Survival Kit & "The Big Tin" Challenge. What would you include?

Guyon

Guyon

Biscuit Whisperer
Super Mod
Joined
Mar 15, 2000
Messages
45,835
If you're up for a little thinking, try this one....

An Altoids-addicted friend of mine has amassed a huge collection of the regular sized tins, and among his hoard was a larger Altoids tin (aka "The Big Tin") that he let me have. My plan is to fill it with smaller gear as a kind of every-day-carry survival kit. Filling it will not be quite as big a challenge as a small tin kit, but I sort of like the extra space.

The inside dimensions are 7.5" wide X 4" deep X 1" tall. To give you a better idea of size, it has enough space to fit 3 regular-sized Altoids tins. Yet it will still slide nicely into a front pouch of a backpack. As you can see from the pics, the top is pretty reflective, so I already have a decent signal mirror.

What would you include in "The Big Tin" if you were packing for an ever-present survival kit (urban as well as rural carry)? Once I get the thing filled up, I'll take another pic and repost with a list.

BigTin1.jpg


BigTin2.jpg
 
"I gotta find me one of those!!"
Suggestion..use the other tins to organixe your supplies. One for firemaking, one for snare/fishing, repair,one for first aid/teabags/bullion packages.
Tell me, does your friend hav "any"taste buds left from eating all those Altoids??:D
Ravenn
 
Originally posted by Ravenn

Tell me, does your friend hav "any"taste buds left from eating all those Altoids??:D
Ravenn
Click to expand...
You could eat them a fistful at a time...ewww!
I'd just toss 'em in the trash to get the tin. I didn't like the original size to make kits with because it was too small. The big tin will do very nicely.
 
His tastebuds are probably long gone. He buys Altoids by the case at Costco.

I looked around for "The Big Tin" in stores, but Altoids has changed the design. Newer ones are silver, and have a rounded (convex) top and bottom. The shape isn't as conducive to storage.
However, in doing a Google search for "The Big Tin," I did run across this guy, Ken Stutt, who is apparently the tin guru. He has a huge collection and sells extras. He has the old style "Big Tin" listed here for $7, as well as tons of other tins that might be suitable. This page is just the tins that begin with the letters A and B. http://www.stutt.com/tins/tin - ab.html
 
Have gradually filled the big tin. Here's what I have so far. There's still a little space left... Any ideas?

space blanket

10 feet snare wire
popping bug
assorted hooks (1 treble)
assorted split shot
2 swivels
30 ft. 20 lb. test

mini Bic lighter
Swedish Army firestarter
1 piece Fatwood tinder
waterproof matches and striker
2 birthday candles

4 safety pins
pencil
2 rubber bands
small compass
6 feet aluminum foil
1 mini Fox 40 whistle
length of nylon twine
½ hacksaw blade
small sewing kit
foam earplugs

2 wound wipes
5 medium bandaids
6 Tylenol
5 Ibuprofen
5 aspirin
1 2x3 square moleskin

Leatherman Micra
Spartan SAK
fingernail clippers

Photon II
 
Sounds like you've got the bases covered. Depending on how much a "little extra space" actually is, I might suggest a couple of large garbage bags, like the 30 gallon size; always find a use for those, even with the Mylar blanket you already have. If you just have little bits of space left, I'd fill them up with Tinder Quik tabs. They're little cotton tinder tabs that are treated with something to make them burn better. They hold a spark better than plain cotton balls, and flatten even beter. Brigade Quartermasters sells them for $2.00 for a packet of 10. They work perfectly with ferro rods.

How do you carry the big kit? In a BDU pocket, or is this a kit that goes in your ruck? Neat idea, anyway.
 
V Shrake: Good tip on the cotton tinder. That would fit in some of the nooks and crannies left. I carry the tin in my pack or in my briefcase.

hso: How big are those gill nets when compressed?

I am lacking a saw. Later on, I may switch SAKs to one that has a saw. Maybe the "Camper" model.

Here are more pics:

Kit.jpg

Kit2.jpg
 
The site says, "We found a great affordable gill net. 12 Feet  X  4 Feet ~ 2 1/2" mesh. This is perfect for carrying in your pack, folded size is 4 Inches X 3 Inches X 2 inches."

If you're near Knoxville there is a gun show at the Jacobs building this weekend. A dealer there has Otter boxes for nearly wholesale! I picked up a 1000 and a 2000 for $16.

You may want to replace the Curad wipes with a set of Betadine wipes. The betadine wipes can be had from the pharmacy (no prescription required). They come in boxes of 100. You can clean a wound with them or sterailize your hands. They're great for the big house kit and don't tend to leak/dry out like other wipes. If you send your address I can drop a few in the mail for you.

You might include a small tube of super glue as well. It's great for bigger-than-band-aid-smaller-than-pressure-bandage wounds.
 
For a saw, I don't think they make any SAK's as small as the one you use now with a saw. You might consider the SAS wire saw. It's about the only wire saw I've ever used that was worth carrying. Holds up pretty well, and works best if you use a green bough to make a bow saw. I've never found one, but Wal-Mart sells a folding saw that holds 2 jigsaw blades (one metal, one wood) and folds into a plastic handle. Small enough to put in a kit like this, and only about $5.00, if you can find one.

And the hacksaw blade is great for a lot of saw uses. I've used a hunk of hacksaw blade to cut notches for a figure 4 trap.

You could also save a LOT of space if you took out the plastic box holding your fishing kit. To keep the hooks and weights from spreading all over the place, use some duct tape and tape the hooks and stuff to the lid of your kit. Then just wrap the line and stuff in a tight hank, and lay it wherever it will fit.

