If someone told you that they could jump start a car with AA batteries, you might think they're pulling your leg. After all a car battery produces higher voltage and a huge amount of cranking amps in order to turn the starter motor and fire up the engine. However, it turns out that there's some truth to this claim—it's actually possible to use some spare AAs to provide enough energy to get your vehicle running in an emergency.
Wiring the AA batteries in series yields enough power to boost the car battery for a single crank.
A car battery is powerful, and can produce between 50 and 150 amps of cranking power in a short burst. To completely replace a car battery with AAs, you might need as many as 1,000 AA batteries, and that's not practical at all. Then again, if your goal is to boost an existing car battery that doesn't quite have the power to start a car, that can be done with only a few AAs, some wire, and a soldering iron (or some electrical tape).
Twelve AA batteries are connected end-to-end, forming a single chain with wires on each end.
Youtube host ElectroBOOM demonstrates how it's done in this humorous video:
“To charge the car battery, I need to create a voltage above its level. I used 12 AA brand new batteries that gave me 19.4V at no load, or 1.62V per battery. I also put a one ohm resistor in series to measure the current as well as limit the current flowing through batteries.
“I charged the car battery for 10 minutes, and I roughly had an average of around 1.5A going into the battery. This means that I could draw an average of 90A from the car battery for 10 seconds which is more than enough for most engines for a single crank.”
If you don't have AAs, it's also possible to start a car using a 12V drill battery or power tool battery, as seen in this video:
Have you ever held a flashlight to illuminate your workspace, only to fumble with it and wish you had an extra pair of hands? Most of us have encountered this frustrating situation at one time or another. You could try setting the light down somewhere, but that's impossible if you're on the move. Alternatively, you could get a headlamp, but it could interfere with certain headgear. Plus, they don't fit as conveniently in a pants pocket as a flashlight and can make you look like Spencer Spelunker.
What you could really use is a device that bridges the gap between flashlight and headlamp. Fortunately, such a tool already exists: the angle-head flashlight.
The key benefit of an angle-head flashlight is its ability to clip onto your existing gear, whether that's a belt, shirt pocket, backpack strap, or tactical vest. This enables you to keep moving and work freely with both hands. No more slobbering as you hold a flashlight in your mouth and curse under your breath — angle-head lights are truly hands-free. It's for this reason that they're used extensively by firefighters, law enforcement officers, and other search-and-rescue professionals.
For this issue's HighLights, we've collected five different angle-head flashlights to test and compare. Read on to see which ones bend to your wants and needs.
Make & Model - Fenix MC11 Max Lumen Output - 155 Max Runtime - 100 hrs. Overall Length - 3.9 in. Weight with Batteries - 3.1 oz. Battery Type - AA (one, included) Controls - Push-button switch with on/off and momentary modes Output Modes - High, medium, low, burst MSRP - $40 URL - www.fenixlight.com
The Fenix MC11 is a compact and affordable angle-head flashlight. Its head is mounted at a 90-degree angle to the anodized-aluminum body, and can pivot an additional 45 degrees up or down.
Make & Model - First Light T-Max LE Max Lumen Output - 700 Max Runtime - 60 hrs. Overall Length - 3.4 in. Weight with Batteries - 5.9 oz. Battery Type - CR123 (two, included) Controls - Dual push-button switches for white and color LEDs, momentary button, lockout mode Output Modes - White, red, blue, green, red/green (each with high, medium, low modes), white strobe, safety beacon (red/white/blue strobe) MSRP - $280 URL - http://www.firstlight-usa.com
The T-Max LE tactical light is both intensely powerful and versatile. It features a max output of 700 lumens, three power levels, four LED colors, red-green mode for highlighting blood spatter, and even a red-white-blue safety beacon strobe.
