Survival Knife Kit

[RifRaf]

Lauri Survival Kit Knife

Some of you may remember my first effort at assembling a basic survival knife kit. Here is my latest result.

My thought process was something like this: In the event I had to “quickly grab” a knife that might be my only implement under survival conditions what tools besides the knife might I also need?

My Criteria:

· Light weight and small enough to fit in a pocket or wear on a belt
· The ability to cut (not chop) most anything
· The ability to maintain cutting effectiveness for a period of time
· The ability to start a fire under emergency conditions

Here’s what I came up with:

The Knife: A Lauri carbon bladed Puukko design made for me by Dennis Holmbacka of Finland.

I chose a Puukko design because of the inherent toughness and cutting ability of Puukkos. I chose carbon versus stainless or other alloy because it will take and hold an edge for a long time and the edge is very easy to maintain with minimal effort.

The Sharpener: A flat 2.50” x .75” diamond impregnated plate.

I found these in the fishing section of a local sporting good store. They are sold as hook sharpeners but do very nicely as blade sharpeners in a pinch. I don’t remember the manufacturer’s name.

I tied a 2.50” length of nylon cord through the hole in one end to give me a bit more “something to hang onto since the plate is quite small.

The Fire Starter: A .125” diameter, 2.0”long ferrocerium rod from Hood’s Woods.

I epoxied about .250” inch of the rod into a 1.0” length of brass tubing along with a double 2.50” length of nylon cord. I sacrificed the .250” of rod to gain 3.0” of something more to hang onto.

The Striker is a saber saw blade. I purchased a two pack at the hardware store for $1.89. I rounded both ends and wrapped 20# nylon fishing line around about .625” of the (formerly) notched end and coated the line with epoxy. Again, this was done to improve the grip.

The Sheath: My own creation.

Pouch style 8-9 oz. leather, wet molded to the knife. A second layer of supple 2-3 oz. leather was sewn over the lower 2/3’s of the sheath and serves as a pocket for the sharpener, the ferrocerium rod and the striker. I deliberately overlapped and left the excess leather of the second layer on because I like the way it looked. In a real pinch, I could trim the excess off, slice it into strips and make a cord out of it…for that matter; the entire sleeve could be removed and used as raw material for cord.

The entire package is compact, lightweight and meets my criteria. By itself, this knife and associated items would give me an “edge” in a survival situation. When combined with my pocket survival pouch, I have a real opportunity compete with Mother Nature on her terms.

As a footnote, the only other item I considered for this “kit” was a compass. I can determine general direction via sun and stars so it was not considered essential. Having said that, a compass can’t be beat on cloudy days! I will add a compass if I find a rugged, small, accurate compass that could be attached to the sheath or one of the existing implements.

 

[RifRaf]

Top View of assembled knife kit

 

[RifRaf]

Side View of Assembled Kit

 

[RifRaf]

Survival Knife Kit Assembly Rear View

 

[psy-ops]

how much was the knife?

very nice looking

 

[bushblade]

Thats a nice little package you have put together there

Can you not use the the back of the knife as a striker for the ferro rod?

Will

 

[RifRaf]

Chrisaloia: I did not pay for the knife, I swapped Dennis for it. Dennis gets $100-250 for a knife depending on blade and handle materials. He makes great Puukkos at reasonable prices. He recently started forging his own blades...I'll be ordering one from him very soon. Contact Dennis at brisa@multi.fi or dholmbac@multi.fi or visit his web site: http://www.brisa.fi/start3.html


Bushblade: Yes, I can use the back of the knife blade but I get better sparking with the saw blade.

After I put the handle on the ferrocerium rod I wanted to make sure I could actually start fires with it (The rod is quite small). I succeeded with no difficulty using both the spine of the knife blade and the saw blade. Using the smaller saw blade just seems easier to handle with the smaller ferrocerium rod.

As kind of a P.S. I find using cotton lint from the clothes dry makes the best tinder. I keep several small plastic bags of it my survival pouch and pockets of the coats I wear when afield with the knife.

 

[longbow50]

Nice kit. Good looking knife and a good job on the sheath too.

Here's mine. Not pictured is the bottle of water purification tablets that also fits into the sheath pouch. I used to have shelter on the sheath as well as paracord, but found it too bulky so carry it in my pocket now.

 

[RifRaf]

Longbow:

Nice blade and kit. Very compact! With your knife-based rig, your time spent in the woods would be more comfortable than with mine.

I decided to create my survival kit as individual components. That way I can add/subtract components, as I believe a situation might dictate.

The knife, fire starting gear and sharpener are one kit. Water purification is a separate kit, emergency fishing kit another, medical another, emergency signaling and direction finding another and so forth. Except for the knife kit, everything I always take fits inside a small zipper pouch that fits in my jacket pocket. The only duplicate gear is fire starting, as I have another kit including tinder in the pouch.

The pouch with individual kits plus knife kit fit inside a larger waterproof pouch (10”x8”x4”) with a shoulder strap, which is where I also store everything. The shoulder pouch is very lightweight and has plenty of extra space for other components, which can be added for special survival situations.

My current survival kit actually started out too many years ago as a hunting survival kit (the smaller pouch still goes in my hunting coat). My father helped me assemble my first kit and made sure I knew how to use it. He also made sure it was in my pocket before I was allowed to wander into the woods (I was always the last one out of the woods, usually, showing up in deer camp well after total darkness). I avoided a lot of cooking duties but always ended up on KP, LOL

 

[TT2Toes]

RifRaf:
You mention the cotton lint for fire starting. Assuming your collecting this from the family clothes dryer, you may get a mix of synthetic fibers too. This is not as good as just pure cotton.

