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Old 09-14-2004, 09:59   #1
The Reaper
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Redneck/SF Engineering

Let's light a fire on this forum.

I would like to see a post from anyone who has a way to "do almost anything, with absolutely nothing".

Catastrophic failures should be relegated to a Darwin Award thread.

As an example, I was in the 25th ID in Hawaii during a pretty bad hurricane. It took a couple of days to clear enough streets to get to post 10 miles from my house.

When I got in, lots of people were milling around the motor pool unable to operate their vehicles due to a lack of fuel. Most had run out, the deadlined vehicles had already been siphoned dry.

We had almost 20,000 gallons in the ground in tanks, but the power was out.

I took a quick look around the motor pool, found a 1.5KW generator, a Light Set, a pair of lineman pliers, and a 5 gallon can of waste fuel.

I set up the generator as far from the pumps as the extension cords from the Light Set would reach, cut off the plug end of the cord, pulled the pump breaker, took the cover off the pump, and hot wired the drop cord directly to the pump motor, taping everything up well.

I fueled up the gen set with the waste fuel strained through a screen, and it started. I plugged in the cord, and five minutes later, we were operating the only operational fuel point on Schofield Barracks for the next three days.


Second story. Old one. Inherently dangerous, do not attempt at home. OTOH, if your vehicle is dead in Afghanistan and you are being being shot at, you have to make your decision and live with the consequences.

I saw a guy with a dead battery in a 7-11 parking lot. No one had any jumper cables.

One of his buddies pulled up in front of him till the front bumpers touched.

He then took the tire tools out of both vehicles. This appeared to be an unconventional approach, so I had to see what happened next.

He placed the socket ends of the tire tools on the positive terminals of the batteries, and slapped the other ends together with a little sparking.

The owner of the dead car was able to crank it right up.

Adaptive thinking. THAT is what we are looking for.

Anyone else?

TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025

Last edited by The Reaper; 09-14-2004 at 10:01.
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Old 09-14-2004, 10:43   #2
Air.177
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I once saw a Broken Case extractor for a 1919 made from a Bolt that happened to fit the 30-06 case. A few slots were cut in the bolt with a file to make it vaguely resemble a tap. It worked after a few attempts.
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Old 09-14-2004, 10:49   #3
The Reaper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Air.177
I once saw a Broken Case extractor for a 1919 made from a Bolt that happened to fit the 30-06 case. A few slots were cut in the bolt with a file to make it vaguely resemble a tap. It worked after a few attempts.
Excellent!

Where is Mr. Harsey and his vast wealth of RE knowledge?

TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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Old 09-14-2004, 10:54   #4
Air.177
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reaper
Let's light a fire on this forum.

I would like to see a post from anyone who has a way to "do almost anything, with absolutely nothing".

Catastrophic failures should be relegated to a Darwin Award thread.

As an example, I was in the 25th ID in Hawaii during a pretty bad hurricane. It took a couple of days to clear enough streets to get to post 10 miles from my house.

When I got in, lots of people were milling around the motor pool unable to operate their vehicles due to a lack of fuel. Most had run out, the deadlined vehicles had already been siphoned dry.

We had almost 20,000 gallons in the ground in tanks, but the power was out.

I took a quick look around the motor pool, found a 1.5KW generator, a Light Set, a pair of lineman pliers, and a 5 gallon can of waste fuel.

I set up the generator as far from the pumps as the extension cords from the Light Set would reach, cut off the plug end of the cord, pulled the pump breaker, took the cover off the pump, and hot wired the drop cord directly to the pump motor, taping everything up well.

I fueled up the gen set with the waste fuel strained through a screen, and it started. I plugged in the cord, and five minutes later, we were operating the only operational fuel point on Schofield Barracks for the next three days.


Second story. Old one. Inherently dangerous, do not attempt at home. OTOH, if your vehicle is dead in Afghanistan and you are being being shot at, you have to make your decision and live with the consequences.

I saw a guy with a dead battery in a 7-11 parking lot. No one had any jumper cables.

One of his buddies pulled up in front of him till the front bumpers touched.

He then took the tire tools out of both vehicles. This appeared to be an unconventional approach, so I had to see what happened next.

He placed the socket ends of the tire tools on the positive terminals of the batteries, and slapped the other ends together with a little sparking.

The owner of the dead car was able to crank it right up.

Adaptive thinking. THAT is what we are looking for.

Anyone else?

TR
I like it

The Tire Iron in my jeep has been used for MANY things, but not that. Hammer, jack handle, lug nut wrench, pick/shovel, and Improvised Weapon in a real pinch. Never jumper cable though.
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Old 09-14-2004, 11:15   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Air.177
I like it

The Tire Iron in my jeep has been used for MANY things, but not that. Hammer, jack handle, lug nut wrench, pick/shovel, and Improvised Weapon in a real pinch. Never jumper cable though.
Remember that you have to have the two vehicles in solid metal to metal contact (common ground) for it to work.

TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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Old 09-14-2004, 11:19   #6
Air.177
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I'll keep that in Mind.

Not sure if this qualifies for the purposes of this thread, but you can do damn near anything with a Forklift. (As if you folks didn't already know that)



Come on Guys, This isn't the TR and Some Punk Kid Show!!!

Lets see some of those Off the Wall "Southern Engineering Stories"

Last edited by Air.177; 09-14-2004 at 11:24.
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Old 09-14-2004, 11:39   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Air.177
I once saw a Broken Case extractor for a 1919 made from a Bolt that happened to fit the 30-06 case. A few slots were cut in the bolt with a file to make it vaguely resemble a tap. It worked after a few attempts.
Yes, I did do that !!
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Old 09-14-2004, 15:53   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The Reaper
Excellent!