Make & Model - Tuff T180 Max Lumen Output - 170 with CR123 battery, 120 with AA Max Runtime - Unlisted for low mode (approx. 40 hrs. with CR123) Overall Length - 3.7 in. with CR123, 4.5 in. with AA (head at 90 degrees) Weight with Batteries - 2.7 oz. with CR123, 3.2 oz. with AA Battery Type - CR123 (one, included) or AA (one, included) Controls - Push-button switch Output Modes - High, low, strobe MSRP - $70 URL - http://www.tuffproducts.com
Tuff's T180 name indicates its biggest advantage — the light's head pivots a full 180 degrees in 20-degree increments.
While tactical bags covered in PALS webbing, velcro, and modular pouches certainly have their place, we also appreciate gear that can remain discreet. It's important to keep onlookers guessing at what's in your pack, rather than wearing gear that screams “steal me—expensive things inside”. This is even more important in survival scenarios, when hostile crowds may want to separate you from your valuables.
That said, you shouldn't have to sacrifice interior versatility and organization for exterior appearance. There has to be a balance between the two elements, and it appears that Peak Design may have achieved this balance with their latest Everyday gear line. Launched in 2015 with the Everyday Messenger, this line is now expanding by launching three new styles via Kickstarter: a backpack, sling bag, and tote.
The first new model is the Everyday Backpack, which is available in either 20-liter or 30-liter capacity. It uses dual weatherproof side zips as well as a MagLatch magnetic flap on top, providing access to your gear from various angles. Each bag can also expand by up to 10 liters by latching the top closure in a higher position. Flexfold dividers provide organization and prevent gear from shifting.
Next, there's the sling bag, which offers a minimal size and two zippered compartments. External carry straps and compression straps allow larger items to be secured to the exterior of the bag. Many internal pockets, sleeves, and anchor points help organize your gear.
Finally, there's the tote bag, which also offers three access flaps—one on each side, and one on top. A versatile strap system permits the user to wear this bag as a backpack, cross-body sling bag, or carry it by the handle. Leather handles and accents add extra visual appeal.
Warning! This article is a quick overview and not a detailed guide. Consult with a licensed medical professional before ingesting any activated charcoal, medicine, or supplements.
It's been a few days since you got separated from the rest of the group. To stretch out your supplies while you await rescue or find help, you've been living off the earth as much as possible. While your intentions may have been sound, your ability to spot edible plants wasn't. Something you ate isn't playing well with your internals. At best, you may be dealing with a major bout of gas. At worst, you might have inadvertently ingested some sort of poison.
If you're forced to fend for yourself during a natural disaster, have found yourself in a postapocalyptic landscape, or are hopelessly lost in the woods, there's a good chance that safe food and drinking water will be at a minimum. Nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pains can result from ingesting contaminated food and drink.
So what can you do when there's no doctor in sight or a working hospital around? Enter activated charcoal.
Activated carbon is available in pill form for easy storage and carry.
The What
Activated charcoal — sometimes known as activated carbon or activated coal — is a type of charcoal that's processed in a way to give its surface area large volumes of pores. It's these tiny pores that allow it to efficiently adsorb toxins and chemicals, removing them from your body. Note this is adsorption, not absorption. What's the difference? The latter involves a fluid being dissolved by another substance (think water being absorbed by a cracker), while the former involves molecules of a substance (say, a poison) adhering to the surface of another substance (in this case, activated charcoal).
This material is used in a span of fields — from engineering to agriculture. In fact, it's the stuff that's oftentimes used in air and water filters to keep the essentials of life clean enough for our consumption.
Note: It's probably a good idea to mention here that activated charcoal isn't the same as what you use to light up the grill. Don't confuse the two. Barbecue charcoal is packed with toxins and should never be ingested.
The Why
The application of a couple of pills of activated charcoal could do the trick to ease the symptoms of poisoning. If ingested while the offending chemical is still in your stomach, the carbon traps the poison before it's absorbed into your system. And because the charcoal itself can't be absorbed into your system, it (and the trapped chemical) can be expelled from your body when nature calls before real damage is done.
Activated charcoal is often used by doctors in drug overdose cases. Some advocates recommend it for certain allergic food reactions and “stomach bugs.” Other benefits claimed by activated-charcoal users include the reduction of intestinal gas and reduced bile flow during pregnancy, though skeptics say that more studies are required to determine just how effective it is for those cases.
