If you could have only ONE single piece of of survival equipment (no survival kit), what would it be?<br><br>(no electronic transmitters and it must be pocket-sized)<br><br>

A quality knife, assuming I didn't fall off a turnip truck in the middle of a blizzard.This would put fire starters into priority.An individual with a knife can eventually replicate virtually every needed survival item;bow drill for fire,cordage,etc. The psycological comfort may be illusory,but we all stand a little taller and confident with cutlery.Remember how Arthur went from Squire to King !<br><br>

Having thought about it; If I could only have one item, it would be experience/ knowledge above all others. This is the only item that would and could repay you a thousand times.<br><br>If you had taken the time to practiced in your own back garden (I'm english) and then taken that knowledge with you and included 'the will to live' you could pretty much stand up to any scenario thrown at you.<br><br>If you wanted me to also take an item It would be a fixed bladed knife! As this would allow me to construct and build the creature comforts to make my stay at least slightly hospitable.<br><br>A most interesting question <br><br>regards<br><br>Ian<br><br>

That is an interesting response (knowledge/experience). I guess I assumed that you would have your current knowledge/experience with you wherever you went anyway, in addition to some other item. However, what if the question were changed a bit so that your knowledge and experience were removed from the equation:<br><br>Let's say that you somehow know that a relative of yours (not one that you want to get rid of) is going to be put into a survival situation soon. That person has never done any camping or had any exposure to survival training. You have the opportunuty to slip one item into their coat pocket before they leave.<br><br>Maybe you would choose to put something like a pocket-sized copy of the SAS Survival Guide instead of a knife, lighter or space bag, etc. (assuming they would have an opportunity to study it before falling victum to some hazard). This isn't the same as actual experience, but would be an abundance of knowledge.<br><br>I guess if I were that person, I would rather have the book than the knife. I wouldn't even know what to do with the knife or be able to successfully build a fire with the lighter.<br><br>As an example, I once went camping with a girlfriend who bragged about her camping experience and her talent at building a campfire. She insisted on being the person in charge of building the fire that day. She had numerous dry sheets of newspaper as tinder, a full butane barbeque lighter and an abundance of firewood already in the campsite in a range of sizes on up to split logs and logs. The wood was just slightly damp. After 30-45 minutes she gave up, completely frustrated. Needless to say, I broke up with her shortly thereafter and have not seen her since.<br><br>

After much personal deliberation, a Victorinox Trailmaster. Locking blade, effective saw. I'm not terribly happy with the choice, but I am less unhappy with that choice than with any other. As for items 2 through ... 2. Magflint firestarter (Doan or Done Right) 3. 1 liter Sigg steel fuel bottle 4. The longest length of the thickest nylon kernmantle rope that could be considered 1 item (think 550 cord is versitile? Think of what you could do with an 11mm x 50m climbing rope!) 5. Compass<br><br>

To answer my own question, I think I would choose a lighter over a knife or anything else. The essay "Fire and Rain" on Doug's site illustrates the reasoning behind this. <br><br>My basic reasoning is that fire is very useful especially in that it is a first-line defense against hypothermia which can kill even faster than dehydration. Primitive firestarting techniques are very difficult under even the best of conditions, and would be completely hopeless (for me at least) when the weather is really bad (cold and raining). I would rather have to improvise a knife than go without a fire.<br><br>

It distresses me when people dismiss a skill as "difficult at best" and committ to the known and familiar.People die every year here with the lights of Los Angeles twinkling in the distance.Some of these casualties venture forth with backpacks worthy of Neil Armstrong on the moon.Im not into running naked in the sylvan forest to prove a point,but If I can master the bowdrill surely anyone else can!<br><br>

I agree with what you are saying. But even with exceptional skills in primitive fire making, I don't believe that a person could be thrust into a survival situation in the rain, after it's been raining for a week straight, with all available combustibles wet and be able to get a fire going with wet tinder. In near-freezing temperatures without adequate clothing, that person is at risk of falling victim to hypothermia. A soaking-wet debris shelter may not be enough to ensure survival. <br><br>Admittedly, those conditions are not common in the deserts of Southern California, but in many other areas during certain seasons those conditions are quite possible.<br><br>Even in ideal circumstances, with bone-dry combustibles and plenty of daylight, could a skilled person with a serious injury such as a freshly broken arm make and use a bow-drill? Or what if a survival situation begins at night under an overcast sky? How difficult would it be just to fabricate a bow drill set in total darkness and gather all necessary supplies? I've never practiced that skill blindfolded or one-handed or under rain. Any of those 3 conditions would make primitive firemaking unreliable, and a combination of them would make it essentially impossible, I believe, for a person of almost any skill level (maybe your individual skill level could overcome those problems). <br><br>Also remember that the worse the conditions are for building a fire, that is to say the wetter, colder and darker it gets and more injured you are, the more important that fire becomes. Under those conditions you would really need that fire to ward off hypothermia.<br><br>Again, your point is well-taken and I hope that my response doesn't come off as argumentative. I agree that developing skills is more important than available equipment. I just think that if I could have only one "freebie" I would want it to be fire. Even more than a knife or shelter, etc. Not out of laziness for developing a skill, but out of respect for the level of difficulty and the benefits of the fire.<br><br>Thanks for the discussion! I enjoy reading your posts immensely.<br><br>(credit: the above scenarios borrow freely from the essay "Fire and Rain" on Doug's site)<br><br>

