Useful Object of the Day: Tyvek Mailers

A few days ago, I came across this wilderness kit description and found the use of a Tyvek bag to be a novel one:

You might be wondering about the FedEx Tyvek envelop. I’ve stuffed these with leaves before to make an improvised pillow, used them to collect kindling for a fire, and even carried almost a gallon of water in one once, but perhaps the most useful role is as a waterproof “mouse tarp” to sit on.

One of the more tiring aspects of being in the wilderness for me has always been standing around instead of sitting down when I stop to rest, due to everything being damp or filthy. Although it obviously wouldn’t be the end of the world to get your butt wet by sitting down on a damp log, for me it’s more a matter of dying a death from a thousand cuts.

This got me thinking that it was probably time to add Tyvek mailing bags to my list of useful objects list.

I don't have a good "45 uses for Tyvek bags" list to link to, but here are some of my favorite uses:

• As an easy to obtain dry bag while traveling. While we were traveling in Alaska, I realized with the wet conditions I should have brought along a dry bag for my camera. I stopped in at a local Post Office and picked one up. Sure, it's not as ideal as a real dry bag, but sure did the trick in a pinch.
• As a giant lunch bag. I love how the video shows how you can create the bag with folds and a single piece of tape. Impressive!
• As a stuff sack. You can go the fancy route that ITS Tactical demonstrates, or you can go the super simple route that I use: trim the bag down to a manageable size, drop items in, roll up the bag, seal with a binder clip. I've been using this approach to hold my EDC EDC when I need to put it in a large bag (like a gym bag). See:

  

• As a Bike bag
• To build a kite!
• To create a wallet from. This is perhaps the oldest and best known Tyvek craft projects, and youtube has plenty of examples for you to watch.