Activated charcoal shouldn't be used with alcohol, because the two can interact and decrease the charcoal's effectiveness. Also, several studies have shown that this type of carbon isn't effective at treating alcohol poisoning — but it reportedly helps remove alcohol mixers, such as artificial sweeteners, that contribute to the poisoning.
The same way activated charcoal adsorbs poisons from the stomach and intestines, it'll also adsorb medications and vitamins taken orally. Because of this, it's recommended to take the charcoal an hour after medications.
The How
Typically, activated charcoal should be administered within two hours of a poison's ingestion because it's most effective before the poison gets absorbed through your gastrointestinal tract. It comes in tablet, caplet, or powder form, and can be taken orally in pill form or mixed with water to form a slurry. For poisonings and drug overdoses, it's recommended that adults initially take between 50 and 100 grams followed by smaller 12.5-gram doses every two to four hours. Of course these are very general guidelines for adults, and we recommend you seek out professional medical advice for your own or your children's needs.
The Side Effects
Side effects of activated charcoal may include constipation and the darkening or complete blackout of stool, but it's generally considered safe for short-term use in most adults. In extreme cases, worse side effects can include the slowing or blocking of the intestinal tract, regurgitation into the lungs, and dehydration.
Again, because there's always potential for people to react to things differently, we recommend consulting a physician prior to planning to use activated charcoal.
The Other Uses
Aside from the main use of slowing and removing poisons from the body, activated charcoal can be used in a variety of ways that can enhance your survival or daily living. As mentioned earlier, it's often the main component in filtration systems for both air and water. The use of activated charcoal with impromptu water filtration methods can greatly increase the effectiveness — and taste — of your results.
Also, advocates claim it's an effective teeth whitener. Having a clean mouth is essential to good hygiene and by extension good health, improving your survivability.
Activated charcoal can reportedly be mixed with a little water and applied as a salve to skin irritations or even wounds. It's been said to be effective against spider bites and other insect bites and stings as well. This salve can also act as camouflage when applied to the skin.
When you're in full survival mode, it's easy to pay less attention to the finer things in life, such as the interesting smells that you're emitting. From the cap on your head to the boots on your feet, there are plenty of ways you give away your position to critters and people alike through the power of your powerful smell. Odor adsorption is a popular use for activated charcoal. Make pouches of it to place in your footwear (if you have stanky-ass feet) or in your clothing (if laundry isn't an option in your bug-out scenario). But beware: The black stuff will stain anything it comes in contact with, so don't sprinkle it like baby powder — unless you're into coal miner chic. The activated charcoal helps in reducing musky odors and possibly even harmful mold.
Certain studies show that activated charcoal has the potential to reduce bad cholesterol, while some argue the findings need to be studied further.
Final Thoughts
Now back to your situation in the bushes. After feeling the after effects of living off the land, you bust out the vial of activated charcoal pills, take a couple of them, and begin to feel the pain ease away. If your stay in the woods becomes longer than expected, you not only have a way to fend off poisons and certain ailments, but you'll smell fresh while donning a bright, winning smile, too.
Charcoal Shopping
Activated charcoal has been proven scientifically to treat poisonings, so it's smart to have some at home or packed in your survival backpack. But where can you buy the black stuff? While most pharmacies carry them and an online search will turn up plenty of sources, you can also find them reliably through the following companies.
The term “computer hacking” has become a bit of a buzzword in our modern technologically-dependent society. The mere mention of the phrase evokes images of a shadowy figure tapping furiously on a keyboard in a dark room, as line after line of green code cascades down a black computer screen. That's the Hollywood depiction, but the reality is much different.
This may not look like someone who'd steal your identity, but the video below may surprise you.
The real “hacking” that takes place is more often than not just social engineering. Social engineering exploits the gullibility of humans to negotiate around security features. For example, a malicious individual might call your bank and convince the call center representative to share your personal information. In many cases, these techniques mean that so-called computer hackers don't need to write a single line of code to steal your identity or your money.
Real Future created a short documentary about the reality of computer hackers and social engineers, and it's definitely interesting to watch:
This video is rather terrifying, since it shows how vulnerable our digital lives really are. However, we especially liked the analogy presented by Morgan Marquis-Boire near the end of the video—you probably don't worry about expert martial artists fighting you on the street, so you also shouldn't be overly concerned about world-renowned computer hackers focusing their efforts on you. If they did, there wouldn't be much you could do about it.
What you should be doing is preparing for the smaller security threats you may be facing every day. You can start by reading our guides on how to set up a VPN (or virtual private network) and how to defend against RFID identity theft.
COAST has announced that it will be debuting two new lights at the upcoming Outdoor Retailer show next month in Salt Lake City. Both lights offer USB recharging, making it simple to top up the batteries from any wall charger, computer, or portable battery pack. We're big fans of USB-rechargeable gear, since it eliminates the need to carry around several types of spare batteries, lightens your pack, and even helps the environment by reducing electronic waste.
The first of these two new lights from COAST is the HP8R rechargeable flashlight. The HP8R produces 760 lumens of white light, which can be focused between a wide flood beam and a “bulls-eye” spot beam using the COAST Pure Beam Focusing Optic. This optic can be adjusted with one hand, and locks in place via the Beam Lock system.
The HP8R can be recharged via USB with the included lithium-ion pack, by plugging an included cable into the Pro-Tek charging port hidden by the sliding tail cap. Alternatively, the light can use 4 AAA alkaline batteries as a backup option. High, medium, and low brightness modes are available.
Here are the rest of the COAST HP8R rechargeable flashlight's specs:
Light output (high) – 760 lumens
Light output (low) – 61 lumens
Beam distance – 698 ft
Maximum run time – 26 hours
Length – 6.125 in
Weight – 7.2 oz
Battery type – lithium-ion (included) or 4 AAA
MSRP – $125
For hands-free applications, such as nighttime hikes, camping, or working in dark conditions, COAST will also offer the FL75R headlamp. This small LED light produces up to 530 lumens, and also incorporates COAST's Pure Beam Focusing Optic for adjustable light dispersal. The FL75R offers dual red LEDs that allow the user to read maps and move discreetly at night without blinding others or impeding night vision.
The FL75R includes both a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, and a set of three standard AAA alkalines. The rechargeable battery can be charged inside the headlamp or outside it, permitting users to leave the lithium pack in the charger and continue using the light with AAA batteries. Here are the rest of this new headlamp's specs:
Light output (high) – 530 lumens
Light output (low) – 65 lumens
Beam distance – 512 feet
Maximum run time – 23 hours
MSRP – $110 (not yet available, coming soon)
For more information on COAST lighting products, visit COASTPortland.com. Or, stay tuned here on OFFGRIDweb.com for live coverage of other new releases at the Outdoor Retailer show in August.
To survivalists, fire has the potential to be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, a single precious ember can be painstakingly nursed into a campfire in the wilderness. This sort of fire can stave off hypothermia, and also provide the means to cook food, purify water, and deter predators. We've said time and time again how making fire in a survival scenario is one of the most important skills humans possess.
At the same time, fire has the potential for destruction on an immense scale. Wildfires reduce scenic landscapes to barren ash, vehicle fires can turn a car or truck into a blazing inferno in seconds, and structure fires kill thousands of Americans each year. The same spark that sustains life can just as easily end it.
411: Fire Facts
If you pick up a copy of Issue 15 of our printed magazine, which goes on sale August 12th, you'll be able to read more statistics about fire in our 411 column. There, John Schwartze shares the number of total fire-related deaths per year, and compares them to the other most common causes of death—heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, and accidents. Additionally, he lists the top three most common causes of residential fires.
Due to the format of our one-page 411 column, we didn't have room to go into detail about these causes of fires. But, don't worry—we'll be doing so right here and now. We'll outline each of the top ten common causes of residential fires, and discuss fire prevention methods that apply to each of the ten.
