You all know how to float a needle to make a compass, right? But do you know how to magnetize the needle to make it point north? There are a couple of ways you can do that.
1. While you are still at home, you can take a magnet and touch the south pole of the magnet to the point of the needle and touch the north pole of the magnet to the eye of the needle. All you need to do is touch them briefly and the needle will be magnetized.
So how do you determine which is the north and south pole of a magnet?
If it isn't marked but painted, then the red end is north and the blue end is south. That's the standard color code for magnets.
Or you can use a compass. The North end (again, red) of the compass is attracted to the south pole of the magnet and repelled by the north pole. Remember, opposite poles attract, like poles repel.
2. If you didn't think ahead and you find yourself in the bush in need of a compass then use your silk (you do have silk undies on, right?) bandanna to magnetize the needle. Rub the needle from eye to point about 100 times and the needle will be magnetized.
Silk is a great material to take with you into the bush. It's almost as good as wool.
Now you can either float the needle on a leaf or piece of paper in a container of water or you can float the needle by rubbing it through your hair and coating it with hair oil. You can also use body oil for those that might be thin on hair. The oil should float the needle in the water.
No water around? No problem. Use one strand of the inner core of parachute cord about three inches or so long and pass the needle through both ends of the cord so the eye is supported by one end and the sharp point by the other with the cord forming a loop. Now tie a small piece of cord (about six inches) to the middle of the loop. You should now have a piece of cord that you can hold onto and the needle can now spin freely so it will point north.
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