How to Send Smoke Signals, Pluck a Chicken & Build an Igloo. Michael Powell
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LEARN
FINGER WHISTLING
There are certain situations where only a finger whistle will rise to the occasion—enthusiastically supporting your team in a rambunctious sport or attracting the attention of a friend above the din of a buoyant crowd spring easily to mind. Some people are natural whistlers who seem to effortlessly summon ear-piercing calls to action, but the rest of us mere mortals need a little instruction.
The basic principle is to use your fingers to create a "whistle" shape through which you blow to magnify the sound.
The combination of fingers depends on the size of your mouth and fingers. The one-handed approach uses the thumb and any one of your other fingers (index and middle are the most popular). The two-hander usually uses the index and middle fingers of both hands.
1. Wet and tuck back your top and bottom lips to cover your teeth (as if you were pretending to be a toothless old crone).
2. Position each finger halfway between the corner of your mouth and the center of your lips and insert up to the first knuckle.
3. Touch the fingertips together and angle them in toward the center of your tongue to create a horizontal "A" shape.
4. Draw back your tongue so that the tip is almost touching the floor of your mouth a little way behind your lower teeth. (This is important as it means your tongue is broadened to cover more of your lower back teeth.) Your fingers keep your tongue pushed back, and they also keep your lips tucked back over your teeth.
5. Take a deep breath and blow, forcing the air over your fingers and lower lip.
Fortunately, anyone can learn to whistle but great power requires the utmost discretion. For example, your new skill will impress nobody in the Royal Box at Wimbledon nor will it attract the attention of a waiter in an exclusive restaurant.
MAKE NATURAL FIBER CORD
There are numerous plants whose leaves and/or stems are suitable for making strong natural cordage, from dogbane and milkweed to stinging nettles and Douglas Iris.
You can also use the fibrous inner bark from some trees (e.g., the dead branches of cedar or white basswood). Here is a simple method using stinging nettles.
Nettles have been used for cordage for thousands of years as they have very long fibers, but you do need to gather a lot of them. The best nettles for cordage are the purple-stemmed red nettles that have stronger fibers than the green-stemmed variety.
1. First cut about forty nettles, with stems about 3 ft (90 cm) long.
2. Strip the leaves from the stems. You can use your bare hands, by gripping each leaf firmly where it meets the stem and then snapping it off. But it is quicker to use gloves, because this allows you to run your index finger and thumb along the stem and strip the leaves in just a few seconds.
3. Flatten the stripped stem by squashing it between your finger and thumb, then split open to reveal the green pith.
4. Holding the stem in the middle, pith side up, snap the stem so the pith breaks. Then trap the intact purple outer stem between index finger and thumb and pull the purple stem down so that it separates from the pith. Repeat with the other half, until you are left with two purple fibers.
5. You can use them immediately but your cord will be much stronger if you dry the fibers before rolling into cordage.
6. To make the cord, twist a couple of fibers together and roll them on your thigh with your palm until they are even and round.
7. Bend this double fiber in two and hold the middle with your left hand.
8. Roll the two parallel strands forward on your thigh at the same time, then at the end of the roll trap them with your palm and release your left hand and you’ll see the twist transfer into the loop that you have just released.
9. Give it a couple of counterclockwise twists with your left hand to help it tighten and you will have a couple of inches of cord.
10. Repeat steps 8 and 9 with the next few inches of fiber to gain another couple of inches of cord.
11. When you are close to running out of fiber on the right hand side, simply add another fiber as you perform the rolling, so that your cord continues to grow without interruption.
AGE A TREE WITHOUT CUTTING IT DOWN
Everyone knows the easy way to age a tree—cut it down and count the growth rings. The trouble is there’s an obvious flaw in this method: it kills the tree.
Fortunately there are several other ways to age a tree without resorting to this terminal solution. Here are four of them.
CORE EXTRACTION
You can use a specialized drilling tool to count tree rings without damaging the tree. An increment borer is a special drill consisting of a handle, a drilling bit, and a small core extractor that fits into the auger bit. Drill into the tree at chest height using a borer the length of which is at least 75 percent of the tree’s diameter. Put your body weight into the first few turns to get it going, making sure to keep the drill horizontal.
Keep turning the handle until the end of the well-lubricated drill reaches just a little farther than half way (i.e., just past the pith—the tree center). While the tool is still in the tree, carefully introduce the core extractor through the back of the drill. Make sure the open side of the extractor is facing downward. Then make one-half turn of the drill in the reverse direction and then slowly withdraw the core extractor. Now count the rings. Most trees produce two rings each year: one light spring ring and a darker summer ring. You can count either to determine the age of the tree. Add on a few years to allow for the early growth that won’t show up in your sample.
COUNT THE WHORLS
Each year a new whorl is created when a bud bursts through the tip of the tree to form a new branch. In some species counting tree whorls (spiral scars on the trunk) can give a rough estimate of the age. Count the number of whorls above chest height and add one year.
COUNT THE GAPS
Count the number of gaps between branch sections, including the section at breast height, and above the last branch.
MEASURE THE CIRCUMFERENCE
Measure the circumference of the trunk about 5 ft (1.5 m) above the ground. Calculate the radius (distance from center of the tree to its outer edge) using the formula r = C/2Π (i.e., divide the circumference by 6.283). Then divide the radius by the average yearly tree growth for your tree species (available online) to find its age.
COLLECT, FILTER, AND PURIFY WATER
Collecting water and making it safe to drink is one of the most important survival skills.
A human being can survive for several weeks without food, but barely three days without water. One of the best