Primitive Technology: Wood Ash Cement

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Cement is a substance that surrounds us every day in the city and suburbs, and along with asphalt, it forms the basis for most of our urban developments. But have you ever considered how it's made? No, we're not talking about driving to the local hardware store, buying a bag, and adding water. If you needed to make your own cement from scratch, how would you do it?

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In his latest video, the Aussie survival instructor at Primitive Technology shows how to make improvised cement from natural wood ash. He begins by burning dry bark in a clay kiln design he demonstrated in a previous video — you can watch that here. Once the bark was fully combusted and the fire died out, a pile of dry ash was left at the base of the kiln.

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He then carefully mixed this with water, pouring off the excess until desired moisture was achieved. A ball formed from this paste was heated in a fire then dropped into water, and crushed clay was incorporated to reinforce the ash. After setting for three days, a cube made from the wood ash cement proved hard and moisture-resistant.

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Although materials such as wattle and daub and adobe may be able to produce viable long-term structures, this wood ash cement is substantially more advanced. Modern cement's weather-resistance is outstanding, and this improvised variety appears to share this characteristic. Check out the video below to see the entire cement-making process:

Unconventional Weapon: The OSS Stinger Pen Gun

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During World War II, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was responsible for coordinating espionage and other secretive missions behind enemy lines. As a result, this organization developed some fascinating weapons and gadgets — often the sort of thing you'd expect to see in a James Bond film. These included covert firearms, explosive devices, and poisons designed to eliminate high-value targets.

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One weapon developed by the OSS was known as the Stinger, and resembles the size and shape of a pen. In actuality, it was a covert gun that fired a .22 Short cartridge. The OSS Stinger was designed for single use and sealed around the cartridge, so once it had been fired, it was disposed of immediately.

OSS Stinger pen gun covert weapon survival self defense tool 2

Several variants of the Stinger were developed throughout the war, with reinforcements made to the chamber and firing mechanism to reduce the risk of misfires (and damage to the shooter's hand). In the following video, Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons examines three variants of the Stinger pen gun and discusses its history in greater detail:

What If a Dirty Bomb Goes Off in Your City?

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Five seconds. Only five seconds had passed. But it felt like five hours as your mind slowly processed what had happened. The booming sound outside of your home, the rattling of the old single-pane windows, the screaming you heard on the street — all of it let you know that something horrible had struck.

You were just a kid when the Sept. 11 attacks happened, but it had a major impact on your childhood. Maybe today it was happening again.

Terrorism is the new Cold War. Many of us today worry when the next big ISIS or ISIS-inspired attack will occur and in what form it will take. Some of us are so concerned that we’ve taken measures to be prepared for it. But what happens when it’s time to leap from theoretical plans to a state of action? In this edition of What If?, we pose the question: What if a dirty bomb explodes in your hometown?

This would invariably create a cascade of unpredictable events. To explore as many possible outcomes and viewpoints, RECOIL OFFGRID asked three different survival writers whether they would hunker down or hit the road. For this installment, we have Candice Horner, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, registered nurse, and competitive shooter with experience in federal law enforcement. Next is Mike Seeklander, a former law enforcement officer who’s also a Marine Corps combat veteran, firearms instructor, and a martial artist.

And for contestant number three, our editor asked me to craft a story as well. I’ve been teaching people how to survive almost everything for the past 20 years, and I’ve written New York Times-bestselling survival manuals.

And now it’s time to find out just how prepared we really are.

The Scenario

SITUATION TYPE
Terrorist attack

YOUR CREW
You (mid 20s) and your 3-month-old baby

LOCATION
Baltimore, Maryland

SEASON
Autumn (October)

WEATHER
Cloudy, 63 degrees F, with slight wind

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The Setup: You’re an electrician in your mid 20s. Recently separated from her deadbeat mom, you now have sole custody of your infant, Ashley. With your babysitter (your mom) on vacation, you also take a two-week vacation to spend some quality time with Ashley in your townhouse in the Federal Hill neighborhood. In the shadow of our nation’s capital, Baltimore can be a rough city — you consider the government dysfunctional, the infrastructure in disrepair, and the crime rate impressively high; but it’s home.

Just as you introduce Ashley to the glory of televised Ravens football, you hear a distant boom followed by some rumbling. Then the texts, tweets, and posts start flooding your smartphone. Something about a building collapse. Next, the commentators stop their pregame show to report there was some sort of explosion at Johns Hopkins University. A big one. Eventually, the network’s breaking news alert interrupts the game: A massive explosion has vaporized the campus’ entire School of Education building on Charles Street and destroyed much of the surrounding residential and business buildings. Terrorist attack? Unless it’s the biggest gas leak accident ever, most likely.

The Complication: As news reports grow scarier by the minute, you realize you can’t go numb. After putting Ashley down to sleep, you start gathering your supplies and gear. That’s when you see the TV and online updates: ISIS has claimed responsibility for the explosion, saying it was a truck bomb laced with radioactive material. They say they struck at “the heart of a blasphemous education system that teaches Americans how to hate Islam.” The phrase “dirty bomb” echoes in your head, stopped only by another ISIS threat: “There will be more.”

The New Plan: You don’t know if there’ll be another attack that’s closer, but you know that the university is only 5 miles away. And if that attack really was a dirty bomb, exposure to radioactive debris could spell bad news — and you’re not willing to do nothing with Ashley in your care. So, do you use your preps, supplies, and survival skills to shelter in place and fortify your townhouse? Or do you grab your baby, climb into your work truck, and hope to get as much distance between you and any possible fallout or follow-up attack?

Former U.S. Marine: Candice Horner’s Approach

In an instant, the city went into a synchronized panic. Screams of terror seemed to come from all directions. Word had quickly spread that ISIS was responsible for the bombing. I didn’t need to look outside to know the city was in chaos.

I love Baltimore, but unfortunately I’ve seen firsthand how quickly a crowd can turn into a violent mob. Because the news reporters were providing conflicting statements, I had to believe no one actually knew the full story. With limited information, but enough to know it was dangerous outside, I decided we were staying put.

I quickly scanned the Internet to get a Cliff’s Notes version of how to survive a dirty bomb attack. Most of what I found advised staying inside if we were already sheltered in a safe place at the time of the attack. I wasn’t sure if we were upwind or not, but I figured I could look into that once I had a clear plan for our “staycation.”

I double-checked to make sure we had enough food, water, baby formula, diapers, and wipes to tide us over for a few days. After scooping up Ashley and her Pack ’n’ Play, we headed down to the basement, which doubles as my man cave.

My man cave has many comforts, but a bathroom is not one of them. A 5-gallon bucket with a lid became my makeshift throne. The small windows in the basement were old and could potentially leave and allow the infiltration of radiologic dust, so I sealed them with duct tape. My paranoia took me a step further by cutting my shower curtain liner slightly larger than each window and completely covering the frame and again sealing it with duct tape. Even though the heat wasn’t running, I shut off the air system and taped the air vents in the basement. If there was dirty bomb dust outside, it was going to have one hell of a time getting into my safe haven.

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Ashley was sound asleep by the time I finished taping the air vents. The sight of her peaceful slumber had a calming effect on me. I sat down, closed my eyes, and focused on the feeling of clean air rushing into my nose and then slowly exhaling out of my mouth. In that moment, all I thought about was the blessing of those breaths.

Then, déjà vu erupted, but from a different direction. ISIS meant what they said, and initial news reports said they annihilated Fort McHenry with another dirty bomb. Not only were we now sandwiched between two dirty bombs, but these bastards also destroyed the birthplace of our national anthem. Fearing things were getting worse by the second, I ran upstairs to get my shotgun and extra 00 buck just in case local punks took advantage of the situation to loot homes and businesses.

On the way back down, I grabbed the air purifier so the basement wouldn’t get stuffy while we waited out this nightmare. The most terrifying aspect of the whole situation was not knowing what to do, or how long we would be in danger. I had the news on TV, the radio on, and the Baltimore Police Department scanner broadcasting via my laptop. Although I loathe social media, Twitter provided the most up-to-date information from eyewitnesses. The hashtag #baltimorebomb was in full effect.

I needed to learn more, but part of me didn’t want to delve deeper only to find my man cave could quickly turn into our coffin. I had to mentally compartmentalize the turn of events so that I could be productive and, if nothing else, attempt to prepare for our doom. I looked up the current wind direction report online. The wind was drifting slowly northeast. This meant the dust from the first bomb wouldn’t come near us, but the fallout from Fort McHenry could hit us.

Because the windows of my house were drafty, I was concerned they’d let radiologic dust in and possibly slip into the basement via the door. I taped up and covered the basement door in the same fashion as the windows. My mother sent me a frantic email that she’d been trying to call. Everyone must have been calling their loved ones in Baltimore, because I couldn’t call her back. Thankfully, the Internet was working, and I was able to give email and Facebook updates to everyone who wanted to make sure sweet Ashley and I hadn’t perished. Being connected while bugging in was reassuring and it ever-so-slightly softened the hard edge of doom surrounding us.

It had only been three hours since the first bomb, and the future possibilities were slowly setting into my mind. I’d do anything to go back to yesterday, as mediocre as it was. The day prior to the bombings was normal; I came home from work and had the usual discontent toward my job, but loved the life I could live thanks to it. The sounds of cars driving down my street and kids laughing on the stoop next door were now replaced with rumbles of a city in distress.

Hopelessness set in, my heart sank, and I closed my eyes. I guess stress had gotten to me so much that I passed out from mental exhaustion. I was startled awake by high-pitched screams coming from the street.

