Posts by cobaltduck
What you are looking at is a vintage/ antique style of smudge pot. Although the top part held a wick which would be lit, the bottom part held slow-burning oil, not explosives, so you can relax. T...
You don't need a compass, nor any mechanical tool at all. You just need your fingers. I've linked an article with illustrations at the end, but here is the basic idea: Stand facing the sun, ext...
You need something else. You need a sextant and a marine chronometer (a fancy watch). The sextant measures the inclination of a star or the sun, and helps to determine latitude. Once you know tha...
I agree with the prior answer that a rope should not be your permanent solution here, given that it will ultimately damage the tree. However, I think you can mitigate this for short-term use of ro...
As one of the minority of the population that cannot use DEET (it makes my skin burn!) I use plant-based solutions. There are several options on the market that use either citronella or geraniol o...
Welcome back to good old chemistry class! Apologies if this gives you nightmares. First, the tablets used for water purification are not elemental iodine, but a crystal form called Tetraglycine H...
Inspired by several questions and answers here and also one at Biology SE, I have been looking around to try to find out whether this idea I heard constantly as a youth has any merit, or it just fo...
There are many, many articles and web sites that will tell you what to do if you develop a hot spot or blister while on the trail, and need to perform some field treatment to allow you to get back ...
Allow me to turn your question on its head a bit. Making yourself more visible to large vessels is a good idea, not being where they need you to be visible is a great idea. Stay away from channel...
It took a while to find, partly because I was sure this would turn out to be an owl. Also, it seems like you already had your own answer before this. However, to complete the loop here, I do see ...
After a brief exchange of comments, I think I have enough to take a stab at an answer, with the caveat that this will be mostly informed-guessing on my part. After all, every animal has its persni...
Try to slice a piece of paper. A good sharp knife makes a clean cut. A dull knife makes either a ragged cut, or worse, just pushes the paper to the side. I like this article: https://www.fieldan...
I found these structures while hiking in Wayne Township, Clermont County, Ohio, USA, on June 7, 2016, at approximately N 39° 12.5 W 084° 04.0. I only had my phone, and not a real camera, so sorry ...
This knot appears to be one referred to as the tarbuck knot, named for its inventor, see for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarbuck_knot or http://www.craigmarine.info/accessories/fishing_e...
I can't take any credit for already knowing this, all my information comes from an article from Penn State University, entitled Deer-Forest Study: The eyes have it! Some of the information in this...
Like you said, there are probably a hundred classes of adhesives available today, each one totally unsuitable for the things the others excel at. So we need to take a diagnostic approach here. Yo...
I didn't intend to self-answer, but after hours of 'net searching I seem to have stumbled on the answer, provided by an Olympic Gold Medalist sailor from Australia, so I hope we can trust it. You ...
The other day, this question (Why did wetting down canvas sails increase the speed of a sailing ship?) was asked regarding the historical practice of wetting down sails. The current answer quotes ...
To expand on an earlier answer, and what the OP himself mentions, I will add a few more elements. First, the count of persons on the trip. The rescuers need to know when they are done. If they'v...
My answer is that as soon as a thing begins being thought of, even potentially, as being involved in a sailing craft, it takes on the sailing term. If I am going to the hardware store to buy somet...
Let's please begin with the understanding that I have already sought and received professional medical advice. Also, about two weeks have passed, my heart and lungs still work and nothing has turn...
The new labeling system gives each PFD not one type, but three attributes ranked on a spectrum: buoyancy, turning power, and size. The label adds a fourth attribute listing suggested activities fo...
I'm not 100%, but I am going to call that a yellow striped armyworm, Spodoptera ornithogalli. These things seem to be widely distributed and very common; I've seen them frequently in my travels bu...
It has become a bit of a fad in the last few days at my current workplace to open a browser tab to either http://www.lbwl.com/falcon.htm or http://www.lbwl.com/falcon2.htm , take a quick look now a...
Based on the comments, it seems that you are looking for some sort of fabric that has moisture wicking capabilities. There are several fabrics that have this desirable trait. Many of them are syn...
