Contents of the KYAA Survival Tin
1. The Tin-- blank tin (altoids size) polished beneath the labels to a mirror finish. Remove the labels and you have reflective surface for signaling. Inside the tin is reflective tape that can be seen at night if pointed at a light source (rescue).
2. 20 inches of electrical tape-- waterproofs the contents of the kit. Use as cordage, repair electrical wires.
3. 20 feet of 110 pound test line-- Cordage. A thousand uses. Use mostly for shelter building.
4. 2 alcohol pads-- cleans wounds, accelerant for fire, inside of packaging makes a good occulsive dressing.
5. 2 anti-biotic bandaids-- will protect small wounds, slow or prevent infections.
6. 8 water purification tabs-- enough to purify 2 gallons.
7. 2 Lomotil-- anti-diarrhea medicine to ward off dehydration.
8. 2 non-lubricated, extra thick (strong) condoms-- several uses a) canteen; holds up to a gallon of water but fill it to quart size to avoid weakening; use pure tab to disinfect and a slip knot to preserve the condom for later use; helps to use a shirt or scarf to hold.
b) Makes a great life-preserver; fill with air (to about a 1 1/2 gallon size), tie it off, stuff in shirt- tie torso and arms and hang onto the shirt. Can float indefinitely. I had fun testing them. c) If you surivive use them for their intended purpose.
9. Waterproof/crushproof lighter-- Can start about 30 fires. I've run over this with my car, submerged it overnight in water, and it worked perfectly every time. It's smaller than the smallest bic lighter, but will survive armageddon. I put reflective tape around it to help find it if you somehow lost it at night. I also put a small matchbook with ten matches inside instead of the lighter. Although the lighter cost $2, the matchbook makes the whole kit so light it will actually float in the water, whereas once the lighter is in, it sinks to the bottom.
10. 4 strike anywhere matches-- robust fire starters. Second of three fire-starting methods. Need I say more?
11. Firesteel-- called 'the pup' from firesteels.com run by Ron Fontaine, the best place to purchase firesteels. This one will start hundreds of fires.
12. Cotton-- as you can see, a whole lot of it to help start fires. Anywhere there is a space in the kit, it is filled with cotton.
13. Candle-- provides 11 minutes of constant flame. Use in wet conditions in a MUST HAVE FIRE situation.
14. Bendable straw-- anytime there's an opportunity to suck fresh clean water, say after rain has collected on various surfaces, there you go. The firesteel and candle go inside the straw to better utilize the space inside the tin.
15. Flashlight-- small, dependable, and bright. Has 15 hours of useful life. Permits travel at night should conditions dictate (desert travel). Makes a great night signal by tying the string to the lanyard hole and twirling it around very fast over your head. You can also put the flashlight inside a condom, tie the condom to a string and twirl that around. The condom glows flourescent-like. The movement attracts attention.
16. Knife-- I searched long and far for this 98 cent beauty. It's a lockback, making it safer for light duty jobs (don't baton with this!). Cuts through two inch green branches easily for shelter building. To some degree you could defend yourself. Its got big enough a blade. I'd rather have this than nothing.
17. Compass-- from Stanley of London. Air filled, not water filled (won't freeze). Very accurate. Another one-buck item. Although now I get my compasses from Ron Fontaine (firesteels.com) as they are American made and quite frankly, better. Still, this one points true.
18. Ready-to-go Bobber, Hook and Line -- a yo-yo design of my own making. I took part of a wine cork, sawed out the middle and attached 15 feet of 12 pound test line, a weight and a hook. All you have to do is unhook it and carefully unravel. Find a green branch, tie the line, get some bait, and go fishing. The wine cork acts as a bobber and the line can be adjusted as needed. There's a chance you may not have fine motor skills to put something together for fishing. Not a problem here.
19. Ready-to-go lure and line-- Same deal. No muss no fuss, no bait needed.
20. 2 safety pins -- This is it for the sewing kit. Lose a button, use the safety pin. Les Stroud, in his book SURVIVE! mentioned that he only used a sewing kit one time on his many survival adventures.
I put together this kit for about $11.00. Got everything cheap because I bought in bulk. I've made about 80 of them, not to sell but to give away to students I teach at college (highest grade gets a kit), and to friends, family and such. I've had formal survival training, as I was in the Air Force and flew in planes for a living. Good instructor's, those Air Force survival dudes. They let us make our own kits before going out into the wild and mine was quite successful. I'm a Cody Lundin disciple (if you buy his books from his website, he'll sign them!) and believe a small kit like this one will keep your ass alive.
Anyone interested in test driving this kit, shoot me an email (tspearman48@hotmail.com) and I'd be glad to send you one (say the first five responses?), My only request is that you give me some feedback if it helped you or not.
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Interested in entering the Pocket Survival Kit contest? Check out the details.
First prize will receive a neo-tribal forged survival kit from Randy Church, an AR-15 Essential Parts Kit and Car Rescue Tool from Choate Machine & Tool, $50 in credit from Shelf Reliance consultant Jade Garn, a bundle of survival gear from OscarDelta & SnakeDr666, a copy of the Doom & Bloom Survival Medicine Handbook, and a $25 certificate from Paladin Press.
Second prize
will receive an AR-15 Essential Parts Kit and Car Rescue Tool from
Choate, a bundle of survival gear from OscarDelta & SnakeDr666, as
well as at least $30 worth of survival books & gear from TEOTWAWKI
Blog.
Third Prize will receive a Choate Car Rescue Tool and at least $20 worth of survival books & gear from TEOTWAWKI Blog.