More often than not you always see articles about how to survive with a knife. But what if you have to survive without a knife?
The knife really is the ultimate survival tool. You can accomplish a lot for your survival needs with just a knife. So being without it is not something we ever plan to do.
However, there could be various reasons that we’re without a knife:
- You can’t fly with a knife
- Teenagers can’t have knives at school
- You can’t carry a knife in some foreign countries
- What if your knife breaks?
- What if you lose your knife?
You can say all day every day that all these scenarios and ones not even mentioned will “never happen to me”, but anything can happen to anyone, even if we do everything to prevent it from happening.
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So how in the heck can we survive without a knife?
- Rocks – Rocks, like flint, can be made into sharp objects. You can make a flint knife or arrowhead. You could even attach (any) rock to the end of a stick to make a hammer. There are plenty of other rocks besides flint that can be made into a sharp object. All you have to do is throw the rock or knock the rocks together to break them apart. You can dig holes with rocks. You can also strike flint against flint to create sparks for a fire. Use rocks to clean your clothes, use chalk rock to write and so on. Rocks are an invaluable resource. Learn the type of rocks that you have available in your region.
- Foraging – Use foliage and sticks that are already on the ground to make shelter. Forage for wild edibles. Forage for urban trash and make things out of it. Forage for fire-starting materials. And so on. Use the type of foliage, trees and wild edibles that you have available in your region. Also, go for an urban hike one day and collect trash and see how it can be repurposed into survival uses.
- Friction – If you have paracord you can use friction to break it. You can also create friction fire without a knife.
- Hands and feet – Your hands and feet are pretty useful. You could break, pull and snap things apart or out of the ground or off of a tree much easier than you may think. You can use the rock that we talked about before to help with some additional force, too.
- Sticks – Use sticks for anything and everything. Create a bow and arrow. Create a spear. Create a hammer. Make a slingshot. Use sticks to help dig. Use sticks to gather insects. Use sticks to make a trap. Use a stick to gather sap. And so on.
All of the above suggestions need to be practiced well ahead of time. You don’t want to be out in a stressful situation trying to learn a new skill. You have the time now to learn, so practice your bushcraft and survival skills as often as you can. You don’t even have to go anywhere special to practice these skills, get out into your backyard and make an afternoon out of it.
When it comes to surviving without a knife, all it takes is a little bit of creativity. Your mindset will definitely need to be changed in order to think outside the box.
I challenge you to walk out into the woods without a knife and figure out how you could make things work in a survival situation.
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