Page 123 – RECOIL OFFGRID

Practical Prepping from an Insurer’s Perspective

Posted on August 23, 2018 at 6:00 am.

The concept of prepping is often viewed with disdain by the general public, and there seems to be an unfortunate perception that it's only for paranoid bunker-dwelling types. As a result, we've had countless conversations with friends, family, and even members of the outdoor industry who have insinuated that we must be a little weird to take emergency preparedness so seriously.

At the recent Outdoor Retailer show in Denver, our emphasis on prepping was met with resistance.

At the recent Outdoor Retailer show in Denver, our emphasis on prepping was often met with resistance.

Although we don't do what we do for the approval of others, it's nice to occasionally get some public vindication from mainstream sources. One recent and memorable example was the Medium article “The Surprisingly Solid Mathematical Case of the Tin Foil Hat Gun Prepper” — while the “tin foil” title is sensationalized, the content within is impressively compelling. And most importantly, it's approachable to those outside the prepping community.

Photo courtesy of USAA

We recently read an article published by USAA, titled “How Much Disaster Prep Should I Do In A “Safe” Zone?”. It comes as no surprise that an insurance provider — especially one closely tied to the military — would emphasize the value of preparedness, but we were pleasantly surprised to find the details of the article went beyond simply updating your policy. Check out some excerpts from the article:

Maybe your family constantly hears “Better safe than sorry” and “Be prepared” whenever you’re around. That’s a good thing, says Matthew Angel, a USAA advice director and Certified Financial Planner practitioner.

“Lots of people don’t think about prepping for a disaster until after the disaster strikes,” he says. … “So if you’re already thinking about protecting your home and family before they’re in jeopardy, you’re on the right track.”

Angel notes that recent weather events have demonstrated that nature’s ferocity can be unleashed in areas where it wasn’t expected or with unexpected intensity. While Houston, due to its location, has seen its share of hurricanes and floods through the years, few anticipated a storm like Harvey, which dumped trillions of gallons of rain in a matter of days, inundating homes in areas thought to be at low risk for flooding.

“You should widen your thought about what could happen where you live,” he says.

You don’t have to live in Tornado Alley or along a major geological fault line to have a plan for surviving and riding out a disaster. It’s prudent to have an emergency plan and an emergency kit in place no matter where you live, because even if you’re at low risk for a hurricane or earthquake, events like house fires and power outages can happen anywhere.

You can read the full article from USAA here. Next time someone implies you're paranoid for taking steps to be better prepared for emergencies, articles like this one can provide some ammunition for that discussion.

New: Leatherman Coyote Tan Cerakote Tools

Posted on August 20, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

At the end of the day, what matters most about any tool is how it functions. However, most of us also give some consideration to the appearance of our tools. Alternate metal coatings and handle finishes can help your every-day carry items better fit your style, and can also provide a more durable barrier against scratches and corrosion.

Leatherman recently announced the ongoing expansion of its Coyote Tan lineup, which now includes more of the company's most popular multi-tool models. These models feature a black DLC finish on the pliers, blades, tools, and hardware, along with a Coyote Tan Cerakote finish applied to the handles. The two-tone color combo is available on the following models:

OHT – 16 tools – $90 MSRP

Rebar – 17 tools – $60 MSRP

Signal – 19 tools – $110 MSRP

Skeletool – 7 tools – $TBD (tan version not listed online at time of publication)

Skeletool KBX – 2 tools – $25 MSRP

Based on images from the Leatherman press release, it appears that a non-serrated Skeletool KB and non-DLC-coated Skeletool — seen below — will also join the Coyote Tan lineup the future.

For more information on the new Coyote Tan Leatherman multi tools, go to Leatherman.com/coyote-multi-tools.

The Legendary Survival Story of Sir Ernest Shackleton

Posted on August 19, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

Sir Ernest Shackleton
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
The Disaster Begins
Struggling Ashore
Out to Sea Again
Making Contact
The Fate of the Crew
Shackleton's Final Years
The Expedition's Completion

For those of us who study survival skills, history can provide some powerful success stories. Some of these historical accounts are recent, such as Mauro Prosperi's journey through the Sahara desert, while others date back hundreds of years, like the tale of Alexander Selkirk (whose true story served as inspiration for the castaway novel Robinson Crusoe). Either way, they yield many survival lessons that remain valuable to this day, and provide insight into the mindset that's needed to endure dire circumstances.

One particularly incredible survival story is that of polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and the crew of his Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Despite being stranded for more than a year in a barren frozen wilderness, these men improvised, adapted, and survived.

Sir Ernest Shackleton

Ernest Shackleton survival story Antarctic expedition ice snow ocean ship rescue 3

Shackleton in 1909 prior to his most fateful expedition. Source: National Library of Norway

Born in Ireland in 1874 and raised in England, young Ernest Shackleton struggled with boredom and restlessness in school, and eventually got his father's approval to join the crew of a commercial sailing ship at age 16. This would be the beginning of a lifetime of adventures at sea.

After rising to a position as an officer in the Royal Navy, Shackleton participated in and led several successful British expeditions to Antarctica between 1901 and 1909. The last of these, the Nimrod Expedition, marked the first ascent of the colossal volcano Mount Erebus and the discovery of the Magnetic South Pole.

Ernest Shackleton survival story Antarctic expedition ice snow ocean ship rescue 5

Members of Shackleton's expedition to the Magnetic South Pole in 1909. Source: Tannatt David, The Heart of the...

After returning to England, he received multiple medals, was honored as a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO), and was knighted Sir Ernest Shackleton.

However, Shackleton wasn't content to live an easy and sedentary life as a hero. He was still determined to explore further and complete a task others had failed to accomplish — crossing the continent of Antarctica. He began planning this Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, gathering funding, and hiring a crew of sailors who could handle the arduous journey.

The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

A map of the proposed route across Antarctica. Source: Glasgow Digital Library

Shackleton's plan to cross the frigid 1,800-mile expanse involved two ships and a total of 56 men split evenly between them. The first, Endurance, was under his direct command. It sailed from the remote South Georgia Island in the Southern Atlantic ocean. The second, Aurora, sailed from Australia to the opposite side of the continent. While Shackleton and the crew of the Endurance would be the ones to complete the journey, the Aurora's crew would journey inland to set up supply depots and assist the explorers when they arrived.

This plan was set into motion in December of 1914 — the beginning of summer for the Southern Hemisphere.

A view of the deck of the Endurance. Photo: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

A view of the deck of the Endurance. Source: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

To reach the shore of Antartica, the Endurance had to carefully weave through impassable pack ice and endlessly shifting ice floes. The density of this ice grew unexpectedly thick as they sailed on, slowing progress to a crawl. Shackleton would later write in his autobiography, “I had been prepared for evil conditions in the Weddell Sea, but had hoped that the pack would be loose. What we were encountering was fairly dense pack of a very obstinate character.”

