You boil water if you have no container? Always wondered about this. Probably why I find some way to always pack at least a metal cup. I know how to improvise a filter system but that is not as sure as boiling. Any ideas?

Yes. If you have a sheet of paper (like a map) you can fold it into a cup and use it to boil water. And yes, believe it or not, you can boil water in a paper cup. Here's a link to my tutorial: How to make an easy origami paper cup – could be used to boil water

To boil the water, you can use rocks heated in the fire. Just don’t use river rocks, or the moisture in them can turn to steam, causing the rocks to explode and causing injury. You can even boil water in a plastic Nalgene water, making tongs to carefully hold the hot rocks in the bottle so they don’t touch the sides and melt it. If you have no containers whatsoever, well, we talked about this before here: If I only have what I carry..... So I’ll cut and paste what I said before so I don’t have to re-type it:

Ok, now as to the boiling with rocks. If you don’t have a container of any kind, this will be more difficult as you will have to find or make one. Here are some of the containers I can think of off the top of my head that you could use:
- Hollow Log (could be hard to find a clean one that’s not rotten or full of bugs)
- Wooden Bowl (using a hot coal and a hollow “straw” you can burn away and then scrape with your knife to make a depression)
- Animal Skin (you would have to catch and kill an animal large enough, a squirrl or rabbit won’t help much)
- Clay Container (Using the indian coil method, no potters wheel required. Can be fired for durabilty. Would need clay in your area though.)
- Bowl like depression in rock (Depends on the geographical location, not found everywhere)

Basically, any container that you can find that will hold up to the heat of boiling water. But, as you can see from the items I listed above, all of these methods require a lot of work that could be easily avoided. Although I know how to use the above items with this method, I don’t want to unless I absolutly have to, because it’s a lot of work. As David suggested, a small “throw away” heavy foil container is better than nothing and easy to pack, but it can easily be damaged. A small pinhole could be caused by a weakness from bending at a joint or a small puncture, and it could easily be made worthless. I think at the minimum, a good addition would be a small, lightweight camping cup. They make ultralight ones that are titanium or aluminum that weigh a few ounces. You could use a carabiner to attach it to a belt loop or pack. I’m sure the weight of it wouldn’t be noticable. This would make boiling water much easier than using any of the natural methods listed above. I’m sure it would make it taste better too. Water has a tendency to absorb flavors, especially when it’s boiling. I don’t think I’d want to really drink water (unless I had to) that was boiled in an animal skin, or buggy log, etc. I’m sure that’d make a nasty flavored “stew” of the water. The cleaner the container, the cleaner the water. As important as water is (more so than food) I think at least a small metal cup is a good idea. And, if you risk drinking water that isn’t purified, you risk getting all kinds of nasty bugs. Some of which cause diarrhea, which can kill you by causing dehydration. So, making sure you have a clean water supply is very important.

Thanks for the reply! I imagined that rocks would be useful for this application <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Sounds like it might be better to think of this ahead of time and bring something more suitable than field expediants. Didn't think of the log idea. I suppose one could use a blade to make a quick container out of a log. I may just have to give this a try next time I am out and see what sorta timeframe it takes to get a suitable container.

hey

I wonder if it might be possible to use hollow bamboo to boil water?

cheers

ug

Yeah, I’ve never had the need to try it, but it sounds like a PITA. I wouldn’t like the nasty taste of the water after being “log soup” or whatever field container you use. It’s a lot easier to bring a container with you, but it’s good to know this type of info in case you ever find yourself in a survival situation where you don’t have a container.

If you wanted to carry something really light, we have some titanium coffee cups we got on eBay. They’d be really light to carry as a container. They feel amazingly light, they weigh less than a plastic cup of similar size. You could attach one to a pack (or even your belt loop) with a carabiner, and you’d never feel the weight. Just don’t forget to bring a larger container along as well to put the purified water into. (like a Nalgene bottle)

Another idea is if you’re in an area where people have been and they left their trash behind, you might find a soup can or aluminum can that could be used.


Any container can work as long as it can withstand the tempature of boiling water. It would have to be some of that giant really thick bamboo to be able to fit the hot rocks inside though. Little skinny bamboo wouldn’t work very well. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Believe it or not Bill, but aluminum foil can make a pretty good pot to boil water in. I was a "non-believer" until I tried it.

Tin foil pot for boiling water

ugug,
this article shows how to cook rice in bamboo, its pretty good I thought:
http://www.primitiveways.com/bamboo_rice_cooker.html

-Ron

thnks mate.. good find ..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

I know you said without any container, but I just thought I'd put a link to this incase anyone has not seen it !
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/428567/camping_trick_how_to_boil_water/

Ok now im curiouse. Ive heard that u can drink lets say river water that is flowing. But is there a chance you can get sick doing this?

There is a big chance yeah, don't take any chances.
A mate of mine in the UK was hiking in Scotland and took a drink out of a mountain stream, a little farther up the stream my mate came across a dead sheep crawling with maggots !!!

Oh yeah, ALWAYS purify your water in the wild. If you get sick from bad stuff in the water, it makes you have diarrhea, which can cause dehydration and death in severe cases. You never know what’s upstream. One water filter company in their ads shows a pic of a wolf standing in the middle of a small stream and peeing in it.