Rat Pack - Yet Another Knife Kit! (Pics)

Pritch

Pritch

Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
1,819
  1. Okay guys, I have finally put together a mini-kit to fit in the sheath of my RAT-7. The idea isn't to be exhaustive but rather to provides some essentials should I get seperated from my pack and yet still retain my knife because it was on my belt. Sorry for the crappy pics!
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First off, I have two hanks of 550 parachute cord, a lanyard attached to the knife which is 8 ft long, and a tie-down on the sheath that is 6 ft long. Also note the small Silva compass on the tie-down.

141274579-L.jpg

Turning the sheath over, I found that I can fit a large "FoodSaver" plastic bag (approx. 1 gal.) folded up and slid behind the MOLLE attachment loops. I have also slid four 9 inch zip ties in there as well.

141274640-L.jpg

Here is the Rat-7 with the lanyard. It took forever to reprofile the edge using the Spiderco Sharpmaker. When I was about three quarters of the way through, I read a thread over in the Tool Shed about coarse pink stones that fit the Sharpmaker. They made it much easier. I'm still experimenting with the lanyard. Note that it is attached to the knife with a small split ring. I'm not sure this is the best idea. Also, the loop should be larger so I can fit my whrist through there.

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Okay, here are all the goodies I fit into the sheath, primarily in the main pouch:
  1. Rat-7
  2. 550 cord Lanyard (8 ft)
  3. Maxam mini-multitool
  4. Flat-packed duct tape (6 ft)
  5. 9-inch zip ties (4)
  6. Fire straws - Cotton, magnesium shavings, and petrolium jelly (2)
  7. REI Storm matches and striker - Vaccuum sealed
  8. Photon-II LED light
  9. REI Alluminum whistle
  10. Fatwood (2"X6"X.2")
  11. Ferro rod - custom handle and cap
  12. Scalpel blade
  13. Micro Pur water purification tablets (4)
  14. "FoodSaver" heavy duty plastic bag for water. (Approx. 1 gal.)
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Here is the Maxam mini-multitool. I like the spring-loaded pliers. The file makes a good scraper for the ferro rod as well.

141274638-S.jpg

This little Silva compass was made to go on a wrist strap but it works just fine on the leg tie-down. It appears to be a couple of steps above a lot of the button compasses (compi? :rolleyes: ) that are out there.

I could certainly get by with less fatwood and duct tape. I may at some point include the mini lighter that I reviewed previously. Lokking over the list, I see shelter, navigation, signalling, water purification, and firestarting. Notably absent is any first aid supplies. Maybe I'll shoehorn a couple of aspirin and bandaids as well! :D

-- FLIX
 
nice set up man. I have the RAT-7 too and i'd never thought you could fit so much in the sheath. I'm ganna have to put together a kit like that. Does that Rod do well sharpening??
 
hey flix, what other tools/knives do you carry in addition to this?

oh, btw great kit :D;)
 
Great kit.

Duct tape = first aid.

I remember reading somewhere that a compass should not be close to your knife.
 
jarlaxle said:
nice set up man. I have the RAT-7 too and i'd never thought you could fit so much in the sheath. I'm ganna have to put together a kit like that. Does that Rod do well sharpening??
Click to expand...

Jaraxle, Thanks. If you are referring to the Sharpmaker, yes, it sharpens very well. The stock rods are just too smooth for rebeveling a big ol' slab of 1095! The coarse pink stones did just fine.


Fonly said:
hey flix, what other tools/knives do you carry in addition to this?

oh, btw great kit :D;)
Click to expand...

Thanks Fonly. Here is my EDC:
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Kahr P9 & Kershaw Ken Onion folder.

141294055-L.jpg

Bic lighter, BSA Hotspark, Spy capsule with tinder & Photon II.

In the woods, I'll sometimes swap out the Kahr for this:
141293221-L.jpg

S&W 629 - .44 Mag/6.5" bbl.

I also will usually have a Leatherman Wave and an assortment of survival gear in my fanny pack. I'm currently reworking my MaxiKit. (Now doubt it will result in another bandwidth hogging expose as well!) I may start carrying my "mini FSK" on my belt as well.

-- FLIX
 
Nice kit :thumbup:

I gotta Compliment your Edc too, While not a Kershaw man, I am A KAHR man, I love my K40. :eek:

629 is a great gun too

You could throw in some safte pins for repairs/fishing, a needle, for repairs,

Two bandaids would be a good eddition, just to let you stop a minor bleed.

Either way you got a nice Kit, I would feel comfortable with it in the woods, especially with the Edc along
 
EmsRescueGuy, thanks. I have a couple of Kahrs, the original K-9 Stainless and then fell in love with the P-9 when it came out. Both are 9mm, as they hadn't come out with the .40 at that time. It is nice to have half a dozen mags and several holsters that will fit either. (Of course, it carries just fine Mexican as well! :D )

troutfisher13111 said:
Nice set up. How well does the food saver bag work as a water container?
Click to expand...

troutfisher13111, The FoodSaver bag is just a big, heavy baggie. It doesn't have a zip closure or anythng else. I chose to make a bag like this over using a 1 Gallon ZipLoc freezer bag is because I could control the dimensions, assuring it would fit in the sheath, and because the plastic is more sturdy.