Residential Fire Statistics
Residential fires, deaths, injuries, and dollar loss over time. Source: usfa.fema.gov
While you may think that your home won't be affected by a structure fire, the statistics paint a different picture. The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) estimates that 379,500 residential buildings were affected by fire in 2014. This led to…
2,765 deaths
12,075 injuries
$6.9 billion in damage
So, it's quite clear that fire poses a serious threat to both your property and your safety. Statistically, it may not be as high of a health risk as heart disease or even vehicle accidents, but it's still something every home preparedness plan should address. Otherwise, all your carefully organized survival gear and stockpiled resources could go up in smoke.
The danger of residential fires is obvious, but in order to prevent them, it's crucial to understand why residential fires happen. Therefore, we need to study the leading causes of building fires. Here are ten of the most common causes of home structure fires, according to the USFA:
As you can see (and as we mention in our 411 column in Issue 15) cooking, heating, and electrical malfunctions are the three most common causes of residential fires. However, there are many other dangers to be aware of, including open flames, appliances, smoking, and even arson. For the sake of simplicity, we included a few remaining causes in the “other” category—unintentional, careless, other heat, equipment malfunction (excluding electronics and appliances), cause under investigation, and other equipment.
In the following segments, we'll discuss each of these ten noteworthy causes of residential fires, and offer some tips on how to prevent each one from damaging your home.
Cooking
According to the USFA, this category includes “confined cooking fires, stoves, ovens, fixed and portable warming units, deep fat fryers, and open grills”.
Cooking-related fires are by far the most common type, resulting in half of all residential fires. These fires often start when items are left in the stove, oven, or toaster unattended, and can accelerate rapidly due to oil and other flammable materials nearby. Here are some tips from the American Red Cross on how to avoid kitchen fires:
Never leave cooking food unattended, even for a second. If you need to leave the room, turn off the heat.
Set a timer, in order to remember to check on your food regularly throughout the cooking process.
Clean cooking surfaces thoroughly on a regular basis, to prevent the accumulation of flammable grease.
Keep any flammable items far away from heat sources. Don't leave items on top of the toaster oven, or hang anything above the stove.
Always double-check that all kitchen appliances are turned off before going to bed or leaving home.
Heating
According to the USFA, this category includes “confined chimney or flue fire, fire confined to fuel burner/boiler malfunction, central heating, fixed and portable local heating units, fireplaces and chimneys, furnaces, boilers, and water heaters”.
Unsurprisingly, fireplaces, heaters, and furnaces are near the top of the list of residential fire sources. According to the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), half of home heating equipment fires occur during the coldest months—December, January, and February. The NFPA recommends keeping a three-foot safe zone around any heating devices, and not placing any flammable items within this area. Also, fireplaces should be cleaned and inspected by professionals every year, and should be fitted with sturdy screens to block embers from drifting into the room.
Electrical Malfunction
According to the USFA, this category includes “electrical distribution, wiring, transformers, meter boxes, power switching gear, outlets, cords, plugs, surge protectors, electric fences, lighting fixtures, and electrical arcing”.
Here's a PSA video from the NFPA that shows what not to do:
Inspect extension cords and cables, and avoid running them across doorways or under rugs. If there's any doubt about your home's wiring integrity, call an electrician for a full home inspection. Be especially careful around the following appliances, as they are the leading causes of residential fires:
Electrical distribution or lighting equipment (responsible for 48% of electrical fires)
Washers and dryers
Fans
Portable space heaters (see heater category above)
Open Flame
According to the USFA, this category includes “torches, candles, matches, lighters, open fire, ember, ash, rekindled fire, and backfire from internal combustion engine”.
Candles account for a large portion of this category, with over half of candle fires occurring due to combustible material being left too close to the flame. So, be sure to keep candles far away from anything that can burn, and always blow them out before leaving or falling asleep. Carefully extinguish matches or leftover embers with water if necessary, and have a fire extinguisher on hand.
