Money No Object PSK.

[Great Pebble]

We're all familiar with the "tobacco tin" PSK. The over the counter kits are much of a muchness...All lacking somewhere and generally compromised to keep the cost in the "pocket money" area.

If you were putting together your own PSK and could afford to spend "whatever it costs" what would be in there?

 

[JFW]

Ray Mears or Lofty Wiseman........

Cheers

JFW

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

I think it has been discussed many times before but here you go:
I'm a bushcrafter, not a survivalist. I think we were all survivalists in the start, but this get's boring with time. That's why I never carry a decent "survival kit"! Instead it's just a Leuku/Karesuando and the things you see in this picture.

I would probably add some bear thread to this... And perhaps a few other things, but never call it a personal survival kit. :biggthump

 

[Great Pebble]

Oh I know it's been done to death, but they seldom diverge much from the standard... I was thinking of nice, expensive things that would fit in a tobacco tin and be useful. Good quality, extra small folder instead of a scalpel blade for instance.

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

Oh yes. Ok.
That's something that has been on my mind since a first heard about the tobacco tin PSK. Why put a razor blade in, instead of an SAK....? It's a much better choice.

I would take 2 small sewing needles, 1 darning needle which can be used to sew with too, and 1 curved needle. You can see this picture what's in my sewing & repair kit.

Steel wire is useful for lots of things and fishing line too.

A little watch-compass is very useful, but there's several other ways to find north.

Instead of matches I would take a firesteel like the Fireball firesteel, Gary sells at his shop. And a striker, perhaps.

10 safety pins. In different sizes.

Fishing hooks and sinkers. And a heliograph.

A magnifying glass. :biggthump

 

[PC2K]

http://www.prosurvivalkit.com/ makes and sells very good kits, not the average over-the-counter PSK ( it's priced that way too ! ). But for the exseption of that company the rest are usefull, but you can definitly make it much beter. What i used to carry in my tabaco tin is this:

SIGNALING GROUP
- 1x Perry "Lifeboat" whistle
- 1x Interior of Storage Tin lid serves as "Signal Mirror"
- 1x "Signal Mirror" ( shiny sheet protected by peel-away sheet ),
with instructions on the back

EMERGENCY DEVICES GROUP
- 1x Small backlock folder, 50/50 serrated/plain edge ( China )
- 2x Single edge shaving blades ( USA )
- 1x Scalpel # 27
- 1x P-38
- 1x Hacksaw Blade with "sharpened" end
- 1x B.C.B. Commando Wire Saw ( w/out finger rings )
- 1x 4 season Spark-Lite ( blaze orange )
- 5x B.C.B. lifeboatmatches + striker
-12x Coughlan's "waterproof" matches
- 2x Birthday Candle's
- 8x 4 season Fire-Tabs
- -- Tinder, Petrolium jelly infused Cottonwol ( NOT wrapped in to something )
- 1x B.C.B. Wet Button Compass ( 20 mm )
- 1x Brass Snare Wire ( 6 meter / 20 feet )
- 1x Fishing wire +/- 10meter ( 8,5 KG )
- 1x Fishing wire +/- 20meter ( 8,5 KG )
-10x Fishing Hooks, small
- 2x Fishing Hooks, large/medium
- 4x Fishing Weights, large
- 5x Fishing Split shots, medium
-12x Leaders w/ large swivel
- 1x Gaff ( XX-large hook )
- 1x Red Ledlight ( shortened Coast Cutlerly ledlight )
- 2x mini lightsticks*

WATER & FOOD GROUP
-10x Aquaclear tablets ( Chlorine Based )*
- 2x Ziplock bags ( 1 L )

MEDICAL GROUP
- 4x Plasters/Adhesive Bandages ( sterile ) asst. sizes*
- 1x pack of 3M medi-strips, 3 strips total ( sterile )*
- 1x Antiseptic swab**

