearms are precision machines made from metals and polymers, and cold weather can have some big impacts. The materials themselves can become brittle at extremely low temperatures, so you should avoid sudden sharp impacts if possible. Shooting a firearm can heat up the barrel and other parts pretty quickly and cold temperatures can cool them back down rapidly, which can cause weaknesses in the materials, …


Cold Weather Considerations – Part 5, by JM

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(Continued from Part 4.) Water Staying hydrated when performing any strenuous activity in the winter is critical, since dehydration can cause you a whole host of problems. One big issue is that dehydration can reduce your appetite, and I’ve mentioned before how critical calories are to staying warm. However, there are a number of factors that are harder to overcome in the winter when it comes to staying hydrated: Our thirst reflex tends to be reduced in the winter, which means we tend to drink less water Water can be harder to obtain, process and transport Water tends to freeze …


Cold Weather Considerations – Part 4, by JM

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(Continued from Part 4.) Sleeping Once you’ve got your shelter set up you’ll probably want to get some sleep. You need to start with ensuring you’re as insulated from the cold ground as possible. Earlier I mentioned that if there’s snow on the ground that can actually help insulate you, since snow is mostly air. Another trick is to place leaves or pine boughs down before you lay down your tent’s ground cloth/footprint to add another layer of insulation. Next you’re going to want some kind of sleeping pad to increase your comfort and add even more insulation. Companies like …


Blackhawk 6-inch Trident Ultralite Boots, by Pat Cascio

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I’m sure a lot of our readers have heard this muttered, “if I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” Well, I can certainly relate to that phrase. When I was younger – much younger – I was totally indestructible, nothing could stand in my way – except for life itself. I will readily admit that, before I became a born again Christian, I didn’t lead the most honorable life – it was actually pretty wild in a lot of ways. Roger Simon, a newspaper reporter in Chicago, Illinois, once wrote …


Kershaw Duojet Folder, by Pat Cascio

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Kershaw Knives brings out a lot of new knife designs each year, and this is to our benefit. I can’t begin to keep track of the newest folders from Kershaw each year, so I only select those that I think our readers will really like. Today, we’re looking at the Duojet folder from Kershaw. Ever since I was about 6 years old I have have some kind of pocket knife in my pants pocket. Growing-up in the 1950s and 1960s, just about everyone I knew – young and old alike – carried a folding knife. To be sure, these knives …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week we shift the focus more toward  potential Christmas and Hanukkah gifts. Pictured is a Goal Zero Nomad 7 folding …


Planning Your Escape – Part 4, by JMD

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(Continued from Part 3.) Some Kit In my previous article I talked quite a bit about the kit I take on the road, but there are a few items that are a lot more relevant to a long Return To Base (RTB) journey that I’d like to focus on. Keep in mind that if you’re flying you’ll be a lot more limited in what you can take, and I’m not recommending that you’ll want or need everything on this list – do your route planning and figure out what makes the most sense for your plans. If you can’t bring …


Our Prepping Journey – Part 2, by Elli O.

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Resources: I found it quite helpful to have books at home that cover raising, dispatching (killing), and processing livestock. The internet is useful but nothing beats a written guide when the internet is unavailable. Lessons learned from having livestock: Remember the reason for raising the livestock. They are not pets; they are food for the family. The first cute calves we brought home were named Lunch and Dinner, which served as a reminder to all that these bottle fed babies would someday be on our supper plates. Animals get sick and die. …


Buck Knives 841 Sprint Pro Folder, by Pat Cascio

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Buck Knives is one of America’s oldest knife companies, and with good reason. Buck senses the pulse of the knife buying public, and they have produced some of the most rock-solid knife designs over the years, that are still in production. A knife executive of a major knife company once told me that, a “good” knife design has a three year shelf-life. That means that after about three years, that design no longer holds an interest to the knife buying public. But take a look at many of the Buck designs – like their classic Model 110 that have been …


Outdoor Survival: Of Belts and Tins, by Randy in S.C.

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M1 Garand cartridge belts and Altoids tins are a match made in prepper’s heaven. You may already have some of these vintage items gathering dust. If not, they are easy to find. Together they can be a literal lifesaver, more capable than smaller survival kits and far less bulky than the typical bugout bag. The M1 cartridge belt is an adjustable canvas belt with 10 snap-closure pockets, each measuring approximately 3 ¾” x 2 ¾” x 1”. It was standard issue from about 1910 until the full adoption of the M14 rifle in the late 1950s. The belt was originally …


My Ankle Ammo Rig, by Spotlight

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It may sound crazy but I can routinely carry over 50 rounds of ammunition on my person at all times without it being obvious, uncomfortable or hampering my normal activities. After more than two decades of law enforcement work and now nearly seven years of a combination of private investigation (PI), private security work, and consulting, I have come full circle. I started out in the late 1980s as a small town cop and was issued a Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum revolver. As with most law enforcement agencies, we went through a series of semi-autos starting in the early …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week I have a special recommendations column devoted to countersurveillance references and products. Books: Claire Wolfe: The Freedom Outlaw’s Handbook: …