Castaway,I agree with your points and obviously we all want every advantage to counter unforseen events.Let me tell a story.I was a lifeboat coxswain at Tillamook Bay Or.We received a SAR alarm at sunset in December of '75. A pleasure craft had smashed into the rocks just outside the bar with survivors sighted on the innaccessable shore.I managed to join the 360 club crossing the bar,busting my nose and my crewman's arm.I left the MLB under the engineman's command and swam to the rocks.I was wearing a wetsuit,bell helmet,lifejacket,survival belt and first aid kit.I was smashed into the rocks and lost my survival belt and the aid kit, leaving only my civilian puukko knife carried on a neck lanyard. I had learned to make firedrills as a little boy in AZ visiting my Apache schoolmates. I like to think it was a relative of Tom Brown's mentor Stalking Wolf.I hadn't made one in years.Here I am in the dark,pouring rain,seaspray and 5 scared people thinking Im Randolph Scott.I had wet driftwood,piles of seaweed and lots of rocks.I fashioned a firedrillwith my knife,cut up my laminated Military I.D. for tinder,dug out half dry seaweed and somehow got a fire going. My crew had withdrawn to a safe distance to avoid a similar fate, our searchlight and mast having been destroyed. The fire was our beacon for Helicopter medivac.At the hospital we were all treated for hypothermia.In addition I had a broken vertebrae(no paralysis)dislocated ribs and broke every finger on my left hand. spent the remainder of my tour on light duty and one very serious disscussion with the new Coast Guard Commandant(my first unit commander) on improving the survival belt!Knife and fire-don't leave home without it!<br><br>

Very impressive. You were able to make and use a fire drill in the dark, in the rain and with a seriously injured hand. I thought that would be practically impossible. I see I have a lot of practicing to do. Thanks for the story, and nice work on the rescue!<br><br>

May I ask what were the contents of the survival belt?

<img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />Wow <img src="images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Personally I can't pick just one item. I feel I can cover most scenarios with a knife and a lighter or something of that sort. Sure, I can make a knife out of rock and start a fire with a bowdrill or fire saw, but I feel a bit better prepared if I already have those items on hand.

Well, I would still have to go with the knife. Under most circumstances I'd find myself in a survival situation for in the Pacific Northwest here, a suitable knife would do more for me in a shorter period of time than anything else would.

Now if you were to qualify my physical condition by introducing some broken bones, hypothermia, or maybe even a little shock, well, all I can say is you're gonna have a tough time lighting a bic with all your fingers broken too, or if they are wet and cold, besides which if you are in a soaking rain, firemaking doesn't get a whole lot easier just because you have a lighter. Without an adequate fuel source to feed into a decent flame, it is just a waste of time.

Watch the movie "The Edge" if you want to see how easy it is to go through a box of matches without getting a fire lit. The movie may not have been realistic, but the situation certainly was.

Like I said a couple weeks ago in a similar thread, a good knife and some decent skills should be all you need for all but the absolute worst conditions. Then I think I'd want a lot more than a lighter with me anyways.

Where is this survival situation?

If it's in San Diego in July, forget anything having to do with making fires, it will be warm there. Think about a bottle of sunblock instead.

If it's on a desert island, better give them a reverse-osmosis water purification gizmo.

If it's on a mountain, maybe a signal mirror.

You gotta be a bit more specific about the situation.

Um...er...uh...
is this a trick question?
a multi-tool like a leatherman wave?

i will agree the leatherman wave,xe6 juice, or the crunch one of those would suffice

Well, it seems the major conflict is between knife/multitool and fire-making equipment....

Well, I'd consider buying (if one is available) or else improvising a multitool that includes some sort of firestarting device. Perhaps a small flint could be included as one of the tool blades, or a lighter could somehow be built in along with a small reservoir for lighter fluid. I guess you could call it cheating, but nobody said a multitool counted as more than one item <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

You'd still need decent tinder, but you'd have a better chance of improvising that (from scraps of clothing or paper, shaves of dry wood, etc.)

I think the point is, that the more crucial the ability to make a fire quickly becomes, the less able you are to do it with improvised methods. If you're injured or wet, inadequately clothed and hypothermic already, everything around you is wet, or the temperature is well below freezing, you absolutely have to get a good fire going ASAP, and you might not be in a condition to go hunting for sticks to use, making tinder from improvised materials, and the time/ability/dexterity to use them.

So my ideal multitool would have, in addition to the usual knife blade(s), saw, and pliers (and a litany of useless stuff such as corkscrews and bottle openers), a firestarting implement. A small flint would do.

The next addition I'd make would be a small LED light, and after that a good quality flat whistle. These wouldn't be my first choices in an unrestricted case, but these wouldn't be too difficult to incorporate into the classical SAK/multitool paradigm (and thus meeting the "1 item" criterion). A P-38 style can opening attachment would also be useful,

After that, my most important difficult-to-improvise concerns (waterproof shelter, FAK and water purification and storage) couldn't be implemented into a multitool except in the most gratuitous way (e.g. carry the tool inside a condom filled with aspirins, bandages and water purification tablets), and even I agree that would count as cheating <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Food doesn't become much of a concern for the first few days, and with a good multitool, decent shelter and a fire there should be no problems improvising solutions to that problem.

Navigation can be done quite well by the sun and stars.

Nature provides lots of materials for building relatively waterproof shelters (though a tarp would probably be the next item I'd add after the whistle once resigning myself to abandoning the 1 item criterion - it can be used for building shelter and water storage, among other things.).

will this do?
<img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Just ONE item ?

That's a very difficult question... If I had the choice between two, it would be :

- a cheap tramontina machete (not holding an edge very well, but it's thin, tough as nails and easy to sharpen with anything in the field)...

- a big, bright orange, brand new Bic lighter.

Choosing between these two would be hard. I'd probably go for the lighter, as stone tools work just as well in the rain, unlike bow drills <img src="images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Cheers,

David