Whittling

Whittling is a skill I don't often see mentioned in survival/prep boards even by those listing off their many skills. It should be much more common than it is!

Just a few ways (out of so very many!) whittling can help:

1) Make a whistle when lost in the woods. Takes a few minutes, but even your first ever will probably take less than half an hour, and you can blow a whistle intermittently all day with no strain - try that with yelling!

2) Make a crutch. Two pieces of wood, whittle a socket / hole into a short one and taper the other, much longer, to fit into it. You now have a crutch to help you get out on your own, and self rescue is usually a lot better than waiting for Search and Rescue! Canes, walking sticks and other walking aids can be done just as easily, and in your spare moments can be embellished as well!

3) Make a bowl, cup, spoon or other utensil you forgot when you packed up!

4) Decorative touches around the house, cabin or even vehicle. You can make candlestick holders, salt shakers, garden gnomes or anything else you can think of, really.

5) Pass time while fishing, waiting, cooking, whatever... And pass it constructively!

Whittling is a dying art. With all the other ways people have to pass time they rarely if ever think of whittling, never mind actually practice it. I've recently spent a couple days fishing and found that instead of reaching for my iPhone I was reaching for a stick to carve into whistles, jam spreaders, hot dog roasting sticks and more. It has been many years since I actually whittled and I found the skills I used to have had badly atrophied. The only advantage I had over a rank amateur was that I knew what I was capable of before!

Read magazines, books and online resources to discover not only the utility of whittling but the joy! I know my whistles have been a real winner with the children of friends.