2

... and remember:

Hints and tips in this issue are given in good faith to be of use in emergency situations. The author, publisher, related personnel and agents involved accept no responsibility for any injury, accident or damage which may result from the use of
their use.
All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without
permission from the publisher or reproduced digitally or mechanically through copying, recording, microfilm or any other method of information storage.
Contents Text Dr. Wallace Vosloo
Illustrations Nicolene Louw
Technical sketches Dean Foster
Editor Anita du Plessis
Design Anita du Plessis
First published in 2009

Contents
5

The Handy Condom

36 Cold drinks in the bush

Jumpstart a vehicle without cables

Alternative uses for your flashlight

37 Make a small stove from aluminum

cans

11 Pump a tubeless tyre

12 Out of brake- or hydraulic fluid?
13 Alternative cooking methods
15 Make a winch with poles and a rope
17 The useful black plastic bag
19 Your vehicle is stuck and the battery is flat ...
21 In the dark without light
24 The many uses of Condys Crystals
25 The multifunctional binoculars
27 Soldering or welding in emergencies
29 Making primitive fire

39 Toilet paper rope - stronger than

you think
41 Make fire with a beer can and
chocolate
42 Fire without matches or a lighter
43 Making fire with lenses
45 Sharpening your knife in the bush
47 Making fire with a Tonteldoos
49 Round in the barrel?
51 The many uses of Epsom Salt
52 Using Baking Soda
53 Fishing without hook or line
55 The multipurpose baked-bean tin

31 Lifting a vehicle without a jack

33 Pull, lift or move heavy items with a
rope

The Handy Condom

A condom is a multipurpose device- and it could be one of the most useful items in your
survival kit.
You already know about the primary purpose but here are some more:
Put anything that you want to protect from dust or water (like a cell phone) in it
and tie a make a knot in it
Put the condom in a sock or a hat to serve as water container. Fill it up - it can easily hold two or more liters.
The lubricant on the condom helps to moisturise for dry lips or abrasions.
Pull it over the your gun barrel to keep rain, dust, mud etc. out of it.
A condom that is pulled over a finger with an incised wound looks stupid, but keeps
both flesh and wound clean during skinning process..
When natures gentle call becomes a demand in an unexpected place - like in a small
plane - it is a handy urine holder that you can safely make a knot in and keep it to
discard it later
It is also very handy in a vehicle. Wind it tight around a leaking or burst pipe or use
as electrical insulation if there is no insulation tape available. Its elasticity can be
used as vibration inhibitor, tiedown or a spring.
You can even make a fire with a condom. Put half a cup of water in condom and press
water into a tight in a ball until the wall becomes thin and transparent. Use the
tight stretched wall as a magnifying glass to start the fire.
Yes, and then they say in the bad old border war days the guys put brandy or whiskey in a knotted condom hidden in water bottle. Just a puncture with a sharp bayonet, give it a good shake and the war seemed not so bad.
Well, there you have it: a couple of good reasons to explain to your wife why you carry a
condom in your bag.

Jumpstart a vehicle without cables

Stranded in a vehicle with a flat battery?
With a second vehicle as a help and with a set of touch cables handy it is no problem. But,
what do you do if no cables are available?
Well, the principle is indeed that electricity can, with two conductors, be carried from
the battery from the one vehicle to the other. Anything that can carry enough electricity
can then be used instead of cables.
The possibilities are infinite wire, steel droppers, pickaxe, piece of metal pipe even corrugated iron or pieces of a motor wreck. The requirement is only that electricity must
be conductible, must be thick enough to handle the current without overheating and that
there must be enough hands otherwise another plan must be made to bring all the pieces
together without causing a short circuit
To keep the two power transmission lines in place with all kinds of movables is of
very little value and it may be easier to get direct contact first for the negative or
earth wire. Beforehand make sure that both vehicles are negative wired. In other
words that in both the negative terminals of the battery is earthed on the engine or
chassis. Get the other vehicle as close as possible to the break down vehicle so that
a metal part from each good electrical contact is made with the other. Metal buffers, bull bars, draw bars or other parts with no cosmetic value, are suitable.
Start the help vehicle and let it idle fast. Now you can complete the positive conductor by making a bridge with a metal item between the positive terminal of the batteries.
Let the flat battery be charged for a couple of minutes before the out of order
vehicle is started.
If you are using wire as conductor it is advisable to twist together three or four wires
to carry the strong current without them overheating. In any case, be very careful that
sparks between weak contact points not cause a fire or that anybody gets hurt. Be careful
that the conductor does not short circuit or touch the finishing of the vehicle.

Alternative uses for your flashlight

Nowadays there are an incredible variety of torches in the market, especially since LED
technology made its appearance. We are talking however, here of the common old torch
with 2 batteries, three volt globe, reflector, switch and a spiral spring in the back part.
Yes, the type of which you easily turn one of the batteries around if torch not in use so
that it cannot, per accident, switch on making your batteries flat.
There are a couple of alternative uses for this torch:
A red glass or red cellophane over the existing glass is handy if you want to do mapreading at night and still be able to see without torch causing night blindness.
In spite of modern communications, a torch is still a reliable tool to send a signal of
distress. Three short, three long, three short, is the well known Morse code signal
for SOS or
Three flashes followed by counting three without light
Take a piece of the steel wool and fluff it out. Take the globe, reflector and glass
out of the torch, switch it on and short circuit the contacts in front of the torch
softly with the steel wool, which will then catch fire .
The shining reflector also works well to start a fire.
Take it out as well as the globe and point the reflector
towards the sun. Hold a piece of rolled up paper in the
hole where the globe has been, in such a position that
the focused sunbeams will ignite the paper .
Still another method to start a single fire in an emergency is to take the glass off the torch, take the
globe out and very carefully break the glass without
harming the small filament. Roll a piece of paper in
cylinder form and place it carefully around the open
globe. Place also fine tinder in the reflector around the
paper cylinder. Put powder-dust from a shell in the
paper cylinder, switch on the torch and you have your fire.

