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#180362 - 08/25/09 03:43 PM Re: Improvised uses for a newspaper [Re: dweste]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Neck / cervical collar

Something for your new pet wolf to chew up instead of you.

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#180544 - 08/26/09 09:08 PM Re: Improvised uses for a newspaper [Re: dweste]
dweste Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
Anybody compile a list of the improvised use ideas that they could post?

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#180546 - 08/26/09 09:42 PM Re: Improvised uses for a newspaper [Re: dweste]
Compugeek Offline
Enthusiast

Registered: 08/09/09
Posts: 392
Loc: San Diego, CA
The list so far (there may be duplicates):

tinder
insulation
splint
ground cloth
sunscreen
baton for offense or defense (The way to hit someone with one, is end on, like you would with a mini maglite.)
hat
water carrier
privacy screen
wound shield / covering
flyswatter
fish wrapper (if moist it will help keep what is wrapped in it cool by evaporation, it can wrap other things too)
packing fill for any dishes or other fragile items
biodegradable mulch
Stuff into wet shoes to absorb moisture.
Deodorize plastic containers that have picked up a rotting food odor: crumple damp/wet newspaper loosely into the container and put on the lid, then set in the sun for a day or so.
If you're down so low that you need to eat bugs, loosely roll several layers of newspaper in a shaded moist area over night, and collect the bugs in the morning. You can also use the bugs as animal bait.
Tightly rolled and tied with wire, they are now campfire logs.
Traction under your drive wheel(s) when caught in mud or snow.
Drunks like them on park benches as blankets.
If you don't have enough tinfoil to make a proper protective hat, make one out of newspaper and cover it with the tinfoil.
Laid on the soil and covered with mulch, it keeps weeds down and soil moisture up in your survival garden.
TP
water filter
plate
cup
towel
pot holder
lens and window cleaner
windscreen
foraged food container
container cover
hot container caddy
shoe or window patch
entertainment
torch
"gloves"
"socks"
funnel
tube
match / lighter extender
"handle"
megaphone / hearing horn [?]
blow gun
note paper
light shovel / rake
seed collector and winnowing basket
broom
seat cushion
pillow
ear plugs
light reflector
heat reflector
food prep surface
trail marker
sheath
scraper
sponge
polisher
wedge / shim
tool roll
Emergency cat pan liner or kitty litter, especially if you have a paper shredder
final weather barrier for a shelter
stuffing into cracks, to stop the breeze from blowing through your shack
braid into usable cordage for light stress applications
weave into branches for wind breaks or to hold up debris roofing your shelter
temporary wind / rain / snow "roof" over your fire making efforts
weighted and laid out as a distress signal
fuse
wick
gaiters to keep weeds / snow from your socks as you hike
fan
drinking straw (tested - failed) (Use the shiny ad pages for things like making a straw that interact with liquids)
bedding
spy tube [push into bush, hole/nest to see if dinner is there]
smoke tube [blow into bee hive to put 'em to sleep]
bait container
Guantlet/vambrace for bite / knife defense
Turn short into long sleeves / pants
Cold or hot compress
diaper / "depends"
fruit / nut / berry knocker-downer [thrown]
gasket
toothpick
nail cleaner
broom
brush
seat protector , yours and a vehicles
pocket protector
plastic bag / liner / heat sheet protector
Cutting board
sheath (folded or taped)
whiteout mask
wind chill mask
visor
ear cleaner
bib
napkin
apron
luminaries
A Christmas Tree,
Entertainment, especially the comics;
Information,
concealment of items, ala handgun, knife,bludgeon.
Roll up glossy pages and use to strop your knife.
casualty-moving drag sheet
a cover for those who have gone to the creator
handkerchief / bandana
fire bundle to drag setting back fires
hung and wetted for evaporative swamp cooler
Covering the sides of your improvised smoker while you create yummy squirrel, rabbit, and lizard jerky.
Neck / cervical collar
Something for your new pet wolf to chew up instead of you.



Newspaper Mache',It can form just about any shape of Bowl,Box,Cup,Hat,Tube,Eating utensils, Cone Darts, etc. the only other ingredient required would be a Liquid Starch,of which Potatoes,Cat-tail tubers or Most other tubers,Corn stalks,Banana peels,etc. could easily provide in a pinch,If the real store bought stuff wasn't available that is.

A thick stack of newspaper, well wetted, makes a decent bullet backstop and can give a very rough indication of ballistic penetration and expansion.

Alpha radiation shield (really!)

If you wax it or oil it newspaper makes great kindling, but raw newspaper is usually too damp to make good kindling in the bush.

Armour!
The protesters at world trade summits have been using newspapers and duct tape to make arm guards, greaves for their legs and body armour capable of protecting them from police batons.

I have heard that freshly-opened newspapers are fairly sterile (at least of extreme nasties), and newborn babies have been wrapped in them when no blanket was available.

And that leads me to think they would make good emergency cold-weather protection for small children, even if it's just full pages with holes in the center, wrapped at the waist with a vine or cord. A hood or helmet could probably be formed, too -- maybe a whole-head wrap with just an opening for eyes.

If you manage to catch something that has any fat on it at all, try to trap any grease on the newspaper and hoard it for firestarting.

Something to wrap around that fern and wildflower bouquet you hand your significant other as you explain why a few days without showering or shaving in the woods without notice to her is one of the beautiful surprises in life that comes with your relationship (good luck). (Only legally harvested materials were killed in the making of this hypothetical.)

_________________________
Okey-dokey. What's plan B?

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#180558 - 08/27/09 12:43 AM Re: Improvised uses for a newspaper [Re: Compugeek]
scafool Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 12/18/08
Posts: 1534
Loc: Muskoka
That is getting to be quite a list.
Some of the ideas seem a bit odd, but worth testing to see if they work

I can add a missing one.
Wet newspapers can be used as a wrap to steam food in.

edit: one more use.
I have seen homeless people stuff their clothing with papers on real cold days.


Edited by scafool (08/27/09 12:55 AM)
Edit Reason: addition
_________________________
May set off to explore without any sense of direction or how to return.

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#180575 - 08/27/09 05:49 AM Re: Improvised uses for a newspaper [Re: scafool]
MostlyHarmless Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 06/03/09
Posts: 982
Loc: Norway
Originally Posted By: scafool

edit: one more use.
I have seen homeless people stuff their clothing with papers on real cold days.


Yep, dry paper traps "dead air" and is an excellent insulator. Stuffing your clothes is efficient, but also sends the "i'm homeless" kind of message. You can use them as ground sheets. If it's really cold and you're standing still, standing on a newspaper is very much warmer than standing on the ground. (Old tricks from those days people actually went to outdoor skating competitions and watched for hours...).

But the newspaper must be dry! Any moisture and your insulation material is just a cold pasta seeping down...

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