Appliances
According to the USFA, this category includes all major home appliances, from TVs and clothes dryers to electric blankets and phonographs (yes, USFA actually lists these).
Most home appliances produce heat, and poorly maintained or positioned appliances can easily act as a source of ignition. Check your dryer lint trap frequently, because a thick layer of lint in a hot environment is a recipe for disaster. Turn off and/or unplug appliances that generate large amounts of heat, such as heating blankets and hair dryers, before leaving them unattended.
Intentional / Arson
According to the USFA, this category is applicable when the “cause of ignition is intentional or fire is deliberately set”.
The NFPA states that three of every four intentional fires are started outdoors. These fires may grow into wildfires and affect homes (see exposure category below). However, most property loss and casualties result from fires set inside buildings. The statistics show that most arson or intentional structure fires happen…
In the bedroom at home
In the bathroom at public properties (apartment complexes, stores, offices, or schools)
Between 3pm and midnight
Defending your home against hostile arson may prove difficult, but smoke alarms and security cameras can assist with this task. Also, have fire extinguishers on hand and properly maintained. For more information about intentional fires in homes, read the NFPA Intentional Fires Report.
Smoking
According to the USFA, this category includes “cigarettes, cigars, pipes, and heat from undetermined smoking materials”.
Smoking-related fires declined 30% between 2003 and 2011, likely as a result of new “fire safe” cigarette materials. However, they are still prevalent, especially among adults over the age of 65. NFPA recommends smoking only outside, using a sturdy ashtray on a non-flammable surface, and dousing the ashes with water or sand after smoking. Be extra cautious if you're around individuals who are sleepy or have been drinking alcohol, as they may forget to fully extinguish smoking materials.
Exposure
According to the USFA, this category includes residential fires “caused by heat spreading from another hostile fire”. For example, a home that burned down as a result of a wildfire in the surrounding area would be included in this category.
This is the single most difficult category of residential fire to avoid, as it's often entirely out of the control of the homeowner. If an entire neighborhood is engulfed in flames, there is little that can be done to save a residence. Nevertheless, be extra vigilant about keeping dry and flammable materials to a minimum on your property. Cut down dry grass, remove loose wood and debris, and be sure your roofing material is fire-resistant. Old wood shingles should be replaced, as they may catch fire easily.
As always, keep many fire extinguishers and water sources around your home to prevent small outdoor fires from growing.
Natural
This category designation seems vague at first, but the USFA defines it clearly. The category includes fires “caused by the sun’s heat, spontaneous ignition, chemicals, lightning, static discharge, high winds, storms, high water including floods, earthquakes, volcanic action, and animals”.
Natural fires can occur through innocuous sources like sunlight or static electricity. Spontaneous combustion of chemical products, oily rags, trash, or abandoned materials is also a major risk. To prevent this, store all flammable materials safely:
Agricultural products, like fertilizer, should remain dry and well-ventilated. Check temperature regularly.
Rags soaked in oil should be thoroughly dried and stored in a covered fire-safe metal can.
If you have an older vehicle or are transporting flammable materials, consider parking outside your garage or on the street.
Playing with Heat Source
According to the USFA, this category includes “all fires caused by individuals playing with any materials contained in the categories above as well as fires where the factors contributing to ignition include playing with heat source. Children playing with fire are included in this category.”
As the saying goes, if you play with fire, you're going to get burned.
Playing with fire is a major problem among children and teenagers, and generally occurs due to unsupervised use of lighters, matches, or fireworks. Most of these fires occur during the month of July, and during the hours of 2pm to 8pm. Older male children are statistically most likely to start these fires, although 43% were started by kids under the age of 6.
