Les Stroud, Survival and Outdoor Skills ©

The cover of Scouting, September-October 2019

  

Most of you probably don’t get Scouting magazine, so you won’t have read “Skills for Your Situation”, by Les Stroud.  In this article he talks about survival and he breaks outdoors skills into four types; survival skills, emergency preparedness skills, primitive skills and bushcraft skills.  His thoughts on survival and in particular the weekend recreational survivor are spot on and I had never thought to break up outdoor skills into different types: so I thought that I would share his article with you and expand on it, a bit.  Hopefully his thoughts, as well as mine, will help you identify which skills to learn and practice in case you need to survive an emergency in the wilderness.

First things first though; what I have written in this article is in no way a criticism and in no way detracts from Les Stroud’s thoughts or opinions.  I fact, I have always been and I still am a great admirer of his work and his thoughts on survival and on the teaching of survival skills: in many ways he has been and continues to be a role model for me and he has greatly influenced my writing for The Woodsman’s Journal Online.  In short, I am a huge fan of the Survivorman!

“One of my greatest fears was realized after I began the genre of survival shows on TV.  Some started to look at survival as more like a fun hobby…” Les Stroud

Les Stroud’s thoughts on survival and learning and practicing survival skills, as he explained in “Skills for Your Situation”, are that the “…true goal of survival is to get home alive and well”.  He continued by saying, they “…are not recreational skills” and that “…practicing and learning survival skills recreationally is a terrific way to get a handle on the methods”, however, “…you must keep an overarching serious and even somber attitude about the purpose” of studying and practicing survival skills.  According to Mr. Stroud, “Survival is not fun.  It is difficult, scary, humbling, painful and, in a word, ugly”.  I agree with Les Stroud, that it is important to remember why we learn these skills, and to remember what surviving an extreme situation or disaster in the wilderness is truly like: hopefully you will only ever have to practice your skills and never have to put your skills into practice.

“Knowing how to get a fire going anywhere, anytime, is just about the most important all around survival skill you can master” Les Stroud

Survival Skills

Survival skills, as Les Stroud noted are “…methods you can employ to simply survive an extreme situation or disaster in the bush” and are skills that deal with immediate and short-term problems. 

Les Stroud, wrote that “…survival is, by its very nature, meant to be short-term” and in “Outside” online, Devon O’Neill noted that statistically most “misplaced” persons are found within 72 hours of being reported missing.  He also wrote that, 85% “misplaced” persons are found within the first 12 hours and 97% within the first 24 hours of being reported missing.  So the survival skills that you have learned and practiced only have to keep you alive for 72 hours or three short days: days which in a survival situation will feel like weeks. 

Rule of Threes, graphic by the author

One very good way at looking at an individual skill and seeing if it belongs with “Survival Skills” is to use the “Rule of Threes”.  The “Rule of Threes” is a planning tool, which helps you prioritize which actions, and therefore skills, are the most critical to your immediate and short-term survival.  The “Rule of Threes” states that you cannot survive for more than 3 minutes without air or with severe bleeding.  You cannot survive for more than 3 hours without a fire or a shelter from the environment.  You cannot survive for more than 3 days without water or sleep.  But you can survive for 3 weeks without food.  The “Rule of Threes” assumes that the rules above them have already been met, so if you are in the desert without any water and you are bleeding severely, according to the three-minute rule, the most important action to take at that moment is to stop the bleeding. 

So, looking at the “Rule of Threes”, the most important immediate and short-term skills would be first aid skills, followed by shelter and fire building, then skills on how to find and purify water and finally hunting, fishing, trapping and other food gathering skills.  Other important short-term survival skills that fall into the “Rule of Threes” somewhere between three hours and three days are signaling, using a compass to orient yourself and how to find directions without a compass.  Skills that don’t help us with these very immediate and short-term survival goals are not “Survival Skills”

One very important survival skill, that is not considered in the “Rule of Threes” is learning to recognize and prevent panic and understanding the psychology of being lost.  It is critical that you do not give into panic and woodshock, that you practice S.T.O.P. and do not give in to the “Seven Deadly Enemies of Survival”: for more on these subjects and on “Rule of Threes” read “The Ace of Spades: Survival Basics”, HERE, and “Getting Lost And What To Do About It”, Circa 1915”, HERE. 

