Survival Training Home Emergency Outdoor Safety Natural Disasters Terrorism & Warfare Disaster Preparation WonderHowTo
iOS 17 Tips, Tricks, How-Tos, News

How To: Do a line rescue in the water as a Boy Scout

As a Boy Scout, when the First Class rank is attained, a scout has learned all the basic camping and outdoors skills of a scout. He can fend for himself in the wild, lead others on a hike or campout, set up a camp site, plan and properly prepare meals, and provide first aid for most situations he may encounter. A First Class scout is prepared.

How To: Build & Hide a Campfire from Your Enemies — The Dakota Fire Pit

Fire.  It’s everywhere— always has been.  From the Ordovician Period where the first fossil record of fire appears to the present day everyday uses of the Holocene.  Today, we abundantly create flames (intentionally or unintentionally) in power plants, extractive metallurgy, incendiary bombs, combustion engines, controlled burns, wildfires, fireplaces, campfires, grills, candles, gas stoves and ovens, matches, cigarettes, and the list goes on... Yet with our societies' prodigal use of fire, t...

How To: Make a milirary bugle cord

Bugle cords are used as elaborate leashes on bugles and trumpets, and make for snazzy ornamentation on military band uniforms. Tying It All Together shows you how to make one. The technique for making one is relatively simple. Watch this video tutorial and learn how to make a military bugle cord.

How To: Make a survival fire from a battery and staple

Check out this how-to video to start a fire using an AA battery and a staple. You can do this while listening to the classical guitar piece, "Malaguena" if you feel like it. It could save your life! With your battery: start by cutting the plastic away from the negative terminal. Watch the video survival training tutorial for more tips on starting an emergency fire!

How To: Make a simple coyote well water filter

When you're trying to survive in the wild, clean water is an absolute must. This video shows you a simple and easy method to build a basic water's edge, water filter device called a coyote well water filter. Though this filter will NOT remove toxins or pathogens, in an emergency it's an effective way of filtering out the big, nasty stuff.

How To: Purify Urine for Drinking with an Emergency Solar Still

It’s called Urophagia—the art of consuming urine. There could be any number of reasons for having the desire to drink your own urine (or somebody else’s). There’s the so-called term “urine therapy,” which uses human urine as an alternative medicine. In urine therapy, or uropathy, it’s used therapeutically for various health, healing, and cosmetic purposes. There’s also those people who drink urine as sexual stimulation, where they want to share every part of each other. And then there’s the o...

How To: Eat & extract water from a cactus

John Campbell demonstrates how to eat and extract water from a cactus. You can eat a cactus from the hedgehog plant family. First, cut off the top of the cactus and skin down the sides, cutting off the cactus spines. Cutting the cactus will not hurt it because it can heal itself. The cactus meat will be like a sticky cucumber. Try to avoid the central core because it is stringy but you can eat the cactus meat. Wrap the meat in a bandana, squish it and wring it out to extract the water from th...

How To: Create a spring spear trap

Kruder, from The Pathfinder's school, teaches you how to make a spring spear trap with almost all natural materials. This is a very dangerous trap so be warned and be very careful if you practice this. By using any springy tree (he uses a Maple), and a toggle tied to another tree, you can make a trip wire for any sized animal. Add a spear to make it more effective. You'll learn everything from the materials to construction in this video.

How To: Tie a Great Hangman's Noose (Or Hangman's Knot)

The hangman's noose is infamous for its use in hanging prisoners during executions. It was supposedly invented in Britain but eventually spread throughout the world, going beyond the prisons and even into our own homes. But the hangman's knot isn't all doom and gloom. There are plenty of practical (and non-lethal) applications for the hangman's knot, like a fishing or boating knot. Everyone should know this roped knot; this tutorial will show you the knot-tying process. Just remember, to be a...

How To: Start a fire using a firestarter

This video demonstrates how to make a fire without any matches using the Swedish Firesteel magnesium fire starter. You need to have some good tinder, such as dryer lint or a cotton ball. To make it burn longer, you can use petroleum jelly. He puts some Vaseline on the cotton ball. He demonstrates the fire starter by putting one metal part on the dryer lint and scraping the other part on it. A spark lights the dryer lint and it burns quickly. He demonstrates again with the cotton ball soaked i...

How To: Tie a bloody knuckle knot

A bloody knuckle knot is the result of a row of half hitches fused with a blood knot--this video teaches you how to tie one. Make two loops with your rope then loop them over your thumb. Take the tail of the rope and keep making loops and adding them to the others on your thumb, to produce a row of loops. When you have five loops, slide them off your thumb, take the end of the rope and pass it through the loops. Pull out the slack but do not tighten, then take the other tail and pass it throu...