141293224-L.jpg

I forgot to mention the "drop-leg" attachment threaded through the top of the stock sheath. I wanted to get the sheath below the waist strap of my fanny pack.

The pictures are pretty unclear, but all of this gear fits in the stock pouch - no extra pouches have been attached. Based on the suggestions here, and things that have come to mind by putting together the original post, I will be substituting a couple of items to get more out of the limited space.

-- FLIX
 
How do you get the cotton balls inside the straws. I tried with the giant big gulp straws and just couldn't get them in there. Do you have to pull them apart first?:confused:
 
Just thinking you might move the compass, seems like a place for it to get bumped and banged a little to easy. Maybe clip it inside the moles strap?

Good stuff eather way.
 
More info on those Fire Straws. Very cool idea... Any step-by-steps you could share?
 
Excellent pics! I always like putting together knife kits and seeing how they work. Yours looks great and I like your drop sheath setup.
 
Why is there a lanyard on the sheath? Is it only an easier way to carry paracord?
 
Flix, Something you might want to try is, You can fit alot of stuff between the nylon and the kydex liner of the sheath.

As for the fire straws there are quite a few posts on here that go into detail but they are really easy.

I use Mickey D's straws because the are the fattest. You need to rip apart the cotton balls and stuff them in the straw with something like a chop stick. I use half a ball per straw. Half of that soaked with PJ and the other half dry. Then just melt the ends shut.
 
GUNSNOB,

I'll see how the compass handles being there. It is a backup, but there is no reason to beat it up. I'm afraid that if I mount it on the MOLLE loops, it will dig into me.

Shotgun and Jeepnut22,

Some of the older "fire straw" threads are unaccessable, but fortunately, Doc saved some of the original info from one of those previous threads.
I have taken to carrying water proof "flame sticks", made from vaseline soaked cotton packed into drinking straws with both ends melted shut as a form of back up. You can make them whatever length you need, and they can be lit with just the sparks off the lighter, even if the lighter is out of fuel

You can either pull the cotton all the way out and fluff it up for a bigger flame, or I have done it by just pulling out a little bit, fluffy it apart and lighting it. It will then burn the straw like a candle real slowly as the straw melts.

I love these, cause they are practically free to make, you can make them any length that you need to fit inside a kit of hollow handle, and even the smallest spark will set them off and it's water proof virtually completely.

I can't take credit for the idea though, I saw these about 3 years ago in American Survival Guide before it went under.

p.s. these also have no shelf life, I have cut open some that were 3 years old recently, and they lit just like new ones.

also the best way I have found to melt the ends shut is to pinch the straw in a pair of needle nose pliers, then just melt it flush with the pliers good. No burning the fingers this way!!!!!!

You may want to kill me for this, but I forgot to mention that if you use a q-tip as a ramrod to pack the stuff into the straw it goes a lot easier and faster.

Full size straws...use a regular q-tip to stuff, if you want to make really small micro kit ones with those little stirring straws, clip the end of a q-tip. One of the reasons I like these firestarters is the ability to make them any length you might need, but I hardly ever make one above 3-4 inches as that does get hard to fill.

Oh OK...I always have a Zippo to, when I make these fire straws it's for mini and micro "survival" kits, not everyday use. Right now I am working on a neck pouch made out of folded over and sewn 2" elastic strap that holds a small knife, fire straw on one side, and strike-anywhere matches in another straw down the other side, then the whole thing hangs around the neck under a shirt.....Tool and Fire in one nice concealed kit.. always with me.

So how much petroleum jelly do you add to the cotton balls before stuffing them into the straws? Or does it matter?
Just enough to coat it. To much and they are hard to light from a spark.
------
I like to seal the end the place heavy pj coated cotton in first, then some not coated at all then top it off with more heavy pj coated cotton. to use I slice right down the side of the straw and pull the dry middle cotton out to light. It always starts right away and burns longer with the heavy pj on each end
​
This is pretty much what I did, but I worked some fine magnesium filings into the cotton then packed it into the straw. I used the green straws from Starbucks because the have a pretty big diameter and are pretty heavy duty. I cut a single straw in half so each "Fire Straw" is 3.5" long.

cybrok,

cybrok said:
Why is there a lanyard on the sheath? Is it only an easier way to carry paracord?
Click to expand...

The paracord on the sheath is supposed to be there as a leg tie-down, to keep the sheath from flopping around.

Tballetta,

Tballetta said:
Flix, Something you might want to try is, You can fit alot of stuff between the nylon and the kydex liner of the sheath.

As for the fire straws there are quite a few posts on here that go into detail but they are really easy.

I use Mickey D's straws because the are the fattest. You need to rip apart the cotton balls and stuff them in the straw with something like a chop stick. I use half a ball per straw. Half of that soaked with PJ and the other half dry. Then just melt the ends shut.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll have to see what I can get in there!

-- FLIX
 
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