10

Pump a tubeless tyre

There you sit in the middle of nowhere with a flat tyre and your finger in your ear, You
fixed the inner tubeless tyre but now it does not want to hold air because the hand pump
or the airflow from the compressor is too slow to kick the tyre on the rim. All the air
escapes along the sides. It is a good idea to always have inner tubes with you for an emergency like this, but now, unfortunately there is none available.
What now?
If you have a coupling pipe or contrive something, you can pump another tyre to at
least 4 bar and use this then on the flat tyre to get air into it. If the inside of the
tyre valve is first screwed out the air will move faster and then a pump nozzle is not
necessary. A little bit of soap water, rubbed on the edge of the tyre, will also help
it to slide up and seal.
It also works some times if you put the wheel flat on the ground with the inside of
the rim at the top. Two people then get on the wheel and stand firm on the tyre until
the edge slip over on the bottom lip of the rim. Turn the wheel around then and put
the rim on something so that the tyre does not touch the ground but will now hang
against the lip that is underneath. Now the compressor might be able to inflate the
tyre.
Another plan is to string a strong rope on the outside of the tyre, all along the
middle of the tread and
with a stick or some tool wind it up so that the tread of the tyre is drawn in and the
ridges thus forced out against the rim.
A more daredevil plan is the following. Place the wheel flat on the ground. Now squirt
lighter fluid or something similar that is volatile and flammable inside the tyre as
well as a little bit over the outside ridge of the tyre and then also a stretch on the
ground as a fuse. Take a long stick with a burning rag in front and quickly light the
fuse. The explosion occurring now will blow the tubeless tyre in its place. You might
have to let out or add some air to get the right pressure.

11

Out of brake- or hydraulic fluid?

There is a serious leak in the brake system of your vehicle you step on the brake and
pump until it is later flat on the floor board. The brake fluid holder is empty and you are in
the middle of nowhere. The same thing can also happen with the hydrolic coupler. If there
is no other option, then you must drive further without brakes and rely on your mechanical
hand brake or by using lower gears for the engine to brake the vehicle. You can also rather
succeed to drive without clutch. With my old 1962 Series 11 Land Rover I change gears
easily without clutch (dont know if it is that easy with the modern vehicles) and we could,
for a long time, manage in Botswana, when the clutch failed there.
To start an emergency plan to fix the brake or clutch system, you must first stop the
leak. Look out for moist spots, and if you cannot fix the leak, close the relative part
of the system down. You can, if need be, squeeze the problem pipe closed with pliers
if it is not the main supply pipe. With only two or three wheels that can brake you
can still, with care, go on.
Now the system is shut again but there is still no fluid what now? Well, emergency
is emergency. To get you out of the dilemma, you can use dish washing soap, the very
well known green Sunlight Liquid. Dilute it with a little bit of water, but do not let
it foam. Just remember it is just for an emergency. You will have to clean the whole
system and check everything when you are home because rust can easily start in the
pipes or brake cylinders.
To start without a clutch you must get into second gear, switch the key on to get
it to start with the starter. Confine it only to emergencies because the starter will
work overtime in the process.
To change gears you must drive the vehicle until the engine revolutions are higher
than you normally would use for that gear. Gently remove your foot from the petrol
and slip the gears in neutral when you feel the vehicle has little torsion power on
the wheels. Allow the engine revolutions to go still lower until you feel the vehicle
move at the speed of the gear you selected and get it then in to gear. In the beginning things might be a little scratchy, but you will get the feeling. Dont even try to
change gears like that when you are on a gradient or when the vehicle is pulling heavily. Rather stay in a lower gear and take it easy. )

12

Alternative cooking methods

If you are driving the whole day and there is not time to stop or to prepare food, you can
use the engine heat to prepare a meal. Even sausages and chicken can be prepared on it.
Use thick tinfoil, about an arms arm length, fold it double with the dull side on the
outside. Wrap your food inside in a firm parcel. Tie the parcel with a piece of wire on
a suitable place near the exhaust manifold of your vehicle.
Drive then until you guess your meal is ready or when you get the smell in the cab.
It is not a definite process you will have to experiment, but when you get to know
your recipes and the use of your engine oven, you will, without much trouble, prepare
a delicious meal.
Eggs can be prepared in different ways. In a spade, kettle or if need be on the bonnet or on a warm rock. You can also bury eggs in the warm sand next to the fire to be
baked in the shell.
Another way for eggs is to sharpen a stick, the point should be as thin as possible
and must be longer than the length of the egg. Very carefully make a small hole on
the one side of the egg, thrust the stick through and cautiously out on the other
side. Hold the stick with the egg over the coals, rotating the stick until sufficiently
cooked.
Then there is still that trick that always succeeds to impress the ignorant to boil water
in a paper- or plastic bag.
Make two holes at the top of the bag and push a stick through it to serve as handle.
Pour water in the bag up to the holes. The holes must be thus situated and formed
that the bag cannot tear. Then hold the paper kettle over the coals until the water
boils.
A plastic shopping bag with grips works better. Just make sure, in all cases, that no
flames or excessive heat can burn those parts of the bag that is above the watersurface. The principle that prevents the burning or melting of the bag, rest simply
upon the fact that the water cools down as quickly in the inside of the bag as that
heated up by the heat on the outside
A plastic Coke bottle can also be used as a kettle. Remove the stopper to prevent
pressure building up in the bottle while heating and do not fill the bottle completely
seeing that the plastic shrinks a little and the water at the same time expands during the boiling process
13

14

Make a winch with poles and a rope

Your vehicle is stuck - really stuck. You should have bought that expensive winch but regret is always too late. Even if you had a hilift jack, you would have been able to use that
as a windlass. It is a very handy piece of equipment, you can lift up, pull and even compress
with it. But now there is not one of the two and there is not another vehicle to help you.
All that you have is a long strong rope.
Find two strong wooden poles, as thick as your forearm and a little longer than a human.
Tie the rope firmly on the chassis of the vehicle. Pull the rope till it is nearly tight
and tie the other point onto a suitable anchor point for example a tree.
One person must keep one of the poles upright against and in the middle of the rope.
The second person hook the other pole into the rope (see sketch) and swing the pole
around.
The person holding the upright pole must then trample the rope down and beyond the
turn pole.
With the turn pole as lever the rope must now be wind up around the vertical pole.
See, a pole and rope winch.
NB: Be extremely careful when using this technique if that pole comes
loose you might not have a leg to stand on ..

