Tampon in the wood

[Bushcraft Rob]

Serious question a tampon in the wood No1 ideal tinder No2 cut yourself bad with axe/knife place in cut will absorb a lot of blood bandage and casevac if need to be No 3 rip tampon apart to gain cotton wool to make a water filtration system if there is no sphagnum moss around there are a few more uses lets see what you got ??

 

[Bushcraft Rob]

Forgot to mention I've seen them used to plug bleeding nose as well, didn't look pretty

 

[Kuukkeli]

On one of our survival courses in Finland last year there was a lass who used a sanitary towel to repair a ripped space blanket.

 

[38thfoot]

You have to be careful using tampons as first aid as they are designed to absorb blood not stop bleeding. They can actually increase blood loss by drawing more blood away from the wound rather than causing bleeding to stop.

The design of the brisitsh army (and probably many others) first field dressings changed for a similar reason to be replaced by compression bandages that actually stop blood flow.

Other uses still valid however.

38

 

[Rathwulven BC]

Got to second 38thfoot here:
Tampons are not meant for first aid and I would not recommend using them for any major injury caused by knives or even hatchets.

Quite frankly I also do not see the additional value for water filtration as they surely won't get anywhere close to decent water filters (talking about the mykron). Water filtration is no game and even in genuine emergency situations you would be better off boiling (and hence sterilising) your water than using a tampon to filter it.

I do not disagree with a statement a la "better having than needing", but such uses - in my opinion - really are just a last resort thing.