I peeled back the shower liner from the window and saw my elderly neighbor, Ms. Thompson, kneeling on the sidewalk cursing the sky. She looked angered, but equally terrified. I knew she lived alone. I assessed the situation for what seemed like an eternity. I felt like I should help her, but I didn’t want to put Ashley or myself at risk.

Ashley started crying. Luckily she wasn’t old enough to comprehend what was going on — she was just hungry. But I had to go help Ms. Thompson; she was going to scare herself to death. Peeling back the barrier on the door upstairs felt like a knife to my gut. I got over myself and pushed forward with my rescue mission. As soon as Ms. Thompson saw me, the look on her face affirmed my decision to help. She was relieved. Once we got inside, I instructed her to take a shower in the extra bathroom to wash off any possible radioactive material, and to put her clothes in a plastic bag. I gave her a set of Ravens sweats and told her I’d meet her in the basement. Since I had gone outside, I followed my own directions and took a shower in the master bath, albeit without a shower curtain, before returning to the basement.

By nightfall, Ms. Thompson was very sick. She had continuous bouts of vomiting; she was drenched in sweat and became lethargic. The next morning I was able to get a call through to 911, and they said someone would be there as soon as possible. As soon as possible is a relative term, and they were able to take her to the hospital the following night. Once she was in capable hands, I was able to make the most out of my basement retreat with Ashley.

Disaster relief workers took us to a safe area five days later. But, we still weren’t out of the weeds since the effects of the fallout could take weeks to show. Baltimore would never be the same.

Former Law Enforcement Officer: Mike Seeklander’s Approach

I remembered my parents’ reaction when the Twin Towers fell in New York City, the horror on their faces. As a 10-year-old at the time, I had no idea the emotions they felt — until today. Now father of a beautiful girl, I truly understood what it meant to have kin possibly face harm or even death. My gut told me that the explosion was only the beginning, and, if ISIS repeated the pattern that Osama Bin Laden planned 15 years ago, there were certainly other targets.

“Move!” I heard my father’s voice in my head. A former U.S. Marine (there are “no ex-Marines, just Marines”), he would always say action trumps intent every single time. I had to act, and speed was of the essence.

Baltimore was both beautiful and sinister, and I knew from experience that when things went bad, the bad people came out. My lovely city had one of the highest crime rates around, and if food, water, and power started to dry up, all hell would break loose. Not to mention there was a dangerous cloud of potentially radioactive dust headed in who knows what direction. And there was no hope in waiting for the government to step in. I figured they would be suffering from HUA (head up ass) disease for at least several days before reacting properly. Nope. Time to bug out.
And thanks to being raised by a Marine, I knew what to do. When I was a kid, we’d often head out with minimal gear and tell my mother that we’d be back the next morning. While these outings were only a mile or so into the wooded area behind our house, each excursion taught me something new. The one constant? Always make a packing list. I know, it didn’t really sound like such a cool survival lesson. But the way it worked with my old man was that if you forgot something, you lived a night without it. Forgot your bug spray? Live with ticks. Forgot your fire-building kit? Sleep cold.

A packing list was a great tool for gathering the right items quickly, but also something you could tweak depending on your trip. Because I would be jumping into my work truck — a 2011 Toyota Tundra Rock Warrior 4×4 outfitted with the tools of my trade — I had plenty of room to pack the essentials.

My goal wasn’t to grab my baby and live off the land for an extended period of time, but rather get clear of the crime-ridden areas with the potential to succeed in any environment that I ended up in. My destination was one that I lucked upon several years ago while on a project. A longtime customer, a rich dentist named Richard, hired me to do a complete wire job of his family’s old cabin that he inherited. It was on secluded acreage near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. If I helped keep the place up and do any electrical work he needed, I had a key and free access.

The cabin was about 100 miles northwest of Baltimore — well outside of any potential radioactive dust cloud and far north of other potential targets, such as Annapolis and Washington, D.C., but not so far that I couldn’t reach it by truck with my spare fuel cans.

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I opted for my full camping kit plus a few creature comforts for Ashley. This included a small tent, air mattress, sleeping bag, fire-starting kit, solar charger, and my drop box of small supplies — ranging from silverware to a coffee pot. While I had plenty of comfort items at the lodge, I had many miles to cover to get there and had no idea what I might encounter.

Next, I stowed my Smith & Wesson M&P 9C and two spare magazines into a Vertx sling bag then placed my Marlin 336BL lever-action rifle and a .30-30 Winchester with an 18-inch barrel in a secured compartment in the truck bed. After double-checking my list, I headed out. Total packing time: about 25 minutes, getting me out ahead of the mass of panicked fans leaving the football stadium.

Luckily, my job required a lot of driving, so I knew how to navigate through my Federal Hill neighborhood without hitting the major thoroughfares. My goal was to avoid Interstate 95 and 83 altogether and instead use surface streets to eventually get to Maryland Route 26, which would take me northwest to my destination.

All was going well until the 26 neared the Interstate 695. I could see the line of traffic ahead of me. I wasn’t sure if the jam was caused by panicked drivers or it might actually be a roadblock set up by law enforcement.

Based on the radio reports, there were at least two more explosions, and now at least two cells of terrorists were playing hide and seek with local and state police. Several gun battles had erupted, and the city was placing all residents on a lockdown, warning them to stay inside their homes. And while I appreciated what the police were trying to do, there was no way I was getting trapped inside the Baltimore metro area covered with a cloud of potentially radioactive material and relying on the government to save me.

As traffic inched forward, I was able to switch lanes and get out from behind a semi-truck. I could see police lights in the distance; no doubt a road block. Sitting like a frog stuck in mud was not an option. I decided to do something about it.

One thing I had learned from years of camping and off-roading was that there was almost always a way around an obstacle, especially on the East Coast with hundreds of years of old trails and small winding roads. I drove up onto the curb, cutting into the parking lot of a restaurant to double back. I found a set of residential streets that paralleled the roadblock and knew that if I could navigate another half mile west I could probably jump back on a main road and be good to go. A few backtracks later I finally found a decent route and made it back to the 26.

After an intense first hour trying to bug out from the Baltimore area and a smooth 90 minutes after that, we finally rolled up to the Chambersburg property. Exhausted, I took Ashley out of her car seat and put her in a baby carrier on my chest. As I was about to grab the baby bug-out bag I had packed, a silhouette stepped out from behind a bush. Instinctively, I grabbed the M&P handgun from my sling bag and kept it in the low ready position as I turned.

I breathed a huge sigh of relief to find it was Richard, the dentist and cabin owner.

“Thank God you made it,” he said, stepping forward like he just saw a ghost. He was at the cabin with his family for a weekend trip and had heard the news about the attacks. I discreetly put the gun away, opened the truck door, and gave him an embrace. I had never been so happy to see a dentist before.

Survival Expert: Tim Macwelch's Approach

Leave or stay? The debate raged in my mind. Every instinct urged me to flee, but I knew how bad traffic was in Baltimore at rush hour. And a panicked exodus out of the city would be worse than any rush hour imaginable. The friendly flat screen TV that was about to show my favorite football team was spewing forth information that I just didn’t want to hear. ISIS was threatening more attacks in my area, and the emergency broadcast system was instructing people to “shelter in place.”

I didn’t want my little girl to breathe radioactive dust. I just wanted to get out of town. But I knew the traffic could turn into gridlock in a heartbeat and just one automobile accident could leave thousands of people trapped in their cars — with no shelter from the tainted air. Despite the fact that every fiber of my body wanted to put my sleeping baby in my work truck and drive away, I knew I had to stay put. It was the only logical choice, and after several minutes, I finally came to grips with it.

But how could I make sure the air in our poorly insulated townhouse was safe to breathe? I didn’t have duct tape and tarps to keep the dust from creeping in, and I wasn’t even sure which way the wind was blowing that day. Did I have time to seal off all the windows in one room, or would the wind blow all of the dust out over the water and away from our home? I just didn’t know.

I had to find out if we were in harm’s way. Pulling out my phone and searching for weather maps with wind direction and speed, I found a weather webpage from a local news station. Thank God, I thought — the wind wasn’t blowing from the university toward my house. But it was blowing between my home and the school.

Then the situation finally hit me. The bombing site was a busy university. All those people, dead or dying. I felt as if I’d throw up, but I knew I had to control my emotions.

The wind wasn’t blowing the dust in my direction at that time, but that could change with a moment’s notice. I had to seal up my daughter’s room, but I didn’t have the duct tape and plastic sheeting recommended for shelter-in-place situations. I did have plenty of electrical tape in my work truck. I quickly ran out to the vehicle, astonished by all the people in the street. They were watching the smoke cloud rise into the sky and drift to the south. “You should all stay inside!” I yelled to a few of my neighbors. They looked at me questioningly, as if they didn’t understand what I said. But I didn’t have time to stop and explain the situation.

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I unlocked the truck, grabbed a cardboard box of black electrical tape, and headed back inside. I had 15 tape rolls, and I wasn’t afraid to use them. I locked the front door and taped the door cracks behind me. Then, I headed to Ashley’s room and taped the cracks around the window sashes. I taped the electrical outlets and light switch, as well as the HVAC duct in the floor.

After doing all that, I went over everything again with more tape, making wider seals. I hurried to the kitchen, and filling up a grocery bag with clean bottles, nipples, and pacifiers. Then, grabbing a can of formula and a jug of distilled water, I stashed all these things in my baby’s room. Finally, I grabbed my get-out-of-Dodge bag and all the drinks from the fridge and headed to the baby’s room. I looked at the weather on my phone again, hoping that the wind hadn’t shifted my way — thankfully it hadn’t. I cracked open a beer as quietly as I could to avoid waking Ashley and took a long swig of the cold brew. But just as I started to feel like I had everything under control, all hell broke loose.

