It’s not just for a survival situation. The survival necklace is a simple way of keeping the gear that you use the most, near by and ready for use.
Being a “survival” item, it was designed to be worn when you are out in the wild as a survival tool. These necklaces can also be helpful on a hike, mountain biking, camping, and even in everyday life. My personal use of it grew out of necessity.
I first started wearing a small neck knife while out on hikes and on occasion in my everyday life, instead of keeping my pocket knife on me. I then found myself keeping a fire steal (the Aurora Fire Starter) on the necklace while I was reviewing it. This was handy on hikes because I enjoy a nice cup of tea on the trail and keeping this outside my pack kept me from wasting time hunting for the darn thing.
While camping I found that it was great to keep a small container of hand sanitizer on the necklace. Building camp fires, searching out fire wood or picking up the occasional salamander makes the hand sanitizer a great item to keep around. It’s great to sanitize your hands but if needed it also works as a great fire starter! (as long as it contains alcohol) Not to mention, it’s nice to keep it near when you feel the need to make the trek off to the bushes to relieve yourself…
… Which brings me to the last item I added to the survival necklace, a small flashlight. I normally keep a flashlight in my pants pocket. Although, when in your tent in the middle of the night I keep the necklace sitting near my roll of toilet paper just in case. Now I have everything I need while camping right in my reach – leaving my pockets free to collect tinder or wild edibles in if I come across any. Also if I wander off for an impromptu hike away from camp … I am ready.
While I was wearing my survival necklace around camp, I rarely found it to be cumbersome or in the way. Once in awhile when I bent over to look at something on the ground it would swing in front of my face, but normally it’s just tucked between my T-shirt and my outer button up shirt and that holds it in place.
When putting together your own survival necklace think about what you might need and what you wont need. For instance maybe you don’t want to carry a fire starter with you because you are always with another person that has one. Or, you may want to add something to it like a multi-tool instead of a knife because of its versatility.
Creating Your Own Survival Necklace
The necklace that I use is make from a 2 foot length of para-chord (a handy tool to keep with you also) I make a loop out of the cordage and tie the ends in a simple square knot around the opposite end of the cordage. I do this with both ends, once the knots are tight you can slide them back and forth to adjust the size of the necklace.
Some people prefer to use a chain necklace that will break easily if it gets caught on something, preventing a chance of strangulation.
When selecting items for your survival necklace, think about your situation or the one you may be in as well as your environment. If are not in an area where you would find a poisonous snake, then why have a snake bight kit?
Here are some ideas of items to include on your Survival Necklace.
- Knife
- Hand Sanitizer
- Flashlight
- Fire Starter
- Waterproof Pill Container filled with
- Medication
- Tinder
- Small Survival Kit
- Fishing Kit
- Etc.
- Compass
- Multi-Tool
- Dog-Tags
- Bottle Opener
- Snake Bight Kit
- Plastic Camp Spork
- Whistle
- Small GPS Unit
What would you keep on your survival necklace. The options are almost endless. Please let us know in the comments below!