MISCELLANEOUS & MULTI-PURPOSE GROUP
- 1x sewing awl
- 2x sewing needle's
- -- coton wire wrapped around needle's and sewing awl
- 1x Bobin of floss-wire ( +/- 45 meter )
- 1x Rubber band around tin
- 2x "Ranger bands" around tin
-10x Twist Ties, short, plastic covered
- 2x Twist Ties, long, plastic covered
- 4x Safety pins, small
- 4x Paperclips
- 1x Golf pencil
- 1x 2mm x 17 cm latex tubing ( water sweeps )
- 1x Platypatch ( to repair water bladders )
- 2x Alminium foil sheets (+/- 30x40 cm )
- 1x Alminium foil sheet (+/- 30x70 cm )
- 2x Ducttape ( 3.7x30 cm ) on peel-off backing ( note paper )
- 1x Gaffer's tape ( +/- 76x1.8 cm wrapped around tin )
- 2x Gaffer's tape ( +/- 30x3.8 cm wrapped around tin )
- 1x B.C.B. Waterproof Survival Instruction Sheet
- 1x Metal Handle for tin bottom
- 1x Storage Tin, tabaco type ( 11x3x8 cm )

but after carring it for a long while i find this thing WAY to heavy and now i carry my bit of kit loose in my pants, jackets, etc. Now i can use them al the time, so i'm used to them, can rotate it much quicker, thus preventing deteriation, etc.

 

[Stuart]

my no expence spared mini survival kit was covered here

 

[Adi007]

my no expence spared mini survival kit was covered here

I agree 100% Stuart - tins are so 20th century!!!! That capsule is big enough to hold everything I'd need if I lost everything else ... or at least it holds enough to make me feel safe!

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

Take a look at this thread on the Canadian outdoors magazine.

 

[alick]

If the challenge is to use the most expensive ingredients, how about a high power (green) laser gunsight for signalling to passing aircraft, super strong spectra or dyneema instead of paracord, and titanium everything else ):

 

[Great Pebble]

Why Not, eh?

Actually my motivation wasn't cost per se, It's more the actual ethos behind some of the things that have become "accepted" as part of the tobacco tin.

It seems to me that the thinking behind such kits is not all it could be, being more akin to a competition to see who can pack the most small items of sometimes dubious application into the space available. There also seems to be a mindset of "make do", using items which, while they will doubtless accomplish the task in hand when used with skill and care are not the best items available. A PSK, used to its intended application wont see service until you're in the s**t, the last time you want to be faffing about with fiddly kit. My example of a scalpel blade, vice a small folder being a case in point. How minimum is minimum? Can you produce an effective set of "last chance" equipment using more "everyday" (in a bushcrafters terms) items?

I think it's fair to say that about 90% of pocket kits are based to a greater or lesser extent on the Wiseman model, mine included. It is a good compromise of weight/size versus functionality, but is at least a 20 year old design. How many of us don't take advantage of the technological and material advancements of the last couple of decades in our normal outdoor kit? Why not here too?

 

[TheViking]

Hi...

IMO the tobacco tin PSK is useful, but things are small and you're not able to 'cut' decent. Nor make fire decent... :roll: Matches run out some day, but a firesteel will last much longer.

If I were to choose it would be a Huntsman SAK, firesteel (without handle), darning and sewing needles, bear-thread (lots), steel wire, puritabs (they cannot be healthy, but if we have to talk survival), etc... Instead of the small things...

 

[Andy]

I'd replace the scaple blade with a sak classic for a start.

 

[AUSSIE]

The limiting factor with all of this is the fact that these PSK are all still based around military Escape & Evasion Kits and the thinking / development has not gone much past this since the late 60's. People who create and refine PSK / mini kits are constantly compromising or cutting down on the contents to fit it all into their current version of the "ideal" kit container!! You really don't need to cram everything into a Tobacco Tin or an Altoids Tin, how far is that half of one cheap bandaid and a razor blade gonna get you???? It really is time to revisit the "Ten Essentials" concept. IMHO your "survival kit" should be your collection of high quality every day use items and tools with some in built redundancy. These items are so useful and so essential they will travel with you everywhere anyway as is the thinking with the pocket size E & E style kit!! Only difference is if you are a bushman you don't normally have to also carry 200 rounds of link, 6 full rifle mags, frags and W.P. as well!!!

 

[Great Pebble]

Only difference is if you are a bushman you don't normally have to also carry 200 rounds of link, 6 full rifle mags, frags and W.P. as well!!!

