Urbancraft Part II - Situational Awareness & Gathering Materials

[Mistwalker]

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For the most part survival in an urban environment is totally different from the wilderness.One example of their juxtaposition is that in a wilderness environment finding large pieces of building materials for a shelter is difficult but you can normally move about within the woods without drawing a lot of attention to yourself. In the urban environment large material is actually easy to find most of the time, it's in getting it from point A to point B where you have to use your head and be creative...and when to leave well enough alone and keep looking.

Modern man, in the post-industrial-age countries anyway, produces a massive amount of waste that most of the time is seen as just that...waste. However, new perspectives can occur and you can see some of this waste in a whole different light.




While speeding along on your way to and from work, and carrying on with your busy day to day life, seeing something like this in a dumpster would barely (if at all) catch your attention. But, from the perspective of an urban survival situation you may see it as useful materials for a few different projects.

This would normally appear to be a poor work habit, but at the right time would be potential tools and weapons.

If I didn't have such well made tools as these....

this could be very useful.

 

[Mistwalker]

what is now normally seen as just another dead animal in the road could look like dinner if the timing is good enough.

Railroad tracks can offer a good supply of useful items. Didn't find any good pieces this trip but you can often find chert mixed in with the stones, and steel is always easily found. Sometimes you can find other items that have been discarded or lost along the tracks.

There are other useful things in an urban environment. You may get some funny looks harvesting a small piece of this as you walk up the road, but I doubt any one would care. If asked you could just say you wanted a piece of wood to whittle on. The owner of the property probably doesn't even know what it is other than it's a stump and the landscaper probably wishes it would go away anyway...one less thing to trim around.

In many urbanized areas there are even larger game now because for so long few people have gone hunting and they are being pushed into smaller areas by all of the developing.

There are wooded pockets in many urban areas where you can find a break from the peering eyes...but situational awareness is very important. In places like this you can find some peace and quiet. Find some time to think even brew up a cup of something warm or a quick cup of ramen if you go about it right.

 

[Mistwalker]

But when there is a store right on the edge of the woods...

and a restaurant and a fire hall just through the woods in the other direction.

You have to take care n how you go about it. In the darkness a fire can give you away just by the light glowing and in the day the smoke from using certain woods will scream "FIRE!" Dry drift wood is usually a good source of fire wood for such occasions as it puts off little smoke, and dry grass makes good tinder.

All fires put off a little smoke at first, but really dry wood puts off very little once burning good drift wood is even better because it has been submerged and dried over and over again, most of the natural oils have leached out.

when done it's probably best to bury your debris in rocks and dirt and then later when the wet dirt on top dries and turns lighter in color only an experienced tracker would ever figure out what had really happened there.

Starting fires may be necessary for cooking food, and purifying water but starting them in a public place is a risky venture... go about it wrong and you end up drawing this guys attention and answering lots of questions. Even though you're not a criminal or a threat it can be a bad thing to interrupt his day.

 

[Mistwalker]

Once again, in an urban environment, human waste can be your friend.

This is why it is important to make sure you don't get distracted and not score the top good all the way around before you try to tap it in, straightening that top out would be difficult if not impossible.

I do have a question about these "stoves" though...I've made a few of them now and the same results each time...mostly just blue and yellow flames from the center. The few times the blue jets have appeared on the sides they have been sporadic and weak. I'm not sure if I'm making my jet holes too low, too big, too close together...the holes inside the wrong size, using bad fuel, or too much / too little fuel. The fuel I've used has been 91% isopropyl alcohol (so the label says, it comes from walmart), and I've tried it everywhere from not covering the bottom holes, just covering them, a little above, and about half full. Does anybody see anything wrong that just jumps out at you from these two pics?

 

[Mistwalker]

I also got another tool for this project. It's a TOPS Pry-Knife. It's probably a little more suited to a combat or post-disaster rescue situation but for part of my studies I think it's a great tool. It has a blade shape and design that is well suited for working with materials found in an urban environment. It has a single bevel grind with a "chisel" tip. It comes in a ballistic nylon sheath that is molle equipped, has dual retention straps, and has has a large pouch on front for the accessories that come with it.

It has a heavy blade made of 3/16 1095 steel and it has two different types of heavily textured serrations much like the ones RAT uses (which I happen to like a lot).

It comes with some cool accessories for an urbanized environment. It has a pry, punch, and probe tool, a folding saw, and a z shaped slotted/philips screwdriver.

while it's grind is steep it is still VERY sharp, and though it takes a slightly different technique to do so it will still whittle shavings fine enough for tinder.

and I like how the serrations work well for doing things like notching fire boards.

and it comes with a great edge.

 

[Mistwalker]

However where I think it really shines is exiting or or entering a building in an emergency or rescue situation. The knife will function like a long, heavy-duty wood chisel.

So it's a good tool for getting through heavy locked doors.

and it is molle compatible which is cool.

I'm planning on using it and its accessories to try to salvage some metal roofing to use with the roll-up door for a durable shelter in a static position. More on that and some other things soon.

 

[smustian]

Very nice write up and pictures. Looks like you had a fun time in the woods.

