Nobody wants or expects to be in a survival situation where you’re stranded in the wilderness away from everyone and everything you love. However, if that unfortunate situation should occur, it’s important to know how to use every item you can access for uses outside of the obvious.
For example, there are over ten survival safety pin uses aside from the obvious purpose of pinning things together. If you want to know all possible safety pin uses for survival situations, you’ve come to the right place.
1. Make Shift Tweezers
While splinters and other objects that get under your skin can be painful and inconvenient, they are easy to remove and treat with tweezers. However, you can use a safety pin if you’re stranded and don’t have access to tweezers.
Here’s how to use a safety pin as tweezers.
- Open the safety pin just as you would for pinning purposes.
- Use the needle end and the clasp as pinchers to remove splinters and other items from beneath your skin.
Of all the possible alternative safety pin uses, using them as tweezers is one of the best.
2. Finger Splint
While using it as a finger splint isn’t one of the most ideal safety pin uses, they will do in a pinch. You can use the safety pin as you would any other splint to stabilize a broken bone.
Simply use twine or another form of string or rope to fasten the safety pin to the finger or toe that’s broken. However, using a safety pin as a splint is limited and can only be used on smaller bones and joints.
3. Zipper Pull
If you’re claustrophobic, you understand how uncomfortable and frightening it can be to feel trapped inside a coat or pair of pants. However, if the zipper pull breaks and you cannot open and close your jacket, that’s exactly how you’ll feel – trapped.
However, if you have a safety pin handy, you can use it as a makeshift zipper pull. Here’s how to utilize one of the best alternative safety pin uses as a zipper pull.
- Open the safety pin so that the needle is free from the clasp.
- Pass the needle through the small hole on the zipper.
- Fasten the needle back into the clasp so that it’s closed.
- You can now pull up and down on the safety pin just as you would a zipper pull.
4. Needle for Sewing
Sewing is one of the best survival skills to have when stranded somewhere with limited supplies. You can use the skill of sewing to patch wounds, mend clothing, and even construct your shelter or a fishing net.
However, you can use a safety pin if you don’t have access to a needle, which is paramount for sewing. Using it as a sewing needle is one of the best safety pin uses and almost works better than an actual sewing needle.
You’ll need to release the pin from the clasp to get started. The width and sturdiness of the safety pin then provide an excellent handle to guide the pin while you’re sewing.
5. Fishing Hook
While one of the top safety pin uses is as a fishing hook, this isn’t ideal. Fishing hooks are designed with barbs on the back so that once a fish takes your hook, it cannot release it.
However, while safety pins don’t have barbs, they have a sharp tip that can pierce a fish’s mouth. Here’s how it works.
- Open the pin from the clasp.
- Pass your fishing line through or around the clasp on the safety pin and knot it so it can’t loosen.
- Place your bait on the needle portion of the safety pin.
- Start casting and reeling in some fish.
6. Improvised Stitches or Bandage Holder
Just as one of the top safety pin uses is as a needle for sewing, you can also use it for stitches. It’s nearly inevitable that you won’t cut or scrape yourself from time to time, so you must be prepared to stitch yourself up.
Once you’re finished with the stitches, you can use the safety pin as a holder to keep your bandage in place. Using a safety pin as a bandage holder is one of this list’s best and most typical safety pin uses.
7. Building Material
Once again, using a safety pin as part of your shelter is one of its easiest and best uses. You can use it to hold twigs or cloth together and form a water-tight shelter to protect you from rain and keep internal heat from escaping.
8. Knot Detangler
Whether you’re building a shelter, fishing, or tying your shoes, having a tight knot is extremely important. However, if you make a mistake on your knot or tighten it too aggressively, it can be very difficult to undo.
You can use a safety pin or any other type of needle to mend this issue. Use the needle end of the pin to work knots free by getting it into areas that your fingers cannot.
9. Make an Animal Trap
One of the more practical safety pin uses is using it as part of an animal trap. In fact, there are many animal traps sold in stores worldwide that use a safety pin-style clasp to hold the trap in place until it gets triggered.
10. A Shirt or Pant Button
You don’t have to be stranded in the middle of nowhere to implement one of the most practical safety pin uses – as a button. Simply pass the needle through the cloth on your shirt or pants and through the hole that your button would normally pass through.
Next, clasp the safety pin back together, and your pants and shirt are as good as new.
11. Pick a Lock
While picking locks is depicted in movies as fairly simple, it’s a complicated skill that takes time to master. However, once you have it down, one of the best safety pin uses is as a lock-picking mechanism.
The needle is small enough to get into tiny spaces but strong enough to manipulate the locking mechanism on small locks and doors.
Wrapping Up Safety Pin Uses
As you can see, there are way more safety pin uses than you likely realized. Safety pins are handy tools when used for their intended purpose, but they’re very flexible and versatile, making them a great item to have in survival situations.
If you’re curious and want to know more about survival tools and tricks check out our article about survival uses for pens.