Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

How does dental floss compare to fishing line in a survival situation?

+1
−0

It is possible to catch fish with a hook and dental floss, and the flies can just be stored stuck in the brim of a hat or very small tin and then one improvises a rod from a stick.

The advantage of taking dental floss is that it could be used for flossing in addition to catching fish but how does it compare strength wise?

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

0 comment threads

1 answer

+0
−0

When it comes to survival gear in wilderness scenarios, one needs to consider A) the utility of the equipment, and B) how difficult it is to find or craft the equipment from materials in the field. Using this framework to consider dental floss and fishing line as survival gear, the main uses that are difficult to craft in the field are as general-use low-impact rope, or as fishing line. In both cases tensile strength is important, and resistance to decay is another factor. Lastly, storage / weight is an important consideration.

I presume fishing line easily surpasses floss in tensile strength, but it may not be as easy to store loads of it. I don't have data on this though, perhaps a better answer will come along with some. Anyway, given my experiences with bushcraft and minimalist camping, I would opt for fishing line as a more reliable substitute for rope than floss, and as a more adequate...fishing line...than floss. Think of what you need rope for: lashings of all kinds, providing a supporting surface to hang things from or rest things upon, stitching things in a pitch. In all those cases, I'd rather be working with fishing line than floss, as fishing line feels sturdier and less prone to fraying or decay. Then comes the use of line for actual fishing: safe to say fishing line would work better.

As for dental hygiene, items which serve this function are relatively easy to find or craft in forests (yellow birch twigs is the local example which comes to mind), and in any case this is a low priority need in a survival situation. So, floss doesn't score much points in this comparison.

History
Why does this post require attention from curators or moderators?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://outdoors.stackexchange.com/a/20351. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »