Eric’s Kit

I would like to apologize ahead of time for the poor photography. I
just received the digital cam from my friend today. I was not
familiar with its operation/characteristics. I took many pictures of
everything so it would be clear (as clear as I could get them).
Also, I do not know how to make the links smaller, so this is how
they are. Sorry again. Hope you enjoy the kit, though.
Eric; )

I will post a link to each picture and go through and describe its
contents. You may want to use the right click and "open in new
window" feature for the pictures so you can look at what I’m
describing as you read it. This should help for clarification.

In this picture, you see the kit packed and ready to be put in the
sheath pouch along with 100 feet of real (seven strand) parachute
cord.

The paracord can be used for shelter making, both as a support when
tied between two trees, and for lashing logs/branches together when
forming a shelter out of these materials. It can be used for holding
splints in place, making a sling, hanging food out of the way of
animals, etc. The inner strands can be used for thread for sewing
repairs and making new clothing, for dental floss, for lashing arrow
heads and fletching to a shaft, for fishing, etc. It can be used for
anything heavy thread/string is use for.

The kit itself consists of a Lansky Crock Stick, an Altoids tin, a
mini neck kit, and a latex glove wrapped in gauze, and several ranger
bands.

The Crock Stick can be used for sharpening the knife, fish hooks,
razor blade, and as a very light file.

The latex glove is meant to be used as a water carrier with the
iodine inside used for purification.

The two kits will be explained in detail later.

This is the neck kit. It is constructed of a bicycle inner tube with
one end folded over and two grommets through it. The other end has
two small snaps to keep it secured. It does not fold at the opening,
but lower, so there is better water resistance. There is a stainless
steel bead chain through the grommets to wear around the neck if the
need arises. It is meant to be worn separately in the event that
something happens to the main kit in the knife sheath and/or the
knife itself. Virtually everything in here is found in the larger
kit, this is for the sake of redundancy and contains the absolute
bare essentials.

This is a photograph of the neck kit’s contents. It contains:

1. A small dropper of iodine tincture. It holds 100-110 drops, good
for 8-10 quarts of water purification. It can also be used to
disinfect wounds. This is to be replaced by Potassium Permagnate as
soon as I acquire some.

2. A condom wrapped in vet wrap. The condom is to be used as a water
container. The vet wrap is there only to protect the condom from
punctures/abrasions.

3. A P-38 can opener. This little tool can be used as a screw
driver, an orange peeler (can be used to slit bark from trees to aid
in peeling it off for cordage/insect gathering/moisture [water]
procurement) It can be used as an emergency knife for tasks not
requiring a very fine edge, such as splitting arrow shafts, etc.
And, of course, to open cans.

4. That little dot is the cap from a mechanical pencil (genuine USGI
skilcraft); it can be used as a whistle when blown across for
signaling rescuers/searchers.

5. Hoods Woods ferrocerium rod. Used for throwing a spark into
suitable tinder to start a fire.

6. Hacksaw blade. Used for making notches in figure four traps,
arrows, etc. A portion of the back is sharpened extremely sharp for
striking the ferro rod. This small portion can also be used for
skinning/gutting small game and other minor cutting tasks.

7. Small spool of fishing line, 6 lb. test. To be used for fishing,
lashing, sewing, etc. Same basic uses as the paracord strands.

8. That little blob below the fishing line is a length of line with 3
small and two medium sinkers on it.

9. Fish hooks, two small, two medium. Can be used for fishing,
catching birds and other small game with the right bait.

10. Safety pins. Can be used same as fishing hooks,
emergency/temporary repairs to clothing.

11. Six petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls. To be used for tinder
for fire starting. The PJ can also be used as a lubricant.

12. One small roll of water proof medical tape. Can be used for
minor wounds and repairs to equipment (the pouch, I guess. I’m
assuming if you’re here, you have no equipment left).

That’s my mini neck kit. Food, water, fire.

This is the main kit packed.

Ranger bands, latex glove/gauze, sharpener, Altoids tin, as described
above. There is a hunk of aluminum foil that will be described
later, and an approximately two-foot length of clear plastic tubing.

The tubing is meant to be used for water collection where there is a
pool of water that is very shallow or for getting water out of a spot
that has a lot of garbage on the top or bottom (basically, water that
you want to avoid stirring up as much as possible). This can be
pushed gently into the water to fill it, and then carefully led
downhill from the source and unplugged to act as a siphon. A piece
of fabric can be put over one or both ends to act as a sediment/gunk
filter.