Without the plastic box, you'd have way more room. You could use that room for a bigger SAK (a Rucksack model would be ideal). You could also put in a folded up piece of heavy duty tin foil.

And char cloth doesn't take up much space, although you'll want to put it in a sandwich baggie to keep the soot from getting on everything else.
 
Originally posted by V Shrake
Wal-Mart sells a folding saw that holds 2 jigsaw blades (one metal, one wood) and folds into a plastic handle. Small enough to put in a kit like this, and only about $5.00, if you can find one.
Click to expand...

What section of Wal-Mart had them? Hunting/Fishing or Hardware?

You could also save a LOT of space if you took out the plastic box holding your fishing kit. To keep the hooks and weights from spreading all over the place, use some duct tape and tape the hooks and stuff to the lid of your kit. Then just wrap the line and stuff in a tight hank, and lay it wherever it will fit.
Click to expand...

I would use plastic [w/lid] dime roll tubes from a Coin Collecting Shop. And to make it worthwhile to take up the space, PACK IT. Use not only small hooks, use excellent small hooks like Eagle Claws and...buy the smallest fishing lures [flies] you can. Preferably the cricket, grasshopper and ant variety. They work like a charm and you can get oodles of them in a dime tube along with line and sinkers and a few snap swivels. I don't know if the dime roll tube will fit in THAT can, but if you look around, you should be able to find a suitable tube in a smaller diameter.

And char cloth doesn't take up much space, although you'll want to put it in a sandwich baggie to keep the soot from getting on everything else.
Click to expand...

Charred cloth for firestarting? When I first started out with these sorts of things, I read with much interest about charring cloth to catch sparks more efficiently. You know, I've never had a problem with cotton balls and they also keep things from rattling around and they fire right up from any good flint. They're not messy and require no additional container(s). All you have to do is have the tinder ready, of course, and take a ball and separate the fibers into a little spiderweb mass and POW! You have fire on first or second strike. I never really understood the charred cloth deal except that it was a must at one time. I think that part of firestarting is antiquated as far as making a kit is concerned.
 
By the way, I'd love to have one of the BIG Tins myself, a few actually. That really is more Altoids than should be allowed in any given house. [shudder]
 
Didn't notice if you had any condoms (or other means)for carrying water.
 
Don, my Wal-Mart doesn't carry those saws, but I've read where others on the forums have found them at their local stores. I would imagine they would be over in the tools section.

The coin tubes sound interesting. I'm always loking for new containers. I'll have to see if we have coin shops around here.

Char cloth's best features are it's small size (I have 10 or 12 pieces of it in a mini-kit I made up for my neck knife), and the fact that it can be made in the field. All one needs is a tin and cotton scraps. Certainly, there's a bit of nostalgia in using char cloth, but it is still a viable method of catching a spark. And I don't rely ONLY on char cloth.

I carry a variety of tinders in my fire kits. I have cotton balls with candle wax (5 to a 35mm film can) for use when it's wet and cold; plain cotton balls (25 or 30 small ones smushed into a 35mm can) for just spark catching for use with fatwood and Juniper bark; the aforementioned fatwood and finely-shredded Juniper bark; man-made tinders such as trioxane, Esbit tabs, compressed sawdust and wax; and lastly, char cloth. I find that if I carry lots of different tinders in my fire kit, along with a good sized ferro rod, I don't need to waste time searching for tinder when I NEED a fire. And around here, there aren't that many natural tinders that work with just a spark from a ferro rod, so it helps to "cheat" some.
 
Don,

Those WalMart saws are usually carded items hung in either Sporting Goods, Hardware, or Auto. Not bad little saws, imho.

G,

You might want to try the Swiss Army Pioneer from www.swiss-knife.com . There are about 6 or 7 variations of this model under the same name. It's built like the Soldier model with heavy aluminum scales and very heavy rivets. Mine has a great saw and has become my EDC knife, replacing my Soldiers in that role. It's a non-locking 91mm knife, but hey, I don't trust locks on folders anyway - so who cares? It's truly a great knife. Also, your kit looks great, but I'd advise reading my one hand posts in the RAT forum - there may be some good advise there for you.

To All - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mike
 
The Fox 40 whistle can be made flatter by filing the rounded bottom portion off, to the whistle body, per modification by "Doug Ritter". I have done this, and it will allow a little more room.
 
Another vote for condoms,loose the nail clippers, Add a small tube of crazy glue for closing wounds etc. water pure tabs and vacum seal the whole thing, The tuff vac seal bag can be used to hold water.:D
 
Operating on the assumption of both hands healthy, keep the cotton balls dry, but carry some of the triple-antibiotic ointment packets that you can pick up at most sporting good stores in the area that has first aid kit refils. The base is petroleum jelly, and the separation keeps the chance of gooey contents down.

Don, if you can't find the saws, drop me a line with an address and
I'll get one to you.

I've also found that old credit cards or plastic room key cards work well to tape hooks to, then wrap your line around. Keeps them pretty flat. A small matchbox works well for the fly-type lures, and can again be wrapped with line, as well as stuffed with split-shot weights.

Mike
 
As far as a saw goes go to a woodworking type hardware store and look at the sawzall blades. Looks like something you would see in a spy's escape kit.

Knifesmith
 
Hey Don, were you ever able to find one of those folding saws?
My WM carries them, and they are only $2.24 before tax.

Sometimes it helps to see what your looking for

Here is a pic from the Allway tools website...http://www.allwaytools.com/ads/Saw.htm

I bought two.:D Let me know if you find one or not.

BTW, thanks for the heads up to whoever mentioned them. (V Shrake?)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top