Baling wire has been used for more than binding up bales of hay. Those from a farm or ranch have seen everything, from fences to windmill gaskets and bridles, held together by baling wire. My father, while recalling his youth of the early 1900s in New Mexico and Arizona, says that baling wire was also affectionately known as "Mormon buckskin" because it was replacing the rawhide strips or straps that were often used to bind objects together.
The Boy Scouts once published various uses of the Scout neckerchief. Their list cited neckerchief use as a hot pan holder, signal flag, bandage, head band and myriad other things.Dr. Eric Weiss, a physician presenting at a recent Wilderness Medical Society conference, gives out a lot of improvisations for the ordinary safety pin. These improvised uses in a remote setting include:
- Replacing the lost screw in your glasses to prevent the lens or the frame's ear piece from falling off.
- Improvised glasses. Draw two circles in a piece of duct tape or cardboard where your eyes would fit. Use the safety pin to make holes in the circles and then tape this to your face. The pin holes will partially correct myopic (nearsighted) vision. This type of glasses could be used as improvised sunglasses.
- Fish hook. Most fishermen even have difficulty with real fish hooks, but this might be tried in an area for survival purposes.
- Sewing needles using dental floss as thread.
- Replacing a broken zipper on clothing.
- Unclogging jets in a camping stove.
- Fixing a ski binding.
Safety pin use for improvising first aid includes:
- Drain a painful friction blister (not a blister produced by a burn, frostbite or poison ivy).
- Remove a splinter from the skin by teasing the splinter out.
- Pin an injured arm to victim's shirt or jacket.
- Relieve a blood clot under a fingernail by heating the safety pin's point until it glows. Place the point on the center of the discolored area of the nail and let it melt through the nail into the center of the blood blister. The nail has no nerves, thus there will be no pain. If this is done carefully, a tiny opening will be made in the nail and the hot safety pin point will not penetrate into underlying tissues because the hematoma offers protection. The hole releases pressure, drains the blood blister and gives the victim prompt relief from pain.
- Hold a bandage in place when you run out of tape.
- Punch a hole in a plastic bag to make an irrigating device to clean wounds.
Duct tape is commonly found in most homes. It should also be carried in an automobile. I once patched a broken radiator hose which enabled me to drive into a nearby town for repairs.
Some first aid uses for duct tape includes:
- Holding a bandage in place.
- Covering a "hot spot" on the skin to prevent a blister forming.
- Improvising sunglasses (see above).
- Holding splints in place.
In emergency situations you will be challenged. To help with that challenge, a well-stocked first aid kit should always be available, but such is sometimes not the case. Perhaps the above ideas will prove useful. They may spark other ideas. If so, write to "The Safe Life" column at the Deseret News (P.O. Box 1257, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84110) about other suggested improvisation ideas useful in first aid.