15

16

The useful black plastic bag

A truly handy item, the unassuming black bag. The heavy duty type is better. Herewith a
number of alternative uses.
Backpack: Put two, three or more bags into each other. Place small round pebbles in
the two corners and fasten the ends of a rope around the pebbles in the corners,
The rope must be long enough to be used as shoulder straps. Make a slip knot in the
middle of the rope, push the open side of the rucksack through it and pull tight for
a third fasten point.
Sleeping bag: Two bags can serve for an emergency sleeping bag. A bag over your
usual sleeping bag helps a lot against cold and rain. Or, put your sleeping bag loosely
in a black bag outside in the sun. Keep the bag open so that any moisture can escape..
Your sleeping bag will get nicely warm, ready to crawl in
Hammock: Use four bags or more depending on your weight and cut bottom open.
Push two strong ropes through and tie onto two trees. Push sticks in between the
ropes to spread it out and then slide the bags over each other to form a hammock.
Shelter: Cut a bag open and use it for shelter. You can also spread it over rope or
branches
Flotation device: Put two bags into each other, swing it around to get air into it and
tie the end tightly shut. It is something floating to hold onto in deep water
Washing machine: Put your dirty clothes with soap and water in a double or triple
layer bag and tie it tight. Let it roll around in the back of the vehicle or let the kids
play with it. Soon the clothes will be washed and ready for rinse.
Geyser: Put water in a bag, not more than half full, and tie the opening tight. Leave
it in the sun and the water will be warm. You can also hang the bag in a tree, make a
hole underneath and you can shower. Use chewing gum to seal the hole between getting yourself soaped and rinsed,
Water Container: Place a plastic bag inside your hat or rucksack to use as water
container.
Water collection: Cut a bag open and spread it out to collect dew. Or, if available,
spread a transparent bag (black bag does not work) over a non-toxic green, juicy
branch or shrub. If it is in the sun the whole day water vapor will condense within
and will flow to the bottom where it can be collected.
17

 Raincoat: Cut holes for head and arms. For a poncho, to cover rucksack and gun, cut
a hole for your head and leave the sides open.
Rope: Start at the opening of the bag and cut a long strip, about 2 cm wide, in a
circle. With this you can braid a strong rope.
Preparing Food: A plastic bag can serve as a water, dust and insect free food container, marinade bowl or plate. You can even boil water in it.

18

Your vehicle is stuck and the battery is flat ...

First of all, do not tap the power of the battery any more than is necessary because you
urgently need the last bit of power that is left in the cells. Dont keep on trying to start it
if the self-starter stopped turning and only produces that horrible clicking sound.. Switch
off all the electrical equipment in the vehicle.
If a second vehicle is available but cannot get close:
Take the flat battery out of your vehicle and carry it over to the other vehicle.
Exchange the live battery of that vehicle with the flat battery, but only connect the
negative earth cable onto the flat battery and leave the positive cable disconnected.
Connect the negative terminals of the two batteries with a jumper lead and then also
with the other.
Jumper lead the positive terminal of the fully loaded battery with the loose positive
cable of the vehicle. Clamp it in such a position so that the clamping nut can still be
pressed over the positive terminal of the flat battery.
Now, switch on the vehicle and let it idle for a few minutes. Carefully take the loose
positive cable, without disturbing the jumper lead connection, and shift it over positive terminal of the flat battery and fasten it. Let the vehicle idle at a higher speed
to charge the battery.
Disconnect the jumper leads one at a time, when the flat battery is fairly charged.
Let the vehicle idle at a higher rate to charge the flat battery further. The fully
loaded battery can now be taken to your vehicle. And see you have battery power.
The process sounds cumbersome but this way ensures that you are not stuck with
two vehicles with flat batteries
(see also Jump start a vehicle without cables)

19

If there is not a second vehicle available:

Hopefully your battery might still have enough power to supply a spark or in the case of a
diesel to warm up the glow plugs.
Make sure the vehicle is standing firm (put sand or rocks in front and at the back of
the front wheels and make sure it is not in gear or 4x4 and the differential lock is
off.
Jack the one back wheel of the vehicle up until it can rotate freely. Make sure the
vehicle is standing solid on the jack.
Wind a long rope firmly around the tyre in the direction allowing the wheel to rotate
forward when the rope is pulled.
Put the vehicle in third gear (second if necessary), choke it or spray easy start, if
available, on it, switch on and press the clutch in.
Now your passengers must merit their coming with by pulling the rope quick and with
meaning, almost like getting a lawn-mower started. Let go of the clutch and hopefully
the motor will idle without further ado. With a diesel it is not this easy, indeed it is
often impossible. .
Make sure the battery and alternator of the vehicle is in good condition
before you start the trip.

20

In the dark without light

Fire is not always advisable, for example, when you need light to work on an out of order
vehicle.
Here is another plan for emergency light:
Take a piece of electric cable and a 12 volt globe. Take a flash light or brake lamp out
if there is no spare lamp. Strip about 5 centimetre of the insulation on both ends of
the wire. Secure one end tight on the metal outside of the globe and turn the connection off with insulation tape or plaster but leave the bottom contact terminal of
the globe open.
Connect the other point of the wire now on the positive terminal of the vehicle battery. The whole metal work of the vehicle is already linked on the negative terminal
of the battery, so everywhere that you touch with the bottom terminal of the globe
on the metal work the lamp will shine brightly. Just be carefull for short circuit with
the electrical wire.
Here is another idea to make a lamp for your camp:
Get two empty beer or cool drink tins
Cut off about a quarter of the bottom side of one tin..
Make a hole in the middle of the bottom, just big enough to get a wick through and
place the wick in the hole.
Use string or a strip of cotton fibre material for the wick. Cut a v-shaped notch on
the side edge.
In the second tin, cut and bend an open tin or window out. The two flaps on both
sides serves as reflectors and wind-breaks.
Put paraffin or diesel in the bottom of the tin and place the other part inside, over
the fuel. First wet the wick in the fuel and make sure that the lower side of the wick
is in the fuel.
NB: Sometimes, especially when you walk in the dark, it is better not to
make local light but rather make use of the light of the moon or stars
to find your way. Consequently, your night sight will not be affected and
you will be able to see better
21