The Disaster Begins

After more than a month of sailing, Shackleton could see land on the horizon. However, inclement weather and currents forced the Endurance to redirect, and in mid-January 1915, progress toward shore ground to a halt. Ice crushed in from all sides, trapping the ship completely. In February crew pounded away at the ice with picks and chisels to free the Endurance, but these efforts proved futile. They were stuck — worse yet, the ice around them was drifting north.

Photo: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

Source: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

The ship's primitive wireless communications equipment had no hope of calling for rescue at this distance, so Shackleton and his crew had to wait for the ice pack to release them. But months passed, and the pack continued to forcefully carry the Endurance away from shore. Soon it was May and winter had arrived. By July, the ice began to break up somewhat, but storms in August and September made the situation even worse, pounding the hull with massive chunks of ice.

Shackleton some time after the Endurance sank. Photo: The James Caird Society

Shackleton some time after the Endurance sank. Source: The James Caird Society

On October 24th, the Endurance could endure no more. Ice punctured the hull and water began steadily seeping in. Shackleton ordered all 28 of his men to abandon the ship and bring all supplies to camps on the ice. This included their remaining food, several packs of sled dogs intended for the trans-continental journey, and three 20-foot lifeboats.

In late November, the Endurance sank to the bottom of the Weddell Sea, leaving the men stranded on the ice hundreds of miles from shore.

The crippled Endurance slowly sank beneath the ice. Photo: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

The crippled Endurance slowly sank beneath the ice. Source: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

The crew's photographer, an Australian named Frank Hurley, was able to save his cameras, photo plates, and 150 existing photographs from the sinking ship. All of the powerful behind-the-scenes images from the Trans-Antarctic expedition are thanks to Hurley's unwavering dedication to documenting the story.

Struggling Ashore

The crew dragging one of the three lifeboats across the ice. Photo: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

The crew dragging one of the three lifeboats across the ice. Source: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

At this point, various destination options were considered, but none looked good. Shackleton eventually decided to march with his men across the ice, dragging the lifeboats behind them. Once they reached open water they would attempt to reach Paulet Island, which was 250 miles away.

Ironically, December brought warmer temperatures that made the ice soft, slowing their progress yet again. This led to a near-mutiny and caused Shackleton to abandon the plan. The crew of the Endurance set up the appropriately-named Patience Camp and waited for the ice to provide an opening.

Two more months passed and supplies dwindled. The men hunted seals and penguins to stay alive, and were eventually forced to shoot and eat the sled dogs. Finally, on April 8th, 1916, the ice split, allowing Shackleton and his crew to board the lifeboats. They set out for the nearest accessible piece of land, Elephant Island.

The view from Elephant Island. Photo: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

The view from Elephant Island. Source: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

After five grueling days at sea, with little remaining food and temperatures as low as -20°F (-30°C), they set foot on land for the first time in over a year. All 28 men had made it alive.

Out to Sea Again

Although they were now on land, Elephant Island was uninhabited and barren. Frank Hurley wrote, “Such a wild and inhospitable coast I have never beheld.” Shackleton knew that there was no chance of rescue if they stayed put, so he made the decision to set out again in one of the three lifeboats. He would attempt to travel 800 miles to return to South Georgia Island.

Launching the James Caird from the shore of Elephant Island. Source: “South” by Ernest Shackleton

The boat with the least damage was selected, and dubbed the James Caird after the trip's chief financial sponsor. The crew's carpenter reinforced it with wood and canvas scavenged from the other lifeboats, and coated its hull with oil paint and coagulated blood from the seals the men had been hunting. Four weeks of supplies were packed. On April 24th, Shackleton boarded with five other men and set out to get help.

The remaining 22 men stayed on Elephant Island and waited. If the James Caird capsized or Shackleton failed to find help, the remaining survivors would almost certainly die.

Making Contact

Battling high waves and brutal winds, it took the James Caird 16 days to reach the southern shore of South Georgia Island. Unfortunately, they still needed to make contact with the whaling stations on the north shore of the island. This meant one of two choices: get back in the battered lifeboat and try to sail around the island, or attempt to hike across the island's uncharted interior.

A photo taken by Frank Hurley of the rugged landscape of South Georgia Island. Source: “South” by Ernest...

Shackleton felt making the trek on foot was the best option, so three of the men stayed with the boat while Shackleton and the other two began walking. To prepare for the mountainous and icy terrain, they pushed screws through the soles of their boots to serve as improvised crampons, and brought along a length of rope and a carpenter's adze.

Impassable cliffs, frozen waterfalls, and other obstacles repeatedly blocked their route across the island. After a day and a half of sleepless marching, they made human contact at a whaling station. The whalers helped Shackleton rescue the remaining three men on the southern shore, but they couldn't reach the 22 at Elephant Island.

Shackleton would make three more attempts to rescue his crew — first with a ship borrowed from Uruguay, then with one from a British expatriate in Argentina, and finally with one from the Chilean government. The first two attempts were blocked by ice, but the last attempt succeeded. On August 30th, 1916, Shackleton rescued the stranded men.

The Fate of the Crew

The men who stayed behind on Elephant Island. Photo: The James Caird Society

The men who stayed behind on Elephant Island. Source: The James Caird Society

In the end, all 28 crew from the Endurance survived — but only by a narrow margin. The 22 survivors on Elephant Island had overturned their two lifeboats to form improvised shelters, and subsisted on meat from seals and penguins they hunted. However, when meat became scarce, they were nearly forced to cannibalism. One of the crew wrote, “We shall have to eat the one who dies first.” Just days before they were planning to embark on a suicide mission to get help, Shackleton returned to rescue them. He had been away for more than three months.

A map of the path of Shackleton's expedition after the Endurance sank. Source: Luca Ferrario, DensityDesign Research Lab

A map of the expedition's path after the Endurance sank. Source: Luca Ferrario, DensityDesign Research Lab

On the other side of the continent, the 28 men from the Aurora had also suffered considerable difficulties. A powerful storm broke the Aurora from its mooring, leaving a 10-man shore party stranded on land with minimal supplies. Nevertheless, knowing that Shackleton would die if the Aurora's mission failed, these men journeyed inland and deployed the supplies as planned. As we now know, Shackleton never reached them.

The 10 men from the Aurora would remain stranded in Antarctica until rescue arrived in January 1917. By that time, three of them had perished — one as the result of scurvy; the other two simply disappeared (it is believed they may have fallen through thin ice).

Shackleton's Final Years

Ernest Shackleton survival story Antarctic expedition ice snow ocean ship rescue 2

A portrait of Shackleton taken by Frank Hurley circa 1916.

Shackleton returned home to England in 1917, and found that the war he heard about just before leaving in 1914 had grown into the First World War. True to form, he immediately volunteered for the Army and is said to have repeatedly requested to be sent to the front lines in France. Due to his deteriorating health and increasing alcohol consumption, he ended up serving Britain in a diplomatic role in South America, and later as a cold-weather survival adviser for troops in Russia.

