Is a psk really needed in the UK?

[Ascobis]

Greetings all,
We all enjoy building kits. Do you folk on the Island really ever need a psk? I'm a bloody colonial. There are very few spots in the continental US where a PSK is of any use. Northern Canada, defined as away from the cities, Alaska, maybe.

I'm not disrespecting PSKs. I just think they are useless. Fun to build, but useless.
The source for this post is my recent purchase of yet another laser-cut stainless steel "survival card" set. I tried it out, with fishing license, on a local pond. Caught a 50mm perch, to the disparagement of real fisherfolk. (Hey, that would become bait in a survival situation, so gtfo, fisherfolk.)

Point of it all? Discuss.

 

[Wildgoose]

I suppose it depends on what is in the kit.

I made a very small kit that is mostly fire based. It lives in my backpack I carry in the Highlands as it occurred to me one day that I had no means to light a fire for warmth or signalling if something was to go wrong. It’s got a few plasters and a needle and thread for kit repairs etc.

I’ve never felt the need for snares or even fishing kit in the UK.

 

[nigelp]

What is a PSK?

 

[Broch]

Personal Survival Kit.

It's the name that's irrelevant IMO. I carry a Personal 'get me out of a fix' kit so, it's a small waterproof container with stuff in it that will help when I've not brought the right gear in the first place - like a cutting blade, a needle and thread, a few plasters ... etc. I certainly wouldn't expect to survive on it.

 

[TLM]

I do carry some medical related items, some generally useful items and sometimes just something new I'll test a bit, this in ecxes of normal everyday camping and/or trekking equipment . I guess I used to have a kind of PSK but found out it to be not really needed.

 

[nigelp]

Personal Survival Kit.

It's the name that's irrelevant IMO. I carry a Personal 'get me out of a fix' kit so, it's a small waterproof container with stuff in it that will help when I've not brought the right gear in the first place - like a cutting blade, a needle and thread, a few plasters ... etc. I certainly wouldn't expect to survive on it.

Oh yes. That makes sense.
Depending on the activity I carry what I need. Certainly wouldn’t carry a survival kit as normal thing.

 

[TeeDee]

I think some of the PSK history relating to the UK can be attributed to both Lofty Wiseman and Eddie McGee - both high level Military career staff probably championed the initial wave of 'survivalism' ' survival skills , which became more Bushcrafty as time progressed ( feel free to disagree ) - both of them would have had the old 'what can I fit in a tobacco tin to aid me ?' ingrained in them.

I remember reading both of their books as a young boy and wondering at the various tin contents.

I guess the modern day PSK is more of a evolution of that thinking , more applicable in larger rural/wild land masses but I think it fulfils some semi-need we all go through.

Eventually it becomes something more pragmatic , grounded , useful for the high probability scenarios one may face.

But I think its fine if someone is going through that journey of carrying a PSK ( in whatever form ) and as time moves on they will prune back , pivot on choices, titivate and over time come to a more crystalized idea of what is needed or beneficial.

So do we need a PSK? Most likely not - but still a useful learning and thinking exercises for people on their journey.

 

[Jared]

In the UK, probably not.

Think kit evolved to things rarely used but fix annoyances, whether it be cuts, pain or gear failure, or gear loss.

Things like a spare lighter, spare compass, plasters, pain killers, duct tape.

Think the exceptions might be a whistle, and a strip of water puritabs.

 

[Disabled Preppers]

I have always been of the mind set "Fail to prepare ,Perpare to fail " i know it is a moto for someone but again when i was a cub/scout i always had stuff with me , that was as a kid but these days as an adult i think outside theb ox , what if i see a major car crash like whne i was a teen and we had nothing in my mates car other than a blanket to offer , these days we carry a rucksack in the car full with everything we would need to help in a major accident or again lets say you go out and the idiots block the motorway and you are stuck there for 24 hours or longer again we could brew up and also have food in there and well it never hurts to overkill i say , like with everything horses for courses but again better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it .

I know in a buscraft world we can only carry so much and it is all about working out where or what you will face in my eyes , like why carry thermal undies to a jungle trek and why carry shorts to a snow trek again you need to know what you face but we prepare for a **** world , like the new threat of the CCHF that is heading our way why not look it up and see what can help , you may never get it or see it but i would liek to knwo what to dpo , a bit like covid how many had no loo rolls in stock how many never had cupboards full of food and needed it , again horses for courses but always worth trying to be ahead of the pack .

 

[Toddy]

Personally, I have a handbag.



M

 

[Toddy]

What is CCHF ??

Off to google

 

[Woody girl]

I have a little tupperware type box that fits in my bag. It has a tiny hexiblock stove and some fuel, a few hot chocolate sachets, a survival blanket and a cheapo plastic poncho. Two energy bars, and a lighter.
I always carried a bottle of water, and a little steel mug.
Have I ever used it? Yes, our local buses regularly broke down, so I was able to brew up a hot drink, have a nibble on something, and keep warm and dry, while we waited recovery, especially useful on a cold winter night. I live in the sticks, so it always seemed to happen in the middle of nowhere, with no phone reception, or any shelter.
It fits in my backpack /handbag, and has been used on a couple of occasions, to the envy of other passengers!

 

[Disabled Preppers]

What is CCHF ??

Off to google

crimean congo hemorrhagic fever

 

[Broch]

What is CCHF ??

Off to google

You're going to wish you hadn't asked

 

[TeeDee]

crimean congo hemorrhagic fever

Is that the new super cool jazz combo with some slick beats and wild dance moves??

 

[Scottieoutdoors]

What is CCHF ??

Off to google

Crimean-Congo Haemmoragic fever (spelling?), seems its spread through contact of bodily fluids a smidge more intimately spread virus I presume, or spread where basic hygeinic practices or access to clean things is harder. I don't see it as a concern for the moment.

As for a PSK... I don't carry a "specific box/bag" with a PSK in it... PSK to me is various items which I like to carry in general and/or back ups of those various things. For example I will more than likely be carrying around a pocket rocket and gas canister, so in the rocket box, I've got a couple of cheap lights as well as a pot of waterproof matches.

To accompany those, I have my FAK - more specifically, my doggo FAK - mine is inside that, but in the aforementioned is some cotton wool - handy for various things as well as fire lighting should I need to... Back in FAK is some pain killers and various small injury things.

Then in my main pack, I'll always be carrying at least 2l of water perhaps 4l (accounting for me, wife and doggo), along those lines, I've got a sawyer filter stashed in the pack too.

The rest is pretty dependent on whats planned, typically will have some sort of top layer, whether its a jumper if it's a clear sunny day, or a raincoat if it's overcast....

Perhaps other bits I carry as standard are a coil of paracord, some sort of sharp and a headtorch....

If I'm really in the dung despite all of that then I guess I'll get creative...or die... either way.


Oh yes... and snacks... I'm rarely short of those on the account that if I don't eat every handful of hours I turn feral...

 

[Toddy]

You're going to wish you hadn't asked

You are so right.

I can't spin wool that has come from a sheep that has been dipped in the organophosphate stuff, but since we stopped dipping sheep the number of ticks and tick bourn diseases has become horrendous.
There are so many deer now (and wild boar in some parts) that I don't think we'll ever be free of them now. Millions of quail are apparently a good thing.

 

[TLM]

Millions of quail are apparently a good thing.

If I recall correctly some species of birds eat ticks from grazing animals in Africa, so we just have to teach some insectivore birds that trick here too.

 

[Broch]

If I recall correctly some species of birds eat ticks from grazing animals in Africa, so we just have to teach some insectivore birds that trick here too.

They already do; magpies regularly pick stuff standing on the back of sheep.

 

[British Red]

I'm not disrespecting PSKs. I just think they are useless. Fun to build, but useless.

Point of it all? Discuss.

Is there a real point or use to most of bushcraft? I suspect that a vanishingly small group of people in the UK have a day to day need for flint knapping or making fire by friction. I suspect for most of its practitioners, bushcraft is a pleasing change of pace from their day to lives rather than actual practice to live a neolithic life of even to explore a continent as Lewis or Clarke.