A second explosion rocked the city of Baltimore, much closer to my home this time. The old windows in the baby’s room rattled and one of the panes cracked.

Ashley awoke from her nap, screaming. This was the ISIS threat made real. And much closer to home. I rushed to tape the crack in the window pane and check all of the tape strips for a good seal.
Through the one window of my child’s room, I saw a hazy smoke begin to pass by the window. The dread built as I realized that I was smelling smoke. This meant that the outside air was still getting in. I’d worked in these houses for years as an electrician, and I knew just how shoddy the construction was, but now these half-assed homes were a real threat. I checked all the tape again with my right hand, holding and bouncing the baby in the crook of my left arm to calm her. I could still smell the smoke and dust, but all the tape was tight. How was I going to keep the dirty air out? I stressed. If only I had a way to pressurize the room.

Then it hit me — my uncle’s carpentry tools! When the housing bubble burst on the East Coast, a lot of small construction companies went out of business. My uncle was among them, and he asked me to store a few of his power tools, including an air compressor. I pulled open the bedroom door, breaking the tape seal, and ran to the basement. The air seemed musty, but much cleaner down there, and I plugged in the compressor unit. The loud motor kicked on and soon the large tank was full of air.

Rushing back upstairs, I re-taped the door and put a small nick in the hose with the tip of my pocketknife. The air hissed out very slowly, and as I held my daughter, I aimed the leaking air toward our faces. After a few minutes of this, the smoke smell didn’t seem so noticeable. “This might be working, baby” I said to my little one. Maybe the air pressure in the room was higher than that outside the room, and it would keep the dust and smoke at bay.

The air had cleared outside of the window, and it seemed that an autumn breeze had picked up. Maybe we might just make it, I thought. Maybe.

Conclusion

There’s nothing that isn’t alarming about a dirty bomb, but it isn’t quite as dangerous as it sounds. Of course, anyone in the blast radius of any bomb is at great risk for traumatic injury or death, but what terrorists would be banking on with a dirty bomb is a greater panic due to the inclusion of a scary substance, namely something radioactive.

Sure, radiation is bad and enough of it can kill you, but a dirty bomb is hardly a nuclear warhead. Avoid the dust, stay indoors, let the prevailing winds disperse the dust and smoke, and — above all — don’t panic. It’s likely that you’d get more radiation in a dentist’s office than in a city that’s been dirty bombed, and when we panic, the bad guys get the exact reaction that they want. (For more, see our article on Dirty Bombs).

Meet Our Panel

Tim MacWelch

Tim MacWelch has been a survival instructor for more than 20 years, training people from all walks of life, including members from all branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, the State Department, DOD, and DOJ personnel. He’s a frequent public speaker for preparedness groups and events. He’s also the author of three New York Times-bestselling survival books, and the new Ultimate Bushcraft Survival Manual. When he’s not teaching survival or writing about it, MacWelch lives a self-reliant lifestyle with his family in Virginia. Check out his wide range of hands-on training courses that are open to the public at www.advancedsurvivaltraining.com.

Candice Horner

Candice Horner has the heart of a prepper, but the traveling schedule of a gypsy. Ever resourceful, this U.S. Marine Corps veteran and emergency room/prison nurse has a honed and refined skillset, focusing on adaptability and utilizing the tools on-hand. As a competitive shooter, Horner is often on the road, so she’s usually rolling with a go-bag, a survivalist mentality, and enough firepower to have your back in a SHTF scenario. www.recoilweb.com / www.candi323.com

Mike Seeklander

Mike Seeklander is the owner of Shooting-Performance LLC, a full-service training company and co-hosts The Best Defense, the Outdoor Channel’s leading firearm instructional TV show. In addition to being a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran, a former law enforcement officer, and a competitive shooting champion, he’s an accomplished martial-arts instructor and holds multiple ranks. Learn more about him at: www.shooting-performance.com

More From Issue 16

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Read articles from the next issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 17

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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 print version for the web.

Can You Survive After a Nuclear War?

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If you’re reading this, you must have survived. Soon you’ll realize that those who didn’t survive were the lucky ones, obliterated in an instant flash of light or shattered to bits by a tremendous shockwave rippling outward from the epicenter of a thermonuclear detonation.

Who knows what the rest of the country looks like, and you’ll have no way of finding out.

OK, so the above situation is more hypothetical than historical. But with current events making people wonder if we’ve regressed to the 1960s, we take a look at that time period’s worst fear: nuclear winter. Is it possible to survive after a nuclear war? What would your world look like if you did? And what sort of preps can you make now?

What better way to be prepared for the future than to research the past. After all, George Santayana warned us that, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The Atomic Age

The Atomic Age began with a bang in 1945. Although the United States hoped to have a monopoly on its newest technological terror, stolen secrets spread around the globe. The USA tested its first nuclear bomb in July 1945, and the Soviets followed with its own tests four years later. The U.K., France, and China joined the Atomic Age by the early 1960s.

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1968 and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1996 curbed some countries from developing nukes, but spurred others — India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iran, Syria, and Israel — to pursue nuclear programs. Stockpiles of nuclear weapons, which today are at an all-time low, hit a high-water mark during the Cold War with 70,000 warheads and a variety of delivery systems.

According to data from the New START Treaty of 2015, together the USA and Russia currently deploy 3,179 strategic warheads on 1,300 bombers and missiles — far more than is needed to completely annihilate the globe.

Dr. Ira Helfand, chair of the security committee and co-president of Physicians for Social Responsibility, writes: “If only 300 warheads in the Russian arsenal got through to targets in American cities, 75 million to 100 million people would be killed in the first 30 minutes.”

Cloudy With a Chance of Radiation

In 1983, a group of scientists wrote that an all-out nuclear war would easily doom humankind, and in doing so they coined the phrase “nuclear winter.” What would follow, they suggested, would be a winter so severe that the living might well envy the dead. Beneath the sun-blocking dome of dust, surface temperatures would plummet, conceivably by as much as 60 degrees F. Plant and animal life would die, and crops would wither. With only a 10-percent drop in worldwide crops, famine would spread across the globe.

Alan Robock, a professor at Rutgers University and the country’s foremost authority on the aftermath of a nuclear confrontation, says, “There are now nine nuclear-weapons states. Use of a fraction (only 1 percent or 50 Hiroshima-size bombs) of the global nuclear arsenal by anyone still presents the largest potential environmental danger to the planet by humans.”

There’s no need to detonate 50 warheads to understand what happens when millions of tons of dust are hurtled into the atmosphere. One must merely look to history, specifically at the 1815 volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia.

Lord Byron wrote in his 1816 poem, Darkness, about an “icy earth” and “the sun being extinguished” based on his observations while on the other side of the globe in Switzerland. Thomas Robbins, a reverend in Ohio, wrote in his diary about the “year without a summer,” remarking on June 9, 1816: “The cold and wind still continue. The last three days have been extraordinary. It is said that there was snow at the northward last Thursday.” On August 22, there was frost on the ground.

Imagine this on a scale 100 times larger, due to the black soot particles thrown into the atmosphere from a nuclear event.

Dr. Luke Oman, a physical scientist at Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory at NASA, explains, “Whereas sulfate particles from a volcano might warm the air of the upper atmosphere by a couple degrees, black carbon absorbs heat from the sun and can lead to much more atmospheric warming. Black carbon particles are smaller than sulfate particles and can be lofted much higher by solar heating, where their influence on climate can last up to a decade.”

Can You Survive This?

Well, the short answer is probably not. If in a full-scale nuclear war between superpowers you’re located anywhere near a largely populated city or a military installation of any kind, you’re at ground zero. The blasts will probably kill you.

“One of these false beliefs is that nuclear war would be such a terrible catastrophe that it is an unthinkable impossibility,” says Cresson H. Kearny, who wrote Nuclear War Survival Skills. “If these were true, there would be no logical reason to worry about nuclear war or to make preparations to survive a nuclear attack.”

However, the long answer is that anything is survivable if you’re very prepared … but most of the world is not prepared.

Dr. Helfand explains: “The entire economic infrastructure, on which we depend to sustain our population, would be destroyed. The transportation system, the communications network, the public health and banking systems, the food distribution network — all would be gone.”

Provided you survived the initial attack, there are other dangers to follow (before the advent of nuclear winter). Radiation from fallout (if it’s a surface blast) will return to the earth within a few days unless it’s carried aloft by winds in the upper atmosphere. This not only leads to nuclear winter, but also contributes to radiated fallout to be spread farther away.

The area just outside the blast and shockwave radii is in danger of fires and building collapses. Fires will spread rapidly due to broken gas lines, damaged structures, etc.

Not a danger, but certainly a hindrance to your gear, is the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that can be emitted during a nuclear detonation. This EMP could potentially damage sensitive electrical equipment for hundreds of miles around the blast.

Plan for Disaster

One would want to plan for such a terrible situation for the same reason one would plan for any disaster: to survive. Therefore, the strategy is no different — plan ahead.

In 1983, Carl Sagan and his peers predicted the conditions you may face: “For many simulated exchanges of several thousand megatons, in which dust and smoke are generated and encircle the Earth within one to two weeks, average light levels can be reduced to a few percent of ambient, and land temperatures can reach -15 to -25 degrees C.” According to their estimations, there will be a 75-percent drop in rainfall worldwide and a 90-percent drop in visibility in the highly affected areas.

Today, scientists continue to debate the level of severity predicted by Sagan’s initial theory — some say this nuclear winter would be more like a nuclear autumn. However, most researchers agree that even a small-scale nuclear exchange would eventually have a dramatic affect on the global climate.

Keep on hand appropriate winter clothing and emergency sources of heat, such as gas-fueled heaters and stoves with a surplus of firewood. Wear clothing in layers; consider materials like wool that not only wick away sweat, but still insulate when wet.

Winterize your home or shelter with the best methods possible. Upgrade the insulation factor in your attic and basement, while making sure your windows and doors seal properly. Keep in your cache of gear a few cans of insulation foam/sealant in case drafts are discovered. Not only will this keep out the cold, but it could also keep out any extra radiation (though your house isn’t a good barrier from radiation to begin with).

And though it might be perpetually cloudy, you’d still want to lather on sunscreen. The ozone would be effected, greatly increasing levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun (even in the shade of high-atmosphere dust clouds). UV light can cause serious damage to your skin and corneas, leading to blindness and cancer.

Pack UV-protected sunglasses or goggles, limit your time outdoors, and consider a wide-brim hat and/or a hooded jacket.

Food

Starvation will be the real killer. Though it might seem impractical to keep a year’s supply or more of non-perishable food on hand for each person, it’s not impossible. There are many companies selling 365 days’ worth of meals that offer variety, nutrition, and ease of preparation.

If you have to live off of the land, root vegetables (like carrots, potatoes, and radishes) are the safest because they’re protected by the earth. Animals can be harvested and eaten, but leave about 1⁄8 inch of meat on the bone because radiation builds up in the skeletal system. Avoid fish and birds completely, though depending on the severity of the nuclear winter, both might end up in short supply.

Always available will be insects, as they’re likely to survive any level of nuclear attack. Crickets, grasshoppers, and many beetles have a great deal of protein, essential minerals, and vitamins.

Growing vegetables in low light (obstructed sun) can be difficult, but not impossible. Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, and cabbage don’t require a great deal of light (equal to about two hours of sunlight a day). Getting creative with light-colored walls, reflective mulch (or tinfoil around each plant), and even mirrors can increase the amount of light in your garden. Barring that, consider a hydroponic system in your basement or shelter (if it’s large enough); you can grow as much (and as many varieties of) food as you need without the worry of the lack of sun or contaminant-free soil.

Water

For most urban-dwellers, clean water will be the biggest challenge. For example, storing 1 gallon of water for four people (for example) per day for one year equates to 27 55-gallon drums of water — impractical to store in most people’s homes. Having a deep-drilled well on your property and a mechanical way of retrieving it is your best bet to get safe water for a long-term scenario. Besides that, safe water can be found in underground springs (in caves), water stored in underground tanks or pipes, snow taken 5 or more feet from the surface, and water from fast-flowing rivers.

If you have to get water from outside surface sources, such as rivers, lakes, and even swimming pools, it’ll need to be filtered to remove not only the normal contaminants found in water (viruses, bacteria, etc.), but any potential radioactive material as well. An anti-radiation “total radioisotope aqua purifier” (TRAP) filter can remove radioactive particles from potential drinking water. Without this filter, distilling and reverse osmosis methods are both good at removing the contaminants.

Protect Your Family

With even a limited nuclear battle, the government will either be destroyed or too busy dealing with the threat to concern itself with your well-being. Expect social breakdown in the months to come, especially when nuclear winter dries up all the usual sources of food and water. Protect not only your family, but your resources as well.

Don’t advertise that you have these preps, and like the 1950s fallout shelter advertisements suggested, don’t tell all your friends you’ve got a fully stocked hideout.

You’ve prepared for a reason. In the event of nuclear winter, up to 1 billion lives will be lost. Don’t be one of them. Instead, take a few steps to ensure you have the knowledge, supplies, and foresight to protect yourself and your loved ones. The future of civilization might be in your hands.

Exploding Nuclear Myths

Myth #1: The fallout would stay around for years and kill everyone.

False: The danger of radioactive fallout lessens with time. According to FEMA, the 7:10 Rule of Thumb states that for every seven-fold increase in time after detonation, there is a 10-fold decrease in the exposure rate. For example, two hours after detonation, the exposure rate would be 400 Roentgen/hour. After 14 hours, the exposure rate would be 1/10 as much, or 40 Roentgen/hour. For more on radiation sickness, see “Invisible Death” in Issue 16.

Myth #2: All of the food in a fallout area would be poisoned and inedible.

Mostly False: Food and water in dust-tight containers will be completely free of radiation particles. Peeling fruits and vegetables and removing the top several inches of stored grain will eliminate most of the radiated material. Tiny doses may still prevail.

Myth #3: Most unborn children would be genetically damaged from parents exposed to radiation.

False: Published in 1977, A Thirty Year Study of the Survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki concluded that incidences of genetic abnormalities were no higher among children born from exposed parents as they were among children born from unexposed parents.

Myth #4: A full-scale nuclear war would completely destroy mankind.

False: Though many military facilities are within cities and surrounded by populations, much of the world is populated by people who have no military value whatsoever and are not on the list of targets from either side. Life will go on, just maybe not in your region.

Suit Up?

By John Schwartze

The first prep that pops to mind when people say “surviving a nuclear holocaust” is a hazardous materials (hazmat) suit. As with any gear, having it and knowing how to use it are two different things. Hazmat suits are broken into several categories.

Level A: Fully encapsulating, vapor and chemical protective suit. Typically worn with SCBA-type (self-contained breathing apparatus) units with closed-loop, rebreather systems where air is scrubbed and recirculated. Used when working with substances that can be absorbed by or are hazardous to skin.

Level B: Non-gas-tight encapsulating suits. Mainly for splash protection; not ideal for radiation environments. Used mainly with open-loop SCBA or SAR (supplied air respirators) where air comes from a compressed cylinder and exhaled air is released to the atmosphere. Worn if substances cannot be absorbed by or are not hazardous to skin.

Level C: Similar material/protection level as B, but can be worn with respirators that filter outside air. Used when environmental contaminants will not harm or be absorbed by exposed skin.

Level D: No chemical exposure protection. Worn if atmosphere contains no known hazard and if work precludes splashes, immersion, or potential for unexpected inhalation with hazardous chemical levels. Worn mainly by hospital/medical personnel.

While these suits are available for public purchase, they do pose certain risks. For instance, Level A suits, which offer the best protection against nuclear/radiation threats, pose potential fatigue and overheating concerns. Someone wearing such a suit would need to be in good shape with no respiratory problems. There’s also a specific process to don and doff them safely to prevent contamination.

Level A suits are reserved for hazmat specialists in the first-responder industry and typically require at least 200 hours of training. These suits can cost thousands of dollars, so before buying anything, do your research to see if they offer the protection level you desire. Proceed with caution, though. For the same reason scuba divers get certified, training is imperative and people can die without it. Manufacturers may also limit their access due to potent liability. For other protective measures against radiation exposure, see our previous article on Dirty Bombs.

Rad Gear, Dude

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Heavy Metal Filter
MSRP: $30
www.NukePills.com
The Seychelle filtration system included on this 28-ounce BPA-free water bottle removes up to 99.99 percent of toxic chemicals, contaminants, and pollutants found in fresh water, including Radon 222, DDT, arsenic, asbestos, detergents, aluminum, and other heavy metals. The filter can decontaminate up to 100 gallons of water before needing to be replaced.

Nuclear war atomic bomb mushroom cloud radiation survival shtf disaster prepping 5

Watch Your Radiation
MSRP: $1,500
www.SpecialOpsWatch.com
The MTM RAD is a line of tactical watches that includes integrated Geiger-Müller tubes, measuring single-dose gamma ray levels, as well as cumulative exposure. The ultrasensitive detector tracks dose equivalents (a measure of tissue damage caused by radiation) from 0.0001 to 9,999 millisieverts, and the dose equivalent rate up to 4,000 microsieverts per hour. Users can set their minimum radiation threshold, and an alarm will sound when this level has been reached.

OFGP-161000-NUKE-SB2-06.jpg

Take Shelter
MSRP: $50,000 (one space in Indiana)
www.TerraVivos.com
The Vivos Group offers a series of pre-built shelters around the world with locations in Indiana and in Europe, as well as a line of custom-built shelters for personal use. The Quantum Shelter package comes completely furnished, includes a primary and emergency exit, water and septic tanks, and backup systems. Shown is a proposed plan for the Vivos Trine, a scalable bunker for 200 people.

More From Issue 16

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

Petya: The World’s Most Devastating Cyber-Attack

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Imagine the first volley of an all-out war between world superpowers. What images come to mind? If you grew up during the Cold War,  you'll probably think of ICBMs loaded with nuclear warheads detonating in major cities, wiping out millions of lives in the blink of an eye. Or perhaps you see guerrilla-style attacks with conventional explosives, dirty bombs, or even chemical or biological weapons as a greater possibility. While the prospect of any of these incidents is horrifying, there's an increasing probability that a modern-day war between superpowers would begin with an entirely different kind of attack — a cyber-attack.

No, we're not talking about the rise of the machines.

Unlike fictional Hollywood portrayals, a cyber-war is a real possibility in the near future.

Before you roll your eyes and write off cyber-war as the sort of thing that only happens in science-fiction movies, consider some recent historical evidence — specifically, the devastating spread of ransomware known as Petya.  This malware (i.e. malicious software), and its subsequent variant NotPetya, wiped out computers and computer-controlled systems around the world in 2016 and 2017. A statement from the Press Secretary of the United States called this “the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history… causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.”

By studying and analyzing the Petya and NotPetya malware, we can glean a better understanding of the very real possibility of a state-sponsored cyber-war between nations. Although these may have been the first cyber-attacks of this scale and severity, our ever-increasing dependence on technology ensures they won't be the last.

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A screenshot of the warning screen generated after a computer was infected with Petya.

The Origin of Petya

In Spring 2016, security researchers discovered a new piece of malware that began spreading to businesses through emails that posed as job applications. Each email reportedly contained a short message with a fake  applicant's photo and a link to a file that appeared to be a PDF document. If the email recipient downloaded and opened the file, the malware would be installed and the computer would crash immediately with a blue screen.

Petya ransomware cyberattack war technology computers terrorism survival prepping 3

Once the the computer was rebooted, a message would appear stating that the computer's file system was being repaired. This closely resembles an actual Check Disk message generated by Windows in the event of a system error, so many users assumed it was not out of the ordinary. However, the process actually encrypts all documents and files on the infected computer.

Petya ransomware cyberattack war technology computers terrorism survival prepping 2

Once the process completed, a message would appear stating that the computer had been infected by Petya (a reference to one of the Soviet weapon satellites in the James Bond movie GoldenEye) and that all data would be permanently lost unless a Bitcoin payment was sent to those responsible for the attack — hence the name ransomware.

The attackers promised to provide a decryption key that would unlock the computer after the payment equivalent to roughly $900 was received, but the encryption was generally irreversible through other means. In other words, any computer affected by Petya was instantly unusable and all data on it was locked. For most users, the only option was to wipe the hard drive, permanently erasing all the files on the computer.

The following video shows how a 2016 version of Petya functions:

As ransomware, these early versions of Petya were tools for monetary gain, holding computers hostage in the hope that panicked users would give in to attackers' demands. But Petya hadn't made major headlines yet. This was only the beginning.

NotPetya – The Malware Evolves

On June 27th, 2017, a new cyber-attack began. It was based heavily on the earlier versions of Petya, and used a similar mechanism of encrypting files after a computer was rebooted. However, according to a statement by Microsoft, this variant was “more sophisticated”. Security researchers would eventually name it NotPetya.

The NotPetya

The NotPetya “ransom” screen featured different instructions and a lower demand of $300.

The first cases of NotPetya infection have been traced back to MEDoc, a Ukrainian tax and accounting software company. Later investigation would show that hackers stole an employee's login credentials and added code to MEDoc, causing its update process to distribute NotPetya and start the infection.

Unfortunately, computers with MEDoc software were not the only victims — this was only the first wave of the cyber-attack.

An especially insidious new characteristic of NotPetya was its ability to spread through networks via a security vulnerability in Windows. After a computer was infected, the program would automatically search for all other accessible computers on the local network and install itself on them. This meant that the malware could spread from one computer to infect every PC in an entire company.

Unlike the original Petya, researchers have concluded that NotPetya's goal was not monetary. In fact, Symantec concluded that the randomly-generated installation key has no relationship to the disk encryption and “the disk can never be decrypted”. Rather than considering NotPetya ransomware, Symantec calls it a “wiper” — malware designed to irreversibly destroy files and disable computers. This was no longer simple extortion, it was a weapon.

Evidence of Targeting

MEDoc, the initial vector for the attack, is a Ukrainian company whose software is widely-used in that country. According to Reuters, “M.E.Doc is used by 80 percent of Ukrainian companies and installed on about 1 million computers in the country.” This made it an ideal means of distributing the malware within the country.

The following graphic from Symantec shows a comparison of the number of organizations affected by NotPetya in 20 countries:

Petya ransomware cyberattack war technology computers terrorism survival prepping 5

In addition to the initiation of the NotPetya attack in Ukraine and the disproportionate number of Ukrainian computers affected by the malware, even the date of the attack bears some significance. June 28th is Ukraine's Constitution Day, a day which celebrates the country's independence. This would be comparable to a major attack on the United States occurring on the afternoon of July 3rd.

Given this information, security researchers soon concluded that Ukraine was the primary target of the NotPetya attack, and that its spread to other countries could be considered either diversion or simple collateral damage. Craig Williams, senior technical leader for Cisco’s Talos intelligence unit told Reuters, “This wasn’t made for any other purpose but to destabilize businesses in the Ukraine.”

Possible State Sponsorship

Flickr.com/larrywkoester

Flickr.com/larrywkoester

Considering the long-running conflict between Russia and Ukraine, analysts began to speculate that the attack may have originated in Russia, and shortly after the attack, Ukrainian officials made statements accusing this connection. Anton Gerashenko, a member of Ukrainian Parliament, called it “just one part of the hybrid war of the Russian empire against Ukraine.”

Official statements from the White House and the UK Foreign Office also blamed Russia for the attack — the former said it was “part of the Kremlin’s ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine” and “a reckless and indiscriminate cyber-attack that will be met with international consequences.” A Kremlin spokesman responded by denying responsibility for these attacks and calling these accusations “Russophobic”.

Ironically, the EternalBlue security vulnerability that made NotPetya's spread through networks possible was initially developed by the U.S. National Security Administration (NSA). Brad Smith, President of Microsoft, clearly stated that the vulnerability was “stolen from the NSA” before being leaked to the public and eventually being utilized by the criminals behind this and other ransomware attacks. He also wrote that there is “a completely unintended but disconcerting link between the two most serious forms of cybersecurity threats in the world today – nation-state action and organized criminal action.”

Conclusions

Flickr.com/jeroenbennink

Regardless of the origin of NotPetya, it is clear that this malware was intended to cause catastrophic damage on a national (and potentially international) scale. It succeeded in this aim.

Within the Ukraine, computers at numerous government agencies, hospitals, banks, transit systems, utility providers, and even the radiation monitoring system at Chernobyl suddenly went offline. Outside the Ukraine, numerous multinational organizations were also affected. DLA Piper — one of the world's largest law firms with 3,600 lawyers across 40 countries — instantly went into lockdown mode and lost millions of dollars as a result of NotPetya. Other multi-national organizations affected by NotPetya include Danish shipping company Maersk, German shipping company DHL, U.S. pharmaceutical company Merck, French construction company Saint-Gobain, and India's largest shipping port JNPT.

Ambulance hospital medical trauma first responder accident

Computers are intertwined with every facet of our society, from banking to medical care.

While the widespread use of computers and technology has certainly made our lives easier, it has also left us vulnerable to cyber-attacks that can cause sudden disruptions in the availability of resources we rely on. Cyber-attacks such as Petya can interfere with our personal PCs, but more sophisticated variants such as NotPetya have proven themselves capable of shutting down financial institutions, electrical infrastructure, shipping and manufacturing of consumer goods, medical treatment, and other essential services. Without these, our polite society would quickly descend into chaos.

A cyber-war started by a rogue terrorist group or criminal organization is a substantial threat, but one sponsored by national funding could be truly devastating, even if you're not over-reliant on personal electronics. Fortunately, if you're prepared for a large-scale emergency situation, the cause — whether it's a natural disaster, conventional attack, cyber-attack, or Terminator-esque sentient cyborg uprising — will be irrelevant.

Infographic: Bodyweight Training Basic Routine

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Whether you're in a survival situation without access to purpose-built workout gear or you simply can't afford to spend money on expensive equipment or gym memberships, bodyweight exercises are a great way to stay in shape. Rather than using weights or machines, bodyweight workouts can be done with simple items such as a pull-up bar, bench, and stool. Many of these exercises require no equipment at all.

Start Bodyweight workout exercise routine fitness infographic 1

Photo credit: StartBodyweight.com

While bodyweight training has many advantages, it poses one challenge: when an exercise becomes too easy, progressing isn't as simple as adding more weight to a barbell. The bodyweight exercise in question must be replaced with a more challenging one. This allows you to maintain a certain level of difficulty and gradually build endurance and strength.

To address this challenge, StartBodyweight.com compiled a large printable chart of more than 100 bodyweight exercises. Moving down each column increases difficulty, and moving left to right in each row changes the muscle group that's emphasized. A basic workout routine is created by performing 3 sets of 4 reps for each of the six exercises in the first row, then a plank. Once this is manageable, the number of reps can be gradually increased until 3 sets of 8 reps is achieved — then it's time to move down one row to a harder exercise.

Check out the infographic below, or click here to download a full-size printable version. To learn more about bodyweight training, refer to StartBodyweight.com or join the discussion on Reddit.

Start Bodyweight workout exercise routine fitness infographic 3Start Bodyweight workout exercise routine fitness infographic 4Start Bodyweight workout exercise routine fitness infographic 5

Estimate Lightning Distance with the “Flash to Bang” Method

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Nobody ever thinks they're going to be struck by lightning — we even use this event as an expression of rarity with phrases such as “lightning never strikes twice”. Although being struck during a thunderstorm is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime event unless you're extremely unlucky, it's certainly something you never want to experience. It's therefore wise to take reasonable precautions during summer storms to reduce this risk.

Lightning strikes video 2

One easy way to gauge the proximity of a lightning strike is often referred to as the “flash to bang” method. This technique involves counting the time in seconds between a visible lightning bolt (flash) and the audible thunder clap (bang). Since we know light travels faster than sound waves, you'll notice a delay between the two. This difference can be used to estimate roughly how far the lightning is from your current location.

Sound travels at about 1,088 feet per second, or about 0.2 miles per second (depending on air temperature and humidity). That means it'll take the sound of thunder about 5 seconds to travel 1 mile. So, the “flash to bang” distance can be calculated as follows: (seconds between flash and bang) divided by 5. Five seconds is one mile, 10 seconds is two miles, and so on.

Lightning strike storm weather clouds rain forest thunderstorm 1

This may seem like little more than a cool piece of trivia, but it's actually a valuable early-warning system. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) warns, “Lightning can strike as far as 10 to 15 miles from the area where it is raining. That's about the distance you can hear thunder. If you can hear thunder, you are within striking distance. Seek safe shelter immediately.”

So, there's always some risk when you can hear thunder, but we can calculate it further to better gauge your actual risk. A study by the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) found that 80% of lightning strikes in a thunderstorm are 2 to 3 miles from each other, and that more typically strikes occur within 6 miles of each other. NOAA says that “bolts from the blue” in the 10- to 15-mile radius are rare, but they're not entirely unheard of.

