Many survival magazines offer “Sales” rather than “Solutions” to your needs to prepare. In too many articles, people have lambasted me for suggesting low-cost solutions that are both “doable” and within the budget.
If you want secure communications, go ahead and suggest a SEAL Magnaphone with built-in scrambler, or a $15,000 current-gen pair of NVG (Night Vision Goggles), then go ahead and buy it. If your main goal with any article is to suggest something “better” than the advised thing, that’s great. The majority of the readers, however, are looking for simplicity combined with affordability.
Anyone can buy $100K worth of gear. Now, what does that person do when the gear is either defunct, “appropriated,” or unusable for one reason or another?
My work attempts to propose solutions that can be employed without bankrupting a person, and also some knowledge of what can be used when all of the laser sights, night vision devices, ATV’s, cameras, reticle-dot sights, and all else are just useless circuitry. Those days are coming: mark my words. In the meantime, we have to develop our skills and win with the tools that we have at hand.
10 Prepper Uses for Safety Pins
Safety pins. Simple little things, yet so much can be done with them. I highly recommend toting at least a half dozen with you of various sizes, large to small. They cost practically nothing. Here’s the tip: Take the safety pins: learn and practice what you can do with them.
We’re going to run a condensed, hardly-exhaustive list of uses for the safety pins. Here we go:
- Temporary repair fasteners for clothing
- Fishhooks
- Probe-tool (medical use)
- Lockpick
- Suture substitute
- Lance
- Support (individual or as a chain)
- Bandage/dressing support
- Cleaning tool
- Toothpick/minor dental first-aid tool
The list could go on and on. Tear open a swatch in your pants leg while you’re out in the woods? If you don’t have time to sew it up, use the safety pins. Fishhooks. All you need do is notch a couple of notches for barbs (when you do, notch “upward” in the direction of the safety pin’s point) for improvised fishhooks. Tie off your line through the top-notch of the safety pin.
For use in removing metal or wood splinters or foreign debris: make sure you sterilize the end of the safety pin prior to use as a probe. Burn the end of it for about ten seconds with a lighter or match, and then dip in alcohol if you can. You can also use this technique for lancing a bad wound to allow pus to escape.
As a suture substitute, you can approximate the edges of the wound if it’s a bad bleeder with the safety pins. This is temporary! Seek medical attention immediately to prevent infection and further complications. You can make a chain of them to hang an IV bag if necessary, or to close up and secure bandages and dressings.
Pin them where you can get to them easily. If you wear a hat, then pin 4 to 6 of various sizes in your hatband. You won’t even notice they’re there. When some kind of need arises, though, you’ll remember that you have them. Taking common, everyday items and making more out of them than their original intent is the kind of adaptive ingenuity you’ll need when the SHTF and an emergency arises.
And (not completely knocking your high-tech gadgets) when you pick up a piece of equipment, know two things: complete mastery of its capabilities and functions, and what you will replace it with when you no longer have it to use. Always train from low-tech to high-tech, and you won’t be caught with your pants down. And if that happens? You may have busted a button; therefore, a safety pin will help…if you have it. Fight that good fight. JJ out!