I've seen cable ties in some of the PSK pics recently, and was curious as to the thought behind having them. I'm sure if I thought long enough I could come up with a few uses, but I was wondering if there were any specific ideas for having them.

Two main uses I have used them for:
-Shelter building
-gear repair

I'll second that.

And their great for handcuffing little critters that resist your attempts to cook them over the campfire, side note....don't attempt this on bears as it upsets them and they will end up eating you over the campfire.


Sorry I had to say that.

The uses are as varied as para cord and duct tape, I've used them to secure a knife to a sapling to make a spear. Attach gear to molle webbing,D rings, they make a great stringer for fishing. Dog lost his collar once, made one out of a zip tie.

Zip ties have almost as many uses as duck tape and leave less residue behind.

I think the first time I saw releasable zip ties was in one of Doug Ritter's kits. I've looked for them in stores ever since, but have yet to see them.

I figured if shelter building or making repairs weren't going well and things were going south (mental strain, physical injury), then having releasable zip ties might provide a second/third... chance to get it right.

Of course the release feature isn't so good if you're using them as little tiny handcuffs.

+1

If you ever blow a zipper out on a backpack you can punch a small hole on either side and lash it closed.

I've mentioned this before, but if you're going to carry zip ties, go with Thomas & Betts whenever possible, as they feature a stainless steel tang for improved holding strength, and are manufactured to meet or exceed most automotive/aviation specs. You'll want to get the black ones as they are UV resistant, whereas the white ones are not. T&B also offers a variety with an integral mounting head which can be very handy at times (i.e. running paracord through it while lashing a shelter).

Jim

Releasable ties are available from Lee Valley Tools and Mountain Equipment Co-op

I keep a few small and a few medium sized ones in my gear repair kit for doing quick repairs on the fly to gear or equipment.

I find that their single use nature makes them less practical in a survival setting (IE: You use them to help lash a shelter together, then move on due to weather or whatever...and you need a whole set of new ones when you get to your next location). I much prefer utility cord, rope or paracord for such things...much more practical.

I've experimented with the zip ties which you can release but they don't hold strongly enough to do anything serious with so I use those as cable ties on my computer and stereo at home.

+1 on the Thomas & Betts (or similarily designed) ties. They may seem like overkill but they'll hold under way more load than the cheapies before stripping and the mounting head as a 101 uses.

Zip-Ties are a great item to have with you in a kit


There are very well made Zip-Ties (along with everything else in life) and average Zip-Ties. The good ones are made out of a tough plastic (nylon) instead of a less expensive soft plastic. And the locking tab is made out of metal, not the inexpensive plastic.


The metal locking tab will not ever slip and is much stronger then the plastic one.


Most Zip-Ties are the inexpensive ones, it’s somewhat hard to find the better ones today. In the past they were much more common, but the cheep ones have stormed through the market because people don’t want to spend much on something like this.

I do use the cheep ones on projects that are not critical or for the numerous projects my brothers keep coming up for me to work on as they don’t offer to pay for parts most times. But for my stuff that I work on and in a camping / survival kit I use the better and much stronger Ties.

With the cheep ties you can usually pull on them and have them break or slip. Not so with the good ones, it takes a cutting tool to remove them.

In a survival situation you want the best you can get.

Since these little guys are very lightweight, one option is to simply use the extra long ties. When lashing two items together, simply double or triple wrap each item before attaching the tie. When you are done with them and need to move on, they can be cut near the attachment point and later re-used as slightly shorter ties.

Jim