Posted on 03/06/2003 2:25:01 PM PST by FreedomFarmer
Could you survive on what is in your pockets, right now?
[Yeah, sure, credit card..cell phone...]
He He He. Don't bet your live on it.
Here is a very basic emergency survival kit. It is a starting point, not a magic lamp. It's function is to keep you alive until self-recovery or rescue. There are 54 items, including the container.
The contents are:
Buck Minibuck tool
10' copper-coated steel wire
6' 100lb. nylon cord
3 sq. ft. of heavy duty aluminum foil
10 waterproof matches
8 water purfication tablets (16.7% Tetraglycine Hydroperiodine)
Wire Saw with 2 finger rings
3" strip of 180 grit & 320 grit emery paper
5 assorted safety pins
5" long shrink wrap tube
Condom
Fishing kit
Sewing kit
Sponge
3' electrical black tape
Cotton lint
2 1/2" wide heavy rubber bands
Small metal container, i.e., Altoid, Sucrets, Ted Cash, etc.
The Buck minitool has the advantage of being quite small, with excellent quality plier jaws, wire cutter, scissors, and surgical sharp blade.
The 10' of wire has many uses, including antenna replacement, snares, attachment of expedient tools to shafts and handles, and general construction.
The heavy duty foil serves best as a pot to boil water for purification, lasting for 5-7 cycles. It can be used as a signal, light reflector, baking pan, solar still, or bits of it left as a trail marker.
The emery paper removes rust and corrosion, polishes, and sharpens; also used as a striking surface for the matches.
The shrink wrap tube can be used as an insulator, and when heated, shrinks to join items together. It is used as a straw to suck water from a seep or from below a surface.
The condom is capable of holding 2 gallons of water, elastic bandage, slingshot rubber, or trigger spring for a small animal trap.
The fishing kit, besides the obvious, provides line for surgical stitches, bird snares, and squirrel poles.
The sewing kit provides 25' of white thread, (white is strongest), sterile needles for surgical probes, fish gorges, etc. The needles are magnetized, so they can be used as a compass when suspended from a thread tied in the middle of the needle.
The sponge is disinfected, rinsed, and compressed under a weight to dry, reducing it's size. Used to absorb dew from vegetation, fish bait, etc., sponges were also popular with the Roman Legion. (Think Charmin)
The electrical tape is used to seal and water proof the container, and quite useful generally.
The rubberbands help hold the lid on, and keep the kit from easily falling out of shirt pockets. They provide triggers for snares, elastic for bandages, rubbers for slingshots, etc.
The fishing kit contains 25' of 12lb. monofilament line, assorted small hooks,wet flies and weights. I now use plastic coin holders, with the line coiled inside, along with hooks, a few wet flies, and lead foil from wine bottle necks. I use foam strike indicators for bobbers.
The sewing kit is simply made by wraping thread around a strip of shirt cardboard. I use a 3" wide strip, and notch the top and bottom where the thread rests. I then add 4 assorted sizes of sterilized and magnetized needles, and a cut down needle threader, fold cardboard around the kit like a book, and tape shut to seal.
The contents are housed in an any small container. I prefer metal, as the polished inside can be used as a signal mirror, and it can be used as a dish, cup, or cutting board.
My favorite container is a 2" X 3" metal box a Zippo lighter came in, which contains all the above contents. Any of these boxes fit inside a cigarette package with the bottom cut out(hint), and the whole thing weighs a mere 4 oz.
Cotton lint is a wonderful fire tinder, wound dresser, anti-rattle space filler, and filter. For example, a funnel of aluminum foil, with a lint filter in the bottom, will clarify water prior to chemical or boil purification.
You can recover nice clean cotton lint from your drier trap, and fill the odd corners of your kit. It weighs almost nothing.
In addition, I always carry the smallest Victorinox Swiss army knife, a penlight; a lighter; a handkerchief; and a lock-back knife in my pockets, and a container of water within reach.
A survival kit not carried is worthless, that is why this kit is so small and light weight. A larger kit, with first aid and ration supplies, can be kept within arms reach in each vehicle. Locally, we have had two separate occasions of a car going off the road into a culvert, and not being found for two days, even with active searches within hours of being overdue.
Whistles, flags, crys for help, and repeating patterns of three- the traditional call for help, are largely ignored in today's world. Relying on handfuls of good luck, or government ordered plastic sheeting and duct tape in an emergency is a poor choice.
Hopefully, in the few minutes it took to read this monograph, you gave some serious consideration to your actual survival. With this simple kit, one could build a lean-to for shelter, build a fire to roast game, cook fish, and purify water, set snares for rabbit, squirrel and deer and bank lines for fish, while searching for edible roots...but that might be a bit much, if you are actually in the interstate median with a flat tire.
Your survival might depend on what is in your pocket right now. Stay safe.
The very explorers and adventurers of all races that settled this land would be shocked to know how helpless their children have become.
Especially if they could see what we are going to do to Saddam in a total duration of about 2-1/2 minutes.
Yes. How sad, and how stupid, is that?
I do it all the time. Oh, you must mean one of those silly government run harrasment centers with a government subsidized jet ride afterwards. Thanks, I'll take my own crate anytime.
Got that one. Got the fishooks, too, although my plan with fish is to entice them within reach and hit them with a rock.
Perfect size for a hat.
It was a class of about 20 boys in your hometown, that didn't have a pocket knife between them, that got me thinking about this subject.
Your Stalinist friends in the Soviet Union felt the same way about birth control (one size fits all diaphrams for ethnic Russians to try and arrest their birthrate decline), so you may think you're parodying conservatives - but you're actually just making a joke of yourself. Buh-bye, troll...
I've yet to find one of these that can actually survive more than ten cutting strokes. Either the rings distort, break off, or the wire "blade" breaks.
I have opted for a bodatious Swiss Army Knife with saw blades. Those small folding saws are even better.
We are the Nanny State now. We no longer fend for ourselves, nor we allowed to do so.
I am glad this was posted because it reminds me to go through it and replace any items which might be getting old. It has actually been a couple of years since I looked at it. I have forgotten exactly what is in it but one thing is a Beretta model 70 with 200 rounds of .22 and a spare mag.
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