“Emergency preparedness skills are used in more urban circumstances, such as dealing with a hurricane or blackout…” Les Stroud

Emergency Preparedness Skills

Typically, emergency preparedness skills help you prepare for and deal with emergencies and situations that are close to home or, by extension, close to the vehicle that you are travelling in.  Les Stroud wrote that knowing how to conserve food and water in an urban disaster could save your life.

Window box, 1920s, from “Before the refrigerator got its hum”, The Smithsonian Institute

I live in the northeast of the United States, near the Great Lakes, where it is cold and snowy for a large part of the year; in the past, during power outages, I have had to make and use window ice box to keep cold things cold, while I worked to keep the house warm.  Other important emergency preparedness skills for my area of the world are, knowing how to drive in the snow, safely, and how to conserve heat in your car or how to make a “warm-room” in your house when there is no power.  And while you could argue that knowing how to stay alive in a snowbound car is a survival skill, unless you are travelling on a remote road (and really why are you travelling on a remote road during a snow storm anyways; what were you thinking?) your stay in the stranded car will probably be short.

An emergency preparedness skill that will help you survive an extreme situation or emergency in the wilderness is learning how to prepare first aid and survival kits: remember, both first aid and survival kits can range from pocket-sized to day-pack-sized and can be created for different emergencies, situations and uses.

“Primitive skills…They are not necessarily survival skills; they are thriving skills…” Les Stroud

Primitive Skills

Another name for primitive skills would be aboriginal skills, and they are the skills that native peoples, from any given area, once used as a part everyday life.  Skills that can fall into this category are basketry, making pottery from clay, preparing and tanning hides, building advanced shelters and cooking over an open fire.  Many of these skills could be used to help you survive an emergency in the wilderness, however most of them are difficult to learn, are time and energy consuming and might take more than one per person to accomplish.

Larry Dean Olsen’s book Outdoor Survival Skills is a great book on primitive skills, photo by the author

Primitive skills require expert knowledge of native or aboriginal skills; they solve medium to long-term problems, take time, energy and sometimes more than one person to accomplish successfully: all things that you might be lacking in an emergency or survival situation in the wilderness.

Les Stroud believes, and I agree with him, that snowshoe making is a primitive skill that has survival applications.  Let’s say that you have had an emergency in the winter wilderness and you have decided to walk out instead of waiting for rescuers: walking in deep snow can be very exhausting and exhaustion in a survival situation is a killer, particularly in the winter.  Knowing how to make expedient or primitive snowshoes, in that situation, can mean the difference between successfully walking out and freezing to death in the wilderness.

Other primitive skills that might be useful in a survival situation are fire-starting, without modern tools, and basic flint knapping.  Basic flint knapping is simply fracturing rocks to make sharp edged or other basic tools, unlike advanced flint knapping which is the crafting of advanced stone tools and projectile points.

“Bushcraft skills…These skills are mostly unnecessary in a survival situation…” Les Stroud

Bushcraft Skills

Bushcraft skills, which could just as well be called pioneer skills, require expert knowledge of the pioneer way of life and they solve medium to long-term problems, take time, energy, expert knowledge and sometimes more than one person to accomplish successfully: again these are all things that you might be lacking in an emergency or survival situation in the wilderness.  Some of these skills might be able to be adapted to a survival situation, but for the most part these skills are designed to make long-term life in the wilderness more comfortable.  Bushcraft skills include log-cabin building, bridge building, primitive furniture making and other domestic skills; they involve learning the use and care of axes, knives and rope, and how to use lashings and knots.

