What I learned tonight

C

Crunchtyme

Joined
Mar 5, 2008
Messages
83
It was COLD tonight, no rain or snow in the forecast, a steady breeze, the kind of cold night that getting stranded would be really uncomfortable without shelter and a fire. So after dark, I decided to scrounge the vehicle to see what was available if I got stranded on the road on a night like this, to get a fire going.


I learned my hands dont like doing stuff in the bone numbing cold. Trying to make feather sticks was really futile, and cranking up a fire was taking alot longer than anticipated.( I was starting to really enjoy the thought that this exercise was voluntary. If this had been a real emergency, and I needed heat, I would not have been having any fun)

I struck up a small fire, eventually, ( but I ended up with cold uncoordinated hands, and while putting my knife back into the sheath, I ran the point of the blade into the heal of hand when I missed the sheath.

Exercise was suspended pending first aid,


I have long learned that asking the wife for a cuppa tea/coffee will distract her long enough for me to hit the restroom, to apply a mandaid, before she sees what has happened and wants to return all the nice sharp toys Santa has under the tree.


them guys in the movies are tough, they get shot, have a swig of bourbon, then pour the rest on the open wound. An alcohol swap on this wound almost put me in a coma. :o


superglue seals a wound rather well,( it was cleaned, and antibiotic ointment applied, I also left it open on one end,for drainage, if needed)

In all seriousness, I was surprised how fast coordination fell off as my hands got colder, how difficult building a fire became the colder I got, It couldhave been alot wor and how fast a simple act of sheathing a knife can become an emergency, through carelessness, distraction, or just being cold.

next time I get an idea like this, remind me to check myself into rehab first.

PS tomorrow its gonna snow,,,,,,,,,,,,, and I will be out there trying again.
 
Crunchtyme said:
[SNIP]
them guys in the movies are tough, they get shot, have a swig of bourbon, then pour the rest on the open wound. An alcohol swap on this wound almost put me in a coma. :o
Click to expand...


I haven't laughed so hard in a long time! Sorry to laugh at your pain, but you paint a great word picture! :thumbup:


Stitchawl
 
Thank you for posting that. The possibility of numb hands and injuries during a voluntary experiment means that under real duress, the danger increases. Quite a few years ago I was working in the high country outside Rocky Mt. Nat'l Park in Colorado--logging and building log homes. My co-worker got hit in the leg with a log and quickly went into hypothermia symptoms. He lost his motor skills. The boss drove the bulldozer back out of the forest, and I had to hold the guy on the back of the log sled for several miles. Scary stuff. Within minutes of a warm fire and some tea, he was back to normal.

I never forgot how quickly he became helpless in that cold cold mountain. Alone, he would have died. So be careful out there brothers.
 
The cold has a way of turning things nasty, quick. It's always nice to have some 'stupid-easy' ways of getting warm in your kit, like a flare and some hand-warmers. A simple to operate saw is nice, too. Wool blankets, watch caps.

I know it's the case with me, but I also notice the common theme of increased accidental injuries when the conditions get even relatively extreme. Harder to control motor function, etc. All the more reason to carry a well equipped and functional first aid kit (ie 4x4 gauze pads and tape instead of a couple of bandaids). Doing without, in this area, can make for a nasty time in the bush.
 
I agree with the exercise and feel your pain.

last year I was helping the wife practice fire starting with sparker and tinder in the cold one day and she got a real eyeopener on how tough that was in the real world ( Used all the tinder and a Bic lighter and the fire was still tought to get going).

Me sitting there saying "i'm unconscious" every so often:) did not help I suppose
 
I did something similar last night. I tried starting a fire with what I had in my pockets and what I could find around the yard. only problem was the WIND.....dang tinder kept blowin everywhere. I would get it goin and a gust would kill it. I finally built a mini shelter for my fire to protect it but it still felt like it took forever. It wasnt that cold but things were a bit damp.
 
Good practice guys, and you got me thinking. On todays highways if you are caught on a rural road, do you think you can scrounge enough fuel for your fire w/o having to harvest vehicle parts to burn? A chunk of firewood and a small bundle of kindling might be a wise addition to the vehicle. Sure you will probably be able to harvest wood from your surroundings, but doing so is not easy when cold and hands are numb. And its dangerous at night to move off the road in search of wood. Alot of people have died when they chose to leave their vehicle in search of help or whatever.
 
Thanks for sharing your experience and that was a great laugh as well:D

We just did our "officer PT" this morning, it was 23 degrees and down to 17 with wind-chill. We played a little ultimate football and I took my gloves off for a few minutes to see if I could catch better...well, numb hands don't work well at all! It's a good reminder that a set of gloves in the kit are a good thing, even if they hamper your dexterity some. Additionally, in cold weather, you also need to slow down and make more deliberate actions; often easily ignored and that's when accidents happen. I hope the cut isn't too bad, but it was still a great lesson you learned, shared and reminded all of us.:thumbup:

ROCK6
 
Perhaps keeping a small bottle of Zippo lighter fluid in the trunk could make starting a fire a lot easier. Or some of the Kingston lighter fluid used for charcoal. That and a newspaper and maybe a little baggie of dryer lint. That stuff makes excellent tinder.
 
coolhand68 said:
Perhaps keeping a small bottle of Zippo lighter fluid in the trunk could make starting a fire a lot easier. Or some of the Kingston lighter fluid used for charcoal. That and a newspaper and maybe a little baggie of dryer lint. That stuff makes excellent tinder.
Click to expand...