In 1919, Shackleton did what most would consider unthinkable given his prior experience — he organized another expedition to the Antarctic. This time he planned to circumnavigate the continent, map 2,000 miles of uncharted coastline, and investigate islands for possible mineral resources. After obtaining funding, a ship, and a crew for this mission, Shackleton was once again on South Georgia Island making final preparations for his voyage.

On January 5th, 1922, Sir Ernest Shackleton died suddenly of a heart attack. He was 47 years old. Alexander Macklin, one of the physicians from the Endurance who continued to serve Shackleton, wrote that the death was a result of “overstrain during a period of debility”.

Shackleton's grave on South Georgia Island. Source: Lexaxis7 / Wikipedia

At the request of his widow, Shackleton was buried on a hillside on South Georgia Island. Macklin wrote, “I think this is as ‘the Boss' would have had it himself, standing lonely on an island far from civilisation, surrounded by stormy tempestuous seas, and in the vicinity of one of his greatest exploits.”

The Expedition's Completion

Ernest Shackleton survival story Antarctic expedition ice snow ocean ship rescue 15

Source: Cliff Dickey, U.S. Navy / National Science Foundation

A successful trans-Antarctic expedition was not completed until 1958, 36 years after Shackleton's death. The internationally-sponsored Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition was made possible by use of tracked snow vehicles, aerial reconnaissance, and logistical support from a permanent research station built at the South Pole. This feat would not be repeated until 1981.

Book Review: “Irish Republican Army Manual of Guerrilla Warfare”

Posted on August 18, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

OFFGRID Library of Recommended Books
More From Issue 27

The Premise: This small tome is a tale of two halves, comprised specifically of the IRA’s Green Book, and the Provisional IRA’s (PIRA) Green Book II. The first dates from the largely successful 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence, which resulted in the partition of Ireland and forced a political outcome acceptable to both the British and Irish states, while the second was written in the mid ’70s while PIRA was actively engaged in a terror campaign in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the British mainland. The two versions of the Green Book familiar to students of Irish COIN ops were published in 1956 and 1977, with the earlier one containing revisions of the 1919 document. Both offer historical insight to insurgent campaigns, in this case from the insurgents’ perspective.

Shortly before WWI, Britain and the Irish nationalist movement had negotiated devolution of political power to Dublin, a change put on hold by the events of 1914 that not only included the conflict in Europe, but also near insurrection by Unionists in the north, unwilling to be governed by a Catholic establishment. Nationalists, seeing an opportunity to seize power while Britain was occupied in France, staged an uprising during Easter week in 1916, which unsurprisingly wasn’t regarded with affection by the British government, seeing as it was actively supplied and encouraged by the German state. British excesses in putting down the rebellion laid the foundation for subsequent revolutionary activity by republican guerrillas.

The 411: This first section of the book is a manual on how to mount a guerrilla campaign of a century ago, employing tactics of the “Flying Column.” These entail the establishment of local units of up to 30 men, who can be raised at short notice, and quickly mount ambushes and bomb attacks, before melting back into their communities — a strategy no doubt familiar to anyone who’s served at the sharp end of the global war on terrorism. There are historical admonishments not to use “motor transport” and advice that, when attacking railways, “a half-hundredweight of fat, lard, or grease spread on an upward gradient will prevent the engine gripping the rails.”

While some specific tactics might seem hopelessly anachronistic today, the overall strategy of reliance on a supportive population while making dispersed deployments of opposing troops and government representatives untenable through harassing attacks worked well enough to force both sides to the negotiating table.

The book’s second half is a partial reprint of the Provisional IRA’s recruit’s manual, which gives more attention both to the ideological aspect of their campaign, as well as a lot of advice on resistance to capture and interrogation. As such, it offers a glimpse into the mid-’70s socialist revolutionary philosophy of European terrorist organizations, such as the Red Army Faction, Red Brigades, and Revolutionary Cells. While the previous version referred to its followers as guerrillas, here they’re “volunteers,” part of a wider socialist movement and committed to the “long war.”

While the reader won’t find any specifics regarding the deployment of the PIRA’s favored weapons, notably the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device and proxy bomb (techniques, tactics, and procedures were deleted from publicly released copies), the chapter regarding post-capture conduct is solid advice. Up to a point. Note, however, that if security forces encountered an interview subject employing the Green Book’s advice to pick a spot on the wall and use visualization techniques to shut out the interviewer’s questions, that would be immediately taken as in indicator of PIRA training.

The Verdict: Should you buy it? As a “how-to” manual, it’s been overtaken by history. It is, however, a reminder of how a small group of motivated individuals with limited access to weaponry can impose their will on a much larger and well-equipped state. When PIRA’s political wing signed on to the Good Friday power sharing accords, it was on the condition that they disarmed. While no one in the intelligence community believes that all ordnance was accounted for, they surrendered about 1,000 rifles, a few machine guns, and 3 tons of explosives. Think about that the next time someone claims the Second Amendment is useless due to the state’s overwhelming numerical and technological advantages.

Book & Author
Irish Republican Army Manual of Guerrilla Warfare: Strategies For Offensive & Defensive Maneuvers
Irish Republican Army

Publisher
Mikazuki Publishing House

MSRP
$10 (Amazon.com)

URL
Amazon.com

Pages
166

Rating
~~Thrive~~
>Survive
~~Die~~

OFFGRID Library of Recommended Books

Tactics and Firearms
- Two Person Close Quarters Tactics by Special Tactics
- On Combat by Lt. Col. Grossman.
- 100 Deadly Skills by Clint Emerson
Skillsets and DIY
- Visual Guide to Lock Picking, 3rd Edition
- Primitive Technology Survivalist Guide Book by John Plant
- 101 Skills You Need to Survive in the Woods by Kevin Estella
- The Survival Medicine Handbook by Joseph & Amy Alton
- Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski
Novels and Literature
- The Final Day by William Forstchen
- The Savage by Frank Bill
Scenarios and Survival
- Lights Out by Ted Koppel
- Waste Land by David T. Hanson
- Choose Adventure: Safe Travel in Dangerous Places by Greg Ellifritz

More From Issue 27

Don’t miss essential survival insights—sign up for Recoil Offgrid's free newsletter today!

Read articles from the next issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 28

Read articles from the previous issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 26

Check out our other publications on the web: Recoil | Gun Digest | Blade | RecoilTV | RECOILtv (YouTube)

Editor's Note: This article has been modified from its original version for the web.

Debunked: Preventing Infection by Rinsing with Seawater

Posted on August 16, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

The Myth
The Reality
The Alternatives
More From Issue 27

WARNING: This article is meant to be a quick overview and not a detailed guide on emergency wound care. Professional medical treatment should always be sought before attempting any of these methods.

Imagine for a moment that you’re stranded on a remote coastal shoreline. As you climb over the slick rocks, your foot slips and you fall forward, slamming your forearm against the edge of a sharp stone. Feeling dizzy and nauseated, you examine your arm and see a deep bleeding gash flecked with sand and grit from the fall.