Might I suggest getting 100% cotton balls from a Pharmacy, then rub just a tiny bit of Vaseline petroleum jelly into the cotton. This will catch your spark and burn longer, due to the petroleum jelly, so you have more time to add tinder. This was a trick Dr. Ron Hood taught us on during a week long wilderness survival course.

Ron used to have the contents list for his mini-survival kit at his website. You might check there too, for some ideas or to confirm what you have selected. WWW.Survival.com

The Lauri knife blades are really nice, and sharp. I bought a stainless Lauri blank from Dennis too, and made the utility knife below. The drawback on the hidden tang blades is that you can't pry with them, else you will bend or break the blade at the handle. Normally, you don't have to use a knife for prying, but for survival you may be more likely to. For this reason, I stick with full tang blades for survival applications.

Just some thoughts.
TT2Toes

 

[longbow50]

I do like my comfort. Am getting on in age and have needs that you younger folks just don't see yet, but hopefully you will someday, lol.

The knife rarely gets worn around here. It's illegal to hide (even in a bag or duffle) a fixed blade knife. They have to be worn on the belt and in plain view, but when it's done around here, the paranoid and frightened local hikers get on their cell phones and call the sheriff, so it's best just to leave it home. My main kit is a multi-pocketed travelers vest in O.D. and the blade I carry with it is a CRKT Apache II folder with ATS 34 steel. If I'm in the wilderness where I can carry my belt knife without hassle, the small sheath kit only backs up what my vest offers. Since this photo was taken, I've made some adjustments to the vest as far as items included and distribution, but for the most part, this is it and it's tolerated a lot better on the trail than the knife is, lol.

 

[RifRaf]

TT2Toes: Thanks for the heads up on dryer lint. I only use lint left from drying 100% cotton towels for the very reason you point out. In my “pouch”, I do have impregnated cotton balls and a medical kit that includes Neosporin, which I can use as an accelerant in a pinch.

I have one other thing in my kit I’ve not seem mentioned by anyone else, a small tube of gelled fire starter. It appears to be very stable, does not evaporate in a sealed container and works great with the fire steel.

Re the hidden tang knife and prying...I again agree. I chose the Lauri bladed Puukko for the all the reasons I cited previously, and one more, its size. It is small enough to fit in my pocket. I do not have a fixed blade integral of a size and blade design that meets my criteria for a survival knife. I have a Greco that would work as a survival knife but it is just a tad larger than I want. I think I will make acquiring/handling a suitable survival knife my next project.

By the way, I really like your Lauri!

Longbow50: I like your vest concept. Like you I’m getting a little “long in the tooth”, I understand your “age” excuse me, “experience” related extras. If your moniker is an indication of your age, I have a few years on you. I like wearing a vest too. If I’m not wearing a vest on my treks, I’m probably wearing a coat with a lot of pockets.

I’ll try and post a photo of my survival kit in a few days. Keep the dialogue going. I’m always picking up new ideas.

 

[longbow50]

TT2Toes, sorry, I meant to comment on your knife. Very nice job you did on it. Thanks for sharing it.

RifRaf, yep that why I post my kits like I do. I'm hoping that it'll get others posting theirs and I can learn from them as well and do some more adjusting.

 

[RifRaf]

Finally, found time to take a photo of my basic survival kit. Everything, except the fixed blade knife, fits in a pocket sized 6”x 5”x 2.5” zippered vinyl pouch. The small pouch including the fixed blade knife fits in a larger water resistant pouch with shoulder strap (10.5”x 8”x 3.75”). Plenty of room in the larger pouch for other things like emergency blanket, larger flashlight, energy bars, larger knife, topographical map etc.

Contents: top to bottom and left to right.

Kabar pocketknife
Lauri fixed blade knife including ferrocerium stick, striker and sharpener
Leatherman mini-tool
Teflon floss
Fishing kit: (25 yds. Mono line, 25 yds. Nylon line, various weight sinkers, various size hooks, small corks, plastic worms, flies and a couple small swivels)
Marbles compass on a nylon lanyard
Wax impregnated cotton fire starters
Band-aids
800 Mg. Motrin
Betadine solution for water purification and as antiseptic
Ascorbic acid to neutralize the iodine taste in purified water
20 ft. of paracord
Ferrocerium fire starter and striker
Strike anywhere matches
Cotton lint and tow
Gelled fire starter

After I took the picture, put the camera away and starting repacking the small vinyl pouch I discovered I forgot to include the following items from the basic kit in the picture:

Storm whistle
Small signal mirror
Photon Light
(2) 1 Qt plastic bags- for water purification

I set the above items off to one side when I was arranging the photo, then threw the pouch on top of them. Duh!

After creating this inventory, I decided to add the following to the basic kit:

Two sewing needles for emergency clothing repair
A piece of chartreuse colored yarn & spawn sac wrapping line to the fishing kit
Suture needle and thread for emergency skin repair
Several differently size safety pins

 

[glocker21]

Great Kit Rif Raf...pretty inclusive

 

[longbow50]

Great kit. Compact and to the point.

 

[RifRaf]

Thanks guys!

I'm always learniing so any/all suggestions are encouraged.

Since posting the photo, it occured to me I need to add some wire for snare making...I think I can squeeeeeze it into the small pouch.

It seems I'm always thinking of something else to add. Do you guys have the same problem?

 

[longbow50]

Everytime I look at one of my kits I think of something else I'd like to improve on. Hoping to get a cool solid brass match case with compass in the lid for Christmas, lol.

 

[RifRaf]

Longbow50: The brass match case with compass sounds really neat! Where did you find it?

 

[longbow50]

Cabelas has them. One is solid brass and the other is black anodized aluminum. The don't show them in their hard copy catalog, but if you go into their site and do a search for compass, you'll find them. I havn't held one yet, but I figure that I should be able to get a couple of pieces of tender in with the matches.