From this information, we can establish the following danger levels from the “flash to bang” method:

  • Less than 10 seconds: highest risk
  • 10 to 15 seconds: high risk
  • 15 to 30 seconds: moderate risk
  • 30 to 50 seconds: low risk
  • More than 50 seconds: minimal risk (thunder will be difficult to hear clearly at this range)

For more information on the “flash to bang” method, refer to the NOAA page “Understanding Lightning”. For additional tips on general safety in thunderstorms and other risk factors, check out this PDF from the National Weather Service.

Portable Lumberjack: Pocket Hatchet Buyer’s Guide

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Before you spend the money burning a hole in your pocket on a hatchet that could cut a hole in your pocket, consider what you should look for in a compact ax. Weight, steel selection, overall design, spike versus hammer poll, and handle length and material are all important factors to evaluate.

You might be eager to practice all the cool skills shown in our Primer on Pocket Hatchets & Proper Technique, but that doesn’t mean you should rush into buying the first one-handed ax you come across. As we explain in that article, there are plenty of uses for this tool and many ways to carry it. Whether you’re headed into the woods for the weekend, loading out your car for an emergency, or strapping on some edged protection to your plate carrier, there’s always room in your kit for a pocket hatchet — but which one you buy will depend on your needs and circumstances.

Wood stack

Axes have a lot of character and — just like a good dog — the type should fit the owner’s lifestyle. Take a look at the models reviewed here; maybe one will give you the edge you’re looking for.

Editor’s Note: For this story, we consider a hatchet any short ax that’s used easily with one hand. Naturally, a pocket hatchet is one that can be placed in your pocket or conveniently carried on the body. Also, for the purposes of this buyer’s guide, we refer to small tomahawks and pocket hatchets synonymously.

Chuck Cook Scout Axe

Weight: 6.75 ounces
Overall Length: 5 3/8 inches
Head Material: Forged 1095 high-carbon steel
Handle Material: Varies with build
MSRP: $80
URL: scout-knives.synthasite.com

 

Notes:

This Scout Axe is in a category of its own. Sold without a handle, this pocket ax is carried in a Kydex edge guard (its smaller brother fits inside an Altoids tin). Primitive man used flint-knapped hand axes before he learned to haft sharpened rocks to sticks. This tool works along the same lines. It can be used on its own as a cutting edge similar to an ulu, or it can be paired with a hardwood shaft harvested from the field.

The idea is to avoid consuming space in a loadout if an ax isn’t immediately needed. Additionally, sometimes you want a hatchet, sometimes a two-handed chopper, or something in between. During testing, we fashioned the Scout Axe with the blade in line with the handle and on a forked branch with the blade perpendicular to the handle to make a carving ax. Using a Swiss Army Knife saw and a length of paracord, we had a functional chopping tool in about 30 minutes.

Even if a large piece of hardwood isn’t available, multiple saplings can be lashed together in a bundle to serve the same purpose. For those who want to make this Scout Axe even more compact, Kevlar-braided thread can serve as a substitute for paracord.

Pros:

  • Easily packed inside the bottom of a mess kit
  • Can be used as a hand ax or an ulu

Cons:

  • Requires cordage to construct
  • Takes time to haft into a handle in the field

Gerber 9” Hatchet

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Weight: 1 pound, 3.4 ounces
Overall Length: 9 inches
Head Material: Forged Steel
Handle Material: Glass-Filled Nylon
MSRP: $58
URL: www.gerbergear.com

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Notes:

As the least expensive model in this gear guide, it serves as an entry-level pocket hatchet.

The polymer handle is molded around the steel head and didn’t separate under hard use. Gerber axes are made by Fiskars, which was established in 1649 (yes, the 17th century) and is known for producing full-size axes tough enough to endure the needs of Scandinavian foresters. We didn’t run over it with a truck, but we did use it to split wood for a backpacking titanium stove. With the aid of a baton, the hatchet worked well as a splitting wedge.

With a durable black coating on the blade and no gap between it and the handle, this hatchet is a good all-weather tool. Unlike wood handles, the nylon handle won’t absorb water, swell, or shrink as conditions change. Small emergency gear can be stuffed inside the hollow handle (be sure to empty it before use). Re-sharpening isn’t difficult, and its flat grind is easy to maintain, following the angle with a bastard file or various-grit sandpaper backed up by a two-by-four.

This Gerber will work well as a starter tool and become a great loaner when you’re ready to upgrade later.

Pros:

  • With street prices closer to $30, this hatchet is less than the cost of ammo for your average range day.
  • Lightweight handle will not loosen, shrink, or swell with changing weather.

Cons:

  • Thick edge geometry is similar to a sharpened wedge.
  • Bulky carrying case isn’t as streamlined as other scabbards.

Gränsfors Bruk Small Hatchet

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Weight: 11.2 ounces
Overall Length: 10 inches
Head Material: High-carbon steel
Handle Material: Hickory
MSRP:$180
URL: www.gransforsbruk.com/en

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Notes:

Gransfors Bruk wins the prize for the most refined and polished pocket hatchet. Among bushcrafters, these axes are the pedigree all others are judged by.

We got several “that’s cute” remarks from onlookers — until they got a chance to test out the blade; no one could deny its cutting potential. It has enough weight to substitute for a larger camp knife meant for chopping. It also comes with a highly polished convex edge that can shave your arm hair. No, really, it can.

With the leather edge guard, it fits perfectly in your back pocket. It’s ideal for anyone looking to retain the non-threatening looks of a traditional hatchet in places where carrying anything but a small knife is frowned upon.

The Small Hatchet — sometimes referred to as “the Mini” — feels like a toy in the hand, but don’t play with it. In a matter of minutes, you can transform rounds of wood into the basic outline of a spoon, bowl, or digging tool. The fine work can be done by choking up on its handle. In fact, it carves better than some knives thanks to its edge geometry. It can be used to clean fish and game and create splitting wedges to crack open significantly larger logs than expected.

The wooden handle is warm in hand and creates no blistering when used for extended periods of time. The oval shape also prevents the blade from rolling in the palm of your hand. Just two reasons why wooden handles are still relevant in a world of paracord-wrapped and full-tang tomahawks.

This baby hatchet is the perfect blend of performance and class — if that’s what you’re looking for.

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Pros:

  • Factory edge sharp enough to shave with
  • Look and feel of a traditional hatchet
  • Lightweight

Cons:

  • Two-piece design is inherently weaker than one-piece designs.
  • Ground for European softwoods, not American hardwoods

RMJ Tactical Pathfinder

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Weight: 1 pound, 8 ounces
Overall Length: 11 3⁄4 inches
Head Material: 4140 chrome-moly steel
Handle Material: Textured G-10
MSRP: $480
URL: www.rmjtactical.com

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Notes:

What started out as a model called the Active Shooter Tomahawk for police has morphed into and been rebranded as the Pathfinder. Who knew a product for the streets would turn out to be one of the best tomahawks for the backcountry to date? On the larger side of pocket hatchets, but in the spirit of scaled-down choppers, this one still works as a one-handed ax.

The Pathfinder has an incredibly comfortable textured grip with several hand-placement options, depending on your task. The slightly longer handle length helps it limb downed trees more easily than other hatchets in this guide, not to mention generating more power behind your swing. Plus, the wide cutting surface coupled with long grind lines makes quick work of wood.

This ’hawk excels at snapping locks, too. Simply put the spike through the gate of a padlock and pry away. (Not that we’re encouraging illegal entries. Strictly for legal emergency use, of course.)

You probably won’t haul this one in a pants pocket, but the scabbard is heavy-duty Kydex with multiple lashing points and carry configurations. In fact, it was our primary off-grid chopping tool during a five-week Alaska trek last summer. RMJ ’hawks are legendary in their performance, and the Pathfinder doesn’t disappoint.

OFGP-170600-POCKET-03.JPG

Pros:

  • One-piece, full-exposed tang construction
  • Large cutting blade and “large enough” rear spike
  • Outstanding performance

Cons:

  • Barely fits into the “pocket hatchets” category
  • Multiple edges to accidentally self-cut under stress

Wenger Blades Wiglaf

OFGP-170600-HATCHET-20.JPG

Weight
1 pound

Overall Length
10 inches

Head Material
80CrV2 high-carbon steel

Handle Material
10 feet of paracord and Micarta

MSRP
$450

URL
www.wengerblades.com

OFGP-170600-HATCHET-25.JPG

Notes:

If a Viking and MacGyver were to sit around a campfire, pass around a bottle of bourbon, and sketch a pocket tomahawk that’s equal parts multitool and fighter, the Wenger Blades Wiglaf is what they’d come up with.

This beautiful little mutt is capable of working well in a number of roles. Its design lends itself to fire-starting, foraging, shelter construction, and other bushcraft tasks. Its durability also makes it a great tactical tool for the armed professional who may need to construct hides, punch out shooting holes through walls, or deploy a backup weapon.

The Wiglaf’s unique head shape includes a bow-drill bearing block. Yes, it works. We made multiple coals while minding the sharpened edge. According to the maker, the production sheath will allow use of the bearing while the edge is covered.

The hammer poll is perfect for crushing. We used the top of the head like a potato masher to process wild harvested starches, including cattail. With 3/8-inch stock used in the full-tang construction, the Wiglaf has a significant amount of weight toward the head and great chopping balance. You’ll want a good forward lanyard on the handle, as this one is hungry for wood to cut.

From bushcraft to tactical operations, this tough-as-nails ’hawk is at home just about anywhere a chopping tool is needed.

