Washing your hands

MIKE MACINTOSH said:
I know this has not been mentioned but how about your own urine its supposed to be sterile when fresh. people have survived by drinking it when water is not avaleable.:eek: if nothing else it would prevent the blood from drying on your hands and knife making clean up easier when you found water.
Click to expand...

You know, I am not trying to sound retarded, but as obvious as this is... I totally didn't think about it. LOL could you imagine the look on a fellow hunters face, when you whip it out and just start peeing on your knife the moment you get done skinning your trophy? Instead of using your water, you could probably just pee on everything LOL. The only drawback is having all those pheromones potentially attracting some weird furry things your way. And don't forget, that if you're in a tactical situation... a good tracker on your trail might be able to smell it.
 
mystical woodsman said:
To put it more bluntly... how would a neanderthal do it?
Click to expand...

Build up an immunity to the most common microbes; the ones who didn't DIED.
You could just hope you're one of the biologically superior ones in the immunity department.:p
As for me, I'll stick with the modern advances which made it possible for so many of us to exist.:thumbup:
 
I generally wipe my hands and knife on vegatation, or scrub with sand to do a quick cleanup. Most small game I evicerate, but don't skin until I am near home, camp, or at least a water source.

In the first place, most field dressing can be done without coating yourself and your knife with blood, bile, feces, urine, gland musk and fur. Large game can be dragged for miles if need be. Of course, I don't hunt elk, moose, or Festus' mule either.

I think modern man, for the most part, has an obsession with germs, microbes and clean. People with a healthy immune system and reasonable habits seldom get sick from touching animals or dirt. Yes, it is prudent to take some steps to clean up and protect yourself from becoming infected by disease, but carrying hand sanitizer, soaps, wearing surgical gloves has never been a part of my hunting and fishing regimen, yet I have survived over a half century of being an outdoorsman, suffering only one amputation in all that time. That from farm equipment at age five. :)

Codger

PS - Hardwood ash is leached to obtain lye, which is used to make soap. Washing with ash-water is harsh, but it will cut grease and clean your hands. I don't recommend it as a shampoo.
 
I generally use moss and grass to clean my hands when out and about but if I get them really gunked up with sat Pine resin then I'll use soil first and then moss.
Someone beat me to it but urine is another good one to use as it's sterile !!!
 
If it were me I would be heading for water...if you don't have access to any you have bigger problems than a dirty knife! If you are off by yourself you probably won't be killing anything much bigger than a rabbit very often...just pick it up and take it to your water source before you clean it!
 
Here are some suggestions from Wikihow.com Cleaning dishes on a camping trip
It looks like a sensible plan to me.
Without Soap


1. Find sand or gravel (that from a stream or river bed is the least likely to have organic matter in it).
2. Heat water as described above.
3. Smear a small amount of any leftover cooking grease on the dishes, add wood ashes from the campfire, and mix in a few teaspoons of hot water until a thick cleaning solution results. This soapy mixture is harsh--see Warnings below.
4. Use a handful of sand or gravel as an abrasive to scrub the dishes clean, using a separate wash pot and rinse pot.
5. Drip or air dry.
6. Heat the dishes immediately before cooking with them again to help with sterilization.


Soapless Method 2

1. Before you build a campfire, clean out the firepit. Do not burn trash in the firepit. Hardwood ashes are best for doing dishes. When you are done cooking, allow the fire to burn down to a manageable level.
2. Select a good sized metal pot; if you have one that is crusty or greasy from cooking, that is the one to use.
3. Use a long handled serving spoon to put hot coals and ashes into the pot. About 2 cups will do for most messes.
4. Add just enough water to make a thin, chunky paste that is hot to the touch but not scalding, and mix it with the ashes.
5. Smear the hot ash paste liberally over all dirty dishes and utensils. It will look awful, but it works. Use the charcoal to scrub any crusted-on food. For stubborn crust, let the ash paste soak in for a few minutes.
6. Collect ample water from your source, and carry it and the dirty dishes at least 200 feet away from your water source. Nest the dishes and utensils as much as possible, and rinse them one at a time over the pile to save water. Set each rinsed piece aside in a clean, dry spot until you are done. Make sure to rinse your hands.