Where is Mr. Harsey and his vast wealth of RE knowledge?

TR
I'm getting there, got to finish up the day work first! Been keeping notes in the shop on this, got some good ones!
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Old 09-14-2004, 17:49   #9
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Wrenches

Here's a simple but very effective one, Ever had an end wrench on a nut or bolt and can't move it? Two things, if it's a bolt, hit the head with hammer first. This may break the bind free, don't do this on a nut because you will probably mushroom the threads the nut needs to twist off over. Then if the typical end wrench your using (one box or closed end, the other end open) can't turn the bolt, get another end wrench about equal size. Put the box end of the first wrench over the bolt. Then place the box end of wrench no.2 over the fork of the first wrenches open end so you can double the length of the wrench therefore increasing greatly the leverage. Reef on the second wrench. Something will give. Do not let the owner of the wrenches see what your doing because he may not let you borrow them again. Aircraft mechanics go away, this will get you in deep doo-doo.
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Old 09-14-2004, 21:26   #10
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Fast splice an eye in cable!

Most folks here know I grew up logging, spent years at it. Any of you guys have to handle cable? Sometimes we need to put an eye in one end to attach to other rigging so we can pull on stuff, this is what cable does, it pulls on stuff. Most wire rope is 6 strands over a core. To do a proper spliced eye takes the right tools and some learned skills. What I'm going to describe takes almost no skills, is fast and will work with anything from 1/8th inch to 2 inch or bigger if you have the personal horsepower to bend it. If you have say 3/4 inch cable, unravel the six strands of cable completely, go back about three feet. Ignore the core. Use a screwdriver or similar tool to pry them apart to get started if you have to. Take three strands to each side. Grab one strand from each side and point them toward each other until they cross about midpoint. Wrap them back together, just like they came apart. Do this with each strand from each side until you've put the cable back together in a loop. It'll look just like it was made that way. Ignore the free ends hanging past this fast eye we call a "Farmers Splice" It's as strong as the entire cable for a little while but it lacks the long term durability of a true spliced eye. I should charge for this, it's that good.

Last edited by Bill Harsey; 09-14-2004 at 21:38.
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Old 09-14-2004, 21:33   #11
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Gloves!

Wear gloves if you can when handling cable. Older or worn line will get cracks in what is called the crown of the cable. This crown is the outermost surface at any point in a length of line. Run your closed hand over a cable and all you'll feel are the crowns. When the cracked crowns get longer they are called jaggers. Jaggers will make red stuff come out of your hands or other body parts. They also cause language that is not acceptable in some circles. Look at what your grabbing! Anyone here want to know how to cut steel cable with an axe? fast?
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Old 09-14-2004, 22:57   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Harsey
Wear gloves if you can when handling cable. Older or worn line will get cracks in what is called the crown of the cable. This crown is the outermost surface at any point in a length of line. Run your closed hand over a cable and all you'll feel are the crowns. When the cracked crowns get longer they are called jaggers. Jaggers will make red stuff come out of your hands or other body parts. They also cause language that is not acceptable in some circles. Look at what your grabbing! Anyone here want to know how to cut steel cable with an axe? fast?
Bill:

Great tips, will have to try the splice technique sometime.

Your axe or mine?

TR
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"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

De Oppresso Liber 01/20/2025
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Old 09-15-2004, 07:17   #13
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Your axe of course. The axe used on a logging side for cutting cable is called a rigging axe, the cable cutting side is so trashed that it will probably never cut wood again. Here's how the rigging axe is used to cut cable so adapt the best you can at your location if you have to do this. A normal use of the rigging axe would be the drum (winch) line on the D-7 Cat. This is one inch diameter steel cable. The end of this is a spliced eye to hold the shackle from which the Bull Hook is hung. After months of hard use the eye of the splice may be frayed or break so the cat is backed up near a stump and some slack is pulled from the drum. We take the double bit axe and stick the sharp side hard in the stump. Two men are best used for this job. One holds the cable over the axe and the other hits it with a big hammer on top, Lay the cable over the exposed edge of the axe where you want to cut it, hold on AND LOOK DOWN! Short sharp wires may break off and hit you. We always put our hardhats to the cut. The best hammer is at least a 6-8 lb. sledge but it could be done with a 4 lb. hammer if needed. The cut shouldn't take a whole minute from the time you stick the axe in the stump and wrestle the line up to having a pretty clean fresh end to work with. You then use the rigging axe to cut the loose ends of the finished splice after your done with that too.
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Old 09-15-2004, 08:24   #14
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FrontSight, Ma'am, Your UTB Design counts. This is a very finesse piece of engineering. This is a working example of FrontSights skills, adapting a holster to an unusual hideout carry. UTB stands for "Under The Bra" or "Under The Breast" carry. The value in this, for the guys, is learning to think like a designer, that is not being afarid to try unusual solutions to a problem no matter what all the knuckleheads around you say or think. How do you think I do what I do? It didn't come from listening to the naysayers. If my memory serves, General Yarborough himself was responsible for several design inovations used by Special Forces Operators to this day. Your thinking can have merit and just because it hasn't been done before doesn't mean it isn't valid. FrontSight Ma'am, this thread was for the down in the dirt technology and your work is too good for here but let's figure out where to put it. Let me think for a bit. I also think design is an important overlooked component to field craft.

Last edited by Bill Harsey; 09-15-2004 at 08:27. Reason: my grammer sucks
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Old 09-15-2004, 18:23   #15
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Okay.

I've used a paper clip (binder clip) and some skills from the School of Lockpicking to get out of a bathroom stall in Italy when the locking mechanism broke.

Since then, I never lock the bathroom door when traveling across the pond if the locking mechanism is not exposed and if the door goes all the way to the ground.

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