22

23

The many uses of Condys Crystals

Permanganate of potash crystals, better known as Condys crystals have a lot of uses.
At public swimming baths it is dissolved in foot-baths as disinfectant. The oldies also used
one or two crystals in the drinking water of sick fowls or birds and some of the people apparently also put some crystals in the bath water to get a quick tan. At a university hostel
they even tried to colour a poor guy purple with it, with rather bad consequences. If you
prepare it too strong it can burn the skin horribly. It was even believed that the crystals
would help for snakebite and for many years it was considered as the proper emergency
treatment.
Dont confuse Condys crystals with copper sulphate which, according to tradition, were put
in the tea or coffee of ex-servicemen to subdue readiness.
This small purple crystal still has, for the hunter and those who expose themselves to the
wilderness, very handy emergency uses.
Water purifier. Add two or three crystals iper litre of water and stir until the
colour is light pink. Allow the mixture to stand for at least thirty minutes and you
have drinking water in an emergency. If possible, filter the water and also boil it.
Anticeptic: Add crystals in water and sriir until it is purple. This mixture can be used
to disinfect wounds as well as for fungus problems i.e. athletic foot and other external infections.
Start a fire: To start a fire, form a small heap with one teaspoon of crystals, dribble glycerine, antifreeze or brake-fluid on the crystals. Patiently wait until it catches
fire and use to start your fire.
Be sure you have a bottle of Condys crystals with you on your next
hunting expedition. It has little weight, does not take up much space
and is versatile in emergencies.

24

The multifunctional binoculars

A nature lover or hunter normally have a binocular close by usually a good one. Of course,
there is always a debate which product or reinforcement is the best, but for the following
purpose any make will be good enough.
Apart from the obvious uses such as watching animals, birds and stars, the binocular can
also be adapted for the following:
Make a fire: If you have a lens, sunlight or even one of those new 1500 candlelight
spot lights, then you can start a fire. A binocular, directed to the sun, will collect
sunlight on its lenses and focus the energy on the point where the eye usuallu will be.
The heat there gets enormously high and will easily light tinder. That is why a person
must never look at the sun directly through the binocular
Microscope: A microscope is very handy in the veld especially if you want to investigate something small, want to see a thorn in your finger or a small crack on the
cartridge case. An upsidedown binocular works excellently for this. You look through
the big lens and bring the object to the focus point at the bottom lens and see, your
binocular is doing the work of a microscope..
Zoom lens for a camera: Maybe there is a zebra that you want to photograph with
your digital camera but he is far away and the function that allows you to zoom in is
not enough. Take your binocular, focus on the object and then place the lens of the
camera carefully just at the back of the eyepiece of the binocular. Hold the two
together, aim on the zebra, look in the display and take your photo with the camera that is looking through the binocular. If your hands are steady, it will work fine
though picture quality might be poor.

25

26

Soldering or welding in emergencies

It happens. You are far from help and amenities and you urgently need to weld something
that broke. Or the radiator of your vehicle leaks and the hole is too big to seal it with egg
white or mustard powder
Weld
You can easily weld with 40 volt direct current and 120 ampere. You can also manage with
36 volt but 24 volt is the minimum, otherwise there will not be enough spark. You then
need three or at least two 12 volt vehicle batteries that is connected in series to weld.
The problem is that 300 ampere is a little heavy and you can easily burn holes. The best
will be to connect the batteries in series with galvanized wire, which will serve as resistance, to help confine the current. Just watch out, if the wire gets too hot, connect another wire in parallel. If you cannot remember, from school days, the difference between
series and parallel ask your son.
To protect your eyes you can use two pairs of sunglasses together. It is not very comfortable but be wary for arc eyes that is much more inconvenient. Now use the jumper leads
of your vehicle as welding cables and clamps. As weld electrode you can use the carbon
centre out of a torch battery. Sharpen the centre like a pencil and roll it in tinfoil (if need
be out of a cigarette packet) and clamp it firm in the jaw of the one jumper lead. Then
draw a spark with the carbon electrode to melt the area where you want to weld and then
add extra metal in with wire that you fuse in (a coathanger or a piece of wire from a wire
fence).
It helps, of course, if you have an old glow plug, a small roll of soldering, a couple of welding rods, and a piece of welding glass for eye protection in your tool-box. You already have galvanized wire (the fence
next to the road).

You never know when you might need it.

27

Solder
Start a fire and heat a piece of metal to serve as soldering iron, A strong screwdriver or a rod with a flat point will also work. Still better is a diesel vehicles glow
plug that you connect on the 12 volt battery, its point becomes perfectly warm for
soldering work.
Scrape and rub the place thoroughly clean with sand or a piece of rock where you
want to solder. A half a lemon or battery acid can also be used to clean the solder
area of any remaining oil.
Inspect the joints of the radiator if there is not a little extra soldering that you
can borrow or plunder, if need be, the necessary lead out of the contacts of globes.

28

Making primitive fire

Everybody knows about the little stick rub method of making a fire, but how many people
are successful with it?
First of all your fuel must be suitable that holds good for all methods of making a fire.
As initial tinder, a lot of fine fleecy grass, old mans beard that grows on tree trunks,
bird- or mouse nests, can be used., The material must be fine, easily combustible and above
all, dry.
Then take a dry hardwood turnstick, as thick as a little finger and 45cm long and cut
one point round. Then get a dry, softer wood for the basis stick, as thick as your
thumb.
Cut one side slightly flat and make a small cavity near the point at the flat side, big
enough to accommodate the round point of the turnstick, Cut a v-shaped notch on
the side of the basis stick that leads to the cavity.
Put dry, fine sand in the cavity and place the round point of the turnstick in it. With
your foot, keep the basis stick steady on the tinder, and start to rub the vertical
turnstick to and fro in your hands whilst you also press it downwards. Now it needs
serious rubbing to keep the stick moving to get enough friction. If you hear the
squeaking sound, push downwards more firmly.
It requires exercise and is easier if two people work together. You can also tie a
string or a shoelace with two loops for your thumbs on the upper side of the turnstick and use it to push it down while you turn.
Eventually smoke will start coming out of the hole and a black powder will be formed
in and along die V-notch, Keep on turning until this powder starts to fume.
Remove the turnstick slowly away and blow very carefully oxygen over the smoking
powder until a red cinder begins to form in the powder.
Now tip this cinder out on the tinder, help it by blowing softly on it and hopefully the
tinder will then start to flame.
As soon as the tinder is burning the fire can be further packed with small dry sticks
that must be at hand.