OFGP-170600-POCKET-21.JPG

Pros:

  • Highly versatile for a variety of tasks
  • Strong cutting edge and hammer poll retain traditional hatchet look
  • Paracord wrap reduces weight and is removable for emergency cordage.

Cons:

  • Conversely, the paracord wrap can cause blisters when gripped for extended carving sessions.
  • Prototype scabbard covers bow-drill bearing while edge is protected.

Winkler Knives II/Sayoc Kali RnD Compact Hawk

OFGP-170600-HATCHET-37.JPG

Weight: 1 pound, 3.5 ounces
Overall Length: 10 3⁄4 inches
Head Material: 5160 spring steel
Handle Material: Rubber
MSRP: $760
URL: www.winklerknives.com

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Notes:

Master bladesmith Daniel Winkler collaborated with Sayoc Kali Tuhon (Master) Rafael Kayanan to create the RnD Hawk. This model is the baby brother version and has proven to be an excellent tomahawk for multiple applications.

Available with or without a front spike, this tomahawk draws inspiration from the headhunter tribes of the Philippines. “Wait, what? Front spike?” you might be asking with some confusion. This uncommon appendage is actually advanced technology with origins in the jungles and mountains. It helps guide the cutting edge into rounded objects and works like a shear. When the spike is placed on a piece of wood and the ax and wood is struck against a larger log simultaneously, the spike holds the wood being cut in place and the hard work is left up to gravity and inertia.

In our testing, the RnD Compact Hawk cleanly cut brown coconuts in half. Against tatami mats, it didn’t make cuts through and through. What it wasn’t able to cut cleanly, it ripped aggressively. The front spike also acted like a small blade of its own and was controllable for fine scoring, cutting, and scraping when using a choked-up grip directly under the head. The rear spike was as equally effective in penetration tests.

OFGP-170600-POCKET-45.JPG

Pros:

  • Front spike designed for guiding cutting surface
  • Comfortable in multiple grip positions
  • Rubberized handle reduces vibration and provides traction in wet weather.

Cons:

  • On the flip side, rubberized handle tends to snag on clothing while concealed.
  • Bungee cord retention on sheath can accidentally release.
  • As a custom piece, it’s expensive.

More From Issue 19

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Read articles from the next issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 20

Read articles from the previous issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 18

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.

A Primer on Pocket Hatchets & Proper Technique

Written by

WARNING: The content in this story is provided for illustrative purposes only and not meant to be construed as advice or instruction. Any use of the information contained in this article shall be solely at the reader’s risk. This publication and its contributors are not responsible for any potential injuries.

“The ax is back!” Thanks to rally cries like this from neatly manscaped, mustachioed, flannelled hipsters, the average Joe might believe there’s a resurgence in this classic woodsman’s tool. The reality is the ax never went anywhere and has been used continuously for centuries in the hands of true professionals.

While the idea of the ax being the “latest and greatest” men’s fashion accessory (we’re not joking; there are lumbersexuals who buy “designer axes” now) is considered comical by the modern-day Ragnarok, an actual growing trend in the ax world is the emergence of more lightweight and compact pocket hatchets. Let’s face it, there are times when you can’t swing that full-sized ax, and you need something more practical. The pocket hatchet — and its combat-oriented brother, the pocket tomahawk — is the answer. (For the purpose of this article, the term “pocket hatchet” will be used interchangeably to reference both pocket hatchets and compact tomahawks.)

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Though easily dismissed by those who think larger hatchets and two-handed axes as the only chopping tools worth a damn, these diminutive hatchets fit into a unique category of cutting tools and shouldn’t be overlooked. Sometimes referred to as sounding hatchets, these little guys are easily carried in a jacket pocket or your pants’ back pocket for light work.

Why carry them? You may not have room in your everyday-carry (EDC) gear for anything larger. And, when the need arises, you’ll certainly be thankful you have a pocket-sized chopper that’s more effective than your tactical folder or Swiss Army Knife.

Log Splitting

A common misconception of log splitting is that the round of wood must stand on one end and an ax must come down on it from the neatly sawn end. When you watch a skilled woodsman, they make it look easy. Assuming you only have a pocket hatchet and must access the dry wood found inside a piece of downed dry wood, there won’t be a cleanly cut stump to prop the log up on, and there won’t be a clean end on the other side to split in half.

How, then, do you access the dry wood when all you have is a baby hatchet?

Above: Small rounds of wood can be split with simple technique. The blade is placed parallel to the grain of the wood and both pocket hatchet and wooden round are pounded on a wooden log simultaneously.

The easiest way is to hold the hatchet in line with the grain of the wood and parallel to it and grasp the round of wood in your other hand. Both hands move the two objects in sync with one another onto a log or wooden stump. The force of the impact drives the blade into the round of wood more safely than swinging the pocket hatchet at the wood. Exercise care to keep your fingers free from the round of wood and make sure there’s clearance for your hand, lest you risk injury.

While on the topic of injuries, remember, the shorter the handle on an ax, the greater the chance of self-cutting from an errant follow-through.

Hatchet wounds are generally found in the quadriceps, while hand-and-a-half and felling axes are found in the shins and feet. Don’t be that guy. Exercise caution. When in doubt, simply kneel low to the ground when using one. If your axe ends up glancing off something, you’ll impact the soil instead of yourself.

Splitting Wedges

Look at a seasoned stack of wood. As it dries, natural cracks begin to separate the grain of the wood. These cracks compromise the strength of the wood and give the outdoorsman a reference point for splitting. The cracks in a log generally run the full-length of the grain and, unless they’re met by a knot in the wood, will split predictably along it.

Splitting mauls and large camp knives are generally swung or pounded through wood — both rely on the extra mass and strength of the tool to handle the stress of this normal use.

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Above: The Gransfors Bruks Small Hatchet next to a wooden baton and hardwood wedges. With these tools, large rounds of wood can be split open exposing dry wood inside.

Batoning is a popular practice to split wood, incorporating a wooden baton to add heft to a smaller blade that lacks it. Pocket hatchets traditionally were never meant for large splitting tasks, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t capable with an application of a little lateral thinking.

Rather than using the hatchet head like a wedge to baton into the wood, exploit the natural cracks by creating wedges. Use hardwood branches to create wedge pegs you can drive into the wood with a wooden baton or rock. To create a baton, either saw or chop away a smaller diameter handle from a wide round of wood. As you pound your wedges into the log, you’ll hear it crack and then settle.

As wedges are added further down a crack, the previous wedges will become loose. You may find you have to create wider wedges depending on how stubborn the wood grain is. With practice, patience, and a decent amount of effort, an extremely large log can be split to the heartwood with a pocket hatchet a fraction of its size.

Choke-Grip and Fine Carving

Watch any seasoned hatchet user around a campfire, and you’ll notice how many times his or her grip changes while processing campfire wood. The most common grip while using a pocket hatchet is at the very bottom of the handle, called the “end knob,” but depending on the amount of force and pressure needed, the user may find his or her hand directly under the head and just behind the cutting edge, called the “shoulder.”

Held this way, you can use the pocket hatchet to finely carve, notch, and push cut with the blade. Since choking up on the blade in this manner puts the edge in line with the index and middle finger (depending on the size of the blade and profile), there’s less leverage placed on the wrist than a conventional knife blade.

This additional mechanical advantage gives the choked-up grip incredible strength.

Above: Numerous grips exist for pocket hatchets — the standard grip at the bottom of the handle, underneath the head, and cupping the poll of the pocket hatchet. The lightweight head makes handling easy and less fatiguing than using a much larger hatchet. 

A pocket hatchet can be used to carve by holding it directly under the blade, just above the bottom of the end knob, or any point in between. If the pocket hatchet has a spike, it can be driven into a log and the user can move the wood being carved over the edge to create fine shavings for fire starting. If the pocket hatchet’s butt is equipped with a hammer (also called a poll) instead of a spike, you can also hold it by cupping the hammer, letting you use it in the same manner as an Eskimo ulu.

You’ll find that the pocket hatchet responds differently depending on where it’s held. You have a lot of handle (OK, as much as you can get with a pocket ax) to work with, so try it out.

Small-Game Processing

These compact tools can be used for cleaning small game and fish with ease. The upper corner of many pocket hatchet edges comes close to a 90-degree angle. With this “tip,” the user can pierce flesh and hide. A slicing motion is easily accomplished by holding the pocket hatchet in the ulu manner previously mentioned.

While cutting through bone isn’t advised for hunting knives with keen edges, especially hollow-ground edges, a heavier grind found on pocket hatchets can easily cleave a rainbow trout or squirrel head from the day’s catch. Depending on how thinly profiled the edge is, a pocket hatchet can easily gut a fish from vent to gills.

Generally, the poll end of a hunter’s ax can crack bone; with slightly more force, a pocket hatchet can do the same. Once the bone is cracked with the hammer, the sharpened end can cut through the muscle, fat, and flesh around it.

OFGP-170600-POCKET-26.JPG

Above: Even a compact tomahawk like the Winkler Blades II RnD Compact Sayoc Tomahawk packs a serious punch. We used it to easily crack open coconuts with no deformation to the spike or edge. The front spike prevented glances on the round surface too.

Rescue

A pocket hatchet has many invaluable characteristics making it ideal for self-rescue or breaching doors and windows. With the correct pocket hatchet (full tang, synthetic handle, stout blade), a person can easily puncture metal without fear of damaging the edge. Axes, including some pocket hatchets, have a thicker profile and are ground to stronger edge geometry than knives of the same blade length. This means they can withstand the force of impact and stress of cutting steel with minimal deformation to the blade.

Historically, crash axes have been carried on aircraft as an emergency tool. A pocket hatchet can be stowed easily in a vehicle and pressed into service to break windows and pry open doors if environmental conditions warrant it.