I hope that this will help you decide which skills will be most useful in helping you to survive that “…difficult, scary, humbling, painful and, in a word, ugly…” thing that is survival in an emergency or disaster in the wilderness.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

Sources

O’Neill, Devon “How Backcountry Search and Rescue Works”, [Outside, March 4, 2016], https://www.outsideonline.com/2059616/how-backcountry-search-and-rescue-works, accessed 10/09/2018

Stroud, Les, “Skills for Your Situation”, Scouting, September-October 2019, Vol. 107, No. 4, [Boy Scouts of America, Irving, TX], p. 44-45

Window box, 1920s, from “Before the refrigerator got its hum”, [The Smithsonian Institute, National Museum of American History, Trade, Literature and Special Collections; Behring Center] https://americanhistory.si.edu/object-project/refrigerators/ice-tongs, accessed 9/7/19

How To Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part Three, The Shadow-tip Method©

The Shadow-tip Method of finding your way, picture taken in Algonquin Provincial Park by the author.

You are “misplaced” in the wilderness, you don’t have a compass and you aren’t wearing a watch: now you are wondering if there is a way to locate the approximate direction of north and south, some way that doesn’t require a compass or a watch. 

First things first, what were you thinking?  Have ever heard of “be prepared” or the “Ten Essentials”?  But yes to answer your question, there is; it is called the “Shadow-tip Method”, although perhaps it should be called the “Quick Shadow-tip Method” to differentiate it from other methods that take more time.  The “Shadow-tip Method” is quick and easy and, particularly around noon, very accurate.

You should all know all about how the Sun moves through the sky during the day and throughout the year, however if you don’t read “How to Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part One, Orientation By The Sun”, HERE and “How to Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part Two, The Watch As A Compass”, HERE. 

Adapted from Survival: Land, Sea, Jungle, Arctic, p. 41, Fig. 16, by the author

It is important to remember that everywhere in the world the Sun rises, mostly, in the east and sets, mostly, in the west: only on the Spring Equinox (March 21^st) and the Fall Equinox (September 23^rd) does it rise exactly in the east and set exactly in the west.  It is also important to remember that without a compass you will be unable to determine the exact direction of magnetic north and you will not be able to find a specific point or location.  However, if you are simply trying to maintain a general heading then, without a compass, the Sun’s arc is your best point of reference.  So, keeping those two things in mind, the “Shadow-tip Method” will give you the general direction of north, south, east and west, no matter when, where or what hemisphere you are in, as long as there is enough sunshine to cast a shadow. 

An excerpt from Survival FM 21-26.

To Find Your Directions With the “Shadow-tip Method

·       First find a relatively straight, twig less branch or stick that is about three feet (one meter) long, to use as a shadow stick.  Next find a fairly flat, brush-free spot, where the Sun will cast a shadow.  The exact size of the shadow stick is not important, however the closer to three feet (one meter) that it is, the wider apart the tips of the shadows will be.  Also, you don’t need to look for a large level piece of open ground, any flat dirt spot the size of your hand will do: it only has to be large enough for two shadow tip markings.

If you do not have anything to make a shadow stick with, any stationary object, like a rock outcropping, the end of tree branch or anything else that will cast a shadow will do, because only the position of the shadow tips matter.

·       Push the shadow stick into the ground so that it is standing upright, it doesn’t need to be perfectly vertical with the ground to work.  If you have to incline the shadow stick, to get a good shadow on the ground, it will not affect the accuracy of the “Shadow-tip Method”.  Also, the base of your shadow stick can either be above, below or beside the flat dirt spot, it doesn’t need to be in the center of it.

·       Mark the tip of the shadow that the shadow stick casts, with a stone, pebble or stick: this is your first mark.

Photo by the author.

·       Wait for about ten to fifteen minutes, during which time the tip of the shadow will have moved between one and a half to two inches (four to five centimeters), and mark the tip of the new shadow: this is your second mark.

 

Photo by the author.

·       Draw a line from the first mark to and past the second mark, by about one foot (about 30 centimeters).  This is your east-west line and the first mark is always to the west of the second mark: anywhere on the earth, no matter what time of day or what time of year.