The Myth

Reeling from your injury, you recall hearing that saltwater can kill bacteria, and you know that hospitals often rinse wounds with saline solution. So, you contemplate washing out your wound with seawater with the hope of preventing infection. Unfortunately, it’s likely that doing so will make your situation even worse.

Despite pervasive claims about infection prevention, the scientific consensus is clear: rinsing your wounds with seawater is dangerous.

The Reality

Like most myths, the supposed healing properties of seawater are founded on a grain of truth. Salt is certainly capable of preventing the growth of some types of bacteria. High salt concentration in liquid creates a hypertonic solution that pulls moisture out of susceptible bacteria cells via osmosis, slowing or stopping their growth.

For thousands of years, salt curing has been used to preserve meat, and salt was used as a primitive antiseptic in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. You’ve probably heard the phrase “rubbing salt in a wound,” a saying that’s rumored to have originated from sailors who would rub the crystals on the cuts they received from lashings. Salt in these wounds intensified pain and caused scarring, but the men suffered through it in a desperate attempt to avoid deadly infections.

Gargling warm saltwater can be beneficial for oral health, as mentioned in our health column, Off-the-Grid Dentistry, from RECOIL OFFGRID Issue 27. Most notably, saline solution is widely used by medical professionals to irrigate wounds. However, there are two critical differences between medical saline and seawater.

Salinity: Medical saline is isotonic, and typically contains 0.9-percent salt to mimic the body’s natural salinity — that’s why there’s no excruciating burn when it’s applied. Saline irrigation is intended to flush out the wound rather than kill bacteria on a cellular level.

Seawater is hypertonic, with salinity of about 3.5 percent. This causes a painful stinging sensation as it draws water out of the exposed cells in a wound. The higher salinity is capable of killing some types of bacteria, but other salt-tolerant microorganisms thrive in seawater. This leads to our next point.

Sterility: Medical saline won’t introduce new bacteria into your wound, but seawater is far from pure. It can contain traces of human pollution, such as sewage or chemical runoff, and it’s teeming with a variety of microorganisms, including:

Dinoflagellates that cause red tide and produce harmful biotoxins
Enteric viruses that cause gastroenteritis, hepatitis, myocarditis, and aseptic meningitis
Protozoan cysts such as cryptosporidium and giardia, which are washed out from freshwater sources and can remain infectious for up to 12 weeks in seawater
Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria that causes staph infections
Vibrio bacteria, a category that causes serious diseases. This includes V. cholera, the bacteria strain responsible for the infamous disease of the same name.

In an essay published by ABC News, Wake Forest University Professor John G. Spangler, M.D. wrote, “Marine vibrios can infect the bloodstream, causing potentially fatal illness. Skin infections, which occur when open wounds are exposed to sea water, can lead to large areas of blistering as well as deep skin and muscle infections. These also are extremely dangerous and often fatal.”

The Alternatives

Knowing the risk of infection from seawater, it’s worth considering alternate treatments that could be applied in scenarios such as our hypothetical beachcombing incident.

Sterile saline is an easy choice, but you probably won’t have any unless you’re carrying a first-aid kit. Don’t bother trying to improvise your own saline with table salt — getting the correct pH and isotonic salt concentration while maintaining sterility isn’t feasible outside a lab.

Fortunately, clinical studies have indicated that saline solution isn’t substantially more effective at preventing infection than clean tap water. In fact, a clinical study published in 2013 in the BMJ Open medical journal found that slightly fewer infections occurred when using tap water, calling it “a safe and cost-effective alternative to saline solution for wound irrigation.”

This means you can simply rinse your wound thoroughly with clean drinking water. Proper wound irrigation requires some pressure to wash away debris — this can be achieved by squirting water out of a clean syringe, squeeze bottle, or even a plastic bag with a slit in the corner. Then, apply a dressing to keep the wound clean and do your best to find some antibiotic ointment, or better yet, a hospital.

More From Issue 27

Don’t miss essential survival insights—sign up for Recoil Offgrid's free newsletter today!

Read articles from the next issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 28

Read articles from the previous issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 26

Check out our other publications on the web: Recoil | Gun Digest | Blade | RecoilTV | RECOILtv (YouTube)

Editor's Note: This article has been modified from its original version for the web.

RECOILweb: Where to Download 3D Printed Gun Files

Posted on August 15, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

The One Big File
3D Printable Guns
Printable Suppressors
Printable Gun Parts & Tools
Printable Ammo Boxes, Magazines & Extensions
Printable Gun Stands, Mounts, Holsters & Mag Pouches

Editor’s Note: The following article was originally published by our sister publication RECOIL, and appears here in its entirety with permission. For more articles on guns, training, and gear, go to RECOILweb.com.

3D printed gun files have been all over the news with lawmakers like Steve Israel, Ed Markey, Richard Blumenthal, Chuck Schumer, and others making largely inaccurate claims about how easy it is to print a gun. Further claims by lawmakers that the printed guns will be wielded by terrorists and criminals have fueled a rather heated debate.

Back in 2013 Defense Distributed was told by the US State Department that they wouldn’t be able to share the 3D firearm files on the internet due to an interpretation of ITAR. Why? Because the files and plans were being treated in the same manner as firearms being exported. In 2015, Defense Distributed filed a lawsuit against the State Department for violating their First Amendment rights.

Defense Distributed filed a lawsuit and solicited donations on their website to fight the State Department’s decision. On July 10, 2018, a settlement was reached that allowed Defense Distributed to put the files back online.

Days later a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order that blocked Defense Distributed from releasing the files on defcad.com.

Firearm Policy Coalition has set up the website codeisfreespeech.com so that potential 3D printers have an easy-to-reference source for the files. The website was taken down by Amazon initially but FPC has found a suitable host for the file-sharing site.

The One Big File

Google user Branwolfe1 has uploaded a giant zip file to Google Drive (you can find it here) that includes just about every 3D printing file and blueprint that you can imagine. If downloading a giant Zip file isn’t your thing, check out GetHub user maduce’s FOSSCAD Library or go straight to the FOSSCAD website and download the FOSSCAD Megapack.

Some of the more notable files are as follows:

Flying Swallow Revolver
Glock .22LR Revolver Unit (Attaches to accessory rail)
Partisan Revolver
Super Liberator
Liberator
Marvel Revolver
Supreme Revolver
Zig Zag Smart Phone Gun
Zig Zag Revolver
FOSCAD Bump Stock
Ruger 10/22 Receiver
AR15 Lower

Also in the giant zip file are plans for a drop in auto sear, suppressors, grenades and more. Keep in mind that 3D printing a gun isn’t an easy task and many of the files mentioned will likely not result in a working firearm.

3D Printable Guns

Liberator Pistol – https://archive.org/details/Liberator

Gun, 8mm, Printable – https://3dsha.re/product/gun-8-mm-printable/

Printable Liberator Gun – https://3dsha.re/product/gun-printable-liberator/

10/22 Receiver – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Rifles/10_22_Receiver-Unnamed

Shutty Pistol – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Pistols/9mm_Shuty_AR-15_Pistol_v4.0_MP-1-unnamed

PM522 Washbear – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Firearms/PM522_Washbear_Revolver_v2.0-JamesRPatrick

Flying Swallow Revolver – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2630109

Grizzly Handgun – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Firearms/Grizzly_Handgun-Canadiangunnut

Sacramento Pistol – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Firearms/Sacramento_Pistol-Caboose

Printable Suppressors

We also found several plans for 3D printed suppressors while compiling this list.

