Something for all of us to think about

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wade

Joined
Sep 22, 2005
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I love making survival kits and I am always looking for the newest or smallest items to put in them to save space. Well, I just broke my index finger on my right hand and lucky me, I am right handed:o . I was playing with my edc/psk and found that I could barely get it open to start with and then using some of the things in it was almost impossible. The sparklite for example I could not get to work for me left handed. How out there has considered the possibility of breaking fingers or a arm and planned their survival kits to be usable in that situation? I know that one broken finger is not that big of a deal, but it made me think what if I had broken several? Would I be able to use this stuff with one hand? Anyone else have this thought or planned for it?
Wade
 
Very valid point. How do you function with parts out of action due to breakage -- or cold for that matter?
 
This is exactly a point that Cliff Stamp brings up in many of his posts... that in a survival situation we won't necessarily have full functionality. After all, that handicap may be what has turned an "adventure" into an unexpected "crisis". He has recommended practicing with your off-hand or doing tasks single-handed to determine how you can work around the shortcoming of losing your strong-side hand/arm/leg/eye/etc.
 
But do you have your survival kit set up to be used in a situation like that? Should we think more alonge those lines than small and compact when it comes to survival kits?
 
wade said:
But do you have your survival kit set up to be used in a situation like that? Should we think more alonge those lines than small and compact when it comes to survival kits?
Click to expand...

1. Yes. More importantly, I practice using tools with my "weak" (left for me) hand.

2. There are many factors that have to be balanced when selecting gear. This in one of them.
 
Wade, I raised a similar question in the PracTact discussion group last summer when I smashed one of my fingers very badly.

It was...interesting...how simple tasks become foggy. Fortunately, I'm largely ambidextrous, but the reality is that this point didn't matter: too many tasks simply require more than one hand.

I bet you're finding tying your own shoes to be particularly difficult, fetching things out of your pocket, and if you drive a car, you probably crack your finger on a dashboard item every time you turn. I truly sympathize! My recovery was about 6 months.

But those are minor tasks compared to what you might face in a survival situation, and nothing in a PSK may help.

I think your best best is awareness of the situation: that if you have one or more broken fingers, or limited use of one hand for whatever reason, certain life-saving tasks could take critically longer. I wouldn't necessarily change your tools or plans, unless you believe limited use of one hand to be likely.

It's possible, but if all you have is a broken finger or two, consider yourself lucky... what would you do with two broken arms? I wouldn't second-guess yourself out of a fighting chance!
 
I've thought of it, but, only minimally so. My EDC includes left-side and right-side availability of a serrated blade, should either side become disabled, say, in a car crash, and I need to cut my seat belt.

Strong side I have an old style Leatherman Wave, and weak side I have a "Made in China" Gerber Paraframe II, that I've practiced opening with my left hand. That's as far as I've gotten to being equally prepared for left/right preparedness...and I feel that I need to do more.

GeoThorn

--------------
Government Secrecy is inversely proportional to Government Accountability
 
Hadn't really thought about that very much until now...good thread. About the only thing I edc that could be accessed/used left handed is the Native I carry on my left side as a backup/supplement to the rat-1, and sak in my right front pocket. You got my gears a'grinding now.
 
I echo the sentiments - good thread. Dexterity is one of the first things to go in many SHTF situations. I hadn't really allowed for that with my kit. Until now.......
 
Eeeyep, after I fell and broke my wrist and arm a few years ago, I brought this up on a few forums.

We all assume we will be in perfect condition (nothing broken or amputated) all too often.

I know Greg Davenport was going to evaluate weak-handed skills and survival exercises for his camp.:thumbup: :thumbup:

Don't know if others do or not.

It jsut goes to show ya, ya just never know....:cool:
 
Excellent discussion and very valid.

I have chosen to use an Otter Box for my PSK, its a little bulkier than a traditional tin but it is easily opened one handed, seals water tight and will withstand crushing forces better than tins or cans.

I use a Blastmatch, I know there are a few on here that dont like them and I spoke to U.S at SHOT this year regarding the striker snapping off. The answer I got was credible. The manufactur of the case allowed some small air bubbles to get into the cast making the striker part (the weakest) vulnerable to breaking, it has since been corrected.

You may want to glue or otherwise stick a striker for matches if you cant locate the strike anywhere type so you dont have to fumble with a box moving around.

This should make any of us that have a pocket chainsaw or similar items reconsider our choices.

Looking forward to some good discission

:thumbup:
 
I have the US kit also, love my Blastmatch and have not had a problem with it, it would also work well weak hand. But it is too big for my edc and most of my other kits. Rethinking and rebuilding kits are two different things.
 
Just about one year ago I fell and broke a few really tiny bones in my foot. The bones were so small and the fractures so fine that they did not show up on the original x-rays.

My foot, however, knew it had a problem right away!

The next 3 months were an interesting combination of pain and learning. It is amazing how difficult it was to accomplish some of the simplest tasks - and this was at home, in an urban enviorment with all the things I needed readily available.