Fantastic idea. I will add to that suggestion to buy lighter that doesn't require as much dexterity as a BIC under cold/adverse conditions.
 
This is the very reason I try to have at least one NON-old-timey, bushcrafty way to make a fire. If my traditional/primitive skills get the fail, I don't die.
I like one of those torch-style cigar lighters, set on the flamethrower setting. Nice, extremely hot blue flame, piezo-electric ignition, and the ones I use fire off to the side at an angle so I don't burn the end of my thumb off (which I did with the straight-up kind I had before.
Down side is since they burn so hot, they use up the fuel fast. Up side is, they are refillable, don't leak like a Zippo, and are darn near assured of starting something on fire.
 
I did a similar experiment last year....

It was -11C and I decided to test myself... so I took a 20 minute walk in my back yard with no shoes, coat, gloves or hat.... just a pair of jeans and a t-shirt... ya, I keeps it real!! ..... real stupid!

Anyway, I had a LMF firesteel and its factory scraper. It took me another 10mins to get a fire going using natural tinder... I almost quit... I used the scraper to prepare a dried mustard plant to take a spark. There was no wind... it was sunny... and the 4-6 inches of snow on the ground was like styrofoam.

Let me give you some background... I have been an avid bushbum for the better part of 25yrs... a former "Brownie" and a current protege of Canadian Wilderness Survival Instructor, Allan Beauchamp. I have been on several "Extreme Cold" excercises and wear sweaters when most would wear parkas.... as member Thomas Linton suggests... I may be an "alien".

as I stated.... "I WAS READY TO QUIT after 30mins!".... I can't imagine what someone with little to no training, who has been wandering for HOURS would do.... yet, there are those that manage to SURVIVE when others would not. I can easily put myself in the shoes of the person who chooses a tree to sit under and die.

WELCOME TO REALITY, RICK.... check you skillz at the door.

Puts things in perspecive.
Rick
 
ROCK6 said:
It's a good reminder that a set of gloves in the kit are a good thing, even if they hamper your dexterity some.
Click to expand...

FWIW, mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves - my ultimate, from living in Canada's NWT, is mittens with thin wool gloves underneath. :thumbup:
 
my favorite is the thin military wool liner gloves with the thin leather overgloves and a big ass thick pair of mittens.
 
Grampa said:
FWIW, mittens will keep your hands warmer than gloves - my ultimate, from living in Canada's NWT, is mittens with thin wool gloves underneath. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

I'll second that. I was recently in -20 centigrade and learned a few things

1. As mentioned, gloves with over mittens are warmer and also more flexible.
2. Even in extreme cold you need surprisingly few clothes when working hard, but you cool down dangerously quickly when you stop.
3. The right lower body wear is vital, lots of body heat is lost through the thighs in that temperature.
4. Breathable fabrics don't work when your sweat freezes before it gets through them!!
5. A liter of water freezes solid in a few hours if carried in a backpack, then you have no water...
 
Bladefix.........
Solid insights, brother....

Gore-Tex has been completely dropped from my kit list! I only use it for backyard "Winter fun" with the kids.

Water management is difficult in sub-zero temps.... especially if there is no snow!

3/4 length anoraks/parkas are great for regulating upper leg heat loss without constricting layers under your pants.

I've posted this before.... but my all-time favorite article of cold weather clothing is my home made "army blanket" anorak.....

rickscappote.jpg
 
I think this kinda stuff is real important to try, this is why I persevered on my post yesterday when I was on the beach. If you just make up a psk and think that just putting it in your pocket is gonna cover you when the sh*t hits the fan then your likely to get a real big wake up call. Recently I have been testing my ability to get a fire going in heavy winds, rain and extreme cold and it is unbelieveably hard and very frustrating !!!
Yesterday I had lost the dexterity to pick up a match yet alone strike it, so please test your skills in the harshest weather but ensure that you ALWAYS have a security blanket of some kind, ie, your car is parked close enough for you to bail to if things get too bad, I'd hate to lose any forum members !!!!
 
Crunchtyme,
Good on you for the effort neighbor. I'm in Port Orchard and it is perfect weather to test ourselves. My list of layering changed last night while at work. I am definitely getting some decent base layers for this next hunting season and I am positively wearing some wool tonight.
 
I used to do stuff like this when I was younger and lived in the U.P. (Michigan). The more you do it, the more you learn that can increase your ability to make a fire. I will have to try doing this soon. Maybe tonight or this weekend in the back yard.

Ken
 
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