29

Remember the principle: first tinder, then

small dry sticks then gradually coarser material for the fire. Do not deprive the fire
of its oxygen by putting on too fast and too
much branches on it.

30

Lifting a vehicle without a jack

You may be stranded with a wheel that needs to be changed, but then you find out that
the jack is not working or it is home in your shed. Well, if there is no jack available you will
have to make use of brainpower. Here are two ideas will work.
Pack hard rocks or pieces of tree trunks firmly under the axle of the vehicle, where
the wheel must be changed. This now is your support. After you have loosened the
wheel-nuts slightly, then you dig a hole underneath the flat tyre so that you can
remove it easily. Make the hole deep enough to allow the inflated tyre to be put on.
Then pack or shift rocks, wood or gravel in under the wheel and then carefully dig
out the ground under the support in order to remove the pile of rocks or tree trunks
and the vehicle is standing on that wheel. Just remember to screw the wheel-nuts
tight.
Get a sturdy wooden pole, about human height and as thick as an upper leg, with a
fork on the one side. Place the pole with its fork at the bumper and the other point
in the ground, in line with the moving direction of the vehicle. With a strong rope tie
the pole to the bumper but not too tight, then move the vehicle slowly so that the
wooden pole gets stuck and be pulled upright. Dont pull past perpendicular. Shift
firm rocks or pieces of wood under the chassis of the vehicle, as safety precautions,
while you do the necessary repair work. Follow the opposite procedure to let the
vehicle down.
Bear in mind, only vehicles with a strong bumper that is fixed firmly on the chassis, can be
lifted up like that e.g. the old Land Rover or Cruiser.

31

Remember the hand brake and always, for safety, put a big
rock or two in front and at the back of the other wheels so
that your vehicle cannot move forward or backwards.

32

Pull, lift or move heavy items with a rope

You must pull, hoist or let down something that is very heavy and there is no windlass
or block and tackle available. If you have a long rope handy, you will be able to make the
equivalent of a tackle that will double your tracrtive power.
Here

is the plan::
Fasten the rope at point A
Tie a loop a short distance away from A.
Pull the rope through the loop so that it can form a still longer loop. It will help if
somebody can hold the loop for you.
Thread the point of the rope through a smooth eye or something similar that will allow the rope to move freely to and fro at point B (the item that must be moved)..
Thread the point through the long loop that has been formed in point 3 above and
pull tight in the opposite direction.
The heavy item at B can now, as a result of your mechanical advantage, much easier
be moved. Use this technique to shift a vehicle, to load or let down cargo or as a
strap to fasten a load thoroughly. With a proper branch of a tree above is also a way
to hoist the carcass of an animal up to skin it or to load it on a high truck.
A bowline knot is a common loop knot is not easy to untie afterwards.
The bowline knot shown in accompanying sketch is ideal for a loop, does
not tie up and unties easily when it is not under pressure.

33

Bowline knot

34

35

Cold drinks in the bush

There is nothing better than an ice-cold beer or drink after a warm day in the veld - but
is almost undrinkable if it is lukewarm. What do you do to get them cold quickly? Firstly,
dont even think to put them in the freezer, that takes too long to get cold.
If ice is available, put the bottles or tins in a container, preferably insulated and
cover with the ice. Then throw a couple of handful of salt over the ice. Wait a minute
or two and then throw water in to cover the top of the bottles or tins. If there is
more ice at hand, put another layer of ice with salt on top. Wait for about ten minutes and see, ice cold drinks ready to quench an intense thirst.
If you are really so desperate for refreshments and you do not worry about cost, the next
method will work faster and better.
Put the bottles or tins in a container and then spray a big carbon dioxide (CO2) fire
extinguisher empty over the drinks. It is not only very impressive but your drinks will
also be ice-cold in a minute.
The very best idea is to put your drinks in the fridge early. If there is no fridge the following ideas might help to get your drinks cool but unfortunately not ice cold.
Bury your drinks in wet sand or place it in a flowing stream or a deep water pool. Just
remember where you buried it or make sure it cannot wash away.
Evaporation usually leads to cooling. Those old canvas water bags that were hanging in
front of the vehicle to cool, is a very good example of the phenomenon. Here is a variation
of the principle.
Look for a tree where the wind is blowing. Now place your drinks in a jute bag. The
opening of the bag must hang loosely. Wet the whole caboodle properly with water
then hang it on the tree. Fill another container with water and hang it next to the
bag a big bucket or a 20 litre drum, cut open, will work well. Place the opening of
the bag as deep as possible in the water container. The water will slowly, through
capillary action, flow from the container to the bag full of drinks and thus keep it
wet.
Evaporation, driven on by wind, will cause that the bag and its contents, will cool
down. Just remember to keep the bag filled up with water so that the bag stays wet,
and exercise patience because the process is rather slow.
36

Make a small stove from aluminum cans

There are really few things as nice as a cup of coffee in the veld.
To carry a hikers stove with kettle or hot water in flask with you will always be a bother.
Here is an easier plan for a hunter.
We assume that you are already carrying a water bottle and also something to light a
fire
Mix coffee, sugar and powdered milk to taste in a zip-up plastic bag; even tea and
soup will also work. That old tin mug is going to be used to carry everything, boil the
water in it and to drink your coffee out of it. The dixie underneath your army water
bottle also works well.
Bend a small standard out of galvanized wire, the same height as the tin mug and just
big enough to fit inside the tin mug. Three used and empty cartridge cases can be
used for the pedestals, or else tie the lot firmly in pairs with thin wire.
Now you can carry out your plan by putting the mug with water on top of the tripod ,
make a fire underneath with sticks and so get the water to boil.
We can also make a small light stove with aluminium cold drink tins. It works much
better and also gives your fellow hunters something to talk
Take two aluminium tins. Red Bull works excellent.
Carefully cut off the bottom of both tins, about 25. mm from the bottom.
Slice or cut three equivalent proportionate spreaded V grooves on the side of one
tin on the bottom.
Push the open bottom sides of the two tins into each other so that the one with
the grooves slips inside the other one. From now on it is the upper side of the little
stove.
Now, on the upper tin, make small proportionately spaced little holes on the bottom
edge, not bigger than 1 mm.
Cut about a 30mm to 35mm proportionate hole in the middle of the bottom of the

37

top tin. Cut a long strip aluminium plate, 30mm wide, out of the remaining tin.
Now roll the plate in a cylinder of 30 mm and insert it tight in the hole at the bottom
of the bottom tin. Your stove is finished.
Things work like this:
50 ml methylated spirits or benzene will be used as fuel.
Put the fuel in the stove and kindle it
Place the tripod with tin mug of water over the burning stove. Within seconds your
stove will burn like a gas stove and boil the water. Everything fits nicely in the tin
mug and is small and light.
Enjoy that coffee or your Earl Grey if you are English.

