Survival Kits

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I carry a small necessities kit with me everywhere. It fits in the hip pocket of my pants.

It includes:
Old Silva Compass
50' 550 Cord
Magnesium Fire Starter
Emergency Blanket
Strike Anywhere matches in a waterproof case.
Lansky Triangle Sharpener
Opinel #10

I plan on adding a Newt Livesay Little Pecker to that.

In a backpack that is with me 99% of the time I have duplicates of those items and:

Machete
Normark skinning axe

Jeff Randall, from the other thread, what do you think about the probabilty of breaking the handle on that Gerber axe? If it is reasonalby possible to break it, then what?

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Marion David Poff aka Eye, one can msg me at mdpoff@hotmail.com If I fail to check back with this thread and you want some info, email me.

Check out my review of the Kasper AFCK, thougths on the AFCK and interview of Bob Kasper. http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Meadows/1770/kasperafck.html

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Meadows/1770/index.html


 
Eye and others,

Sorry I haven't responded to the posts in the last few days but I've been out of town doing an NRA Instructor's course. Matter of fact, I'm still out of town and typing on a laptop...so pardon the spelling problems.

As far as the Gerber handle. That was the one thing that concerned me. It held up well for the 2 weeks we used it and will let you know it's condition after we go back in October. We left the piece with Eloy for an extended evaluation and I will know soon how it held up...even if it did.

Haven't read all the other posts in this thread so if I've missed anything, please drop me an email and I will try to get back in the groove as soon as I return home. - Jeff



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Randall's Adventure & Training
jeff@jungletraining.com

 
Jeff and Marion,

Regarding the Gerber axe..., have you tried the Junglee Panda Skinning axe? No worries about the handle, it's steel.., an integral part of the AUS8 axe-head, with a "kraton-like" material molded as a grip.

The exposed-steel part of the handle has slight finger grooves cut into it, to facilitate choking up on the axe-head, for fine work.

Just came back from the Smokies, where I stopped off at Smokey Mountain Knife Works and picked up my second Panda axe. It came literally shaving sharp.

For those advocating the minimalist approach..., I fantasized about that for years. Now..., I'm older, and I enjoy at least a modicum of comfort
smile.gif
I want a decent sleeping bag, a waterproof nylon tarp, a large capacity water filter, clothes enough for a couple years, at least, before I start rubbing in brains and chewing on deer-hide, trying to get it soft enough to avoid chafing
smile.gif


Hopefully, I'll be able to bring some traps, and set traps and snares. I figure with up to a million people in the local woods... my first order of survival will be trying to *avoid* those people, while they kill each other off.

Kirk
 
Wow, Jeff I bet you didn't expect all this when you started this thread. I think some people have missed the point though. A survival kit is the same as a knife, it does you no good if it's too big to carry. Barring trauma or some other immediate threat to personal safety, the two most important things in a survival situation are to "STAY WARM AND STAY DRY". Hypothermia IS an all-season killer in many, many places. In this regard common sense is the most important item. The three next most important and most easily carried items are a knife, matches, and garbage bags. The value of matches and a knife are hopefully obvious. Garbage bags have many uses: as a poncho, stuffed with leaves they provide insulation, a large enough bag can be used as a bivy, to collect/carry water, and many more.
Other important items, depending on where you are, can be a compass, a small bottle of sunscreen, a small lightweight mirror, fishhooks and line, a small candle, an emergency blanket, iodine tablets (or a small bottle of bleach), sunglasses.
I have only ever been in one "survival situation" when a friend got hypothermic on a winter backpacking trip. Appropriately the situation was dealt with before either one of us had to do anything that challenged our manhood. We stopped, found shelter, and he changed clothes while I made some hot tea for him. In that case our backpacks and their contents were our survival kits, but you can't always count on that convenience. So keep it small and managable preferably something you can keep in a pocket or carry around your neck, just in case you get separated from your pack. Above all use your head.

Travis
 
That's the idea of the hollow handled survival knife. If you lose everything but your knife, you still have that and a little something extra too.

If you have a sheath pouch, you can do the same thing with a fixed blade.

I have both so I can have twice as much stuff if I so choose.
 
As to the Panda, I don't like metal handles or synthetics. In extreme tematures I wonder if they will hold up.

Wheras with a wooden handled axe, you simply replace it, with wood from all around you, in most cases.

MDP
 
I've been thinking about the validity of hollow handle knives for a while. From what I have read it was the idea of a Chopper Jock that was in 'Nam. He asked Bo Randall to make him a hollow handle knife that would allways be with him if he had to bail out. The thought was that he could not work with a pack on and wanted to have the "bare essentials" with him at all times. Just enough stuff to get by until he could get back to friendly ground or be picked up. I would opt for a full tang knife with a large pouch for these items to have less weight,more room and a stronger better balanced knife. Not dissing the original concept just my preference. I do own several hollow handle knives that I have used and put back Randall,Reeves, Parrish. They are all good and in the case of the Reeves indistructable. I just do not feel they are the best answer to the need. I have EOD sheaths from Fank Sigmon with Large pouches sewn on the sheath with four times the stuff in them than I could get in a hollow handle.
When Time and money permits I will get him to make me a scabbard for my next bolo with pockets for the samll gear. This should give me a pocket/pockets on a 4X10 back with a thickness of 1 or two inches. That will carry a lot of stuff and not be obtrusive or too heavy.

Cheers,

ts

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"Cet animal est tres mechant;quand on l'attaque il se defend."("This animal is very mischievous: when it is attacked it defends itself")
 
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