Improvised Compass

[Mistwalker]

Here is another reason for packing along a small fishing kit in your pack when out and about.

Fish hooks are good for more things than just catching fish. For one you can straighten them, grind off the barb and flatten the eye and you have a functioning needle for digging out splinters even sewing... it will work, but the eye is still a pain in the neck even after flattened. Secondly with a couple of other things they can help you find your way. Most of us carry a compass of one kind or another when we hit the woods.

But what if it gets lost or broken? Yes you can roughly gauge direction looking at the growth of the flora, and yes you can figure it out using the sun if it is visible, but here is another way. This... and some water... is all you need to throw together a quick field expedient compass.

First straightens the hook. This is easier to do with pliers but can be done with a split twig.

Next you'll need a small piece of cork or wood that will float. Cut a slice across the center of the mass deep enough to seat the hook in. Then holding the straightened hook point out scrape the tip end with a knife quickly and with some pressure, scraping away from your body and toward the tip several times.

Then push the hook into the slice and it should look something like this.

Next you need a pool or non-metallic container of water. If there are none handy you can make your own pool of water if you have a ziploc bag or other piece of plastic...even a space blanket. Just dig a small depression in the ground, line with the plastic, add water, the set the piece of wood with the hook in it on the surface of the water (wind is not your friend here, it will push your "compass" to the side).

YouTube - Improvised Compass-2




In a more urbanized area you could use a saucer or cup. Needles also work like this but so far no luck with paper clips.

YouTube - Improvised Compass-1

 

[Bravo4]

Hi Mistwalker,
I love this kind of thing. I have floated needles on leaves before but had always assumed (3 words) they needed to be magnetized first. Backyard bushcraft test, promted by your post, has proven my assumption wrong. Many thanks.

I have never needed an improvised compass in the field but I am a strong believer in this type of resourcefulness. Just about anything can be used for purposes other than it's original design.

Here's a little trick to try...

You can get a pin to float on it's own. The lower pin in the bowl sank but if you notice the shadow cast by, and alignment of the upper pin; surface tension.

 

[g4ghb]

I always magnetised needles with a magnet - never thought a few scrapes with a knife would work

Guess what I'll be trying soon..............

 

[maddave]

Excellent post !

I too always thought you needed a magnet or some copper wire and a battery ti magnetise the needle. This is the kind of simple information that saves lives, thanks for sharing.

 

[Mistwalker]

Hi Mistwalker,
I love this kind of thing. I have floated needles on leaves before but had always assumed (3 words) they needed to be magnetized first. Backyard bushcraft test, promted by your post, has proven my assumption wrong. Many thanks.

I have never needed an improvised compass in the field but I am a strong believer in this type of resourcefulness. Just about anything can be used for purposes other than it's original design.

Here's a little trick to try...

You can get a pin to float on it's own. The lower pin in the bowl sank but if you notice the shadow cast by, and alignment of the upper pin; surface tension.

Thanks Bravo, glad you enjoy this sort of thing I do too.

I know surface tension will work for pins and needles but the hooks are shaped differently and too heavy.

I always magnetised needles with a magnet - never thought a few scrapes with a knife would work

Guess what I'll be trying soon..............

Give it a go, it's a pretty cool little trick. I've used it to get a few free beers over the years too

Excellent post !

I too always thought you needed a magnet or some copper wire and a battery ti magnetise the needle. This is the kind of simple information that saves lives, thanks for sharing.

Thanks Dave, I'm glad you liked the post!

 

[Shewie]

Useful post Brian, thanks for taking the time.

 

[Mistwalker]

Useful post Brian, thanks for taking the time.

Thanks Shewie, glad you enjoyed it!

 

[PRKL]

Now this is something i love to read,and the pics make it a delight.

 

[Glydr]

Now this is something i love to read,and the pics make it a delight.

It's all in finnish mate

 

[bushcraftbob]

Wow didnt realise you could do this sort of thing...now where did the missus put her sewing kit!!! lol

 

[HillBill]

Good post mate. Not used the trick for a long time. Paperclips might not work as they are of an even thickness all the way along with a flat end. Needles, hooks and indeed compasses all have a tapered tip, Try shaving one end down a little and see if it makes any difference.

Could also be that needles and hooks are hardened more, but maybe not too.

 

[dorkingbushcraft]

i remember doing this last year in science with nails

 

[maddave]

i remember doing this last year in science with nails

How did you get those to float??

 

[bushwacker bob]

How did you get those to float??

Hammered them into a log

 

[ged]

... so far no luck with paper clips.