5mm Supressor – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2828534

Monocore 5.56/.223 Suppressor – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2599322

Gryphon .22 Suppressor – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Muzzle_Devices/22_Suppressor_Baffle_Gryphon-Remove_Kebab

Mystique Suppressor – https://github.com/maduce/fosscad-repo/tree/master/Muzzle_Devices/FOSSCAD_Mystique_Suppressor-unnamed

Printable Gun Parts & Tools

How about a bunch of useful 3D printed gun parts and tools?

UpLULA M&P Shield Spacer – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2734617

Reinforced Liberator Pistol Trigger – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1615992

P320 Magazine Limiting Blocks – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2979623

Adjustable Blade Arm Brace for AR Pistol – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2934481

Colt 1911 Grips – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2852983

Glock 43 Grip Plug – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2849561

Sig P210 Grips – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2822530

AR15 Grip – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2806009

5.56/.223 Chamber Flag – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1609864

Vortex Strike Eagle Throw Lever – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1724289

XDs .45 Rear Slide Plate – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2802422

California Compliant AK Grip – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2690189

Smith & Wesson 586 & 686 Barrel Vice Pads – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2087868

Sig Sauer P938 Grips – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2323101

1911 Barrel Bushing Wrench – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5649

Glock 19 Gen4 Grip Plug – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1036926

Printable Ammo Boxes, Magazines & Extensions

There are even 3D printed magazines, magazine extensions, and ammo boxes to print.

DPMS AR15 .22LR 10-Round Magazine – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2782642

PMAG Gen3 Magazine Coupler – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2664449

3D Printed Glock Magazine Extention – http://www.printedfirearm.com/3d-printed-glock-basepad-extension/

Chiappa M1-22 Extended 19-round Magazine – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2685411

200 Round .22 LR Ammo Box – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2927662

10 Round Limiter For Black Dog .22 Magazines – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2266735

Speed Loader Model 27A – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2858227

SP101 .327 Speedloader – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2418575

Glock 43 Plus 2 Mag Extention – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2464038

Shockwave Blade “Adaptor” – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2551583

Glock Gen3 Magazine Catch – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2569574

Printable Gun Stands, Mounts, Holsters & Mag Pouches

Pistol Stand – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2883255

Stack-On Security Cabinet Mount – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2859508

Glock 19 Stand – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2846384

Walther PPK Magazine Pouch – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2831049

AR15 Wall Mount With Hinge – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2829239

12-Gauge Shot Shell Holder – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2770518

AR15 Floating Wall Mount – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2757790

Walther P22 Under Table Holster – https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2733761

Review: Jackery Explorer 500 Solar Generator

Posted on August 13, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

Fun Facts About Electricity
Performance
Charging
In the Field
Specifications
More From Issue 27

Although the word “offgrid” is part of the name of our magazine, and we cover and discuss many products and techniques that can help you survive without access to electricity, there’s no denying that juice powers some wonderful devices.

So what can you do when you expect to be far from outlets, but still need power on tap? More specifically, what if you need a lot of power and AC capability? Jackery has a solution: the Explorer 500. They call it a portable solar generator, and while you can charge it with a solar panel, it’s basically a giant battery. Not one of those old-fashioned, boat anchor, lead-acid batteries that you might find in cars and some other high-capacity generators, either. It features lighter, more compact, and more resilient lithium-ion cells, just like smartphones, laptops, and Tesla cars.

Fun Facts About Electricity

Electricity is essentially the flow of electric charge, which we utilize to power our homes, offices, and portable devices. Voltage, measured in volts, refers to the potential energy or difference in charge between two points. Current, measured in amperes, refers to the rate at which charge is flowing. Multiplying the two together results in an expression of power, measured in watts (V x A = W).

Your house is powered from your local electrical grid with AC (alternating current), whereby the electric current repeatedly reverses direction, alternating back and forth at a certain frequency. On the other hand, DC (direct current) flows in only one direction, as used to power electronic systems and as found in batteries.

Many items are designed to be plugged into an AC outlet. So if you wish to power them with a portable battery unit, it must be able to convert the DC output from its battery to AC for the appliance or device to use, via a component called an inverter.

Power requirements for various devices span a wide range. A 100-watt light bulb, not surprisingly, draws about 100 watts. A desktop computer might draw several hundred watts. A microwave could wolf down over 1,000 watts. This is no problem at home — a typical 15- or 20-amp 120-volt power circuit in your house can deliver about 1,400 to 1,900 watts of continuous power (e.g. 15A x 120V x 80 percent for a continuous load as a rule of thumb).

However, while hairy-chested gas-powered generators can replicate this level of power delivery, batteries like the Jackery generally can’t put out that much power. The Explorer 500 is rated to deliver peak AC output of 500 watts and continuous output of 300 watts (110 volts at 2.6 amps). So don’t expect to use power-hungry appliances and tools with it.

Performance

Above: Our trusty old Ono Sokki FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analyzer plots amplitude versus time, showing a nice sine wave from the Jackery. Voltage values look low, because we used an attenuated oscilloscope probe.

Jackery says the capacity of this beast is 500 watt-hours, so theoretically you could power a 50-watt device for 10 hours or a 500-watt item for one hour. For an extended continuous test, we used the Explorer to run a retina MacBook Pro 15 for an entire work day, consisting of watching work-related videos, work-related surfing of the web and social media, writing articles, editing photos and videos, rendering video projects, playing a few work-related games, and watching more work-related videos. From a full charge, the Jackery lasted 10.5 hours (roughly 10 percent of capacity per hour) and its built-in LCD monitor reported power output typically ranging from 20 to 60 watts. This was pretty consistent with Jackery’s stated specifications, assuming some efficiency loss.

To test more peaky power needs, we used the Explorer to run studio strobe flashes that bumped up against its peak AC output. We powered two strobes on a photo shoot with a power strip plugged into the Jackery’s single AC outlet. There seemed to be a dip in power after each time the strobes fired, but the big battery kept on trucking throughout the shoot. With the heavy demands on the battery, the Jackery’s cooling fan also kicked in.

Note also that the unit doesn’t actually connect to the third grounding prong on plugs; there’s just an empty plastic recess to accommodate the prong. This seems unlikely to present any issues, especially given the Explorer’s overall power output limitations, but devices that sense and require a proper ground may not work.

Jackery says that the Explorer’s AC output is a pure sine wave, as you’d expect from your home’s outlet and high-end backup power systems for computers and other sensitive electronic equipment. However, an online publication’s review of the similar Jackery Power Pro last fall found that it wasn’t producing a clean sine wave when connected to an ocilloscope. We wanted to check if Jackery had improved the quality of the AC power output along with the product’s name. So, we spent some time on the lab bench with an Ono Sokki FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) analyzer. We’re pleased to report that the Explorer’s AC signal was a clean sine wave, confirmed with the FFT analyzer’s plots of voltage amplitude versus time and frequency.