38

Toilet paper rope - stronger than you think

Except for the corn-cob men, we all know for what toilet paper is used for. Well, there is
still another use, one can make a strong rope with it.
On its own, the single layer is thin and feeble, but plait a couple of layers together and you
have a rope that is strong enough to hoist up a person.
Roll the toilet paper out in layers on the ground, at least five times the length that
you need as well as a minimum of ten layers on each other. Three people iwill be
needed to plait the rope, one on each side of the unrolled toilet paper and the third
person in the middle.
The two at the ends then start to turn the toilet paper, both clockwise round as
they are standing opposite each other. And like this they carry on until the paper is
tightly wind up.
The third person then lightly pulls the middle of the toilet paper rope towards him
and slowly start to wind it up anti-clockwise whilst the other two are still busy winding it up in a clockwise direction. That is how you build the rope.
Then carefully stretch out the rope, a little at a time, and repeat the two steps
above to double the rope. If there is enough paper, and you can lay it out long
enough, you can double it again and again until you have a cable that is strong enough
for nearly any job.
The principle to wind up relative poor fibre to plait a strong rope exists already for centuries. Strips of plant material like sisal leaf fibre, fibrous bark and even strips of clothes,
blankets, towels etc. can be used in making a rope, if needed urgently.
The same principle can also be used to strengthen rope that is too narrow. In this way,
fishing line on a pulley can perhaps become a tow-bar.

39

Make fire with a beer can and chocolate

Make a fire with a beer tin and chocolate? Believe me it works, although it requires quite a
lot of effort.
Firstly, take the tin of beer, open it and pour it in a glass or mug. That now, is to
quench your thirst during all the hard work that is waiting. You can, of course, also
use an empty one.
Turn the tin upside down and you will see that the bottom side forms a cavity or concave. This form can serve as a parabolic reflector to concentrate sunbeams with and
thus enable you to start a fire, but it needs to be polished first until it shines like a
mirror. It is here where the chocolates come in..
Tear a piece off from the paper covering the chocolate, melt/lick a piece of chocolate wet and spread it thickly on the rough inside of the paper (it must be rather
lumpish). Now polish the cavity underneath the tin to a super shine with the chocolate it until you can see yourself clearly in it.
It is not easy or quick. The problem is that the modern beer tin is sprayed with a
layer of clear lacquer to protect it from rust, and this stuff is difficult to remove.
You can, of course, use any other super fine polish paste or you can cover the underside of the tin with tinfoil to form a parabolic mirror. Ordinary kitchen foil is
adequate, also the foil where the slab chocolate is sealed in. Be sure the shiny side is
outside and that it is rubbed flat against the tin so that it will accept the true parabolic curve.
Now you are ready to make your fire. Take a piece of the chocolate covering or any
other paper, roll it in skittle form and straighten the point out with care. Now aim
your parabolic mirror perpendicular to the sun (hold the tin against your chest) and
move the piece of paper slowly nearer to the point where the sunbeams are focused
on through the parabolic mirror. Keep it steady there until it finally catches fire.
You can also use the parabolic reflector that is in a torch or in the head lights or
spot lights of a vehicle (unfortunately the reflector of a sealed beam type vehicle
light cannot be removed).
Remove the bulb out and push a piece of rolled up paper in the hole up to the focus
point and you can again start a fire with sunbeams.

41

Fire without matches or a lighter

With a fire you are able to boil water to make it drinkable, to harden wooden and spear
points, prepare food, to drive the darkness away and to keep up morals, to keep wild animals away and hopefully to show the rescue team where you are by using it as a signal..
What do you do if there is no matches or lighter with you or if it is soppy wet and useless?
There is a large variety of methods, techniques and apparatus that can be used to make a
fire. The Swedish firesteel is one of the most trustworthy methods.

Swedish firesteel- a combination of ferrocerium and a variety of other metals that produces a spark when it is scratched with a sharp object like a knife (your most important
survival component), which you must have with you at all times.
It is available at camp shops and some models even have a magnesium part that will make
the whole process even more easier. The main plus point is that this apparatus can get wet
but will still work.

42

Making fire with lenses

The sun is a source of energy. A convex lens, in other words, a lens that can, on one or
both sides bulge outside, like a magnifying glass, collects sunlight and focus the energy on
a small area that becomes mighty hot and can easily catch fire on the tinder.
Here follows a couple of ways to make lenses with which a fire can be started.
Use the lenses of your reading glasses. By putting water in the cavity or the inside
of the lens, the effectiveness will be further increased.
A transparent glass bottle also works well as a lens. It will take some patience to find
the focus point because it is sometimes further away than you thought.
Stretch a layer transparent plastic over a 20cm wire circlet or something similar.
Pour water over the plastic until it forms a cavity and thus form a lens.
Pour half a cup of water in condom and press it tight in a ball until the rubber wall is
transparent and thin. The corner of a transparent plastic bag also works well.. Make
a hole in a piece of plastic or non-absorbent paper with a pin. With the point of the
pin press a drop of water out and put it in the hole to form a small lens. Because the
areas that collect sun is so small, this plan will only work in full, powerful sun.
The large lens of a binocular turned up towards the sun can be used as a magnifying
glass. The focus point forms close to the eyepiece.
A piece of clear ice can be formed as a lens by rubbing it on a rock and then polish it smooth with the heat of your hands.. The ice must not be murky or full of air
bubbles