The rear spike and sharpened beard of some compact ’hawks and pocket hatchets provide new capabilities in the hands of a law-enforcement officer, soldier, or prepared citizen.

Above: The RMJ Pathfinder spike can split locks. Insert the spike and crank the handle downward. Most locks will either flex or crack and then open under this pressure.

While traditionally used as a weapon, the rear spike (like that found on the RMJ Tactical Pathfinder) can crack open padlocks with the right technique and leverage afforded by its handle. All one needs to do is insert the spike and crank the handle downward. Most padlocks will either fracture at the gate or bend until they open. After testing this on various padlocks and trigger locks, we found no damage on the rear spike. Consider what resources may be chain locked in an emergency and how this breaching ability could come in handy. The Pathfinder’s sharpened beard can be used like a can opener on thin-skinned metal or fabric.

Self-Defense

Anyone who can swing a hammer can learn to swing a pocket hatchet. The power generated by a 1-pound ball-peen hammer is not what an attacker wants to experience, let alone a 1-pound ax with a sharpened edge. Pocket hatchets are highly effective combative tools. With all the ways these puppies can be carried, there’s always a way to access one when SHTF. As a weapon-retention tool or a get-off-me device, no one will deny what can be done with a good pocket hatchet and some skill.

When used to supplement a sidearm or a rifle, the pocket hatchet becomes an effective backup in close quarters.

OFGP-170600-POCKET-23.JPG

Above: Pistol punching with a front spike on the Winkler Blades II RnD Compact Sayoc Tomahawk puts a lot of force behind the front spike. This is just one of the many ways a pocket ’hawk can be used for defense.

The shape of its head allows the user to punch with it using a choked-up grip. To hook and pull, just hold it lower on the grip. The rear spike or hammer can puncture or crush without the need to flip your wrist over. A pocket ’hawk can parry inbound attacks and redirect energy back at the attacker. Less-lethal attacks can include hitting with the unsharpened top of the hatchet head or the bottom of the handle. The grip of most pocket hatchets makes applying stick grappling and restraint techniques possible too.

A word of warning to anyone using a pocket hatchet for defense — train with your ax while the edge guard is on. An ax carries a lot of momentum and can easily cause injury if the follow-through isn’t respected. In other words, learn to not miss and if you accidentally do, make sure your legs are out of the way.

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Above: The Chuck Cook Scout Axe can be carried into the woods disassembled in its protective sheath. If a large hatchet is needed, one can be fashioned from the resources at hand.

Also, make sure your buddies aren’t too close as you can hurt them with a wild swing too. If you have some spare paracord around, creating a wrist thong will prevent your pocket hatchet from becoming a projectile if you lose your grip.

Methods of Carry

Inverted belt carry is one way to conceal the handle.

Inverted belt carry is one way to conceal the handle.

1. Inverted Belt Carry
The problem with wearing a hatchet on your belt is that the handle hangs down your leg and gets in the way. If you’re on the go, it’s a no-go. Since many modern pocket hatchets have “bottom-eject” sheaths, turning the sheath upside down lets you run the handle up under your arm. It’s easy to extract, and the handle can be further held in place by a backpack strap. Want to see it in action? Check out former Navy SEAL Joel Lambert on Discovery’s Lone Target.

Pocket hatchets can be carried easily centerline on a chest rig or on a battle belt where they won’t interfere with firearm manipulations.

Pocket hatchets can be carried easily centerline on a chest rig or on a battle belt where they won’t interfere with...

2. Chest Rig or Battle Belt
From pocket hatchet to tactical tomahawk, centerline carry on your chest rig or on your battle belt are good options. Attached on MOLLE mag carriers, the full-length of the pocket hatchet fits within the length of the torso and the handle falls at the belt. The tool is accessible with either hand and won’t get in the way of magazine changes or other weapon manipulations. If you’re worried about the handle smacking you in the chin, pocket hatchet handles are generally short enough to prevent this. Worn on a battle belt, the pocket hatchet handle hangs to your side where it won’t smack your thigh as you run.

Pocket hatchets can be concealed in Kydex sheaths and worn like shoulder holsters. Pictured are rigs from Survival Sheath. Photo courtesy of Robert Humelbaugh

Pocket hatchets can be concealed in Kydex sheaths and worn like shoulder holsters. Pictured are rigs from Survival...

3. Inside-the-Jacket Carry
Old timers will tell you to always warm your ax head before swinging it in the dead of winter. The cold can easily make your edge crack. To prevent this from happening, carry your pocket hatchet “bandoleer style” inside your jacket. That’ll keep it warm.

4. Ice-Ax Style
Ice climbers know where to stash their tools when they’re not in use. The handle is passed through a loop on the bottom of their pack to the base of the pocket hatchet head. The handle is then flipped, on its head, to place it upright, and it’s lashed down. This method allows you to keep the ax’s weight low on the body instead of high up near the shoulders.

5. Vehicle Carry
The pocket hatchet can fit easily in a glovebox, between or under the seat, or tucked in a seatback pocket. Should you need to cut yourself out of a wrecked car or access a trunk that’s crushed and locked closed, you’ll have the right tool in place. You’ll also be ready to help someone else if you stumble upon an emergency.

The author carries a compact tomahawk behind his canteen survival kit.

The author carries a compact tomahawk behind his canteen survival kit.

6. Canteen Carry
Water bottle carriers are popular within the bushcraft and survival community. It makes sense to build a kit around an item that addresses a basic need of survival. Since canteens are carried with a shoulder strap, an additional pound of weight usually isn’t too burdensome. Carried behind the bottle, the only part of the pocket hatchet exposed is the handle. It’s an easy way to add extra cutting power to your woods-walking kit.

Newbs, Beware — Risks of Using a Hatchet

You know the guy who’s new to firearms when you see him at the range. His gear is crisp, he has every accessory under the sun, and he lasers you with his muzzle. The same goes for pocket hatchet users. Whereas the rookie at the range is more likely to hurt someone else, the rookie axman is most likely to hurt himself. Here are some helpful hints to prevent you from bleeding your own blood.

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Mind the Follow Through
The longer the ax, the safer the ax. A newbie with a 36-inch felling ax is less likely to self-cut than one with a pocket hatchet. If you’re cutting wood and question your ability, take a knee. If you glance, your pocket hatchet will impact the dirt instead of your kneecap.

Edges Should Be Covered
Pocket hatchets cut. Don’t carry one without some sort of edge guard. Don’t leave your edge stuck in wood while in camp as the wood’s moisture can cause it to rust. If your pocket hatchet has a spike, burying one side leaves a pointy end exposed on the other.

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Slice the Grain, Don’t Compress It
Wood grain separates most easily when it is severed at an angle. Cut diagonally across it instead of down on it. Be careful, though; too shallow of an angle causes the cutting tool to glance.

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Keep Your Edges Sharp
Sharp is a relative term. Some guys like the ability to shave with their pocket hatchet while others want a “working edge” that’s broader and less likely to chip or roll. Whatever your preference, don’t let it dull. It’s easier to hone your edge after each use than re-profile it when it’s too late.

Never Lend Your Pocket Hatchet
This doesn’t make you a jerk, it makes you smart. If you value your tool, you don’t trust anyone with it. This is old woodsman etiquette. If you do lend out your pocket hatchet, only lend it to people who would be willing to fix the edge, replace the handle, or buy you a new one. Ax repairs take time, and a friend wouldn’t want you to invest a lot into fixing a screw up.

Final Thoughts

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Above: The Wiglaf by Wenger Blades can be used in every stage of fire preparation. Included in the design is an integral bow drill divot for use as a bearing block for friction fire starting.

Pocket hatchets may be small in stature, but they make up for it in character. Compact, concealable, multipurpose, plenty of bite — the reasons to pack, hell, even EDC a pocket hatchet far outnumber the reasons not to. Next time you venture off-grid or head into a rough part of town, pair a pocket hatchet with a pistol and knife, and you have an excellent loadout for just about any emergency. Throw one into your pocket, bag, or kit and improve your survivability.

More From Issue 19

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 20

Read articles from the previous issue of Recoil Offgrid: Issue 18

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.

Video: Making a Removable Pot Bail Hanger

Written by

When you need to boil water over an open campfire, it's easy enough to set a single-walled metal pot or bottle directly at the base of the fire. Although this will get your water boiling quickly, it also has some downsides. The application of heat is too direct and extreme for more precise cooking, so you'll be more likely to burn food if you cook this way. It also exposes open vessels to smoke and ash from the fire, and can make recovering your vessel without burning your hands tricky.

An easy solution to these issues is to suspend your pot or bottle above the fire, taking advantage of radiant heat rather than intense flames. A wire hanger, also known as a bail, allows the pot to be suspended from above without tipping over. However, many pots and bottles lack this feature.

Many camp cups, such as this one from GSI Outdoors, have side handles but no bail hanger.

Many camp cups, such as this one from GSI Outdoors, have side handles but no central bail hanger.

We've seen many methods of adding bail hangers to camp cookware. Some require drilling holes or soldering on tabs, while others require combinations of hooks and screwed-together clamps. The following video from Far North Bushcraft and Survival shows one of the simplest methods we've seen, and one that looks to be very effective with a variety of vessels.

Cooking pot bail cable handle wire hanger camping fire survival 1

Lonnie combines 3 feet of 1/16″ steel cable and two 1/16″ ferrules from the hardware store to create a removable pot bail hanger that will fit any vessel with a rolled rim. Once they're clamped in place around the cable ends, the ferrules can adjust to fit various types of cookware. So, you'd likely only need one bail for your entire mess kit.

Check out the video below to see how it's done: