Aluminum foil in a PSK

I am re-doing my re-do of the PSK again. I am wondering how much foil is really enough? So far I have gotten the following in my Altoids tin:
1 water bag (it's a portion bag like the pet store fish bags)
1 aluminum foil sheet 12 X 36
3 feet of duct tape
10 yds fishing line 8 lbs test
2 small hooks
1 large hook
1 piece of moleskin 2X3
12 half matches taped on razor blade with electrical tape
1 match striker
2 razor blades
2 large safety pins
6 medium safety pins
8 salt tablets
4 600mg Motrin
3 1X3 bandaids
1 packet neosporin
5 10mg valium
1 ferro rod and striker
1 tiny sewing kit
1 large carpet needle
1 small ink pen refill
1 dental filling kit
2 trick candles
1 ceramic knife sharpening rod from a crock stick
- cotton balls packed anywhere 3 or 4
1 small compass
1 mini bic

I was wondering if I need all that aluminum foil or if a 12X12 piece would big enough? I was also wondering how much duct tape and electrical tape is good? Did I leave anything out? I am still working on the water tablets, I am trying to figure out something to put them in safely. I carry a compass on my keys and also a compass on my Camelbak so I was thinking about leaving out the compass in the PSK but it is so small I don't know if it would make a difference. I had a skeltonized swiss army knife in there but I think anything other than the blade is limited use and didn't want to pack all that. I carry a Kershaw with me everywhere, but everyone seems to have a blade in their PSK, would the razor blades be enough? I think I have fire covered with three different fire sources; ferro rod, matches, mini bic. Any other suggestions? I was thinking about sharpening the striker before putting it in there and then using it as a blade, or even just getting a similar sized blade and using that. I was toying with the idea of a Buck 110 blade without the handle part, but I want to save that for a sperate thread. I am trying to think of what to leave out to make room for and LED light and a whistle, but again I carry them on my keys along with a micra and a PST already and the redundancy is good but when is enough too much?

Has anybody successfully boiled water in aluminum foil yet? Particularly with a piece that's been folded up in a PSK? I tried it, and it sprung leaks all over the place.

I was thinking of it as more of a fire directional device or for signalling. I guess if I was going to boil water I would use the tin.

Actually Goatrider I have. The folding does not hurt the foil only repeated folding and unfolding will wear holes in it. The way I have found best to make a pot is to use folding tricks from origami. Makes a very solid pot.

I've boiled water successfully before with the foil in my tin. It was folded and put in the tin and taken out after some time and the water boiling experiment done. There was some leakage from the edge but was still able to boil water with it. I thought the leakage was more dure to how I folded the cooking vessel rather than the foil springing leaks over the folded edges in the tin.
Then again, I was using HD alu foil and had a 3 ply cooking vessel to experiment with.
I doubt it would survive a refolding after boiling water....

> would the razor blades be enough?

When I experimented with razor blades I decided they were a liability. Very hard to use without cutting yourself, unless you take the time to fashion a handle. Scalple blades are better.

> sharpening the striker

I like using hacksaw blades, broken to fit the tin. It's nice to think you could cut through metal if you had enough time on your hands.

> LED light and a whistle

Redundancy is arguably more important for the light than the whistle, because it's more likely to go wrong - get a flat battery, get wet, get broken, get zapped by an EMP. I think it's more important, too. If you can't see it's hard to do anything else.

I have no idea about the duct tape or foil.

Ritter PSP foil pot.

I took a piece of HD aluminum foil that was 18” x 18”. I wanted to see how I could use the Ritter PSP aluminum foil to boil water. I folded it twice. This made it have four layers. I made it into a square box. I folded the four sides up about half way to make creases. I pulled up the sides and let the corners stick out. I then rolled the foil sticking out on the corners. This made a strong, leak proof container. I then put it over an Esbit stove and boiled water in it.

Anybody have a better solution?

Thanks!

Yep. I tried making a wire supported one liter pot once, and that failed miserably, but more reasonable sizes no problem.

Still trying to figure out how to fold paper into a pot though.

As for the origional question of how much foil and duct and electircal tape enough, my answer is how much can you put into your kit without sacrificing other items?

Here's a post I made a while back: foil experiment

This is off the exact subject of your post, but I have been buying three packs of disposab;e cookie sheets, 12" x 18" overall. I cut the rolled edges off and fold them not more than once and lay them flat in the bottom fo my bag. If you lay a peice of kitchen twine in the crease, it prevents the folk from being sharp enough to fatigue the fold line, and the crease is over on the edge of my bag and out of the way. I have not had a problem with poking holes in them because all the gear in my bag is in soft containers (smooth and round).

Does anyone ROLL their aluminum foil? Wouldn't that prevent wear problems?

Sue

Not bad. I rear it will just create new ones. What are you thinking, a small diameter core that is the length of the width of the foil? I think if you folk it nd roll it it will just make it worse.

I have had marginal success with boiling in aluminum foil. As a result I do not carry it. I carry MP-1 tabs and/or a tin cup for water purification and sometimes miniature disposable aluminum baking tins (folded). Aluminum foil is great for reflecting heat though.

Roll it (unfolded) around a drinking straw? Line it up, tape it on, roll it up, tape it closed.

Sue

just curious....you mentioned light zapped by emp.........i wonder if would even effect a photon light..........and would the industry standard altoids case for a psk shield it any..........im not up to par on emp tech. nor am i trying to get too deep on this subject, but it is a curious thought though?

It's hard to be sure what would be affected by an EMP... I think the physics say that anything metal that's very thin or very long. Integrated circuits are vulnerable because they are very thin. A Photon Freedom uses ICs to control the LED and provide the dimming, and the LED itself might be vulnerable too. Earlier models might be safer (if they don't have ICs), and it might depend on how intense the pulse was locally.

I believe a standard Altoids tin would provide shielding. I see this as an advantage of metal kits over plastic pouches, and a reason to have a Photon in a tin in addition to whatever other lights you have.

Almost certainly aluminium foil could also provide shielding. If you use a plastic pouch, it might be worth completely wrapping the photon in foil if you care about EMP.