Since Lofty Wiseman's SAS survival guide popularised the Survival Tin there have been many pre-packaged variants on the market of varying usefulness and quality.
I was given a BCB survival tin a while back and now that i have had time to look at it i can review it here for you.
BCB are a company based in South Wales who for some years have been designing and developing military and outdoors equipment. I am not sure if these survival tins are issued or not.
The tin is supplied in a heavy duty, water proof sealed bag, presumably for storage. Unfortunately the bag is not resealable, once opened, it is opened forever. Inside the outer packaging is a metal tin, the tin is sealed with a length of vinyl electrical insulation tape which can be used for other things, however it's primary function is to seal the tin and shouldn't be considered as an item within the tin as BCB suggest.
Also included are some instructions on how to survive, which initially raised a smile but once i read them i was surprised that they are actually quite useful. If somebody with very little experience needed some information, they have managed to pack quite a lot of useful information on the fundamentals of survival on a two sides of A4 paper. The paper itself can also be used as tinder.
Once the tin is opened you can see that BCB have managed to pack quite a lot into it. Learn from my mistake and make a mental note of the order in which the items are packed. I have yet to be able to close the lid on the tin since the day I opened it.
If you think that you might need a survival tin one day and that is why you carry it, you should absolutely open it and be familiar with it's contents before you come to depend on them. You should know that each and every item in there is up to spec and in good condition. This is the problem I have with it arriving in a sealed bag and a suggestion that you should not open it until needed.
When I laid out all of the items I first went for the knife, a very small folding lock knife and found that the blade had no edge on it, literally no edge, just a flat section of steel. Utterly useless. Luckily for the would be survivor, there are two razor blades within which will be a lot more useful than the knife. The knife is so short anyway I am not sure what you would use it for. I thought perhaps it would be useful for game preparation but not until it is sharpened. Unsurprisingly there is no sharpening stone in the kit.
The following items are in the kit
• Water resistant tin
• Vinyl tape
• Button compass
• Knife
• Matches
• Pencil
• Purification tablets
• Snare wire
• Candle
• Fireball Flint & striker
• Fishing kit
• Whistle
• Sewing kit
• Safety pins
• Wire saw
• Survival instructions
• Condoms
• Plasters
Add to that the plastic bag that it came in which is good enough to be used as a water container which you could use to collect water or drink from
The compass is a welcome addition which in the right hands can help shine a light on your whereabouts and help lay the foundations of a self rescue plan if necessary, the knife, well we covered that earlier on, it needs sharpening before it is of any use. The matches are the same ones supplied in British Army Ration Packs, wind proof and there are plenty of them. You have about 20 fires worth there so that's covered. Also you have a small tea light candle which is an invaluable item when lighting a fire under tough conditions. You can light the candle easily enough with the matches or even the supplied fire starter (sparker) and then use the candle to light the tinder and kindling. The candle could also be used for light but I would try to save it only for fire lighting. This is straight from the SAS survival guide - whenever you create a flame, light a candle.
You have a pencil in there,which can be used to make notes, journal, leave messages etc... It's something to do to keep your mind occupied and help with the boredom. Some people find that writing lists helps them to organise themselves.
The water purification tables will be helpful, you have 10 of those, each one capable of purifying 1 Lt of water. Also in the tin are two condoms, which are there to be used as water carriers. Unsupported these are prone to splitting, a condom full of water is heavy and difficult to manage. By wrapping the water filled condom in some cloth, a T-shirt for example, you greatly improve the chances of being able to reuse this item.
You have some snare wire, about 3 snares worth but no cordage to attach the snares too, you'll have to improvise that from something else. There are no instructions for how to make the snares and how to place them so that is another reason why you should open and check the contents of the tin when you don't actually need to depend on it.
Next is an old style fireball flint and striker, this is not as good as a standard ferrocerium rod as it is a much smaller amount of metal mounted onto a steel surface. It wont last very long if you use it a lot. It will produce a fire though so you have that to use when your matches run out. I would replace this item with a ferrocerium rod though which will last a lot longer.
The fishing kit is pretty good, a nice selection of hooks, shot and swivels with some decent line should make fishing perfectly possible.
The whistle is a good one although it is quite large and takes up a lot of room in the tin. There are smaller whistles to be had and this one seems like a waste of space. You could have had a whistle half the size and used that extra space to put a better knife in the tin.