This is a picture of an aluminum foil pan (the kind you buy to roast
turkey etc. in and then throw away when done). The picture is of one
pan that has had the reinforcing rim cut off and then folded and
flattened (with a mallet). I folded it and cut it in half so it
would pack better. The one on the left is of the half completely
folded, the one on the right is identical to the other, after having
been folded and then unfolded. It can be used as a small pan for
cooking in, boiling water, etc. It can be fashioned into a cup/bail
for collecting water and drinking out of or for bathing (rinsing).
It can be used to dig in very soft sand. The edges are even suitable
as a make shift knife. It is stiff/sharp enough to slice open small
game such as fish, birds and squirrels. Both of these halves will be
packed around the Altoids tin when finished, although the original
pic shows only one.

This is a picture of the full contents of the kit. Each component
will be described below with an individual picture. (I know, it’s
grueling).

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER…

This is a picture of a pencil stub from a carpenters pencil about 2
1/4 inches long and three pieces of Storm Saf (waterproof) paper
4 3/4" X 3". Used for making notes, leaving a letter to potential
rescuers (even though you’re not supposed to move), etc. The pencil
can be shaved for dry tinder.

This (very poor) picture is of a 3/4" diameter liquid filled compass
and two rare earth magnets. The compass is to be used for direction
finding. The magnets are a redundant backup to the compass. They’re
nearly impossible to de-magnetize. They are Neodymium Iron Boron
magnets (the strongest non-super conducting magnets available). The
magnets both have their north-pointing ends painted red with nail
polish, and then a clear coat of polish over the whole thing. They
can be suspended from a piece of string, fishing line, long blade of
grass, etc, just by letting them grip on either side. Red points
north. They can also be used to magnetize a needle or other long
piece of metal to construct a makeshift compass. They are good for
holding small things such as safety pins, needles, etc, in the tin.

Tape…one roll of waterproof medical tape, one of duct tape. For
taping. Repairs to clothing, leaks in water containers, minor cuts,
etc. The duct tape can be placed on a plant where a lot of bugs hang
out and used as a sort of fly paper for collecting bait/small protein
snacks.

This picture is of one large awl needle that has two smaller needles
taped to it. There are six small safety pins and two large ones.
The small ones can be used for fishing, emergency repairs to
clothing, etc. Also usable for procuring rodents, etc, when used to
make a gig hook with snare wire.

This picture contains snare wire, fishing line, fishing hooks,
sinkers/swivels, and the same safety pins mentioned above (they apply
here, too).

Wire can be used for snaring animals, lashing arrowheads, large hook
to pole (explained later), etc. It can be used in place of fishing
line when hooking animals with teeth.

Hooks: explained above.

Sinkers, swivels: used for fishing. The sinkers are tin (non toxic),
so they can be pinched and undone with the teeth.

Fishing line: Can be used for fishing, birding, sewing, etc.
Lashing arrows…as mentioned above.

Tweezers and P-38

The tweezers are for tweezing (in case you wanna’ pluck your eye
brows out there), removing ticks, splinters, etc. Can be used for
delicate tasks such as hooking small bait.

The P-38 is explained above under neck kit.

Small dropper of iodine and two condoms. Same use as mini neck kit.
The condoms are wrapped in gauze instead of vet wrap. Gauze can be
used for small scrapes, cuts, etc.

Signaling:
Inside of tin lid can be used to reflect sunlight toward
aircraft/ships to get attention.

The little dot next to the tin is another pencil cap. Same as above
in mini neck kit.

FIRE!!!

This picture contains a small tin filled with cotton balls soaked in
petroleum jelly, several ranger bands, a ferrocerium rod, two hacksaw
blades, and a razor blade.

The tin is to keep the cotton balls dry in the even that the tin is
submerged and water gets in. (It will have a couple turns of duct
tape around it when finally packed).

The ranger bands, cotton balls, ferro rod, and hacksaw blades have
been explained above.

The hacksaw blades here are two different tooth counts. The blue one
is 24 teeth per inch, the red one 18. The red one cuts wood quite a
bit faster than the blue. The blue could be used for light metal
cutting and some wood. Both are sharpened on the back for striking
and as an emergency knife.

The razor blade is for small cutting such as opening fish, removing
splinters, whittling fuzz sticks, and other minor tasks.

WHEW!!!! Sorry that took so long. I wanted to make sure I explained
everything as clearly as possible. Thanks for bearing with me. This
last pic is just everything laid out together, save for the parachute
cord.

If it is decided that the paracord will not be allowed to be wrapped
around the sheath, just disregard it.

Thanks for looking, hope you learned something and liked my kit.

Eric

Addition…

There is a large salt water hook (size 8/0) in the kit that I somehow
left out of the individual food procurement picture. It can be seen
by clicking the following link. It has a small nail taped to the
shaft for attaching it to a staff. It would also be lashed on at the
hooked end with twine or snare wire. This is to be used as a hook
for hooking small game or medium sized birds. It has a small piece
of clear plastic tubing on the end to protect it from dulling and the
contents of the kit and your hands from getting stabbed. The hook is
about exactly three inches long.

Eric