Unless you want to of course.....

Actually, you make a good point, Although personally I haven't been in the woods without my baccy tin in years, I've never actually needed it. Nor do I know anyone who has.

I suppose, in these circles, the PSK represents the most minimal of minimalist kit, for those of us not quite ready, or able, to go tribal...

 

[leon-1]

Nick, I would replace the tin itself, Lofties tin is not a tobacco tin, he has a tin which is sealed against water properly it has a hinge and clamp lock so that the 'O' ring for want of a better word remains compressed and keeps the tin waterproof, it is also slightly larger than a tobacco tin. I believe that Lofties tin originated with the Yachting fraternity (the tin not it's contents). Either find what the original is or have one made (you said that money was not an issue). The inside of the lid finished to a mirror shine (heliograph) and plastic coated (protects it from scratches).

Sack the standard compasses that are in these things and get one of the old proper brass button compasses (they cost more but are worth it), don't faff around with perry whistles either get a fox 40 or jet scream whistle, use a scout firesteel rather than one of the crappy ranger firesteels that are in most kits or replace/have in addition a small bic lighter.

Buy lures which are of different sizes, colours and ensure that the hooks in the kit are barbed (preferably on the shank of the hook as well). Also buy the fishing line like a cord, I have some at about 150 pound breaking strain, is about 1mm thick if that and tie your own leaders before hand.

If you are going to have Potassium Permanganate in the kit and claim that you are going to use it for starting fire at least have something that it can oxidise with (small vial of glycerine, formaldehyde or some sugar), at least this way you have a back up to the firesteel and some way of treating fungicidal infections and purification of water.

Pertex towel or sheet of some sort (can be used as a millbank bag) and a heavy duty plastic bag.

There are loads of other things, but unless you want the tin to turn into a winnebago and your area of survival to be Tracy island I am not going into them

 

[bushwacker bob]

Hmm. Money no object and fit in a tobbacco tin...
Obviously it would have to be Kylie Minogue.

 

[mark wood]

Here's the fancier tin. If you hunt around you can buy the tin on its own.

Mark

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

PSKs are subject to the same fads, cultural fallacies and peer pressure as any other commodity. The tobacco tin concept dates to military use when lightweight and stowability were paramount. I doubt many of us will be bailing out of a crippled Spitfire over the Black Forest. So, what is the rational? A PSK is a last ditch assembly when misfortune, or utter stupidity have left us standing in very inhospitable territory with the clothes on our back, which incidently are the most important survival kit of all. Nobody is going to build a cabin to overwinter in with a PSK. We want to survive long enough to get rescued, preferably ASAP. This isn't some Rambo or Walter Mitty adventure that will have Tom Brown, Rick Mears or Baron Munchausen listening with rapt attention at the Explorer's Club and Disney ofering a movie deal. Survival isn't always a resource rich arboreal forest either, or even desert ( still potentially rich) for that matter. My sleeping bag maker once posted a letter from a father/son in Alaska who flipped their floatplane in the tundra. There is no wood source there. In this fortunate case retrieved sleeping bags saved their lives. My PSK would have been virtually useless. Nor is the whole Abo concept of fabricating neo celtic hunting spears and squatting happily around a bowdrill fire very realistic. The archaeological record is full of poignant scenes where death overwhelmed people with ancient ties and knowledge of their environmnet. Ishii, The last wild Indian of America, was found starving. His small band had the misfortune to lose their entire tool kit to souvenier happy miners who suprised them. So PSKs need to always be kept in perspective. Personally,I cheat and carry two. One is purely medical, and while it's no triage unit my supplies are far beyond one plaster and a few aspirin. That gives me extra room in the base kit to upgrade with a folder. Again, like I told in the recent match thread, not everybody understands a metal match. Having the 'Rolls-Royce's' of emergency gear is nice, just don't let common sense be left out of your kit.

 

[leon-1]

Having the 'Rolls-Royce's' of emergency gear is nice, just don't let common sense be left out of your kit.

Very true, probably the most important thing along with a level head and possibly a good sense of humour (you'll need it) ): .

Very good point about the FAK as well Chris .