Razor blades, two of these, countless uses and you have a sewing kit for repairing clothing which is very important plus a few safety pins.
Lastly we have a wire saw. Wire saws are very difficult and energy expensive to use. They get caught up in the wood frequently and are nowhere near as good as a tradition saw. You can improve the wire saw by converting it into a bow saw like this
Then it is much easier to use and far less tiring and you will actually make some progress through what you are sawing.
And let us not forget the tin itself which has many uses. The tin can be used to boil water in, to make charred cloth, to cook in, it has a shiny surface to use as a signal mirror and if the worst came to the worst, you could use it as material to make spear and arrow heads from.
The moral of this story is that you must be familiar with every item in your survival kit, there are a few items in here that i would replace and i can think of some things that i would add to it. Rather than a small ball of cotton wool which at best, will give you a few seconds to get a fire going, i would place a few splinters of fat wood in there which take up less space and last a lot longer. They can be ignited just as easily from the sparker and burn very slowly.
The BCB survival kit certainly has it's limitations and in my opinion the inclusion of a blunt knife is irresponsible but if you had nothing else, then it could save your life.
In this tin you have the means to cover off all your survival needs, Fire, Shelter, Food and Water.
When compared with other off the shelf kits i have to say that this is quite good, it is far better than the Webtex version although that has a much better (and sharp) knife.
You should not depend on your survival kit, by carrying a decent fixed blade knife, fire steel and folding saw then you greatly enhance your probability of surviving and perhaps thriving since the inclusion of snare wire and a fishing kit provides you with a fighting chance of acquiring some food if you know how to use them. In a Bushcraft Survival situation then this tin is less valuable than some good knowledge and training that you can acquire from attending a Bushcraft course but can compliment those when used correctly.
**Lastly, i have still not worked out what the U shaped / bracket piece of metal is for,if you know then please leave a comment, i would be interested to find out what it is.
I recommend this survival tin for tucking away in your rucksack when travelling through remote wilderness areas, it weights just 195g so will not add much of a weight penalty.
Some technical information
• Weight: 195g (6.87oz)
• Size: 11 x 8 x 2.8cm (4.5” x 3" x 1”
Matt @ http://bushcraftandsurvival.com
Boot Notes
** The consensus of opinion is that the U shaped bracket is actually a handle that you can attach to the tin to hold it over a fire
I was given a BCB survival tin a while back and now that i have had time to look at it i can review it here for you.
BCB are a company based in South Wales who for some years have been designing and developing military and outdoors equipment. I am not sure if these survival tins are issued or not.
The tin is supplied in a heavy duty, water proof sealed bag, presumably for storage. Unfortunately the bag is not resealable, once opened, it is opened forever. Inside the outer packaging is a metal tin, the tin is sealed with a length of vinyl electrical insulation tape which can be used for other things, however it's primary function is to seal the tin and shouldn't be considered as an item within the tin as BCB suggest.
Also included are some instructions on how to survive, which initially raised a smile but once i read them i was surprised that they are actually quite useful. If somebody with very little experience needed some information, they have managed to pack quite a lot of useful information on the fundamentals of survival on a two sides of A4 paper. The paper itself can also be used as tinder.
Once the tin is opened you can see that BCB have managed to pack quite a lot into it. Learn from my mistake and make a mental note of the order in which the items are packed. I have yet to be able to close the lid on the tin since the day I opened it.
If you think that you might need a survival tin one day and that is why you carry it, you should absolutely open it and be familiar with it's contents before you come to depend on them. You should know that each and every item in there is up to spec and in good condition. This is the problem I have with it arriving in a sealed bag and a suggestion that you should not open it until needed.
When I laid out all of the items I first went for the knife, a very small folding lock knife and found that the blade had no edge on it, literally no edge, just a flat section of steel. Utterly useless. Luckily for the would be survivor, there are two razor blades within which will be a lot more useful than the knife. The knife is so short anyway I am not sure what you would use it for. I thought perhaps it would be useful for game preparation but not until it is sharpened. Unsurprisingly there is no sharpening stone in the kit.