Figure 1: The movement of the Sun and the shadow cast by the shadow stick in the northern hemisphere above 23^o 27’ north latitude, diagram by the author.

·       In the northern hemisphere, above 23^o 27’ north latitude, the Tropic of Cancer; the Sun is always south of you, and the shadow cast by the shadow stick is always to the north side of the stick. 

An excerpt from Field Service, (Second Edition), 1912, p. 74; the Sun is obviously behind the person in the picture; he must be in the northern hemisphere, above 23^o 27’ north latitude.

If you stand with your left foot on the first mark and your right foot on the line extending through the second mark, then above 23^o 27’ N. latitude, both the Sun and the shadow stick will be behind you.  If you extend your left arm, it will be pointing west and if you extend your right arm it will be pointing east and you will be facing north.

Figure 2: The movement of the Sun and the shadow cast by the shadow stick in the southern hemisphere above 23^o 27’ south latitude, diagram by the author.

In the southern hemisphere, above 23^o 27’ south latitude, the Tropic of Capricorn; the Sun is always north of you, and the shadow cast by the shadow stick is always to the south side of the stick. 

So, if you stand with your left foot on the first mark and your right foot on the line extending through the second mark, then above 23^o 27’ S. latitude, both the Sun and the shadow stick will be in front of you.  Just as in the northern hemisphere, if you extend your left arm, it will be pointing west and if you extend your right arm it will be pointing east and you will be facing north¹.

In the tropics between the Tropic of Cancer, 23^o 27’ N. latitude, and the Tropic of Capricorn, 23^o 27’ S. latitude; the Sun’s position and whether the shadow cast by the shadow stick is north or south of the stick is little confused: it depends on if the Sun is above or below the Equator, your location and what time of the year it is.  From the Spring Equinox, on March 21^st, to the Fall Equinox, September 23^rd, the Sun will be north of the Equator and between the Fall Equinox and the Spring Equinox, the Sun will bet to the south of the Equator.

However, in any case, just like anywhere else in the world, the first shadow-tip mark is always more west than the second mark.  If you stand with your left foot on the first mark and your right foot on a line extending through both marks then if you extend your left arm, it will be pointing west and if you extend your right arm it will be pointing east and you will be facing north.

Bradford Angier, in Survival With Style, noted on page 75, that “…this method is surprisingly accurate during the middle of the day.  The line runs a bit south of west in the morning.  Afternoon it tends somewhat north of west.  During a day of travel by this method, however, these inaccuracies will average out” 

I decided to experiment and as you can see from the photographs below, in the morning calculated north deviates from true north by about 20^o to the west, around noon the calculated north points to true north and in the afternoon calculated north, again deviates from true north by about 20^o, this time to the east.  So Bradford Angier stated correctly that the “Shadow-tip Method” is surprisingly accurate and any inaccuracies cancel each other out over a full days travel.

This photo was taken at 1:12 pm, daylight savings time, during August, and there is no difference between the direction of north calculated with the “Shadow-tip Method” and actual north; photo by the author.

This photo was taken at 9:51 am, daylight savings time, during August, photo by the author.

This photo was taken at 3:02 pm, daylight savings time, during August, photo by the author.

Bradford Angier’s statement that “The line runs a bit south of west in the morning.  Afternoon it tends somewhat north of west” confused me at first, but I believe that what he is describing is the Sun’s rising and setting further and further to the north of the Equator, between the Spring Equinox on March 21^st and the Fall Equinox on September 23^rd.  This northward progression culminates with the Summer Solstice on the 21^st of June, when the Sun is at its farthest point north.  In the morning during this time, the Sun rises to the east-by-northeast and it will cast a shadow to west-by-southwest, so a line drawn between two shadow tips will have a northeast to southwest axis.  In the afternoon as the Sun sets towards the west-by-northwest, it will cast a shadow towards east-by-southeast and a line drawn between two shadow tips will extend from the northwest to the southeast. 

