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Do It Yourself

Innovation And Adaptation, The Most Practical Of Skills

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Survival is all about preparation, but there are some things that you just can’t prepare for.

If you get caught in a situation that you were just absolutely ill equipped to handle, the only thing that would save you is your innovation and adaptability under stress.

A few days ago, I posted an article on Facebook that posed a question…

If you were in a survival situation and found a Frisbee, how would you use it to your advantage?

I wanted to test you all and see just how creative you could get with something as simple as a plastic Frisbee…

After I posted the question I sat back and watched the comments roll in and I have to say you did not fail to impress me!

In fact, I wanted to share with you a few of the responses with you.

Here are my favorite uncommon, out of the box uses for a Frisbee…

10. Knock fruits out of trees

9. A weather vane

8. A shooting target

7. A makeshift paddle

6. A plate

5. A plate cover (to keep food warm and the bugs out)

4. Fanning your fire

3. A mirror or reflector when lined with tin foil.

2. “If you catch yourself around feral hippies, you can easily distract them with the frisbee and make a break for it before any Phish starts playing.” (thanks @nick mackinaw, this one made me laugh!)

1. And my personal favorite is from @Mark Baca who uses it as a hunting tool. Read on:

“I use one for quail and pheasant when they tend to be runners rather than flushers. Once they run I throw it over and past them. They see the frisbee or the shadow and think it is a raptor (Hawk owl etc not the dinosaur ….lol) and they stop in place to hide from the “predator” giving me the chance to catch up and try to them and flush them (if hunting) or just shoot them on the ground.( survival situation).”

(Number 2 on the list actually made me laugh out loud!)

Again, survival is all about thinking on your feet and doing what ever is necessary with whatever you have on hand in order to make the best of a bad situation.

Have you ever used an item outside of it’s intended purpose to get something done?

Let me know below.

And don’t forget to like our Facebook page if you haven’t already!

Want to know more? Check out these related articles from our site:

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Survival Skills | The Psychology of Staying Alive

Survival Skills and Hobbies That Can Save Your Life

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12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Steve

    July 22, 2013 at 12:04 PM

    Catch water?

  2. andy

    July 22, 2013 at 12:09 PM

    I scuba dive for lobster. The lobster typically live in between the rocks (rock jetties) where the rocks lay upon the sea bed. The lobster always back into their burrows. I’m assuming it is so that their claws face out and they can defend against predators that might attempt to enter their burrow. This also affords them safety as they know what’s on their six. You can either wait all night for them to emerge and try to grab them before they grab you, or you can coax them out. One way to get them out is to simply throw some shells into the mouth of the burrow. Lobster it seem, like to keep a tidy house. They will use their claws like a plow and push out the shells that were thrown in. That’s one way, but they don’t come out too far from the burrow while performing housecleaning which makes it hard to grab their carapace, behind the claws. My preferred method is to go diving with a retractable radio antenna (from a portable FM radio or boombox) stowed in my “bug bag”. I find a hole that I think a bug (lobster) might be using and I extend the antenna to full length and insert it into the hole along the ceiling, as far back as it will reach. I then tap it up and down a few times. If there is a lobster in that hole, he/she won’t be in there long! I’m assuming they think there is a predator tapping them from behind, and that’s not something they like. So, out of the hole they go, and they come far out using this method. Then it’s fast hands that are needed!!!

    Please remember if you are “bug huntin'”, to have your carapace guage with you so that you don’t harvest lobster that are too small to be legal!!!

    • chris g.

      July 22, 2013 at 5:44 PM

      Andy, very interesting… but where does the plastic Frisbee come into this scenario?

      • Paul

        July 23, 2013 at 7:36 PM

        No Frisbee needed. The question was: “Have you ever used an item outside of it’s intended purpose to get something done?” The item is the radio antenna.

  3. Paul

    July 23, 2013 at 7:29 PM

    I keep regular steel wool and some 9V batteries in my BOB for starting a fire. Pile up a little kindling and smaller pieces of wood over a bit of steel wool and touch both poles of the battery to it and viola, instant fire. This shorts the battery creating enough heat to ignite the oil on the steel. The oil is there to prevent corrosion of the steel wool, but works great to start a fire.

    • adam

      July 24, 2013 at 9:50 PM

      Done that before, it’s one of the best ways to start a fire for sure. It’s kind of cheating because its so easy. Ive even used a spark stick on it and have lit it with a bit of magnesium dust on it.

  4. Christie

    July 24, 2013 at 7:19 AM

    I would think you could use the frisbee to dig (in sand or soft soil or to collect water, but I really like the suggestion about the feral hippies. I might have to try that one.

  5. Sam

    July 24, 2013 at 9:37 AM

    The best use for the Frisbee would be to catch rain water to drink if you’re stranded somewhere without water. It can also be used as a shovel to dig for worms for fishing.

  6. Jim

    July 24, 2013 at 11:11 AM

    I have come across some poor bastards at the beach, stuck and using their Frisbees as shovels. The hooked edge works fairly well, actually. Tow straps work better though!

  7. ALAN18

    July 24, 2013 at 2:18 PM

    If the Frisbee is a hard enough plastic you could shave pieces off of it to make all kinds of things by sanding it on a rock.
    Knife
    Spork
    Fish hook, the bent edge would be perfect
    Replacement tent pegs
    Sewing needle/ toothpick
    Arrow head for spear
    Comb? (Maybe? This would be crude and take some time)

  8. ALAN18

    July 24, 2013 at 2:26 PM

    Not to mention a quite stylish hat! FABULOUS!!!!!!!

  9. susan

    September 6, 2013 at 1:41 PM

    when you plant potatoes in the spring drop some change along the row with the potatoes when it is time to dig them up tell the grand kids about the money and wait for the potatoes on the porch with a glass of sweet tea

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