43

Fresnel Lens

Condom

44

Sharpening your knife in the bush

Nowadays there is no shortage of knife sharpening gadgets on the market. But you forgot that cool gadget that you received as a present at home and it is useless here on your
hunting expedition.
With the basic principle of sharpening in mind - like a hard grinding medium, a lubricant
and a constant grinding angle, a person can make another plan to sharpen that blade again.
Here are a couple of ideas:
Knife against steel: My granny sharpened her knives - one in each hand - in the
kitchen by pulling one against the other. Stroke away from each other over the whole
length of the blade at an angle of almost 30 degrees, first one side then the other
side of the cutting edges. If there is only one knife, use any steel.
Flint or glass: A piece of flint or glass have a tough, sharp edge that can be used to
sharpen with. Rub the sharp side of the flint or glass over the cutting edge of the
blade at 30 degrees to get the knife sharp
A Flat, smooth rock: This, at least, is the origin of the whetstone. Look for a flat
part, wet it with a little bit of water, and grind it with the same technique as with a
whetstone
Fine sand: The old-timers sometimes kept a wooden board and a small little box of
fine sand in the kitchen to sharpen with. Scatter the sand on a piece of wood or any
flat surface, then drag the cutting edge of the knife to and fro at about 30 degrees
Sandpaper: Waterproof sandpaper, stretched over a piece of wood or any other
flat item, forms an effective whetstone. A fine file can also be used as a useful
grinder
Vehicle window: The top side of the vehicle door window have a coarse well-rounded
surface, ideal to sharpen a knife on. Wet with a little bit of water and cut at 30 degrees with the blade over the top of the windowpane, first one side then the other
Leather belt: Grandpa used to make his cutthroat razor extremely sharp on the
back side of a leather belt. Because leather is much softer than steel this plan is
meant for the final finishing off of a sharp cutting edge, rather than to try to give a
very blunt knife a cutting edge again

45

You to decide which of these methods you want to try on your designer
knife worth three thousand dollars!

46

Making fire with a Tonteldoos

As with all good things, a person must prepare, and this is how:
Clean an working area properly, with a slight cavity in the middle for your place to
make a fire
Collect tinder like fine grass, woollen waste, ouman se baard, dry tinder bush, cottonwool or leaves - anything that can easily catch fire with a small coal. Then form
a birds nest with it, the rough tinder outside and the finer on the inside. A genuine
bird- or mouse nest will also work best. This now is your natural fire starter
Collect a bunch of dry wood and separate it into 3 heaps:
Fine sticks: - thinner than little finger thickness and about hand length
Sticks - little finger thickness and half an arm length
Fire wood - wrist thickness and logs as thick as your thigh. Keep them ready to
feed the fire
We are now ready to start the fire
Arrange the broken sticks in a pyramid shape with opening towards the wind and big
enough to put the birds nest inside
Now we are going to use the tinder-box to get a coal to light the birds nest without
matches or a lighter
Take a piece of the charred material out of the tinder-box, about as big as a small
coin and keep it on the side of the flintstone with your thumb. Beat sparks with the
steel on the flintstone right next to the charred material. Warm pieces of the metal
or sparks that land on the charred material will make it smoulder
Blow softly to form a smouldering coal
Now we have our coal to start the fire with.
Very carefully put the smouldering coal inside the birds nest, close it around the
coal while softly blowing on it. It will start to smoke,. Keep on blowing and the lot will
catch fire and burn
Place the burning birds nest in the small sticks pyramid. Place some of the broken
sticks on top and keep on feeding it until it burns properly
47

 The rest of the broken sticks now comes in handy to stoke the fire. Just remember
that a fire needs three things: fuel, oxygen and heat. Therefore, dont chocke the
fire with too much wood. When things are going smoothly then place logs on it one at
a time for a long, sociable chatting-type fire

Tonteldoos

Charred cloth

Steel striker

Slow match
Flint

The old Boers usually caught the spark in the tinder-box and thus the coal formed
there. After the coal was used on the fire, they put the lid back, and the tinder smoulder on and finally go out because of lack of oxygen. In this way further
charred tinder of cloth was formed , which they then pushed from the back to
the front to use on the next fire
48

Round in the barrel?

You aim, press the trigger, and a weak puff informs you that it is only the percussion cap
or a very small blast that ignited. The lock withdraws an empty cartridge but as you look
into the dark barrel you see the bullet stuck inside.
Dang! Something went wrong with the reloading and now your rifle is out of action, with no
available tools,
Here are a couple of ways to get the bullet out. Just remember that the rifle barrel, especially the front must not be damaged. Rather use softer materials like wood, fibre glass or
brass to remove the bullet. You must work extremely carefully if you must use hard metal.
Also take note where the bullet is stuck that will determine if you are going to take it
out from the front or the back. The shortest way is usually easier
* If you have a cleaning rod at hand that is of course the easiest solution. Take a
piece of wood, wrap a or piece of cloth around it, and use it as a hammer to flip the
bullet out
The aerial of a vehicle can sometimes be used successfully to get out the bullet. This
metal is hard, so put enough adhesive tape or other protection around the aerial.
Wind thicker covering around the point so that it can stay in the middle of the barrel and then a thinner layer further. It is very important that you work carefully and
not damage the barrel
Sometimes a bullet can be romoved by using pneumatic pressure. I have been able to
blow an old 0.54 bore bullet out of a gunpowder rifle with one of these new soda tube
bicycle pumps - but be careful, the bullet comes out at a speed! Rather try using the
spare wheel for spare air
A hydraulic hammer can also be used. Pour water carefully in the longer open side
of the barrel . Then take a stick and cut it nice and round so that about 5cm of it with a thin piece of rag around it - fits snugly in the barrel. This now is your piston.
Place it on top of the water and hit on it with something heavy. The bullet ought to
move a bit. Withdraw the piston and fill the barrel up with water again. Repeat this
process until the bullet is out. Remember to dry the barrel before you shoot again
and also to oil it afterwards.

