Did you know that a Vic Farmer fits in an Altoids tin?

foxyrick

foxyrick

British Pork
Joined
Dec 26, 2006
Messages
2,254
...only just though - you have to turn it diagonal, but it fits. Now I want a Farmer in every tin!

Once I found that out - I just had to make a mini-kit around it. Just some bare essentials... Fire, light and direction...

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Contents:

1/4" GoingGear ferro rod
Matches
WetFire cube
2x flat PJB's
Compass
Zebralight (CR123 version)
...and of course, a Vic Farmer!

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:D
 
Its sorta fun to see what you can fit in there. Mine is constantly changing:

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- Vic Farmer
- Doan magnesium block with "sparking insert"
- Arc AAA
- Fox 40 Micro whistle
- county comm mini prybar
 
kvaughn said:
The Electrician Plus will fit in without being turned diagonally:D--KV
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Hmm... they are supposedly the same length :confused:

Smaller knife? Larger tin? I'll have to check my Pioneer Harvester as well.


powernoodle said:
Its sorta fun to see what you can fit in there. Mine is constantly changing:
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Nice kit - now I want a blue Farmer too!


I remember as a kid (30+ years ago :eek: ) some army-type comic had a survival tin article and a 'see how much you can fit in a tobacco tin' competition. I always struggled with that because half of the stuff they came up with was barely usable (suggesting things like a pencil sharpener blade for a knife! And how would a 8 year old in those days get a condom???) Still, I wasn't the average 8 year old and it was a useful concept in general. It certainly stuck in my head!
 
I like the small fixed blades made for the purpose. But a Farmer would be probably the most useful knife you could put in there. I'd also put a small hone in there too since SAKs don't hold a very good edge, but still a hugely useful tool.
 
tknife said:
I like the small fixed blades made for the purpose. But a Farmer would be probably the most useful knife you could put in there. I'd also put a small hone in there too since SAKs don't hold a very good edge, but still a hugely useful tool.
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Good point TK....

Maybe double sticky tape it to the lid? or fold up some duct tape and use it to hold the hone...then you got double duty!
 
Yup! I'm not a big fan of the altoids kits, but it's fun to see what you can fit in there :) I I managed to fit the farmer, mini-magbar, Fenix E01, pjcbs, and matches. :thumbup:
 
I have a firekit in my Altoids tin the comes in my RC 5 sheath. The other Altoids tins just house signinaling items, or something to get a fire going (Not an all out firekit) with maybe some fishing line or something of the sorts. Now, I need to put a SAK in them all :D
 
What's the rubber holding the kit together? Bicycle tire tubing? I remember it being referred to as ranger band or something?
 
Yep - bicycle inner tube; DIY Ranger bands. I could do with scrounging some larger tubes(motorcycle?) for bigger duties, like going around the edge of the tin to give it some water resistance.

The butyl rubber they're made of is much longer lasting than the latex that 'normal' rubber bands are made of. Good extra firelighting material too.
 
Nice set up. I’ve used these tins for years, though unrelated to these purposes. The Vic Farmer is another surprise, I bought 4 of them when they were on sale a few months back, I didn’t even look at them until I found out it had a saw, about a week ago.

The tins I have measure 3 ¾”, I just placed an order with Specialty Bottle for tins described as 3.9”. I’ve used tins from this company before for water proofing leather wax I mix up. They are probably the same, I noticed in the properties of the image I embedded below the jpeg name was altoidtin.

altoidtin.jpg
 
Foxyrick, thats a nice little survival kit.

Just a small question, whats the 2x flat PJB's??
They look like cotton swabs.
 
Thanks!

They are flat cotton wool pads ('borrowed' from my wife - they come in packs for removing make-up etc). Rub a little petroleum jelly (Vaseline in the UK) into them and they light easily and burn for a while with the jelly. Great man-made tinder! The PJ also makes them pretty much water resistant. They are in the plastic bag to keep the PJ off everything else.

PJB = Petroleum Jelly (cotton wool) Ball, also PCB, PJCB, etc ;)
 
bcornelis said:
I like your mini-kit. Where is a good place to pick up in a farmer?
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Thanks. Not sure where's best for you but I just googled the lowest price on the 'net. Just search for Swiss Army Knife Farmer. Maybe someone more local to you might suggest a good source...

You might also want to check out the Pioneer Harvester (hooked pruning blade instead of tin opener) or Electrician (flat blade instead...). I like the hooked blade on my PH but I'm not sure I would really like to lose the tin opener for it in general. I wish they had put the combo blade on those two variants, instead of the bottle opener. The combo blade is a combined bottle/tin opener and flat screwdriver. They don't seem to put it on many knives though.


hushnel said:
Nice set up. I’ve used these tins for years, though unrelated to these purposes. The Vic Farmer is another surprise, I bought 4 of them when they were on sale a few months back, I didn’t even look at them until I found out it had a saw, about a week ago.

The tins I have measure 3 ¾”, I just placed an order with Specialty Bottle for tins described as 3.9”. I’ve used tins from this company before for water proofing leather wax I mix up. They are probably the same, I noticed in the properties of the image I embedded below the jpeg name was altoidtin.

altoidtin.jpg
Click to expand...

Farmers (and Pioneer Harvesters etc) are great with the saw - that's why I like them so much. It's just about the perfect knife for a little 'must-haves' kit.

My Altoids tins are about 3 ¾” across the widest point of the lid, so the 3.9" ones you've ordered should be a touch bigger - no need to turn the knife diagonally to get it in or out. Also means you don't have to take everything else out of the tin to get the knife out. That little difference makes a big difference!
 
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Thanks mate.

The PJBs looks like they could be very useful. I learned from another post that the petroleum jelly can not only be used for fire starting but also for lip balm, grease for carbon blade protection, burn or wound cover, lubricant, leather waterproofing, etc. There is probably a whole list of uses out in the field that I haven't even heard of yet.
 
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