{"id":412,"date":"2025-12-03T21:00:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/?p=412"},"modified":"2025-12-03T21:00:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T21:00:55","slug":"multiple-survival-uses-for-discarded-aluminum-can-epictactical-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/?p=412","title":{"rendered":"MULTIPLE SURVIVAL USES For DISCARDED ALUMINUM CAN \u2013 EpicTactical"},"content":{"rendered":"
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MULTIPLE SURVIVAL USES \u2013 <\/b>For DISCARDED ALUMINUM CAN <\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/b>By Christopher Nyerges<\/b><\/p>\n

[Nyerges is a longtime field guide, and author of 17 books, including \u201cHow to Survive Anywhere,\u201d \u201cExtreme Simplicity,\u201d \u201cGuide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants,\u201d and others. He can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com<\/a>.]<\/i><\/p>\n

Did you all see the movie \u201cThe Gods Must Be Crazy\u201d?\u00a0 A bush pilot drops a soda bottle out of the plane and falls into the midst of some aboriginal people. They have never seen such a device before and they all use it for a dozen or so practical uses.\u00a0 As far as they were concerned, the gods in heaven dropped them this new tool to make life easier.<\/p>\n

An aluminum can is another of those multi-purpose objects that can literally be a life-safer if you\u2019re lost or stranded. What good is an aluminum can, you say?\u00a0 With an aluminum can \u2013 and a bit of skill and your Swiss Army knife \u2013 you can make a fire, purify water, cook, signal, and do a few other things!\u00a0 That makes the discarded aluminum can a \u201cmulti-purpose tool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at the many uses of an aluminum can that you happen to find.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

MAKE A FIRE<\/p>\n

I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about making a fire using the bottom of an aluminum beer or soda can, but it actually works. Well, it works if you prepare the can properly, and if you have a LOT of patience.\u00a0 The very bottom of an aluminum can is not a true parabolic dish, but when highly polished, it can be used to focus the sun\u2019s rays to a point and ignite tinder.<\/p>\n

Polishing the bottom<\/b><\/p>\n

Because the surface of the bottom of the aluminum can is not polished, you need to give it a high polish in order for it to sufficiently focus the sun\u2019s rays.\u00a0 When I first heard about this, people were suggesting that you should polish the bottom of the can with chocolate, a suggestion that I have never fully understood to this day.\u00a0 Maybe that suggestion was made because a hike is likely to have some chocolate in the back, but it is clearly not the best way to polish the can.\u00a0 The best polishing agent I\u2019ve found for this is fine steel wool.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s always good to know several ways to do each task, and if you don\u2019t have steel wool, try tooth paste.<\/p>\n

Polish the bottom of the can for about 10 minutes, until you have an obviously-bright and highly reflective surface.\u00a0 Once the bottom of the can has the high polish, you are ready to make fire.<\/p>\n

Experimenter Eric Zammit of Altadena discovered by practice that he could quickly get a coal if he had polished the bottom of the can with the finest steel wool [0000] for about 10 minutes.\u00a0 Then, using a small bit of\u00a0 rolled-up mugwort for tinder, he would have it smoking within 3 seconds, and he had a coal within 10 seconds.<\/p>\n

Point the bottom of the can towards the sun, and then move your tinder into the bottom area, watching for the point where the light focusses to a point. When you find that point, keep your tinder there until you get your coal. This is akin to making a fire with a magnifying glass, except you are not focusing the light through the lens, but rather you are focusing the light back up to a single point.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n

PURIFY WATER<\/p>\n

One of the most important skills in the back-country is the ability to purify your water.\u00a0 If you\u2019re just out for the day without all your normal equipment, you might not have a water filter or purification pills. So just fill the aluminum can with your suspect water, and boil it over a fire. Boiling will kill any of the biological contaminants that might make you sick.<\/p>\n

If the water has stuff in it, then by all means pour the water through a cloth first.<\/p>\n

COOK YOUR SOUP<\/p>\n

You can also take the top off the can and use it as a small coffee pot or soup pot.\u00a0 Just punch two holes in the rim at the top so you can add a wire and suspend it over the fire.<\/p>\n

Even if you don\u2019t have your Swiss army knife for cutting the top off the can, aluminum is so soft that you could actually use a sharpened stick or stone for this job.<\/p>\n

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WATER FILTER<\/p>\n

If for some reason, you can\u2019t get a fire going, or if a fire would reveal your whereabouts, you can use that aluminum can for a makeshift water filter. You will punch little holes into the bottom of the can, and you will cut off the top of the can.\u00a0 A variety of filter materials have been tested, such as packing the can with clean socks.<\/p>\n

In experiments that were done in Great Britain by Stefan Kallman in the 1980s, he found that he could create a reasonable water filter with an old aluminum can.\u00a0 He cut off the top of the can, punched holes in the bottom, and added sphagnum moss to the bottom. Then he filled the bulk of the can with a blend of charcoal, peat, and more sphagnum.\u00a0 He added a thin layer of small pebbles to the top.\u00a0 These were ingredients that would be available in the U.K, but not necessarily everywhere.<\/p>\n

Other filters could be clean sand, mixed with a bit of charcoal, or the already-mentioned clean socks (or other fabric that can be packed into the can).\u00a0 A filter like this cannot be expected to be 100% effective, but it can help to remove some contaminants from the water.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SIGNALLING MIRROR<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to make an emergency signaling mirror from an aluminum can. Just cut a circle or a square from the can.\u00a0 Aluminum is soft and you can do this with the scissors on your Swiss army knife, or with any knife.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever used a regular signaling mirror, you know that it helps to have a little hole in the middle of the mirror to sight through.\u00a0 Cut a small hole in a rectangle of the aluminum through which you will attempt to observe your intended target.\u00a0 If the sun is in the ideal spot in the sky, and if the person flying overhead happens to be looking your<\/p>\n

way, perhaps someone will notice your signal mirror\u00a0 and hopefully someone will respond appropriately.\u00a0 Who knows?<\/p>\n

Your makeshift signaling mirror from the side of a beer can needn\u2019t be round, but I would at least round off the edges of a rectangle so you\u2019re not holding a piece of metal that might cut your hand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

LEAVING A NOTE<\/p>\n

You\u2019re lost with nothing, but there\u2019s an aluminum can.\u00a0 You can cut a piece of the aluminum and write a note on it for other people to read.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need a pencil\u00a0 \u2014 just find a thin stick to carve your letters into the aluminum.\u00a0 Then hang it in a prominent place for others to see whatever you need to communicate. The piece of aluminum will be shiny and will be more obvious than a paper note which might get blown away, or rained on.\u00a0 This is akin to the aluminum tags that gardeners use to mark their trees and other plants.<\/p>\n

CAPTIONS:<\/p>\n

All photos by Christopher Nyerges unless otherwise indicated<\/p>\n

An aluminum can full of suspect water is suspended from a tripod. PHOTO BY HELEN NYERGES<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MULTIPLE SURVIVAL USES \u2013 For DISCARDED ALUMINUM CAN \u00a0By Christopher Nyerges [Nyerges is a longtime field guide, and author of 17 books, including \u201cHow to Survive Anywhere,\u201d \u201cExtreme Simplicity,\u201d \u201cGuide to Wild Foods and Useful Plants,\u201d and others. He can be reached at Box 41834, Eagle Rock, CA 90041, or www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com.] Did you all see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":413,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions\/413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knifevoyager.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}