Thoughts on Dental Floss ?

pitdog

pitdog

Joined
Apr 13, 2007
Messages
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I've always included some Dental floss in my kits because all the books and forums recommend doing so and I never questioned it....till now !:eek:

What uses have you found to warrant carrying floss....besides for flossing, LOL !

Has anyone ever caught a fish using floss ?

I recently tried using it for traps and it failed miserably, even when I twisted strands together to produce a thicker cordage there was still far too much stretch in it for my purposes.
 
Bruce Culberson said:
I've used it to sew packs and straps that needed repaired. Makes tuff thread!
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That's one I'd not thought of Bruce ! Would strong fishing line not be even better though ?

By the way Bruce I was communicating with a forum member of the past ( Dennis ) recently and he was singing the praises of his latest two knives you'd made him........let's just say he was very impressed !;):thumbup:
 
ditch the floss. there are many threads and coardages that are much stronger. Of course they tend to be much rougher on your teeth.

spider wire fishing line, good stuff. B50 dackron bow string thread, I use it for everything, even flossing.
 
Floss makes crappy emergency stiches (to skin), it desn't take to being knotted easily. So scratch that off your list. Though repackaging the floss case with another cordage would be brilliant.
 
I carry both, dental floss and power pro braided fishing line. I don't carry a "survival" kit any more, just don't think it is practical on the east coast. I do carry things to repair my gear or to do things that I enjoy messing with. Dental floss is right up there with safety pins as a multi use item I am very rarely without. It is great for getting stuff out from between your teeth, I know DUH, as was mentioned it is great thread, much better than fishing line for that purpose IMO, great for lashing things together the waxed variety almost holds things with just tension, lots of it takes up little space and best of all it can be found anywhere and is dirt cheap. I have made larger twine with it by using the reverse twist method and it does stretch initially but once it is stretched IMO makes good cordage. Like I said I also carry fishing line, I know it is also multi use, but I carry a pretty extensive fishing kit mainly because I like to fish and often times I am around water so the fishing gear I carry is pretty much just for fishing. Chris
 
pitdog said:
That's one I'd not thought of Bruce ! Would strong fishing line not be even better though ?
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Some of the braided fishing lines would be better, but not monfiliment (not great for knotting). Some other cordages would be tougher (like paracord guts), but floss is what I had in my kit at the time and I patched a strap back onto my backpack with it.
 
A small roll of the synthetic waxed sinew used in sheaths would be handy.

Holds a knot, pretty tough and you can melt the ends together.
 
A friend that bow hunts use to hunt with another bow hunter that used floss on Deer trails to see which way they were traveling.

There is a lot of rocks where they were hunting so he would lay it across the tall grass in the morning to see what direction they were going.

It worked good for him my friend said. He would always get his deer . With a bow.
 
I keep two small spools, one of braided fishing line for fishing and another of good nylon thread for sewing. I tend to use the toothpick on my sak for picking at my teeth.
 
I picked up a few really small rolls of floss at the dollar store, it's the waxed kind and seems to hold a really strong knot. I've found some stuff I like better though, it's heavy waxed nylon thread for sewing leather. I use that more than para cord or anything else for tying stuff or fixing things in the woods. A few wraps of it seems to bind like iron and I can carry a lot of it very compactly.
 
August West said:
No toothpick on an alox, used twig once and it broke off between my teeth and made it much worse.
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I must be the example of what not to do from experience today :( I lost a tooth to a small wooden splinter that was logged in my gum due to using wood as a tooth cleaning device, the small wooden splinter likely allowed germs and such to creep into the gum which resulted in an abscess and the tooth was lost.

I still like the convenience of the floss container, but not the floss. Maybe this is universally better.

 
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