Warnings
* The alkali water created by mixing wood ashes with grease can be very harsh on your hands. In extreme cases, it can cause chemical burns just like an acid. Use gloves if you've got them, or a stick to do the scrubbing, and rinse your hands thoroughly when you're done.
Click to expand...

Ira
 
Last edited:
I do not stab knife in the ground,it was just example from novel.But as mentioned above not having water would be much bigger problem than dirty hands or knife.Anyway,in hypothetic situation and sudden urge to clean hands or knife - urine,why not.In my country people in small and isolated places still use it as first aid for small cuts,jelly fish burns,even some mushrooms poisoning to provoke vomiting,so I think it would clean hands.As for knife,in my family we butcher pigs at home at late autumn or early winter -from killing to making sausages(even though the law try to ban it in recent years-animal rights,etc.),and I wash knifes at the end of the day,just now and then wipe with cloth,before sharpening on steel,one can really do the job without messing tools.
 
i mechanically clean my hands and knife with my pants-leg, wads of grass or leaves, or just rubbing them in sand or loose dirt.

i live a little bit "dirty" normally...that is i don't wash my hands often and i have gradually broken my body into dealing with dirt and other simple things like that over the past couple of years, where at this point i don't worry too much about dirty hands.

with skinning etc though, i would be more careful and mechanically clean my knife with wads of grass or a clean cloth, and then back at camp wipe down with water and a mild abrasive (steel wool, scotchbrite, some natural plants, very fine sand). i find that mechanical cleaning is far more a factor than chemical cleaning (as in doing dishes in the evening. they pretty much get just as clean with or without soap as long as you are washing the bits off).

but keep in mind...in a survival situation, err on the safe side. don't be stupid. you might not have a second chance.
 
Darn, this is so simple why didn't i think of it earlier. Just ask the locals what soap plants are in your area. What part of the earth are you at?
 
I guess the best scenario would be for me to just use actual soap lol. I will have a couple of bars in my hygiene kit anyways... and when I run out (IF), I will either have to go back to civilization to acquire more, or just make do with plain old water.
 
I have a readily available supply of Nitrile gloves, so I make sure that my hunting gear contains at least a few pair. Gloves weigh almost nothing, and take up little space. They are great when you don't have water, or don't want to get your hands wet, like after gutting a deer in December in upstate New York.

I remember deer hunting in Texas as a kid. We always had an icechest with softdrinks and waters in the back of the truck that dropped us off and picked us up. After gutting the kill, we would wash our hands under the drainspout of that icechest. It doesn't get just super cold in Texas, but 30s is still cold, especially when washing your hands in icewater. A pair of rubber gloves would have saved a lot of grief.
 
hlee said:
I have a readily available supply of Nitrile gloves, so I make sure that my hunting gear contains at least a few pair. Gloves weigh almost nothing, and take up little space. They are great when you don't have water, or don't want to get your hands wet, like after gutting a deer in December in upstate New York.
Click to expand...

Yes that is a DEFINITE alternative as well. You could carefully take them off, and keep them inside out to prevent the blood from getting on your gear within your pack (although the scent of blood being ON YOUR PERSON might pose a problem unless you put them in a ziplock bag), and wash them when you are at your camp site. The only thing is that it would need to be strong rubber gloves, almost like dish-washing gloves (Black Lightening latex?). I heard Nitrile is pretty tough, because I was considering buying them when studying intelligence gathering. All investigators should have them. The black ones are nice, and go way above the wrist that can be easily tied off to prevent slippage, keeping them tight. Don't they have textured fingertips too? :)
 
Last edited:
Just to second what has been said, the dirt/ground is far from clean. It might remove gross debris from the blade or the hands, but there are lots of microorganisms living in it that would really lead to a nasty infection in a wound, let alone some GI problems due to ingestion. That's not a definite, just quite possible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top