I hope I learned something from the experience - besides looking where I walked!! It certainly got me thinking of how I well I would have done in a survival situation where, chances are, injuries would have been lots more serious.
 
war stories; once in a far flung area in africa i managed to disable one of my hands by cutting it to the bone with my hunting knife- it was a stupid mistake and i should've known better. The clicher was that I had dismantled the carburettor on the car as we were having some problems, and I was hours drive away from the nearest doctor. Then I tried stitching the wound with a suture that was too big, (I'd obvioulsy watched 'First Blood' one too many times as a kid), This was very difficult and painful to do with one hand, but at least it kept my girlfriend amused~! Anyway, it was 24 hours before I could put that little carby back together so I had to live with the stitches as they were. the ppoint is it made me realise just how much trouble one little wound can be in the worng situation- what if it had been a more serious scenario?...the moral of the story is that we should all be very careful when operating alone or in a small group, and having the ability to use tools, suing one hand, or your 'wrong hand' is obviously a very valid point! - At least it gave me an excuse to open that bottle of duty free scotch I'd picked up on the flight in! maury- broken foot; yes they suck and i know exactly what you are talking about; one small injury and you realise that you are suddenly very vulnerable.
 
More war stories.
I broke several bones in my right (strong) hand in an offroad motorcycle accident many miles from the nearest town or medical help.
I managed to splint the hand OK, but then came across the problem of riding the bike back to civilization, unable to use the twist grip or front brake.. About an hour of thinking and tinkering, I stripped out the throttle cable, attached some non-essential wire (from the tail lights) to the cable and then attached the whole mess to the front of my jacket. By leaning back in the seat I could accelerate, and leaning forward I could slow down, and still keep some control of steering with my left hand.
It was a rough trip home, with more than a few curses being let loose, but shows the value of lateral thinking in an emergency. (and a good lesson in never doing dangerous stuff on your own!)

A very valid point about being injured, and one we should all consider and work out how to handle.
 
wade said:
I love making survival kits and I am always looking for the newest or smallest items to put in them to save space. Well, I just broke my index finger on my right hand and lucky me, I am right handed:o . I was playing with my edc/psk and found that I could barely get it open to start with and then using some of the things in it was almost impossible. The sparklite for example I could not get to work for me left handed. How out there has considered the possibility of breaking fingers or a arm and planned their survival kits to be usable in that situation? I know that one broken finger is not that big of a deal, but it made me think what if I had broken several? Would I be able to use this stuff with one hand? Anyone else have this thought or planned for it?
Wade
Click to expand...

Somes years ago i broke a bone of my right hand palm. It was impossible to open any tool of my sak. Since i only use folders (knife or saw) i can open by the 2 hands and i train my left hand to do it. Most generally the rule now for me is: one function, one tool.

dantzk.
 
BlueyM,

Same damn thing happened to me last year, but I was stupid and pulled my hand out the riding glove to look at it.

To ride out, I ended up having to put the glove back on ( a real swell time !) and taped the fingers together to form enough of hook to pull the throttle back. Since then, I tend to carry only things that I can get into with one hand.

I have recently tried chopping both small diameter live saplings ( salt tamerisk) and large dried cottonwood logs one handed , with both a hatchet and a CS ATC Kuk. I am hopless with the hatchet, one handed, but do ok with even the cheap CS khukri. This testing has changed my choice of which style of tool to carry on backwoods adventures, and will lead to the eventual purchase of either an HI khurkri or some form of quality chopping knife.

Take Care,
Jeff
 
I used a straight bladed Ontario machete for many years before I broke my strong hand and tried to trim some branches off hand in my spare time, to see how my performance was. Ow. It was like getting the wrong pair of scissors in art class. I recently bought a CS LTC Kukri (Carbon V model), and found that the blade shape lent itself to off hand swings just as well as w/ my right hand. Maybe the incresed cutting space, or the way the balance is on the knife, but I had no problems.
I also like the thumb "hole" concept for folders, as opposed to studs, for easy off hand opening, as long as the hole in te blade is big enough to work right,
 
wade said:
But do you have your survival kit set up to be used in a situation like that?
Click to expand...

I would not want to rely on something as a survival object if I had to be in full health to use it. I chopped an axe into my hand on monday right inbetween the thumb and index finger, a decent cut which opened up immediately because that area is under significant strain. It pretty much made my left hand useless because any strain even with the fingers would tear the wound open. It took eight stitches to close it. I meant to use super steri-strips (superglue assisted) but forgot.

I then did everything I normally would want to do with one hand, carve woods, build fires, shelter, etc. . It was an interesting few days, stitches are a wonderful thing, back to normal already. I work frequently with my off hand for similar reasons. I like full size felling axe for wood work, have a couple and use them often, but would not go larger than the small forest axe for a survival axe, plus you are not cutting a winters worth of wood anyway, similar for small folding saw vs frame saw.

It isn't always injury either, I am always concerned about dexterity and thus how useful something is in the cold, so how can you use it with either really cold hands or really heavy gloves. Trying opening/closing many survival folders with a heavy set of mitts, or even try to close them if it gets cold enough to freeze liquids fast, how many stay functional in sleet. Similar for sheaths, can you draw and sheath a knife with really heavy mitts.

Some trivial things may surprise you, get dressed in full winter gear with one hand, including lacing heavy boots and such.

-Cliff
 
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