MAKING A HAMMER

A tool worth covering here is a stone mallet or hammer. This can quite easily be made by lashing a stone to a handle.

1.Make your handle. Obtain a sturdy green branch about 2-1/2 feet long, and find a way to split it evenly to about halfway up the stick. Use some cord or other strong wrapping material, and create a strong tie at the end of the split (halfway up the branch).

2.Insert the stone into the split. Wedge it as close to the center of the stick as possible, where the wrapping you previously did ought to prevent the stick from splitting further.

3.Wrap the two. Wrap one of the halves around the stone, and then the other. Use cord to tie it all off. You may have to redo the wrapping occasionally as the stick dries.

An alternative method is to wrap the stone with a larger number of highly flexible branches, wrapping the ends together as the handle. Though it holds the stone a bit better, I always found it annoying that the handle of the hammer often remains somewhat flexible.

Chapter 2

Making Debris Shelters with Your Bare Hands

This chapter focuses entirely on shelters which can be built with mostly bare hands and materials found in the wilderness. You will be able to use the principles behind these designs to produce good shelters in the absence of modern equipment and materials. Many of the principles here can also help to improve your experience with modern shelters and tents. The main drawback compared to modern shelters is the amount of labor and time required to build these shelters. However, unlike modern shelters, they don’t have to be portable so can be much sturdier and more insulating. It is quite possible to build shelters which can be heated by body heat alone, capable of substituting for both a modern sleeping bag and bivvy bag/tent. More on that in the section on debris huts (page 24).

NATURAL SHELTER

The first and most basic shelter is also the most important one: the natural shelter. Why spend hours building a labor-intensive shelter in an emergency when you can find one ready-made? After all, humankind lived in natural shelters such as caves for far longer than we have inhabited houses. Indeed, in many places in the world, even in prosperous Western countries, people still live in caves. A case in point is the cave homes near the little Dutch town of Valkenburg. One benefit of cave-dwelling is they tend to maintain an even temperature.

1.Keep a lookout. It is uncommon to spend actual time searching out natural shelters, unless you’re in an area known for these types of features. Instead, the trick is simply to keep an open mind and your eyes peeled when looking for that perfect shelter site.

2.Check for animals. When you are looking for a naturally occurring shelter, know that animals may have found them equally useful, so be careful to always check the potential shelter carefully for any signs of use by animals. Signs of recent animal usage can include scat, hair, remains of food or scratch marks.

3.Check for stability. Make sure that the shelter isn’t on the verge of collapse. It’s wise to poke the structural areas, such as walls and ceilings, with a stick, and later, bare hands in an attempt to dislodge or collapse the potential structure while safely standing outside.

Natural features offering shelter can range from the overhanging root system of a fallen tree (though often damp) and their trunks to overhanging rock formations and caves.

4.Insulate. Natural shelters are often hard to insulate properly, so a fire or sleeping bag and mat may be required. Alternatively, stuffing a hollow full of dry leaves or making other adjustments may be all that’s needed.

ROCK SHELTER

To build a rock shelter, enclose a rock overhang with stones, leaving a small opening. This effort is especially useful in desert regions because the rocks can be heated in the harsh sun during the day and stacked with the hot surface facing inward, releasing heat into your man-made cave overnight when the temperature plummets.

1.Find a suitable cave or overhang. You’ll want to find a space which will protect you from the sun and any precipitation. Finding one that you only just about fit in will make for a warmer shelter, while a bigger one may be suitable to heat with the aid of a fire.

2.Enclose the shelter. Wider, flatter rocks tend to stack easier. The rocks can be placed any way they fit, though keeping the bigger, wider ones near the bottom will aid stability. Be sure to leave an opening large enough to crawl through.

Give some thought to creating some sort of bedding to lie on. A good bed of branches and leaves should keep you insulated from the ground. The debris hut below describes bedding quite extensively, while alternative options for bedding are covered at the end of the chapter. Of course, if you are equipped with a sleeping mat, all the better.

To be honest, while this shelter in its most basic form will keep you alive, without modern equipment or extensive adjustments, natural shelters like these will not be comfortable. The heated rocks will help keep the shelter warm, but you should keep in mind that the shelter will be warm only when compared to the temperature outside. It’ll never feel as toasty as your living room. On the other hand, if you find a spacious natural shelter and are able to put a lot of effort and resources into improving it, it can be comfortable and more secure than many primitive or modern shelters.

DEBRIS HUT

The debris hut is probably the most commonly recommended of the few shelters that are capable of keeping you warm, dry and relatively comfortable without the use of any equipment or a fire.

The shelter uses the insulating properties of still air, trapping the air between piles and piles of leaves as well as creating a space small enough to be heated by your body. The shelter works a lot like a sleeping bag combined with the waterproof feature of a bivvy bag or tent. In fact, in some cases where the environment is damp enough, the shelter itself is capable of actively providing heat through the bacterial action of debris breaking down (a debris hut resembles a big compost heap!), an occurrence quite common in my part of the world, as I live in a temperate oceanic climate.