Chapstick: The Ultimate Survival Tool

Got a tube of chapstick in your pocket? Take it out and look at it. In your hand, you’re holding one of the most powerful and versatile survival tools that you can have in your survival gear, bug-out bag and first aid kit. Who’d have thought? It has more uses than just protecting your lips from the elements. Here are 15 ways to use chapstick that you never would have imagined.

Protection

Chapstick’s basic use is protection but like I said above, that extends to much more than chapped lips. Its inherent properties make it excellent as a first aid tool and as a survival tool.

First Aid

1. Stops small cuts and scrapes from bleeding and protects them from dirt to reduce the chance of infection.
2. If a spot on your foot or hand is being rubbed raw through activity, then, it can help stop a blister from rising.

Survival Tool

1. In a pinch, protects exposed skin from frostbite and sunburn as long as it’s not prolonged exposure.
2. When mixed with black ashes and painted underneath eyes, it will protect from the damaging glare of desert sand or a snow-covered landscape.
3. If a knife is going to be exposed to a wet environment, rubbing it on the blade will protect if from rust.

Lubrication

The waxy or greasy quality of chapstick also makes it an excellent lubrication for a variety of applications. When you don’t have any other means to grease and unstick metal parts or to reduce friction with any sliding part, it works pretty well.

Grease Metal

1. Keep a tool with moving parts in working condition by reducing friction with it just like any other lubricant.
2. Anything that has metal threads, like wood screws or twist caps can be lubricated to make them easier to turn and keep them from rusting.
3. When nails are lubricated with it, they are much easier to hammer into place, just like the wood screws.

Water-Resistance

1. Use it to lubricate a zipper, keeping it from getting stuck and also giving it a little more water-resistance.
2. Lubricate a hunting bowstring to prevent fraying and give it water-resistance, extending the bowstring’s life.

Miscellaneous

1. Rub it on any kind of tinder so that it will catch fire quickly and easily.
2. Tiny holes in a rain poncho or tent can be plugged with it.
3. Clean glass lenses with a small amount and a thin cloth to keep them from fogging up.
4. Give anything leather a protective, water-resistant coating.
5. Use it to make the spindle of a bow drill spin more smoothly by coating the inside of the bearing block to reduce unwanted friction.