Products

Wilderness Survival Skills Products That I Use and Love

All you need to survive is knife and a water purification straw.
My favorite survival kit when I’m traveling light just has my knife and LifeStraw water filter.

Here are a few products that I either sell from my house in Wisconsin or things that I use and really like. If you buy stuff from the links on this page, I would appreciate it. Amazon gives me a commission if you buy right after clicking these links. If you go shopping around on Amazon, I make nothing. And I really like having time to do more for this website, so please buy from these links! I went to a lot of trouble to find the best deals so it would make sense for you to buy from these links and not have to shop around.

Birch Bark Basket Book, My first survival skills book is now available on Amazon, How to Make Birch Bark Baskets. You can buy it by clicking the image below.

This book goes into everything from the correct way to gather birch bark to sewing on the rim. You get a step-by-step process for making two different kinds of birch bark baskets.

My book on making birch bark baskets has almost all 5 Star Reviews on Amazon, and I changed the book to fix the only 4 Star Review the book got. It really is that good!

You can make these baskets anytime of the year!

how to make birch bark baskets, John Yost's first book in the wilderness survival skills series.
Learn to make two styles of birch bark baskets with this new book !

How to Make Cattail Dolls 

My second wilderness survival skills book is on Amazon, How to Make Cattail Dolls.

You can make these dolls with corn husks, lilies, palm leaves, and irises. This means that you can make these dolls almost any time of year!

After you’ve made one or two dolls, you’ll be able to make the plain doll in just 30 minutes.

Then you can personalize them to make bowhunters, woodsmen, carpenters, warriors, or whatever else you can think of.

These cattail dolls make wonderful gifts and anyone you give them to will love the the figurine you gave them!

how to make cat tail baskets, John Yost's second book in the wilderness survival skills series.
Learn to make cattail dolls with How to Make Cattail Dolls!

Dexter Russell Fish Knife


This is the knife that I have been using for over 30 years. I really like this style. It’s has a hard-to-find carbon steel blade! The blade is softer than regular knives so it sharpens easily. You can also use it to create sparks if you have a quartz rock, you can’t do that with regular knives.

It has a great spear point for drilling small holes. The handle fits really well in your hand and the knife has a great overall balance. I own 6 of them because they aren’t always available and I’m afraid they are going to stop selling them.

If the link here is good, I suggest you buy a couple of them. These knives aren’t always in stock.

Please buy this or add it to your cart right away after clicking the image below so I get a 4% commission for sending you there.

The LifeStraw


This LifeStraw and the Dexter Russell Knife are the only two things I usually take with me when I go out survival camping. I love my LifeStraw! It slips into my pocket. It’s not bulky like the Sawyer filters, and I barely notice I’m even carrying the LifeStraw.

It’s great for traveling near a water source. Or for traveling from water source to water source. By far the best invention of my lifetime. And I’m not kidding. These things are great! I have four of them.

Please buy this or add it to your cart right away after clicking the picture below so I get a 4% commission for sending you there.

Sawyer Mini-Water Filter


This is the MINI_Sawyer Water Filter. I have this one and the regular sized one. I love these filters. The big advantage over the LifeStraw, which I almost always carry, is that you can take water with you when you have the Sawyer Filter.

Sawyer Water Filter – Regular Size


The regular sized Sawyer Water Filter is great if you need to transport water or if you want to travel light. You can still filter a lot of water with this very quickly. I love this for times when I’m going to be out for a week or more.

Please buy this or add it to your cart right away after clicking the pictures here so I get a commission for sending you there. And if you get this filter, you get a choice between 1 and 3 pouches. For an extra 5 bucks you can get 3 pouches with it! Great deal, I didn’t get that option when I got mine years ago.

Wild Wood Gas Stove


The Wild Wood-gas Stove is the best of its kind on the market. Right now they are really cheap because the company is competing with knock-offs. I paid $98 for my stove and now they are down to around $60. That is a steal! These stoves are much higher quality than the knock-offs and the design is a lot better.

You can boil water with a few handfuls of firewood in about 8 minutes. That was never possible before. This thing kicks out an amazing amount of heat!

I probably shouldn’t, and I don’t suggest you do it because you could suffocate, but I use mine to warm the tent up in the morning before I get out of bed. I just light the stove and in 5 minutes the tent is toasty warm. They burn with very little smoke since it’s burned in the 2nd combustion, and this little baby kicks out some serious heat.

The stove is also tiny. I can carry it in the side pocket of my cargo pants. It fits inside of the MSR 775ml folding pot (see below), which is really convenient. Finding this stove is one of the best discoveries I made in the last 30 years of survival camping.

Please buy this or add it to your cart right away after clicking the picture below so I get a 4% commission for sending you there.

MSR Stowaway 775ml Pot


This is the pot you want whether or not you get the Wild Wood Gas Stove. Although it’s great with the stove because the stove fits inside this little pot. The pot is great for purifying water or making tea. It also makes a good sized pot for meals when you are out solo. One thing I really like about it is that it’s easy to clean the black soot off the bottom after using it. I recommend having at least one.

Please buy this or add it to your cart right away after clicking the picture below so I get a 4% commission for sending you there.