How To: Tie hammock hanging knots

The knots demonstrated in this how-to video are a good way to hang a hammock, because it makes it so easy to adjust your hanging height. The whipping knot around the tree will not slip if tied correctly. Make sure to tie the second half hitch or the knot may slip and come loose. As with all knots, use your own discretion and be safe. Watch this video survival training tutorial and learn how to tie some sturdy knots useful for hammock-hanging.

How To: Remove Maggots from Your Eyeball

While maggots living in human eyeballs isn't necessarily a problem in the states, it could happen to you one day if a fly decides your warm eyeball is a suitable place for its larvae. If this rare event should happen, before you start gouging your eyeball out, remember this trick from National Geographic explorer and engineer Albert Lin and everything will be okay.

How To: Construct and set up an Asian trail spring trap

When you're surviving in the wild there's no running to 7-11 to grab some snacks. It's all up to you. This excellent instructional video teaches you how to build and set an Asian trail spring trap. Primarily, this trap would be used for medium sides animals as they make their way along a forest trail. The trap requires a heavy object near the trail (ideally a rock, or fallen log), a length of fine, strong cordage, a 4ft piece of sapling and several small branches for this device's triggering ...

How To: Use the dog-bone trigger system for setting various traps

There are a multitude of traps you can set when hunting in the wild, but you've got to understand proper trigger theory or you won't be bringing home the bacon, or the grouse. This informative how to introduces you to the dog-bone trigger, which can be used in ten or more different traps. You'll need a sapling, some bankline cordage, a t-bone stick and a handful of twigs. Learn it up your chances of survival.

How To: Tie the basket weave knot

In this video, we learn how to tie the basket weave knot. First, place the string on a hook, then cross the two sides and make a loop. Next, make the loop wider and take the right and left strings up, then pull the loops down to make a pretzel shape. Now, twist the bottom loops around and place one on top of the other. After this, push them on either side of each other, then bring the right string around and loop it through the left loop, then bring the left string into the right bottom loop....

How To: Use a compass and map

This video tutorial is in the Disaster Preparation category which will show you how to use a map style compass. The first thing is to get your bearings by sight without a map. The arrow on the compass represents the direction of travel, the N on the compass dial is the compass North and the red needle points to the magnetic North. First align the compass N with the magnetic North. Now say you want to go 90 degrees East. Next you align 90 degrees with your direction of travel arrow. Rotate the...

How To: Make a coal burned container

John Campbell shows you how to make an all natural bowl with spout using hot coals to burn the desired shape into a block of wood. First you'll need to make a straw from a cattail stock by burning through the center with a hot coat hanger. John next demonstrates how to use this straw and some hot coals placed on the wood to burn the shape of a bowl and spout into the block. Finally, John uses a stone to sand the bowl down and remove the charcoal leaving a clean wooden container. The final res...

How To: Make fire without matches using acetone and magnesium

In this how-to video, you will learn how to make fire without using any matches. You will need Manganese heptoxide and acetone to do this experiment. You will also need a rod, pipette, and glass beaker. Please exercise caution before doing this experiment, as it involves fire. Place the Manganese heptoxide in the glass beaker. Using a pipette, place a few drops of acetone around it. Now, place a drop on top. Be careful, as the Manganese heptoxide will ignite as soon as the drop hits the mater...

How To: Tie a loop in the end of a rope with a bowline knot

This video describes and shows you how to tie a loop in the end of a rope with a bowline knot. A bowline knot is used in rigging by the ground rigger to create a point for the up rigger to have a point to pull up. This is how you create a bowline knot. First you must create a loop in the middle of the knot. With the free end, come up through the loop, then you go around the standing end of the rope and then you move it back through the loop. You pull the knot tight. That is how you create a b...

How To: Boil Water on a Leaf in the Wilderness

This video shows a tip on how to boil water on a leaf in the wilderness. If you are stuck out in the wilderness and you don't have a plastic bottle for water you can use a leaf to boil water for drinking. Build a fire first. Then, find a large enough leaf you can hold over the fire without burning your hands. Fill the leaf with water and hold it over the fire. Only let the flames lick up against the leaf so it won't burn. The edges will curl up closed but the water will boil in about ninety s...

How To: Make a primitive wilderness loom

Staying warm is important to making sure that you survive. Whether it be the end of the world or you find yourself lost in the wilderness, keeping dry and warm is key to survival. In this two part tutorial find out how to make a primitive wilderness loom and a mat to sleep on.

Prev Page