For more pedestrian DC power needs, the Explorer also has two USB ports, a 12-volt car socket, and two 6mm 12-volt DC sockets. Recharging small items like an iPhone were child’s play with the massive battery, like refueling a motor scooter with a KC-135 Stratotanker.

Charging

With such a large battery, charging the Explorer is a non-trivial consideration. The specification for its charging port is 25.5 volts, so it requires a hefty power source to replenish its lithium-ion cells. The included AC power adapter weighs 1 pound and pushes 25.5 volts at 3.5 amps; the math lines up perfectly with the Explorer’s display, which indicated an input of 89 or 90 watts when plugged in. Jackery says a full charge should take six to seven hours; in our testing, it took almost exactly six hours each time.

Alternately, for when power outlets aren’t available, Jackery offers optional solar panels. We tested their large 102-watt panel, which folds in fourths from a sail-like 40 by 31.5 inches to 20 by 16 inches and is secured by magnets and a zippered sheath when folded. It has two USB outlets, USB-A and USB-C, as well as a connector that takes an extension cable to plug into the Explorer. There were two cable lengths included with our press loaner; the short 12-inch one was faulty but the long 10-foot cable worked fine. On sunny California days in springtime, the Explorer showed that it was receiving 45 to 57 watts from the solar panel. At best, we’d recharge about 10 percent per hour in midday, averaging closer to 5 percent as the sun crept on. Jackery notes that total charge times of seven hours or less are possible, but we weren’t able to achieve sufficiently high-input wattage to charge that fast. Note that Jackery has updated its solar panels, now offering a 100W variant which offers similar performance to the older model that we tested. It also replaces the fabric outer shell with hard plastic.

While lithium-ion cells are great, they don’t last forever and lose effectiveness over time — just ask Apple about its Batterygate controversy. Jackery estimates that the Explorer’s battery will last approximately 500 full recharging cycles.

In the Field

In the field, the Explorer worked as promised, without any fuss. The illuminated display shows power output, input, and battery status in percentage. This was very handy to keep an eye on power consumption (or charging) and to have a handle on how much longer the battery might last. However, like a cheese-eating surrender monkey, it gives up the ghost silently; we’d have liked an audible indicator when the battery runs out. There’s an LED light built into the unit as well, convenient when you’re trying to deal with a tangle of cords and devices at night.

The single AC outlet was an inconvenience; we successfully used a power strip, but that’s one more item to worry about and misplace when you most need it. In any case, you should remain cognizant of the total load you put on the system.

We thought the car socket would be handy to use a cigarette lighter as a firestarter. Unfortunately, none of the lighters we had on hand (from an old Ford truck and an old Honda) worked — it appears the contacts on the lighters were recessed too far for the Explorer’s socket. But various other 12-volt car accessories worked well, including a portable refrigerator that’s been a family favorite on long trips over the years.

While somewhat heavy and bulky, the solar panel worked dependably. You can drape it over a tent, prop it up, or use the metal grommets to latch it to something, like a roof rack.

The Explorer isn’t weather-proof, with its exposed fan and sockets, but held up fine in regular use. It got banged around in the back of vehicles, along dirt trails, and at camp sites, collecting scratches, but continuing to serve up juice. Additionally, its stated operating temperature to supply power ranges from 14 to 113 degrees F, and from 32 to 104 degrees F for charging, so be mindful of this if you experience temperature extremes in your area.

At over 12 pounds for the battery and over 9 pounds for the solar panels — not to mention their bulk — the system wasn’t particularly practical for traveling on foot. It has a nice rubber carrying handle, but isn’t otherwise conducive to being humped. However, it did function nicely as an improvised kettlebell for exercising in the field.

So the Explorer 500 seems best suited for relatively static or vehicle-based applications — emergency or backup power during outages, supplemental power source, car-camping trips, events at venues without power outlets, and so forth. We read online reviews from folks who also use it for medical equipment and astronomy. For long-term survival use, though, we’d pick a more powerful gas generator over a solar-powered battery pack like the Explorer to service electrical needs. But as a dead simple, clean, quiet power source for items that aren’t overly power hungry, the Jackery Explorer 500 is a very handy tool. And its ability to be recharged via solar panels can help to lower your reliance on consumable fuel sources — an important consideration if a disaster leads to chaos at local gas stations.

Specifications

Jackery Explorer 500 and 102W (tested) Solar Panel

Dimensions
10.6 by 6.7 by 12.5 inches (battery pack)
20 by 16 by 1 inches (solar panel, folded)

Weight
12.4 pounds (battery pack)
9.3 pounds (solar panel)

MSRP
$599 (battery pack)
$499 (100W solar panel)

URL
www.jackery.com

More From Issue 27

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Read articles from the next issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 28

Read articles from the previous issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 26

Check out our other publications on the web: Recoil | Gun Digest | Blade | RecoilTV | RECOILtv (YouTube)

Editor's Note: This article has been modified from its original version for the web.

Survival Scenarios: Desert Road Breakdown

Posted on August 12, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

Background Info
Staying Put
Walking to Find Help
The Decision

Personal experience is often the greatest teacher. When we make it through difficult situations, especially those which could have easily become life-threatening, it leads us to contemplate how we can prepare ourselves to better cope with those situations in the future. And more importantly, it helps us consider what we'd do if things took a turn for the worse. This is why we've created our Survival Scenarios article series — to help you think through problems before they arise.

The following scenario is based on my own experience during a recent 8-hour road trip between California and Arizona. After pulling off the road for a bathroom break, I returned to my car only to find the battery had died unexpectedly and the engine wouldn't turn over. Ambient temperature had been hovering around 116°F (47°C) for most of the afternoon.

This wasn't a problem with the air conditioning at full blast, but without a running engine, A/C was no longer an option. My wife and dog were in the car with me, and it was getting hotter by the minute. Anyone who has experienced this extreme desert heat knows it's more than just uncomfortable. Prolonged exposure can be dangerous if you're unprepared.

Fortunately, I had a portable lithium-ion jump-starter in the glovebox and was able to get the car running again in less than a minute. Without this item, I would've been forced to pull out my jumper cables and rely on the kindness of a stranger. And if I found myself in this situation in a more remote area without these tools, I could end up in serious danger.

A handheld jumpstart unit like this one can get your car started without the aid of another vehicle.

This leads us to an interesting question: if you found yourself in a broken-down vehicle on a remote desert road, what would you do? Stay with the vehicle and take shelter, hoping for a passerby to spot you? Or set out on foot to reach a more heavily-trafficked road, attempting to wave down another motorist?

This is the question we’ll address in today’s Survival Scenarios article. As usual, we will ask you how you’d handle a difficult choice in a hypothetical survival situation, given the background information below. The article will end with a poll where you can make your choice and see how others felt.