I intend to experiment further with the “Shadow-tip Method” on both the coming Fall Equinox and on the days after to see if, “the line runs a bit southeast to the northwest in the morning and afternoon it tends somewhat southwest to the northeast” to paraphrase Bradford Angier.  It should because between the Fall Equinox and the Spring Equinox the Sun rises in the east-by-southeast and the morning shadow should fall towards the west-by-northwest and in the afternoon as the Sun sets in the west-by-southwest the shadow should fall towards the east-by-northeast.  Look for the results of my experiment in “How To Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part Three, The Shadow-tip Method – Revisited”.

Also, Bradford Angier mentioned that “All you need is sunlight or moonlight strong enough to cast a shadow”, so look for “How To Find Your Way Without A Compass, Part Three, The Shadow-tip Method – With Moonlight” where I will experiment with the “Shadow-tip Method” at night.

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

Notes

¹  In Survival FM 21-26, on page 11-2 it states “Stand with your left foot on the first mark and your right foot on the end of the line you drew”.  And on page 11-3 it notes that having stood with your left foot on the first mark that “If you are in the northern temperate zone, you will be facing in a northerly direction…If you are in the southern temperate zone, you will be facing in a southerly direction”.  I believe that this is an error, Paul Risk in Outdoor Safety And Survival, on page 285 to 286 explains where I believe that the authors became confused, “Standing with the toes on the marks and the vertical stick in front of the observer (emphasis by the author), you will be facing roughly south if above 23.4^o N. latitude and roughly north if below 23.4^o S. latitude”.  If you look at the figures 1 and 2 you will see that by putting your left foot on the first mark and your right foot on the second mark above 23^o 27’ N. latitude, the shadow stick and the sun will be behind you and you will be facing north.  Above 23^o 27’ S. latitude, if you stand with your left foot on the first mark and your right foot on the second mark, then the shadow stick and the sun will be in front of you, and again you will be facing north.

Sources

Airlines War Training Institute,Survival: Land, Sea, Jungle, Arctic, [The Infantry Journal, Washington, D.C., 1944] p. 41-42

Angier, Bradford, Survival With Style, [Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, PA, 1972] p. 75

Boswell, John, Editor, The U.S. Armed Forces Survival Manual, [Times Books, New York, NY, 1980] p. 25-27

Headquarters, Department of the Army, Survival FM 21-26, [Washington D. C., March 26, 1986] p. 11-1 to 11-3

“Field-Expedient Methods of Determining Direction” [Army Study Guide, QuinStreet, Inc., Foster City, CA, 1999 – 2018]

https://www.armystudyguide.com/content/army_board_study_guide_topics/land_navigation_map_reading/field-expedient-methods-of-determining-direction.shtml, accessed 7/30/2019

Jackson, Andrew, J., “Shadow Tip Method – Field Expedient Direction Finding” [Prepopgraphy: The Art & Study of Self-Reliance, January 4, 2013] http://prepography.com/shadow-tip-method/, accessed 7/30/2019

“Other Methods of Finding Direction (MGRS)” [Offroadsafety.org]

http://www.offroadsafety.org/get-out/land-navigation/other-methods-of-finding-direction-mgrs, accessed 7/30/19

Moss, Captain James A., Field Service, (Second Edition) [The U.S. Infantry Association, Washington D.C., 1912], p. 74 https://books.google.com/books?id=5aFDAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA69&lpg=PA69&dq=%22complete+campers%27+manual%22+field+service&source=bl&ots=h_jmTeYA_D&sig=ACfU3U0tH-qTqeuEGfWKGFnj9pYicoYL_w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHuvm5saPkAhVwUN8KHYX_BF4Q6AEwAHoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false, accessed 8/27/2019

Risk, Paul H., Outdoor Safety And Survival, [John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY, 1983] p. 285-286

Alcohol Prep Pads...BZK Towelettes…Hand Wipes…Wound Wipes...What?! ©

Sterile Alcohol Prep Pad, Cleansing Wipe, BZK Antiseptic Towelette and Anti-microbial Hand Wipe; all examples of antiseptic wipes, photo by the author

  

Do you remember when old time first aid kits contained small foil packed alcohol wipes¹, or as they are called today, alcohol prep pads?  Have you noticed that today’s first aid kits contain BZK (benzalkonium chloride) antiseptic towelettes?  The first time that I noticed this was several years ago, when two Red Cross Wilderness First Aid trainers that I know, began to discourage us from using alcohol prep pads on open wounds, telling that we should instead use BZK wipes instead, during our recertification training. 

Now no one really notices the antiseptic wipes in their first aid kit, but what exactly are they for and what are the differences between the different types?

Antiseptic wipes are used to disinfect things and are easy to carry and are a convenient way of killing germs and sterilizing the surface of the anything that they are wiped on.  They can be used to clean minor wounds, sterilize first aid equipment, prepare skin for surgery or for injection.  Since they are single use, there is no risk of cross contamination and because they are individually wrapped they are easy and convenient to carry in your pocket, purse, small first aid kit or survival kit.  They can also be used to disinfect keyboards, cell phones, office equipment, tableware and dishes; children’s toys, frequently touched, sterilize before use items; toilet seats, and for other cleaning and disinfection purposes.  But, what are the differences between alcohol and BZK and which is the right one to use and when?

BZK or Benzalkonium Chloride Wipes

  

Examples of Benzalkonium Chloride wipes, photo by the author

An example of a combined BZK and alcohol wipe, photo by author.

  

Benzalkonium Chloride or BZK wipes are excellent for cleaning minor cuts, scrapes and burns as BZK will not damage wound beds.  BZK wipes do not sting and they do not dry out the skin, the way that alcohol wipes do, so they are ideal for use on sensitive skin.  As a disinfectant, BZK works by disrupting the pathogen’s membrane and is effective against gram-positive and some gram-negative bacteria; enveloped, or lipophilic, viruses, yeasts, fungi and protozoa².  The concentration of benzalkonium chloride in BZK towelettes ranges from .1% to .13%.

Alcohol Prep Pads

  

An example of an alcohol prep pads, photo by author.

Alcohol prep pads are typically made of isopropyl alcohol, the type that you can’t drink³ (it is also called isopropanol, 2-propanol or rubbing alcohol), at a concentration of 70% in water⁴.  Alcohol prep pads can be used as a disinfectant for cleaning around a wound or prepping unbroken skin, but should not be used to clean an open wound: alcohol can cause damage to the wound bed and can delay or even prevent healing.  Also, they can be used to disinfect medical instruments such as thermometers, tweezers or scissors.  As a disinfectant, alcohol works by dissolving lipids and denaturing and coagulating proteins, making it very effective against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, including multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as MRSA and VRE; and enveloped, or lipophilic viruses, such as herpes simplex virus, HIV, influenza virus, hepatitis B and C viruses (as long as the concentration of alcohol is 60%-70%): it is not effective against bacterial spores, protozoan oocysts and nonlipophilic viruses.  Many hospitals use 70% isopropyl alcohol for disinfection and sterilization of surfaces and medical tools. 

There is another type of wound wipe that is available, povidone-iodine prep pads, these can be used as both an antiseptic for wound cleansing and sterilization and as a topical antibiotic.  I don’t carry this type of prep pad since some people are allergic to iodine.  Before using this on someone, always, ALWAYS, ask if they are allergic to iodine or shellfish and if they say yes, don’t use this product on them.

So, as you can see, if you are going to disinfect an object or unbroken skin, either a alcohol prep pad or a BZK towelette can be used.  However, if you are going to clean an open wound, you should use a BZK towelette or a povidone-iodine pad, provided that the person it is being used on is not allergic to iodine or shellfish.  Personally, I carry both some alcohol prep pads, for disinfecting tools and unbroken skin, and BZK towelettes, for cleaning wounds, in my first aid kit and my survival kit.  I do not carry povidone-iodine prep pads as I feel that the risk of an allergic reaction is too high.

The author’s toiletries kit, photo by the author

 

“Woodsman’s Tips”

While we are on the subject of wipes and towlettes, here are some “Woodsman’s Tips”.

I like to bring a bottle of alcohol based hand sanitizer in my toiletries kit.  The hand sanitizer in the photograph is 65% ethyl alcohol and the Antibacterial Moist Towelettes are .115% benzalkonium chloride , and when pulled out of the pack are 6” tall by 7” long (15.2 cm x 17.8 cm).  The hand sanitizer is obviously used for cleaning your hands and other surfaces, but I also use it as fire sustainer to help light fires when conditions are wet.  Mostly, I use the towelettes to take hand baths or to freshen up with, when I am out in the wilderness; however, they can also be used as extra large wound wipes.

Alcohol prep pads also have a number of non-medical uses, such as removing ink or sap from fabric or other surfaces (for more on this read “Sap Is Really Sticky….”, HERE) and also, they can be used as a fire starter in an emergency.

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and my videos at BandanaMan Productions and don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube, and if you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

Notes

¹  Really old first aid kits contained a screw topped bottle of Merthiolate or Mercurochrome in them.  However the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned these products in the 1990s over concerns with the ingredients thimerosal and merbromin, which are commonly called mercury: “The type of mercury in Mercurochrome could be harmful to humans if left on the skin for extended periods or if ingested.”

Blackmon, Nancy, “Obviously, merthiolate affected me”

²  For more on how BZK works, see specifically the citations below, from “Antiseptic efficacy of benzalkonium chloride”:

11.  Fazlara, A., and Ekhtelat, M. 2012. The disinfectant effects of benzalkonium chloride on some important foodborne pathogens. American-Eurasian Journal of Agricultural & Environmental Science, 12 (1): 23-29

21.  McDonnell, G., and Russell, A.D. 1999. Antiseptics and disinfectants: activity, action, and resistance. Clinical Microbiology Reviews, 12 (1): 147-179.

³  Ethanol alcohol, the type that you can drink, can also be used as a disinfectant, however be aware that an 80 proof bottle of vodka is only 40% alcohol and when compared to isopropyl alcohol it is not as effective a disinfectant.

⁴  To be effective, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the concentration of alcohol should be 60% to 70%; at higher concentrations it evaporates too quickly, reducing the amount of time that the pathogen is exposed to the alcohol and at lower concentrations it needs more contact time to become effective.  100% alcohol is not an effective disinfectant, as it coagulates the proteins in the shell of the bacteria or virus, effectively walling them off from the alcohol and allowing them to survive; in addition to the fact that it evaporates to quickly to be effective.  Other sources state that between 50% to 80% is the effective range, with 70% being ideal due to the high osmotic pressure of 70% alcohol and water. 

Boyce, John M., M.D. and Pittet, Didier, M.D. “Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings”

“Why is 70% ethanol used for wiping microbiological working areas?” 

Sources

“Antiseptic efficacy of benzalkonium chloride”, MicrobeWiki, November 19, 2012 https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Antiseptic_efficacy_of_benzalkonium_chloride, accessed August 23, 2019

Blackmon, Nancy, “Obviously, merthiolate affected me”, The Andalasia Star-News, April 8, 2012 [Andalusia Star-News, 2019] https://m.andalusiastarnews.com/2012/04/18/obviously-merthiolate-affected-me/, accessed August 22, 2019

Boyce, John M., M.D. and Pittet, Didier, M.D. “Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings”, October 25, 2002, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5116a1.htm, accessed August 22, 2019

Turpin, Kyle, “Ethanol vs. Isopropyl Alcohol to Disinfect”, [Leaf Group Ltd., 2019] https://www.hunker.com/12000188/ethanol-vs-isopropyl-alcohol-to-disinfect, accessed August 22, 2019

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