I suspect that's because the paper clip was folded more-or-less symmetrically before it became hard magnetised, and when you unfolded it you had in effect several magnets alternating in polarity. I don't think that a taper would come into it much. If you want to test the conjecture (no point calling it even a theory just yet), try cutting the paper clip into pieces (making the cuts at the centres of the bends) rather than unfolding it. Or just don't straighten it, but the ratio of length to width is important so it might not work so well. You could also just run one end of a strong magnet along a straightened paper clip a couple of times but I don't think that will tell us anything that we don't already know.

Most steel objects are already magnetised, some quite strongly, even if this was unintentional. That can be a problem -- ask any watchmaker -- but it can be a Good Thing for the rest of us. Some stainless steels e.g. 316 are practically non-magnetic.

The Earth, being a big magnet, will induce a magnetic field into anything that's capable of supporting one. So any bit of non-magnetised 'soft' iron will become a magnet when, er, placed in the Earth's magnetic field. If it's long and thin, and suspended in a way which lets it rotate freely, it will align with the field. This is the principle of the reluctance motor. Unfortunately a soft magnet will be quite happy pointing either north OR south, but at least it's a start, and since we probably don't know which end of our emergency magnets is which that isn't much different from the sewing needle approach -- it has a definite north-seeking end but we don't know which end without some other information.

You don't need to use flotation on water for the suspension if water is precious, you could use almost any liquid. Or hang the makeshift compass needle from a long fibre teased from your clothing, or some from a nearby yak, or even use your own hair if you have any. It just needs to be very easy for the tiny forces from the needle to twist it. Low friction pivots are tricky, even if your tools and materials aren't makeshift. But if the suspension is free enough, you don't really need to use anything that's already a magnet, nor even things that are ferromagnetic. A friend of mine used to use things made of brass as a kind of party trick, but he used a totally frictionless bearing that he was developing at university. You probably wouldn't have one handy in a survival situation, and it could take a couple of hours for the thing to stop moving when the only thing stopping it was the heat generated by the eddy currents in the metal which were caused by its movement in the Earth's magnetic field. That's the principle of the generator, maybe a vague reference to I-squared-R and the aurorae.

'Soft' and 'hard' here mean magnetically soft and hard, that is the softer the material is, magnetically speaking, the more magnetism is induced by an external magnetic field. Few materials are entirely hard or entirely soft, they're a mixture of many, which can mean it's quite a challenge to 'correct' the magnetic compass on a steel ship (so that the needle points north, and not just in whichever direction the ship happens to be pointing). Magnetically hard materials stay magnetised much better than soft ones. Soft materials change their magnetism in sympathy with whatever field they find themselves in. Magnetic hardness and Rockwell hardness are related to a degree, so your paper clip, being spring steel and so rather hard, will be more difficult (more conjecture!) to remagnetise all in the same direction than will a bit of soft iron wire. But once you have it magnetised it will stay that way for longer. One way of making hard steel soft is to heat it. Another conjecture: take a few paper clips, straighten them, and arrange them in the camp fire like the hours on a clock face. See which ones work best as a compass when they've cooled.

There are time-dependent effects. Some of the magnetic 'domains' in steel rotate slowly in an applied magnetic field, as if they were suspended in grease. A ship's magnetic compass has to be checked after a long time in dock because the hull's magnetic field can be very different from when it tied up there. Suggestions for experiments are invited. In the meantime, if you aren't using a compass, don't store it for a long time in a strong magnetic field on its side (so that the needle can't align with the field).

There are places on Earth where the magnetic compass is at best unreliable - the prudent navigator never relies on a single aid to navigation if he can possibly avoid it. Don't forget that things like steel tools can be very strongly magnetic, as will be the loudspeaker in your radio, so keep compasses a few feet clear or they (and therefore you) can be put at risk.

 

[HillBill]

Great post Ged.

Definately something to consider.

The way i'm thinking about the taper is this. If you have a length of steel of equal thickness along its length then the magnetic forces will effect the whole length equally, also the drag induced by water surface tension is equal all around, meaning that the magnetic forces wont be distributed well enough to rotate the metal through the drag of the surface tension.

A taper on the other hand provides a more powerful pull at one end and less drag on the other, which will make it much easier to rotate.

This seems to backed up to some extent by previous posters who have tried it successfully, using needles, fishing hooks and nails.

 

[dorkingbushcraft]

How did you get those to float??

i think we put them on cork

 

[Mistwalker]

Thanks guys, I'm glad you enjoyed the post!

And thank you ged, interesting information!

 

[leahcim]

http://www.youtube.com/user/erinisabella33?feature=mhee#p/u/5/_LVhT3T6PDo watch my video and ditch the compass, I dont need it after 25 years in the woods, learn the old ways.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Our search and rescue guys are going to need your address, you know, to send a thank you letter for keeping them in buisness,