My little PSK

texastonydobbs said:
:D LOL OK 1st off I love fire and you have not seen anything yet ,I bet I have 15 army LMF fire steel 4 scout models 2 mini or BSA if u will &3 RAT fire kits ,3metal match like the ones w/ Izula kit,and 2 BCB that come in the RAT E&E kit... I like the Mag bar and it works 4 me anyways.... Keep staring but my Saw/Snare has two different size rings one is darker than the other... Meds in another pack as is the FAK... this is a ditch my pack type kit... kinda similar to a hollow handle knife kit w/o the BS knife attached. There will NEVER be a PSK that is be all end all of personal survival kits.... you get basics to get by or like most people modify to fit your needs ....:D
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Yeah, I saw that with the wire saw. Wanted to point it out to others as, in my experience, it's the best possible combination. Just never quite managed to get magnesium to work for me, and the mag rod that comes with the Izula seems plenty big for a last ditch kit. That size seems more EDC if anything, and I prefer to EDC a lighter. I did presume the kit was a last ditch kit, hense the comment about meds and something to measure water. Better to have those in small amounts in your last ditch kit than to not have them because you had to ditch your pack. I carry a a roaster back which I prefilled and marked with a sharpy for 1 litre and 2 litres, and it folds so small that I carry one with 4 puritabs and it's smaller than the folding scalpal blde in your pickie. But it's a bomb proof means of getting drinking water. I do have to confess that I've never tried boiling water in one, but the wifey roasts a chicken in them, and they sit on a damn hot metal tray, and they don't seem to burst or leak, so suspending one over a fire or sitting it on a sand bed over the coals seems like a fairly doable solution. I just find it funny that you like your fire starters. I suppose I do the same with fishing kit. Let's face it, how many of us need more than 4 hooks a few sinkers and some line in a last ditch kit? I have half a dozen flies, more than a dozen sinkers, maybe a dozen hooks, a spinner, some lures, rehydratable bait, and about 40m of fishing line in varying weights. All compressed into a tiny little ziplock baggy. So I suppose we're all nuts one way or another.:D
Cool kit though. My latest incarnation is a variation of RAT's E&E.
 
mbassoc2003 said:
Flint Strikers - Why three of them?! Are you nuts?
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Actually, three out of five dentists agree that Tony and I are completely insane. :)

And will you ever, in your entire life, use that much magnesium?
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No, but that is not the point in having redundant systems.

And in all honest, how many people hear can say magnesium is any good at all? Let's face it. magnesium is crap at best.
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There are things in the world of survival gear that are total shit. Unfortunately, you are sadly mistaken about magnesium. I have been using DOAN magnesium/ferrocerium block/rods for about 25 years now, they're excellent and in cases where you don't need the magnesium, it gives you a good handle.

I don't even acknowledge arguments that this small block of incredibly light metal "takes up too much space" or "weighs too much." Most of the arguments against it just seem to be arguing for the sake of arguing.

You're better off losing two of your strikers and the magnesium block, and carry wet fire tinder cubes and big half inch thick rubber bands.
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The rubber bands, more properly, Ranger Bands made out of bicycle inner tubes, are excellent! They're excellent to secure gear or secure one item to another item, etc., and they are excellent firestarting aids.

I've had "wetfire" brand firestarting aids as well as the other ones that come in a different type of packaging...the "wetfire" I had were in foil-like, extremely thin wrappers like some candies are packaged in and you can get one pinhole that you cannot even say and your tinder is about 25% as effective, to be kind, as it would have otherwise been.

Instead of those tinder cubes, it would be better to use other types of tinder, cottonballs, #0000 Steel Wool, Jute Twine and small toothpaste-like tubes of Vaseline Intensive Care Treatment which is very flammable.

Picture the scene - It's pissing down with rain, has been all day. Your soaked to the knees and you're poncho is swimming with water. Everywhere you move, you squelch. You know what it's like, you've all been there. You string up your emergancy heat sheet as a temporary shelter, or worse, you string up your $1 Disney World disposable poncho, and you set about building a fire beneath it. But you can't get a damn spark from your spark stick? Why would any other spark stick in that situation be an improvement or a backup? Now a lighter and wetfire tinder, or a rubber band, is at least a better option for shitty conditions. Believe me, a fire is no sweeter because you had to slog for an hour to get it going. Getting it going as fast as possible is the aim of any PSK.
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The magnesium blocks have a viable ferrocerium rod on them, you know that, right?

:eek: The more I look at your pickies, the more I realise how much you really want to light fires! You're a real wouldbe pyromaniac. You've got at least six in the picture without looking at the contents of the survival tin!
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We're fokken Colonials, Mate! We're into Burn & Blow since 1776, we burn it down and blow it up.

You wankers on the other side of the pond are fond of playing with Potassium Permanganate and Glycerin and ya call us pyromaniacs! Pppfffttt, yur takin' the piss! :D
 
mbassoc2003 said:
Yeah, I saw that with the wire saw. Wanted to point it out to others as, in my experience, it's the best possible combination. Just never quite managed to get magnesium to work for me, and the mag rod that comes with the Izula seems plenty big for a last ditch kit. That size seems more EDC if anything, and I prefer to EDC a lighter. I did presume the kit was a last ditch kit, hense the comment about meds and something to measure water. Better to have those in small amounts in your last ditch kit than to not have them because you had to ditch your pack. I carry a a roaster back which I prefilled and marked with a sharpy for 1 litre and 2 litres, and it folds so small that I carry one with 4 puritabs and it's smaller than the folding scalpal blde in your pickie. But it's a bomb proof means of getting drinking water. I do have to confess that I've never tried boiling water in one, but the wifey roasts a chicken in them, and they sit on a damn hot metal tray, and they don't seem to burst or leak, so suspending one over a fire or sitting it on a sand bed over the coals seems like a fairly doable solution. I just find it funny that you like your fire starters. I suppose I do the same with fishing kit. Let's face it, how many of us need more than 4 hooks a few sinkers and some line in a last ditch kit? I have half a dozen flies, more than a dozen sinkers, maybe a dozen hooks, a spinner, some lures, rehydratable bait, and about 40m of fishing line in varying weights. All compressed into a tiny little ziplock baggy. So I suppose we're all nuts one way or another.:D
Cool kit though. My latest incarnation is a variation of RAT's E&E.
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I agree , :D I added to my Fishing kit , PSK Evole and things happen... I love building PSK of different sorts for my needs.... and this kit will evole again before the summer is over... Thanks for the comments :thumbup:
 
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Nice job as always Tony:thumbup: You are the PSK king... I am waiting for the official registered and trademarked TTD-PSK, I'm in for a few:D;)
 
texastonydobbs said:
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Tony, I like this a lot. :cool: And I love the Holt, of course. :thumbup:

I'm doing something similar, but in an OtterBox 1000 -- it's like packing a bicycle for a two-week vacation, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes: Compounding that is my stubborn insistence on including a single-blade Victorinox Solo.

Otherwise you and I are tracking pretty close on what we're covering. I'm still debating about snare wire and fishing tackle (this thread is swaying me, though). I'll pack two breast-milk storage bags for water. And I'll be carrying 10-ish feet of paracord on the outside, via a cobra-stitch lanyard attached to one of the tabs molded into the box. (It rides above the Holt strap.) A zipper-pull whistle finishes the lanyard, so that's on the outside, too.

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing it. :cool:
 
Very nice, I am going to pattern my kit off of this one, thank you for sharing...

One thing I found very difficult was "fishing" with just the survival kit materials (line, sinker, hook in mine). I love to fish, but had a lot of difficulty with the basics without a rod - will definitely need to practice that one.
 
KintlaLake said:
Tony, I like this a lot. :cool: And I love the Holt, of course. :thumbup:

I'm doing something similar, but in an OtterBox 1000 -- it's like packing a bicycle for a two-week vacation, if you know what I mean. :rolleyes: Compounding that is my stubborn insistence on including a single-blade Victorinox Solo.

Otherwise you and I are tracking pretty close on what we're covering. I'm still debating about snare wire and fishing tackle (this thread is swaying me, though). I'll pack two breast-milk storage bags for water. And I'll be carrying 10-ish feet of paracord on the outside, via a cobra-stitch lanyard attached to one of the tabs molded into the box. (It rides above the Holt strap.) A zipper-pull whistle finishes the lanyard, so that's on the outside, too.

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing it. :cool:
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Thank you ,I will admit the otterbox1000 was a bit small for my taste ,reason why I stepped up and picked up the 2000.
 
gcgcgc said:
Very nice, I am going to pattern my kit off of this one, thank you for sharing...

One thing I found very difficult was "fishing" with just the survival kit materials (line, sinker, hook in mine). I love to fish, but had a lot of difficulty with the basics without a rod - will definitely need to practice that one.
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I figured while I am forging for wood and or building a shelter ,I would let the fishing take care of itself by rigging a trigger trap from a near by sapling or over hanging branch. Dang ol' Hood dvd's :D I am always trying something different ...if your hand fishing and near the bank fish can see u and more likely to aggervate you more than anything...that is whyI use alot of line,If you look at picture ,I have a ziploc bag with tinder tabs and white string roughly 15ft with swivel tied to it with small baitcast weight,from there I can attach the mono fishing line and hook and be way outta sight of skittish fish... just a though..
 
texastonydobbs said:
I figured while I am forging for wood and or building a shelter ,I would let the fishing take care of itself by rigging a trigger trap from a near by sapling or over hanging branch. Dang ol' Hood dvd's :D I am always trying something different ...if your hand fishing and near the bank fish can see u and more likely to aggervate you more than anything...that is whyI use alot of line,If you look at picture ,I have a ziploc bag with tinder tabs and white string roughly 15ft with swivel tied to it with small baitcast weight,from there I can attach the mono fishing line and hook and be way outta sight of skittish fish... just a though..
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That's a really cool idea, I may try that the next time I'm fishing just to give it a shot...

The one additional thing you may want to consider is a way to keep the hook where you want it like a bobber or something else that floats - if you "cast" the hook with the little bug, or worm, or whatever on it into an area where it floats at the time you tie it off, a few minutes later it will be a foot closer to shore on the bottom of the lake/river.

That was the biggest problem I had - it's difficult to reel the line in, but if you don't, it sits on the bottom, making it hard to set the hook if a fish does give it a nibble.
 
a small treble hook is your friend...with a coiled over spring...harder to pick off bait.I have a small styrofoam cork...but I prefer tightline right off the bottom....
 
Tony,

No kidding, I just picked up a pack of three of the neon foam toothpick bobbers in the fishing section at China-Mart just a week ago. :D
 
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