Why am I carrying...........

[forestwalker]

Excellant thread - my only contribution is to express my amazement when the discussion comes up to find people take their PSK tin OUT OF THEIR RUCKSACKS!!
If you have a rucksack you dont need a PSK.

To be fair it might be a case of normally keeping it with the pack, but taking it out when taking side trips, or when just out for a few hours picking berries or mushrooms.

When I teach I and i come to the topic of survival kits I usually have my fully packed ruck standing close by. First we talk about what functions one might like covered in PSK (shelter, fire, first aid, repair, etc). That perfectly describes a filled Berghaus Atlas, with sleeping bag, basha, Trangia, etc. Then we all agree that no sane person carries all that when out picking blueberries for an afternoon in central Sweden.

My knife with ferrocerium stick on the sheat is on the other extreme of the scale; it is a minimalistic tool set to make it easier to overcome lacks or to manufature the stuff you might need.

A PSK covers the gap between these two extremes. It can be tossed into the pack or basket you carry when out hunting, fishing or berry picking. It can live in your car. It can be crammed into a pocket when you go off to find the neat caves a few km away from the river you are canoeing. It can live in a pocket on your lifejacket.

What items go in there depends on your skill level and what kind of emergencies are realistically possible in your situation, be it a broken leg, getting lost and seeing sunset come, zombies from heck that eat your pet budgie or that a bear chases you up a tree. Think "what items would make my life much easier in that situation, and are reasonable to carry?" Look at Mors list. That is how it is organized, that is the logic behind each and every item on it.

It does not even have to be a tin, it can be a habit of having a SAK in your pocket and using firesteels as keyfobs. It can be having a knife with a firesteel and a few yards of cord around your neck whenever you are out in the woods. It can be carrying an axe whenever you go away from camp.

I actually advocate the "pocket habits" version over the classical PSK, since it is harder to loose all the stuff you are carrying, and makes you more familiar with the stuff in your kit. If it is your normal knife, firesteel, cookpot, or axe then you -- presumably -- know how to use them and what you can do with them.

 

[philaw]

I think that carrying a survival kit in this country is justifiably mocked because the ones on sale are immitations of the military type that are an invitation to play soldier. A kit in your pocket that has a few handy bits in it makes perfect sense, though, and needs a new name to distinguish it. My first aid kit is always running out of plasters and ibuprofen because other people need it and on one hiking trip it got practically emptied- even strangers were at it.

How about basing a survival kit around a first aid kit? I think that after this thread I'll add a couple of other bits to it, like duct tape, needle, thread and paracord.

 

[Trojan]

HI

Very good points about the carrying of a survival tin.

I only used mine once in an emergency and that was to light fire so did not really need the contents.

I use to make my own but now have the BCB one (off ebay)

Why?

Better to follow the Boy Scout motto- Be Prepared! you never know whats around the corner.

Good Luck

 

[hogstable]

Like most people into this activity I got a PSK when I was a kid and it is a great mental hobby. I use stuff all the time that would fit into the possibles mode but I still like the idea of a PSK for fun, it is good mental exercise and harms no one including me as I am very unlikely to send myself out into the woods with only the PSK in my underpants.

I will be revisiting my PSK that I bought years ago and thinning a lot of it out. It will end up as a first aid / fire lighting kit. But good fun all the same. As for being separated from rucksacks etc my friend was in a situation like that a few years ago when he got disorientated in the woods at night.

I think it is good practice to have something in your pockets that would really need in an emergency and then to have some more important pieces with you, eg having a cut down daysack with waterproofs and a drink etc when you are moving away from your rucksack.

 

[TinkyPete]

I do have several different survival kits some in tins some in pouches and one even in a old compeed case (my smallest and the one i carry the most, due to size and contents). They are all used for different enviroments and also depend on what else I am carrying. I do check the contents regularly to make sure everything still works or to refresh items such as puritabs and other things. The two largest ones I have are in an old dets box and the other in a PLCE water bottle pouch, which has an extra small pouch on the side, which lives on my belt kit.

I find that with my job, they still come in handy. I do use them on occasion even when i have other bits of kit just to make sure that they will handle the situation that they were designed for. I find it helps to check the contents and I know that they will not let me down if I need to use them for real.

I still keep my smallest one on me even when I now carry a possibles pouch, when out and about, which as an extra backup. I know it is not necessary but as it hardly weighs anything and is extremely small it does not make a difference.

I have had to do a few E + E exercises through work although not for a few years, but I find it hard to break the habit and don't want to anyway, but still my brain is main main tool and learning new skills and retaining the old ones are the things that is most important to me, followed up closely with a knife