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Tools of Survival

Depending on the environment being talked about, many different tools and materials can become useful in survival situations. Whether for wilderness survival or urban survival, many materials are critical for both environments. Putting together the ideal set of survival tools depends heavily on both the environment being dealt with as well as the skills of the person putting the kit together.

  1. Tools for Water

    • Finding drinking water is the most important part of any survival situation, which makes tools for creating drinking water top priority. This includes water purification tablets, or iodine tablets that can be used for the same thing. Survival experts also want containers to carry clean water, whether it's an actual canteen, a tin cup that can hold water over a fire or an empty vitamin bottle. No survival pack is complete without these tools for making, carrying and drinking clean water.

    Tools for Shelter

    • Building shelter is one of the most critical aspects of wilderness survival. For hot environments, shade from the sun is a must, and an emergency winter blanket can be used like a tarp to provide shade. These blankets even work at night in the desert, where temperatures can drop dramatically. Fishing line is small and strong, and can be used to build a shelter by anyone who knows knot tying. A solid knife or hatchet can help immensely for shelter building in addition to serving many other functions.

    Tools for Fire

    • Fire serves several functions in survival situations including keeping warm, cooking food and keeping predators at bay. Ideally you'll carry many strike-anywhere matches, but a flint and steel or even a strong magnifying lens can all work as good survival tools for creating fire. Aside from fire starters, having some "starter kindling" like tissue paper or cotton balls is also extremely important to make starting a fire in the wild much easier.

    The Knife

    • No tool finds itself more useful and coveted among survival experts than the knife. A good survival knife needs to be a large fixed-blade made from high-quality material. Not only can a knife be used for defense or hunting, but it helps to build shelter, make marks to help search parties find you and cut kindling for fire. A good solid survival knife is the most versatile tool a survivalist can have, and the psychological boost is also important.

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