 

[Monsieur]

Part II is here. Very good insights once again Mistwalker

 

[ratamahatta]

great job, although I live in the country I work in an urban setting, and can see the use of the pry knife to be an asset.......thanks....

 

[eonXboX360]

Nice! Very informative again!
That tip from looking for items at the Rail road tracks is very good!:thumbup:

 

[Expatriated]

I love these threads. Please keep it up!

 

[dinozzo]

i really enjoy these! Lots of good info, and some good tips for something your might not consider:thumbup:

 

[onado2000]

I look forward to part III, great stuff! Hey, was the fuzz called because of the fire you built, I am really curious to know if such a small outdoor fire drew the attention of people who were alarmed and called the cops. Mistwalker, thanks for your hard work and experience, and for showing me how to make a stove out of a tin can, I never saw that before.

 

[DH1]

Thanks for posting this up mistwalker:thumbup:

TOPS have a lot of great looking knives...I'm going to have to actually buy one soon.

 

[BenLankford]

Great pictures and writeup I really enjoyed the can thing and I have got to try that sometimes.

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoy the threads, sorry this one is going so slow but...life happens I'll still keep working on them.

I've been messing with a couple of TOPS knives, paired up with my smaller RAT knives they make a great team!

I look forward to part III, great stuff! Hey, was the fuzz called because of the fire you built, I am really curious to know if such a small outdoor fire drew the attention of people who were alarmed and called the cops. Mistwalker, thanks for your hard work and experience, and for showing me how to make a stove out of a tin can, I never saw that before.

No cops called this time, the reason for building the fire on the edge of the creek was to get below the line of sight. The deputy just happens to be there at that store (same store shown through the woods in the other pic) quite often...situational awareness. I have seen them called about fires in "odd" places that were that same size though. In general people don't deal well with the "out-of-the-ordinary".

As for the can stove...I'm still not getting the results I am supposed to. I'm not sure why yet, still studying it/ I got the directions from here...

http://www.thehanddrill.com/halconstove.htm

and here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverage-can_stove


I think the next one I try will be using two bottom sections and see how that does.

.

 

[333rm]

Another great write up!

 

[wildmike]

Good write up Mistwalker!

When I wound up homeless several years ago I picked up everything I needed to build a shelter out of the alleyways on the way to the river. This included around 300' of cordage, two tarps (discarded at a construction site). Even a half gallon water bottle.

Most urban areas have bands of undeveloped land within and around them. Those areas often have good clandestine camp sites, especialy if one knows how to conceal their camp and if the campsite is kept clean you get far fewer hassles from the authorities.

The same with keeping activity to a minimum if the authorities recieve info that there is a bunch of activity (especialy if coupled with drinking or drug use) in an area they will raid it and destroy/steal everything you own.

The biggest threat to your safety however will be so called citizens who will destroy your camp and belongings becuse they think they are better than you (including assaulting you) And other homeless individuals who think your fair game.

That Tops tool looks cool and somewhat usefull, but be careful!!! In many areas the police may arerest you for possesion of burglary tools if you are caught carrying anything similar to a flat bar, crowbar or anything they think is going to be used to break in to something.

These concerns were bad enough when I was homeless that I wound up building a series of shelters on islands in the river which were difficult to access. Though the best camping I did was after I purchased my jungle hammock. From that point on I was self contained with what I carried in my pack.

 

[Mistwalker]

Good write up Mistwalker!

When I wound up homeless several years ago I picked up everything I needed to build a shelter out of the alleyways on the way to the river. This included around 300' of cordage, two tarps (discarded at a construction site). Even a half gallon water bottle.

Most urban areas have bands of undeveloped land within and around them. Those areas often have good clandestine camp sites, especialy if one knows how to conceal their camp and if the campsite is kept clean you get far fewer hassles from the authorities.

The same with keeping activity to a minimum if the authorities recieve info that there is a bunch of activity (especialy if coupled with drinking or drug use) in an area they will raid it and destroy/steal everything you own.

The biggest threat to your safety however will be so called citizens who will destroy your camp and belongings becuse they think they are better than you (including assaulting you) And other homeless individuals who think your fair game.

That Tops tool looks cool and somewhat usefull, but be careful!!! In many areas the police may arerest you for possesion of burglary tools if you are caught carrying anything similar to a flat bar, crowbar or anything they think is going to be used to break in to something.

These concerns were bad enough when I was homeless that I wound up building a series of shelters on islands in the river which were difficult to access. Though the best camping I did was after I purchased my jungle hammock. From that point on I was self contained with what I carried in my pack.

Thanks Mike,

Yeah, when I was getting my early lessons in urban survival in a few different large cities I noticed very quickly how much easier many materials were to find in an urbanized area than in a natural one....just more predators too.

Oh, I know...the pry-knife isn't a good one to strap on my pack and just walk down the street in the current situation...but I can keep it handy in my tool box and carry it on my tool belt while I'm at work. Then if the s#!t does hit the fan at least I'll have it close by

 

[SGTCap]

Wow there is a lot of really good information in theis thread. That Pry-knife looks like a winner.

Mike thank you for your insite and congradulations on your accomplishments. I would like to hear more about the leasons you learned while homeless, and how you improved your situation.