Background Info

In this scenario, you're traveling north on Route 95 from Yuma, Arizona towards Lake Havasu. You're in your compact SUV, headed out on a Thursday afternoon to meet some friends for a weekend at the lake. A few hours into the journey, you spot a sign for a campground and hiking area, so you decide to check it out and stretch your legs. But as you pull to a stop in the empty dirt parking lot, your vehicle's engine sputters and stalls. Turning the key produces nothing but a faint click — it won't start.

It's late summer and stepping out of your air-conditioned vehicle feels like walking into an oven. According to the temperature reading on your dash, it's close to 120°F outside, and extremely dry without a hint of breeze. You know that the onset of heat exhaustion and heat stroke can be sudden in this weather.

The surrounding terrain is mostly barren, with low-lying bushes and cactus as the only vegetation. You estimate you're about two miles from Route 95, but passing traffic is sparse at this time on a weekday.

In your vehicle, you have the following items:

Cell phone with a full battery, but it currently reads “No Signal”
A cooler containing most of a 24-pack of water bottles (roughly 2.5 gallons worth) and two six-packs of light beer, but no ice
Four 250-calorie protein bars and a half-eaten pack of beef jerky
Duffel bag with spare clothing and toiletries
Vehicle emergency kit with a jack, jumper cables, tow rope, two road flares, a small tarp, a pair of gloves, and a multi-tool

One thing's for sure: sitting in your enclosed vehicle isn't an option. The intense sun and greenhouse effect is making it unbearably hot inside. You can either take shelter in the shade and wait for rescue, or set out on foot to reach a main road or a location that has enough cell signal to call for help.

Staying Put

If you choose to stay with your vehicle, priority number one is finding shelter from the sun. There are no large trees or manmade structures nearby, but you can use the tarp from your emergency kit to rig up a shelter alongside your car. If that doesn't work, you can crawl underneath the car itself, although the undercarriage is probably still warm from your trip.

The good news is you've got quite a bit of lukewarm water (and beer) to stay hydrated. The water can also be splashed on spare clothing and wrapped around your body for evaporative cooling. Food is limited, but exposure will threaten your health long before lack of calories becomes a problem, so it's not a top priority.

By staying with the vehicle, you can use the road flares and some collected brush to start a signal fire. Burning the spare tire will create thick black smoke that will hopefully serve as a distress signal. However, this relies on someone spotting your signal and calling the authorities.

Your friends expect you to arrive in Havasu by dinnertime, so they'll probably know something is wrong within a few hours if you don't show up. They can report your vehicle type and approximate route to rescue personnel, but they'll have no way of knowing where in the 150 miles of desert you ended up — or how far you are from the main highway. Rescue might take 24 hours or more to arrive, and that's a long time in this extreme heat. Even after the sun sets, you can expect temperatures close to 100°F.

Walking to Find Help

If you set out on foot from your vehicle, it'll be wise to leave signals indicating your distress. You can prop the hood open to indicate a breakdown, and in case a plane flies overhead, use the international ground-to-air signaling code to leave a marker on the ground. This could be built from brightly-colored items from the car, or dark stones that contrast with the sandy ground.

Before leaving, you'll want to leave a written note in the car indicating details rescuers might need — your name, the circumstances of your breakdown, emergency contact info for friends/family, the time you left the vehicle, your physical appearance, and the direction you headed.

Covering your skin in fabric will help you avoid the direct sunlight. Photo: Flickr.com/acquimat

You can load up the duffel bag to take some items with you, most importantly plenty of water. It'll also be wise to loosely wrap your exposed skin in lightweight garments to escape the harsh sun, as Bedouins and other desert-dwelling people have done for centuries. The road flares can help with signaling once you reach a main road.

Setting out on foot increases your odds of a quick rescue, since you might walk a short distance and reach cell signal, or you might reach the highway and flag down a motorist. However, it also poses a huge risk. Leaving your vehicle will make it harder for rescuers to find you, and could cause you to become lost or injured in the desert with even less supplies.

The Decision

Given the circumstances above and the pros/cons of each choice, it's time to decide which course of action you'd take. Would you prefer to leave your vehicle, knowing the high risk and high potential for reward? Or would you take the safer route, staying with your vehicle to conserve energy and remain in the shade?

Enter your decision into the poll below, and feel free to justify that choice in the comments section.

Off-the-Grid Dentistry

Posted on August 11, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

In This Article

Mother Nature’s Mouthwash
Improvised Toothbrush
Infections
Survival Kits
Tooth Damage
Conclusion
About the Author
More From Issue 27

WARNING: This article is meant to be a quick overview and not a detailed guide on how to deal with dental care in an emergency situation. Professional medical treatment should always be sought first before attempting any of these methods.

Do you remember the movie Cast Away? In this film, protagonist Chuck Noland (played by Tom Hanks) survives four years on a deserted island after his plane goes down in the ocean. At one point in the movie, Mr. Noland develops a bad tooth. Since a professional dentist isn’t available to extract the tooth, he’s forced to improvise and gruesomely knocks the tooth out with an ice skate blade and a rock. Isn’t there a better way? Could he have prevented the situation from getting that bad?

While this may have been played up for dramatic effect, think about that scenario for a second. If you develop severe dental problems, such as an infected or cracked tooth, lacerated gums, an oral fungal infection, or one of many other nasty issues in that opening you’re using to eat food and drink water, what can you do? If no medical help is available, you may be in a world of hurt.

Anyone who has experienced even a mild toothache or onset of a cavity knows that it’s a level of discomfort you wish to rid yourself of as quickly as possible, lest it become unbearably painful. Without proper treatment, an abscess or infected tooth could even be life-threatening. First, let’s talk preventive measures. Don’t assume that if you’re without floss or a toothbrush you’ll just have to hope for the best. There are items out there you can either fashion yourself or that can be found in nature. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Answers to those questions can be found in Murray Dickson’s book, Where There Is No Dentist. First released in November 1983, it’s an excellent, easy-to-understand resource to manage various dental issues in remote third-world countries or a long-term survival situation. Like Mr. Dickson, we value preparedness.

“Where There Is No Dentist” by Murray Dickson

Mother Nature’s Mouthwash

As part of a preventive strategy, you can rinse your mouth with a mixture of ½ teaspoon of table salt dissolved in a cup of warm water every day to keep harmful bacteria to a minimum. This works by gently altering the pH balance in your mouth to create an alkaline environment that impedes the growth of specific tooth-decay-causing bacteria. Fortunately, the saltwater solution won’t irritate the mucous membranes that line your mouth and help maintain its equilibrium.

In a survival situation, you can boil ocean water down to procure sea salt crystals, but rinsing with untreated seawater should always be avoided (more on that shortly). If you aren’t near an ocean, you can boil hickory roots until the water evaporates. The crystals left in the pan are salt. You might even be lucky enough to find a salt block in a farmer’s field.