The solution to this problem is somewhat obvious. Any child who enters your home should be educated about fire safety, and always supervised while handling fire sources. Remove and secure matches, lighters, torches, and other sources of temptation. As for adults, take care handling fireworks and other fire sources—and whatever you do, don't be like this guy:
Conclusions
If most of these tips seemed like common sense, that's because they should be. While home fires can and do occur unpredictably, it's very possible to improve your odds by following basic fire safety procedures. Of course, you'll also want fire extinguishers, fire alarms, and carbon monoxide detectors on hand and properly serviced. A family bug-out plan is also key, in case fire prevention measures fail. By adhering to all these suggestions, you'll be prepared in case you ever find yourself in the line of fire.
Home gardening is an excellent tool for emergency preparation, since it provides a sustainable and nutrient-rich food source. It also saves you money in the long run, and makes you less reliant on mass-produced vegetables and fruits from the grocery store. It's obvious that starting a small garden is advisable in many cases—but this is also easier said than done.
There are many potential roadblocks along the way to cultivating a successful yield of veggies. You'll need to know what to grow given your environmental conditions, where to plant each variety of produce, how to maintain the plants, and when the ideal growing seasons are. For a beginner, this can seem like a steep learning curve. Fortunately, there are many excellent home gardening resources available online.
The following infographic comes from Anglianhome.co.uk. It illustrates types of vegetables to consider planting, garden spacing, sunlight, pot size, pests, and growing season, among other variables. Scroll down to check it out, or click here for a printable version.
Today, houses are built quite differently than they were centuries ago. If you wanted to have a custom home built today, you'd likely end up hiring an architect to draw up some blueprints, and then paying a number of contractors to complete the build. It takes time and money, but not a lot of direct hands-on involvement from the homeowner.
In the past, the opposite was true—home-building was extremely hands-on, and often incorporated family and friends rather than hired contractors. Think of the concept of a community barn-raising, and you'll start to get the idea. You didn't need architects to build a log cabin on the American frontier, you simply needed a game plan, some extra muscle, and plenty of determination.
A group known as the Open Building Institute has begun a Kickstarter campaign to return to this community-oriented and affordable home-building approach. At the core of this plan is an open-source library of housing module designs, from foundations and walls to doors and roof panels.
This open-source system would allow any ordinary individual to use CAD software to plan the layout of a dream home, then build or purchase the components, and assemble the home themselves. Alternatively, the Open Building Institute hopes to train and license professional contractors on these systems, so they could help home-builders with more difficult parts of the process.
It's an interesting concept, and one that founder Dr. Marcin Jakubowski—a Princeton graduate with a Ph.D in fusion physics—feels is ideal for living off-grid. In fact, he tells us it was one of the primary goals of the Open Building Institute. He and his wife started the project to “make off-grid eco-housing widely accessible”. As a result, the building modules include designs for solar panel arrays, mini solar greenhouses, and even an hydroponic gardening system. These items could make it possible to build a small sustainable home in a remote area, without reliance on the electrical grid or grocery stores.
Paracord is an amazing material, especially if you're using the real mil-spec 550 variety. It acts as strong, lightweight, and extremely versatile cordage for survival situations. As a result, it's one of the key elements to a bug-out kit, whether it's found in your backpack or around your wrist.
If you've ever tried tying complex knots or weaving with this material, you may encounter a common problem: running out of loose strand to work with. Traditionally, this can be avoided by melting the end of a new piece of paracord, and fusing it to the existing piece through heat. It might seem relatively strong, but it looks sloppy, and requires delicate burning to accomplish correctly.
A melted paracord bond. Even if you're skilled at this technique, it's going to look a little messy.
Fortunately, there's a better way to join paracord, and it doesn't even need a flame. It was developed by a guy named Manuel Zambrano, and it's known as the Manny Method. The Manny Method pulls each piece of paracord through the other's outer sheath, resulting in a strong and smooth bond. The exterior sheath of mil-spec 550 cord is rated to hold 305 pounds, so theoretically this bond should hold close to that much weight.
The Manny Method looks neater, and can still be burned together if you're looking for even more strength. Source:...
The only downside to this method is that it will require a needle or other long sharp metal object to pull through the paracord. So, you'll probably want to do this at home, before you're stuck out in the field without a proper needle. Here's a video that shows how it works:
