Hard as nails

[Marvell]

Let's try an exercise in imagination ...

In a survival situation, we find a nail. Let's say a 75mm steel masonry nail.

What can we do with a nail?

(Let's limit it to one idea per post, continue a list of ideas so far and not post another idea until someone has gone after you)

I'll start with ...


nail something to something

[HillBill]

Id make a blade out of it. Bash half of it flat, grind an edge on a rock and harden/temper it in a fire.

[CanadianMike]

Masonary nail is a trick, likely it's a steel with a higher level of carbon than other nails, so you'd have to heat it and cool slowly (to make it soft), then bash with a rock, grind and edge then reheat and quench.

So, because it's got more carbon than a normal nail, make a fire striker out of it and find some quartz based rock to throw a spark with it.

[Marvell]

nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on

[Bushwhacker]

Make an arrow head.

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac40/Bushwhacker78/038_38.jpg

[comanighttrain]

bind it to a.n.other hard thing and turn it into a fishing/birding hook by baiting it with some meat or fish.

Obviously this would require cord too...

[Marvell]

nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure

[paulthefish2009]

Assuming as all the other posts have in that we also have other tools at our disposal I would use a splinter of it,magnetise it and create a compass. Bit far fetched I know but there you go thats my input. Paul

[Marvell]

Assuming as all the other posts have in that we also have other tools at our disposal I would use a splinter of it,magnetise it and create a compass. Bit far fetched I know but there you go thats my input. Paul

Damn, I was going to use that one later. I'm not sure it'd splinter well, but I'm pretty sure you could magnetise/ionise on end and make a hanging compass.


nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure
make a compass from it
use it as a bradawl

[comanighttrain]

I was thinking about maybe using it as the tip of an ice smashing tool when i seen this bit of classic writing.

"The heater is not only for warmth but it also for keeping an angler's fishing hole from freezing"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_fishing

[Marvell]

I guess it could be used to break glass as well as ice.

We're doing quite well ...


nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure
make a compass from it
use it as a bradawl
use as the head of an ice or glass breaker
fashion into a large needle

[JonnyP]

I have used a nail as a fuse before, to get my old 4x4 home when the main fuse popped and I didn't have any spare.. Worked a treat for a temporary fix..

[Marvell]

I have used a nail as a fuse before, to get my old 4x4 home when the main fuse popped and I didn't have any spare.. Worked a treat for a temporary fix..

That's more of a fat wire than a fuse :)


nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure
make a compass from it
use it as a bradawl
use as the head of an ice or glass breaker
fashion into a large needle
as an electrical conductor (as opposed to a fuse)
use to play "bang the nails into the log" on your own

[CanadianMike]

Use it as a toy to pass time, learn to throw it and try to get it stuck point first into the dirt. Hey, if it takes your mind off your situation.........

[JonnyP]

That's more of a fat wire than a fuse :)


I am a bricky not a sparky.. ;0)

[Fletching]

Collect three and you'll have your very own old school 'Roman Punishment Kit'.

:)

[paulthefish2009]

Ha ha! just thought of another one..........knock it into a birch tree and collect the sap.

[El]

Use it as a plum-bob

[Marvell]

Collect three and you'll have your very own old school 'Roman Punishment Kit'.

What's that all about then?



nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure
make a compass from it
use it as a bradawl
use as the head of an ice or glass breaker
fashion into a large needle
as an electrical conductor (as opposed to a fuse)
use to play "bang the nails into the log" on your own
throwing knife toy
sap tap hole maker
plumb-bob
use as a marlinspike

[CanadianMike]

Oh, am sure you know what it's all about, just think church and the cross........ where were three nails placed.......

Another one, use it as a scribe to mark "precise" cutting lines without dulling the tip of your knife.

[treefrog]

If you happen to find a vampire in a coffin during daytime, you could drive it through his heart, thus disabling him.

[CanadianMike]

Ok, Jack, since vampires don't exist, would your use work on zombies? LOL

I just posted this link on the survival section of my national airsoft forum (my background, playing war with toy guns), but lots of survivalists, preppers, etc. on there, and as an analogy to the brilliance of this topic, I pulled the idea of a found empty can of beans out of my butt, and within 5mins came up with about a dozen uses for it.

Here's what I wrote regarding the challenge, and how useful it is overall to get people thinking:


We should have challenges like that here, such as if you found an empty tin can of beans, the uses. Well, collect water, boil water to purify it, make into a few cutting tools, broadheads for small game arrows, scrapers for skin or wood/bark to fluff up as tinder, make a needle to sew a tarp/canvas, a target for throwing rocks at or into while you keep your mind off expected panic during a stressful situation or just boredom, hole cutting in skin, use as a small frying pan, find a suitably fitting rock to mostly seal the opening to put cotton cloth in to make charcloth on hot coals....... heck, I just thought of something you might find, a tin can, and all the uses flowed out of me after many beer, and the more I came up with, the more I had ideas for. I got what in less than five minutes, 10 or 11 uses for a discarded tin can? Anyone one come up with more uses?

This, boys and girls, is the epitome of survival, find as many uses for one single thing as you can. Helps you plan a proper and useful survival kit, but also makes you think about even the most mundane thing you might come across in a situation and make the most of it, rather than just seeing is as a piece of someone else's trash. Case in point, skills and imagination is a much greater piece of survival bits than even the best tools or gear.

[Marvell]

If you happen to find a vampire in a coffin during daytime, you could drive it through his heart, thus disabling him.

I believe that's got to be a wooden stake.

[Marvell]

Damn, marking gauge was my next one!

I reckon a tin can or glass bottle/jar bell would be useful for a signal, be it wind chime or tripped, for BEARS!


nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure
make a compass from it
use it as a bradawl or punch
use as the head of an ice or glass breaker
fashion into a large needle
as an electrical conductor (as opposed to a fuse)
use to play "bang the nails into the log" on your own
throwing knife toy
sap tap hole maker
plumb-bob
marlinspike
scribe, marking gauge or scratchy pen
clapper for a metal or glass bell

[comanighttrain]

clean your fingernails

if you could remove the end and make a hold in it....a very crude needle for stitches (more likely non medical.....)?

[Marvell]

if you could remove the end and make a hold in it....a very crude needle for stitches (more likely non medical.....)?

See 11 :(


nail something to something
make a blade out of it
use it as a fire steel
use it as a hook for hanging things on
make an arrow head
make a hook for baiting
use as a fishing lure
make a compass from it
use it as a bradawl or punch
use as the head of an ice or glass breaker
fashion into a large needle
as an electrical conductor (as opposed to a fuse)
use to play "bang the nails into the log" on your own
throwing knife toy
sap tap hole maker
plumb-bob
marlinspike
scribe, marking gauge or scratchy pen
clapper for a metal or glass bell
manicure tool
snail and winkle extractor

[Metal mug]

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here; but could it be used as a baited trigger in a trap?

[Marvell]

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel here; but could it be used as a baited trigger in a trap?

I'd use a twig :)

[Marvell]

This thread has inspired me to write an article on the matter:

http://blog.artandscienceofsurvival.com/2012/04/hard-as-nails.html

[El]

22.Ledger weight

[GalaxyRider]

23. Cut it into short lengths, bash them in the bottom of two foot sized bits of wood, and pass the evenings teaching yourself some Irish Dancing, within a few weeks you would be like a young Michael Flattery (or whatever his name is who keeps rehashing Riverdance and making a fortune touring China)

[Marvell]

23. Cut it into short lengths, bash them in the bottom of two foot sized bits of wood, and pass the evenings teaching yourself some Irish Dancing, within a few weeks you would be like a young Michael Flattery (or whatever his name is who keeps rehashing Riverdance and making a fortune touring China)

I had not thought of that!

[Basha72]

If really needed it could be mounted in a shaft and used in trapping ie pig spear trap or bow trap for large game !

Dave

[m0txr]

I think masonary nail is galvanized? If so use it and a penny, insert both in a citrus fruit or potato and make a voltaic cell. Enough to "glow " a torch bulb whose element you could use to make fire if glass bulb removed and suitable tinder to hand. Wow that was long winded, just use your zippo.lol

[CanadianMike]

Lol, good one!

[Marvell]

I think masonary nail is galvanized? If so use it and a penny, insert both in a citrus fruit or potato and make a voltaic cell.

Or Galvanic cell :)


Enough to "glow " a torch bulb whose element you could use to make fire if glass bulb removed and suitable tinder to hand. Wow that was long winded, just use your zippo.lol

Or it could be used to, say, illuminate the dark?

[Pryderi]

Heat it up and use it to cauterize a wound?

[m0txr]

Luigi Galvani, lived next door to Alessandro Volta. But at the time wasnt as famous as Alessandro. :rolleyes: lol

And yes Luigi also found out it could light the dark.lol

Good excerise though Steve, certainly gets the grey matter working. ..........n.maybe thinking Mozzy Zapper. Lol