Do you carry a sponge?

I recall a story about O'Grady, where after being shot down he found a sponge useful for collecting dew for water. I imagine this would be faster than tying rags to your shoes (as the sponge will hold more, and will also give more water when rung)

It could also be useful for personal hygene. Of course, it can be sterilized periodically through boiling. Vaccum packed, it shouldn't take up much room at all. May not fit into a tin, but might be useful to throw in a belt sized kit or larger.

I have a piece of an artist's "wet palette" sponge in my kit. It's only a 1/16 inch thick, and when moistened expands to about 1/4 inch thick.

More info on sponges at this thread:
How to store a sponge?

Steve

Yes I carry a sponge.
In my belt kit, not in a tin.
Again, a handy item, that may not always see immediate use, but it doesn't take up a lot of room (I have one of the shrunken ones that expands when introduced to water) and can serve a few different purposes.

I have carried a sponge for years. However, I stole mine from the hospital I worked at (actually just out of date for medical use) so I had no worries about them being streile. However my stash has been used up and I can not find anywhere to purchase medical sterile sponges. Medical folks will also use the word sponge for a gause pad, but these were very nice compressed sterile sponge pads about 2x3" in a pretty tough package.

How does one know if the various sponges mentioned above are safe to use with drinking water? Some manufactured materials have various coatings etc which I prefer not to ingest.

Anybody know where to buy medical sponges? I have tried pharmacies and medical supply places with no luck Perhaps they are not "allowed" any more.

I didn't know there was such a thing as a medical sponge. But typing "medical sponge" with the quotes into google got 400+ hits. I'm sure some of them are vendors.

Thanks for the tip. I went to my local art store and picked up a package. 4, 4"x6" pieces compressed to less than 1/4" thick. Expand to 5/8" for $4.50.

Played around with one and it seems free of the odors and slippery feel that others seem to have. Soaked up some good water and tasted it. No taste added. Seems like a winner.
thanks again.

I don't carry a sponge but I have carried clean cloths of various types for the purpose of collecting dew.

Once in dry season in Brazil I "stranded" myself on an "island", a dry ridge with no flowing water. I was forced to use expedient means to collect water from the "island".

I used a solar still, transpiration bags, and dew collection. By far the dew collection paid off the best and made the other two methods seem like a waste of time. The solar still and transpiration bags collected a few ounces of water combined. Collecting dew I was able to produce a liter and half in about an hour. Much of that was very clean water collected from my tent surface. The water collected from the wet grass was very muddy looking and needed to be filtered twice. Dew collection is worth packing a sponge for. It paid off very well for me. At other times in the same location very little dew was formed.

On that trip I carried plenty of water to measure my requirements compared to what I was able to collect. I drank as I felt necessary. I judged myself to have survived. If I had needed to stay longer I would have risen pre-dawn and collected dew for several hours each day for a total collection of three liters per day. That was what I drank of the water I brought with me to the "island". It would have been fairly easy to do. Mac

How about also using a "Squeeze Dropper" (fropm Chemistry Sets, Medicine Cabinet, etc), -to manually soak up individual Dew Drops, into a container, en masse / one after the other!?

May or May Not this be as Good as, or Better, -than a Sponge? [color:"black"] [/color] [email]Burncycle[/email]

After doing a google, apparently the sponge O'Grady used was made by Skilcraft, who employs the blind (NIB) to produce items. I don't know if this is air force issue, or if he just bought it himself, but the sponge in their catalog does not appear to be particularly special. If there is a specifically designed sterile version for air force E&E, then they don't show it in the catalog <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
http://www.nib.org/products/products.htm
http://www.nib.org/JWOD%20Catalog/clean/main.html

Anyway,
I stopped by hobby lobby and bought a 4 pack of "painting sponges". They're blueish in color, 3" x 4 1/2" in size, and wafer thin... they really do expand to pretty thick when they touch water, but I'm afraid of trying to drink water out of them because I don't know what kind of chemicals were used during processing and compacting... they do have a very slight odor (the expanded one) so I'm just not sure...

What brand were yours?

Finding a good absorbent nontoxic sponge really does sound like a worthwhile Aeromedic product/addition to the ETS PSK.

Meanwhile though, I think you could do ok with a clean cloth or t-shirt.

A sponge is very low on my priority list. While it is very useful in certain applications I try to concentrate on items with multiple uses and the more legitimate uses an item has, then more valuable it is to me. I already carry too many other items (bandanna, cotton clothing items, gauze pads, etc) that could serve the same functions as a sponge and also have a wide variety of other uses.

I contacted two sources of those compressed art sponges, & both said the same thing: no chemicals are used in the sponges, they are simply moistened with water & compressed.

Sue

Thanks for taking the time to do that susan <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Brian, multi use? Your somewhere in Texas and those new boots with an inlayed white Lone Star and Bluebonnets start to hurt. Your cowboy cadillac broke down and it's a 10 mile hike to the Robert Earl Keene concert. Some guy from NEW YORK CITY sped by without stopping and you dislocated a finger making a high speed visual aid. Got Moleskin? Scott, eyedroppers are to slow. Sponging dew with sponge or clothing is literally wiping it off. Sometimes the dew can evaporate quickly with rising morning temperatures.

Hey Chris, thanks for the generalization that everyone in Texas drives a Cadillac (I drive a VW), wears boots (don't even own a pair) and listens to county music (not me at all). Gotta love stereotypes...

thanks

Brad, it's called humour. When Oprah Winfrey asks Billy Crystal to do black shtick comedy it's because it's funny, not because she likes being offended. I had a teacher in high school who stood on his desk waving a sword and reading King Henry's famous speech on the eve of battle. I had another who made us memorise passages from the Illiad. Guess which one I can recite at a new Age California coffeeshop in my Birkenstocks while sipping herbal tea?

So, Brad, do you at least have steer horns on your VW?

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

Sue

Susan:

You can not hang the "D" sized bra you mentioned earlier on a horny VW. It's just not German!

Bountyhunter <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Okay.... forget the horns & go with the Brunhilde warrior outfit?

Another source of sponges I have come across are from nautical/sailing equipment sites, such as the one linked below. I haven't enquired into how sterile they are, but they do come under "survival" equipment. I'm sure there must be similar US based sites.

http://www.sailgb.com/sshop/prod_info.asp?pid=12182

Hope it helps
Martin

Nope, no horns, but someone did write "wash me" in the dirt.

Ever since I read that article, a pair of 3M sponges has been part of my kit. But the kit has always included a couple of PackTowl's...one smaller one cut into washcloth and hand towl sizes, and one bath towel sized. I thank Douglas Adams for this...never leave home without a towel.