Which way did he go George, which way did he go? Make an Escape Compass.

T. Erdelyi

T. Erdelyi

Joined
Feb 3, 2001
Messages
32,359
Ever want one of those WW2 escape and survival compasses?

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You know them little one that you sew under a button or in a shirt lapel or a seam. I've always wanted one 'cause I thought they were a great idea, a compass you always have. So instead of spending between $15-$45 I made my own. It's easier than you think, here's what I did.

Get yourself one of those cheap little button compass, there ya go, now put it in your pocket, wasn't that easy? Just kiddin', anyway get yourself a cheap oil filled button compass usually about 50 cents and with a blade or screwdriver carefully separate the two halves and dump out the oil and contents. This is what you should see...

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Now after cleaning and drying the parts remove the plastic compass rose from the pivot, this should just pull apart leaving a small diamond shaped piece of steel with the pivot button. Carefully grab the button and carefully work it back and forth till it comes off and you have this...

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The diamond shaped piece is your compass, if you didn't mark north with a sharpie before separating the compass rose from the compass just find another compass and see which end attracts the south side of the other compass, that's the north side, mark it with a sharpie or better yet a center punch mark is more permanent and stash it till ya need it. When you need it just tie it to a piece of thread from your clothing or a strand of hair or you could float it on a leaf in a small pool of water.

I mounted mine onto the aluminum scale of my SAK money clip which is clipped to a chain on my neck and always with me.

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I had it glued to the aluminum scale for a month and it worked fine, I did over magnetize the piece glued it on, it's not in direct contact with any ferrous metals so I don't believe it'll affect it. I'll let you know in six months.

You can still slip it in your wallet or a stitch to your belt, hell you could keep it in the bottom of a zippo lighter in the wadding. The point is to put it somewhere where you'll have it in an emergency, your not goin' to do a survey with it but it'll get ya outta the woods especially if it's all ya got.
 
You could also make one by magnetizing any small piece of steel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HqW5m9yzgM

I only suggest this because a tiny compass is so small that if you want to go smaller, why buy and break one to do it? You can also choose pieces of steel that are easier to string - like a tiny bobby pin shape that will clamp a string or hair under tension.

The real downside to these methods is that they rely on having still water or still air to dangle the needle in. If you are someplace dry and windy, getting the needle to reliably point while dangling on a thread is going to be a challenge.



Don't get me wrong - cool topic.
 
I have a Marbles Match Safe with a compass filled with Ohio Blue Tips, (the old ones :) ) in my pocket most times if I venture more than a few hundred yards into the weeds around here.

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If I go further I always take my Silva Ranger I've carried for over 25 years.

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Redundancy backed by real skills give me my best chance. I need to get out and do a little orienteering, in all honesty it's been 10 years since I used only a compass & map to find my was
 
If you already have a button compass, why destroy it to make another compass? The button compass is probably better than any compass you'd make from it. Just magnetize a sewing needle.

Afield, I keep a button compass on my watch strap, another as a zipper pull on my raincoat, and a Brunton TruArc3 in my shirt pocket. All three cost me less than $20 total including tax. The TruArc and REI zipper pull are made in the USA. The button on the watch strap is from Japan.

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I've always wanted one of those WW2 escape compasses, I'm always amazes at the ingenuity of the military in hiding escape tools and this one always amazed me. I'ts an interesting idea but they sell for $25+ and I wasn't willing to spend that to satisfy a curiosity where as tearin' apart a 50 cent button compass is a no brainer, on the other hand carryin' a magnetized needle becomes an exercise safety vs convenience. I think the best possible thing to do in that case id magnetize the needle in the scale of the SAK I have.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
I've always wanted one of those WW2 escape compasses, I'm always amazes at the ingenuity of the military in hiding escape tools and this one always amazed me. I'ts an interesting idea but they sell for $25+ and I wasn't willing to spend that to satisfy a curiousity where as tearin' apart a 50 cent button compass is a no brainer, on the other hand carryin' a magnetized needle becomes an exercise safety vs convenience. I think the best possible thing to do in that case id magnetize the needle in the scale of the SAK I have.
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You could magnetize the tweezers in your SAK.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
I've always wanted one of those WW2 escape compasses, I'm always amazes at the ingenuity of the military in hiding escape tools and this one always amazed me. I'ts an interesting idea but they sell for $25+ and I wasn't willing to spend that to satisfy a curiosity where as tearin' apart a 50 cent button compass is a no brainer, on the other hand carryin' a magnetized needle becomes an exercise safety vs convenience. I think the best possible thing to do in that case id magnetize the needle in the scale of the SAK I have.
Click to expand...
Escape tools, maps, currency, etc were often smuggled into POW camps via board games. It was a highly classified program at the time.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...llied-pows-escape-during-world-war-ii/266996/

http://mentalfloss.com/article/62285/how-brilliant-intelligence-officer-used-monopoly-free-wwii-pows
 
I have a few books on the tools used by spy's and the POWs to help effect an escape, my favorite were the makeshift lock picks, concealed weapons and miniature/hidden cameras
 
Interesting basic premise to the thread. I follow the same philosophy tangentially. I have those pin on ball compasses here and there. I had one get me out of the Boreal forest in dense bush once. The spook taught me to take some basics a little more seriously.
 
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