The following items are in the kit
• Water resistant tin
• Vinyl tape
• Button compass
• Knife
• Matches
• Pencil
• Purification tablets
• Snare wire
• Candle
• Fireball Flint & striker
• Fishing kit
• Whistle
• Sewing kit
• Safety pins
• Wire saw
• Survival instructions
• Condoms
• Plasters
Add to that the plastic bag that it came in which is good enough to be used as a water container which you could use to collect water or drink from
The compass is a welcome addition which in the right hands can help shine a light on your whereabouts and help lay the foundations of a self rescue plan if necessary, the knife, well we covered that earlier on, it needs sharpening before it is of any use. The matches are the same ones supplied in British Army Ration Packs, wind proof and there are plenty of them. You have about 20 fires worth there so that's covered. Also you have a small tea light candle which is an invaluable item when lighting a fire under tough conditions. You can light the candle easily enough with the matches or even the supplied fire starter (sparker) and then use the candle to light the tinder and kindling. The candle could also be used for light but I would try to save it only for fire lighting. This is straight from the SAS survival guide - whenever you create a flame, light a candle.
You have a pencil in there,which can be used to make notes, journal, leave messages etc... It's something to do to keep your mind occupied and help with the boredom. Some people find that writing lists helps them to organise themselves.
The water purification tables will be helpful, you have 10 of those, each one capable of purifying 1 Lt of water. Also in the tin are two condoms, which are there to be used as water carriers. Unsupported these are prone to splitting, a condom full of water is heavy and difficult to manage. By wrapping the water filled condom in some cloth, a T-shirt for example, you greatly improve the chances of being able to reuse this item.
You have some snare wire, about 3 snares worth but no cordage to attach the snares too, you'll have to improvise that from something else. There are no instructions for how to make the snares and how to place them so that is another reason why you should open and check the contents of the tin when you don't actually need to depend on it.
Next is an old style fireball flint and striker, this is not as good as a standard ferrocerium rod as it is a much smaller amount of metal mounted onto a steel surface. It wont last very long if you use it a lot. It will produce a fire though so you have that to use when your matches run out. I would replace this item with a ferrocerium rod though which will last a lot longer.
The fishing kit is pretty good, a nice selection of hooks, shot and swivels with some decent line should make fishing perfectly possible.
The whistle is a good one although it is quite large and takes up a lot of room in the tin. There are smaller whistles to be had and this one seems like a waste of space. You could have had a whistle half the size and used that extra space to put a better knife in the tin.
Razor blades, two of these, countless uses and you have a sewing kit for repairing clothing which is very important plus a few safety pins.
Lastly we have a wire saw. Wire saws are very difficult and energy expensive to use. They get caught up in the wood frequently and are nowhere near as good as a tradition saw. You can improve the wire saw by converting it into a bow saw like this
Then it is much easier to use and far less tiring and you will actually make some progress through what you are sawing.
And let us not forget the tin itself which has many uses. The tin can be used to boil water in, to make charred cloth, to cook in, it has a shiny surface to use as a signal mirror and if the worst came to the worst, you could use it as material to make spear and arrow heads from.
The moral of this story is that you must be familiar with every item in your survival kit, there are a few items in here that i would replace and i can think of some things that i would add to it. Rather than a small ball of cotton wool which at best, will give you a few seconds to get a fire going, i would place a few splinters of fat wood in there which take up less space and last a lot longer. They can be ignited just as easily from the sparker and burn very slowly.
The BCB survival kit certainly has it's limitations and in my opinion the inclusion of a blunt knife is irresponsible but if you had nothing else, then it could save your life.
In this tin you have the means to cover off all your survival needs, Fire, Shelter, Food and Water.
When compared with other off the shelf kits i have to say that this is quite good, it is far better than the Webtex version although that has a much better (and sharp) knife.
You should not depend on your survival kit, by carrying a decent fixed blade knife, fire steel and folding saw then you greatly enhance your probability of surviving and perhaps thriving since the inclusion of snare wire and a fishing kit provides you with a fighting chance of acquiring some food if you know how to use them. In a Bushcraft Survival situation then this tin is less valuable than some good knowledge and training that you can acquire from attending a Bushcraft course but can compliment those when used correctly.
**Lastly, i have still not worked out what the U shaped / bracket piece of metal is for,if you know then please leave a comment, i would be interested to find out what it is.
I recommend this survival tin for tucking away in your rucksack when travelling through remote wilderness areas, it weights just 195g so will not add much of a weight penalty.
Some technical information
• Weight: 195g (6.87oz)
• Size: 11 x 8 x 2.8cm (4.5” x 3" x 1”
Matt @ http://bushcraftandsurvival.com
Boot Notes
** The consensus of opinion is that the U shaped bracket is actually a handle that you can attach to the tin to hold it over a fire
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