It’s important to note that while pure saltwater rinses can be beneficial for oral health, the use of saltwater — especially raw seawater — on open wounds elsewhere on the body poses some concerns. See our “Debunked” column elsewhere in this issue for more details on saltwater wound care.

Improvised Toothbrush

If you don’t have a toothbrush, you can create one by using a small, soft tree branch (ash, willow, poplar, pine). Choose a small branch that’s about the thickness of a pencil. It should be sturdy enough that it won’t break when you brush your teeth. Chew the end of it to soften it, and use that end to brush with. Toothpaste is helpful, but not essential, as brushing with water alone is better than not brushing at all. As for floss, you can use the smaller cordage from paracord, palm leaves, fibers from a yucca plant, or similar nontoxic fibrous items.

In the second part of the book, Dickson discusses treatment of various dental problems. With poor dental and gum care, infection becomes a real possibility. The gums often get infected due to poor hygiene and a diet high in sugar. These can cause the gums to loosen around the teeth and allow bacteria to grow in this space. The gums can swell, get red, bleed, and be painful as some of the earliest signs of infection.

Infections

If the infection gets deeper near the root of the tooth, there’s a possibility it can spread to the adjacent bone. If the infection gets into the bloodstream, it can infect the heart valve (called endocarditis), and is a potentially life-threatening situation. This type of infection requires intravenous antibiotics, which would not be readily available in a survival setting. Thus, recognition of early signs of infection is your best bet to minimize more serious infections from occurring.

Starting oral antibiotics early is important, so hopefully you have stored some for these types of emergencies. Antibiotics that’d be useful are Penicillin, Amoxicillin/Clavulanate, or Clindamycin. You could also try herbal remedies like chamomile, Echinacea, garlic, onions, etc., to boost the immune system if nothing else is available, but these may not help if the infection is too far advanced.

If an abscess is present, you may need to drain it to relieve the pain and pressure. This would require a large sterile needle or sharp sterile knife to incise the area and allow the pus to drain. Remember that good hygiene is an important part of keeping your teeth and gums in good shape so you won’t have to attempt oral surgery on yourself or someone else. Those are dangerously desperate measures that may only exacerbate the problem if you have no experience in this area — they’re a last resort.

Echinacea

What happens when the tooth gets infected? One simple sign of infection is that the tooth can be sore with chewing. If the pain is fairly constant and severe, it may suggest a deeper infection, or abscess, in the tooth. Bacteria find safe harbor in a dental cavity, a lost filling or a loose crown. Cleaning the tooth and filling the breach is essential to prevent any further damage to the tooth. Dickson devotes specific chapters to cleaning, filling, and pulling a tooth.

Survival Kits

Although there are dental kits that have everything you need to place a temporary filling in a cavity (including instructions), you may need to make your own tools. You can, however, purchase a small collection of dental tools for about $10 and still not take up much room in your bug-out bag.

These tools should include a probe, scaler, spoon, and a filling tool, at the very least. If you don’t have access to these tools, you’ll have to scavenge for items to make them. Coat hangers and heavy-gauge wire are easy to fashion into anything you may need to clean or remove a tooth. Keep in mind that when placing the filling, be sure there’s no infection deeper in the tooth. This may cause increased pain and an infection that spreads to the bone and bloodstream.

For sterilization purposes, boiling the improvised dental instruments in clean water would be the way to go.

Tooth Damage

What happens if you break a tooth or even knock it out completely? You’ll need to decide whether to fix the problem or pull the tooth. If the tooth has changed to a dark color or has broken off deep at the root, or if the nerve is exposed, then you should remove the tooth. If you carry lidocaine and a syringe, I’d suggest injecting into the gums at the root above the tooth (for the upper teeth).

For the lower teeth, you’ll need to inject inside the mouth above the angle of the jaw. This is where the main nerve enters the jawbone. If the tooth gets completely knocked out in one piece due to trauma, you have about 12 hours to replace it. Ideally, replace the tooth as soon as possible. Make sure to clean it first with saline or purified water. Hold the tooth in place for about five minutes. Try to protect it by covering it and the adjacent teeth with a roll of beeswax. Of course, if you find yourself with nothing but an ice skate and a rock, you’ll have to do the best you can.

As far as improvised gauze found in nature, you could use alfalfa leaves, cayenne, or calendula to stop bleeding and the inner part of the brown cattail fruit, cotton, or hemp flour as an absorbent. In lieu of those items, a piece of clothing or tampon could also serve as temporary absorbents.

Conclusion

Dickson’s book provides an excellent resource for prevention and treatment of different dental ailments when there’s no dentist and you find yourself suffering from oral health problems. Educating yourself prior to a dire situation will be paramount to returning home with all of your pearly whites. Speak to your dentist as well about tools and medical supplies you should carry with you that could come in handy during an emergency. Although you may not have thought to add something as simple as floss, toothbrush, and bottles of mouthwash to your bug-out bag, they’re an essential and often-overlooked part of your survival needs.

About the Author

David Miller, DO, FACOI, is an internist in private practice. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1990, he has a unique perspective on patient care and disease management. Experiences away from the office have included being a fight doctor for regional MMA bouts and a team physician for a Division I university in west central Illinois. Dr. Miller is an instructor for the Civilian Crisis Response Team (medical section) based out of Indianapolis.

More From Issue 27

Don’t miss essential survival insights—sign up for Recoil Offgrid's free newsletter today!

Read articles from the next issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 28

Read articles from the previous issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 26

Check out our other publications on the web: Recoil | Gun Digest | Blade | RecoilTV | RECOILtv (YouTube)

Editor's Note: This article has been modified from its original version for the web.

New: Danner Trail 2650 Lightweight Hiking Shoes

Posted on August 10, 2018 at 6:00 am.

Written by Patrick McCarthy

The Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, is a legendary hiking route that extends from southern California to British Columbia, Canada. It reaches from just above sea level to a staggering 13,000 feet, travels across numerous mountain ranges and national forests, and covers 2,659 miles of wilderness. Although there's no single route that can fully sum up the terrain of North America, the PCT certainly comes close.

Oregon-based footwear company Danner has paid homage to the Pacific Crest Trail with its latest hiking shoe release. It's dubbed the Trail 2650, referring to the number of miles spanned by the trail, and is designed to be ultra-lightweight and flexible. As a spring- and summer-oriented shoe, breathability was also a top priority.

The Danner Trail 2650 is based on a lightweight EVA midsole, durable Trailguard TPU shank, and rugged Vibram 460 outsole. The company says this tread pattern “provides superior traction across slippery and challenging terrain”. This shoe also features Danner's EXO heel system, which locks the wearer's heel in place in an effort to avoid slippage that can lead to blisters.

Alternate colorways for the Men's Trail 2650

The Trail 2650's upper is constructed from leather and textile with a breathable mesh lining. It also comes with red laces, which have become an easy-to-spot Danner styling cue. Overall weight of the shoe is just under 12 ounces.

Women's Trail 2650

This new footwear will be available in Spring 2019 for both men and women, with an MSRP of $150. For more info, go to Danner.com/trail-2650.