49

Note: If the cartridge has fully ignited and the bullet is stuck, you
could perhaps have used the wrong bullet or cartridge. Rather take the
gun to a gunsmith to remove the bullet and to make sure there is no
further damage before you use the gun again

50

The many uses of Epsom Salt

A farmer in Epsom, England found out in 1818 that the bitter mineral water of the area
cures scratches and rashes. In short the healing water has been boiled down and the
remaining magnesium sulfate became known as Epsom salts, which we South Africans then
called English salt, supposedly because it comes from England.
Here are some uses:
Infection: When you are busy butchering an animal, a cut - usually on a finger - can
easily become infected. Mix two teaspoons Epsom salts in a cup of warm water, as
hot as you can bear. Put your damaged finger in the cup and keep it there for at least
10 minutes. Keep on treating the finger every hour until the pain stops
Insect bites: Mix Epsom salts into a paste with water and dab it on the insect bite.
Within 10 minutes the potion will bring relief
Constipation: Mix one teaspoon Epsom salts in a glass of water and drink. This works
very well, so be careful that the problem does not swing around and becomes a diarrhea problem
Muscle relaxer: Put a handful (use the whole packet) Epsom salt in your bath water,
lie back and allow your muscles to relax, it works. To help with a local muscle problem, place a small towel dipped in strong Epsom salt water mixture on it
Foot-bath for tired feet, callouses and blisters: Mix two table spoons Epsom
salts in a container of lukewarm water. When you sit next to the camp fire and relax,
put your feet in the water. Afterwards, dry your feet and put some comfortable
shoes on. This old Boer home remedy still works, so take a couple of packets of Epsom salts with in your medicine chest

51

Using Baking Soda

Bicarbonate (sodium bicarbonate) NaHCO3) is a safe, edible, natural, mineral salt that
helps to maintain the ph and carbon dioxide balances of the world.
It is freely obtainable from any grocery shop because dearest wife usually has a packet
of this versatile white crystals in the kitchen. Now and again, when the battery terminals
must be cleaned, the packet gets a new home in the garage.
But there are many other uses, here are a couple of them:
Put a couple of packets of bicarb in your gun safe to keep moisture out. Dry them
again in the oven
Sprinkle bicarb to extinguish the fire
Bicarb or aniseed oil takes bad smells out of the fridge
Use bicarb to get greasy dishes clean. Bicarb softens brackish water when soap
does not want to dissolve
Sprinkle bicarb to keep cockroaches, ants and sand fleas away
For tired and sore feet after a long walk, put a couple of spoons of bicarb in lukwarm
water for a foot-bath
Dry bicarb in between the toes helps for athletic feet and fungus. It also eliminates
odors from smelly feet
* Use bicarb as a mouth-wash and toothpaste or to clean artificial teeth
Use a paste of bicarb and water, dab it on insect bites or itchy rashes or uncomfortable abrasions
Two cups of bicarb in bath water relieves sunburn
Make an energy- or rehydration drink: 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon bicarb 5 teaspoons
of sugar and a packet of Sweet Aid in 1 litre of water
Drink a glass of water with half a teaspoon of bicarb for indigestion and flatulence

52

Fishing without hook or line

If you have to survive somewhere remote, catching fish will help to ease the hunger pains.
Here are a couple of ways to do it:
Cut a third off of the front of a plastic bottle and push it reversed, back in the remaining piece. Fasten the two parts with a piece of wire. Then knot a piece of string
through a small hole you made in the bottom of the bottle. Put pieces of bait like
bread crumbs, meat, insects, worms etc. inside. Place the bottle then in a water pool,
anchor the string on a rock and your fish-trap is ready to catch small fish, shrimps or
crabs during the night. Cooked together, it can be a delicious survival soup
A shirt or slacks, with the sleeves or trouser legs buttoned up, can serve as a scoop
net to catch small fishes.
If you see bigger fishes, you can try to entice them with bait and then try to get
them. Stand patiently with two rocks in your hands underneath the water and beat
the two rocks loudly against each other when a fish comes near you. The shock waves
might - for a moment - paralyze it, giving you just enough time to quickly snatch it
out of the water. You can also, with a thick stick, beat on the water just above the
fish. The same shock effect can be obtained by shooting in the water about a third
of the length of the fish on the side of it, but this can be very dangerous because of
the unpredictable ricochet of the bullets as they hit the water
* At night fish are attracted towards light. With a torch or a headlight you can entice them to you and then hit it with a walking stick or the blunt side of a panga
Fish with lungs can be dug out from under the moist mud underneath the hard crust
of the parched pools. Be on the look out for small breathing holes - that is where
they hide
Poison can also be used to catch fish in pools. The latex of Euphorbia species as the
Naboom (Euphorbiacceae) or the Potloodbos (Euphorbia brucalli) works well. However, be very careful, these are not a nature-friendly practices, and the poisonous
sap must not come near your eyes. Do not eat the guts or gills of fish that are killed
like this

53

54

The multipurpose baked-bean tin

Cowboy beans - or musical beans or whatever you want to call it - a tin of baked beans will
always be handy and nice camp food, especially with fried food. The empty tin it need not
necessary be a bean tin can be used for different purposes.
Here follows a couple:
Use the sharp lid of the tin as a knife. Bend one side of the lid 90 degrees round.
Break a thumb-thick, hand length stick open and place the tin lid in the crack of the
stick with the bent side against the stick. Tie it up and there you have a knife
Make wire by cutting a metal strip around the tin in a spiral
Make a fuse by cutting a very narrow strip of metal out of the lid of the tin
* An opened tin is handy to tie up holes in the exhaust. The metal of the tin is easy
to solder with
An empty tin can be used as a drinking mug or even a cooking pot. Bend the lid over
and fold it in for a grip
You can also make a small stove out of a tin. Make at least four air holes, two finger
widths from the bottom, all around and do the same one finger width from above. Put
dry coarse sand in the bottom of the tin and soak it with any fuel. Light it and you
have an emergency stove
Three tins produce a stand for a flat-bottomed iron pot
Keep ants out of left-over food by placing the legs of a threelegged pot in three tins full of water
The bottom or lid of a tin which has been polished with ash
to shine, can be used as an emergency signal mirror

55

Remember the
survival rule of 3s

3 seconds to decide to live

3 minutes without oxygen
3 minutes bleeding
3 hours without shelter or 30 minutes in severe climate conditions
3 days without water
3 weeks without food
3 months without human interaction
Without meeting these basic needs you are in serious trouble
and will die.

56

Notes

57