Thursday, March 24, 2011

Rope


Name: Rope
Scenario of Primary Usefulness: Natural Wilderness or Otherwise Non-Industrial Environment

Before the days of tape, glue, and staples; ropes were an effective method to bind objects together. Unfortunately, glue, tape, and staples are depletables (a topic which I will discuss in a later post), so in your post-apocalyptic world of limited resources, rope would be your best bet.

However, unlike tape and glue, you can't just put a rope between two objects and let them do their thing; you actually have to do a little work. Luckily, you don't need to be a Boy Scout or a sailor to get the rope knowledge you need (though it would help). I would narrow down the most basically essential knots to three different styles: hitches, lashings, and the bowline. I won't go into detail on them here, but basically hitches secure an object to the rope, lashings secure two objects together, and the bowline creates a sturdy loop. The uses of your rope are as various as the situations you'll encounter. If you can't think of anything, you can always trade it to someone more creative than you.

Now, I know you're looking at that picture and thinking "But how am I supposed to carry around all of that rope? That looks heavy and cumbersome!" And you would be right! Luckily, there are some entrepreneurial spirits who thought the same thing.


What you are looking at is 24 feet of military grade paracord. SurvivalStraps.com makes these by hand and, should you happen to need it before society is obliterated in the doomsday of your preference, they will replace it if you tell them how you used it. 24 feet not enough? They also sell a belt containing 125-200 feet.

For its multi-functionality, efficiency (especially if you're carrying it around as a Survival Strap), and simplicity, I highly recommend rope for your next wilderness apocalypse.

9 comments:

  1. You can make them yourself too!

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  2. I never found rope so fascinating

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  3. wow that hand-made rope in the cluster is just awsome it could be used for an awsome key ring.

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  4. Eheheh, very good article and love the theme of the blog.

    Keep us informed bro :D

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  5. the older posts are unreadable due to the backround, just a heads up.

    And one thing to have in the end is bottle caps, because that will be the new currency if I recall correctly.

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  6. I don't have nearly enough rope in the event of something going wrong. I'll have to invest!

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  7. Duke - Thanks for the heads-up, I'll try to fix it. Also, I plan on doing a post about trading/currency.

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  8. It's very true. Rope is one of the most versatile and useful tools we have. If all else fails, one can also use it to hang oneself, too. lol.

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