Primitive Canteen

   At times, covering ground in a survival situation is absolutely necessary to ensuring that you make it out alive.  The old adage "stay put until the rescue party finds you" can be situation dependent and doesn't always ring true.  In this case, preparing yourself to survive 'on-the-go' adds an entire new dimension to the skills you may already possess.  'Quickie' shelters, coal extenders, preserved meat and the ability to transport purified water are primary considerations that need to taken care of before trekking into unfamiliar territory. 
   To start, here is a simple and effective method for making a canteen to transport water.  While it does take some preparation, this canteen can be made in a few hours.  First, we need to peel some flexible bark from a tree, hollow a small piece of wood, gather some pine sap and make a 3 foot piece of cordage.

Next, you fold the piece of bark in half lengthwise, while curling the end together around the hollow piece of wood.  You can cut off excess bark at the top where it overlaps.  From here, tightly wrap your cord around the bark so that it is pinched around the hollow piece of wood.  This should now form a triangle with slightly overlapping seems (.5 inch).  Next step, seal off all the seems with Pine sap glue!

To make glue out of Pine sap, crush a bunch of charcoal into a fine powder and mix it about 25/75 with pine sap.  This will act as a binding agent, and keep the sap from being sticky once it cools.  To do this, you'll first need to heat the sap until it is liquid.
Now, take the liquid sap/charcoal and spread it under and on top of the seems.  If it hardens too quickly use a hot rock to further melt it in place.  Glue all seems and let dry.  Once the sap is hardened try it out.  You can always fix leaks easily with a little dab of sap.  That should do it.  Surprisingly, I have had one canteen like this last for 2 years of fairly regular use!!  Best of luck and hope it saves your life one day!  tm