If an Altoids tin is a 'mini' tin, then this is undoubtedly a 'micro' tin! I found it at my local Kroger supermarket tonight, next to the regular Altoids. It's a Kroger brand Altoids knockoff, brand labeled 'Cool Ice'. The tin is approximately 2-5/16" long x 1-9/16" deep x 9/16" tall, though the top is domed and rises to approximately 3/4" tall towards the middle of the hinged lid. It's slightly less than half the size of an Altoids.

Now if I can only figure out just how much stuff will fit in it! <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hi Tom,
Here's a photo of the three current Altoids tins:


I made a micro kit out of the Tiny Tin once. It was mainly an exercise in creating a "supplement" to my Every Day Carry gear. Since I didn't need to put into the kit any of the items I already carried as part of my EDC, I could use a much smaller tin. (i.e. I have a Photon "Micro-Lite II" and an Acme "Tornado" whistle on my keyring, so I didn't need to put either in this tin. I always carry a Fisher "Bullet Pen" in my back pocket, so I don't need to include a pen refill or pencil either. Etc.)
Obviously, it was a quite limited kit, and was never intended to stand alone. Not only did it have redundancy only in the fire starting area, but it didn't have any water gathering tools, couldn't carry a mirror for being too small and had many other such limitations. But I knew that I could put a mirror on a lanyard around my neck and inside my shirt, drop this Micro PSK supplement in my pocket and be far better equipped for going out of doors in fairly civilized areas like the Dallas Nature Center, where my girlfriend and I would often lead newbies & tourists on "night hikes" along their trails. The main thing was that it was small enough I could easily carry it for EDC if I chose.

Er, okay, no not really... the real main thing was that I just wanted to make a kit in an Altoid's Tiny Tin. <img src="images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />


Later, I found a tin that sounds (and measures out) much like the one you describe, including the slighly domed lid. It was from Walgreens, and contained mints (of course). The slightly larger size was just what I needed to squeeze in a couple more items I wanted to include. Here is a page with images of how I packed it. Beware; it's image intensive!

Have a good time figuring out how you want to pack yours!
Stay safe,
J.T.

I made a micro kit out of a tin that sounds like what you are discribing. Pro survival kit also sells one here. I just noticed that they no longer sell the belt survival kit. Shame

Jet,
Great work on the mini kit! The link to the assembly was great as well! I'm inspired. Just a couple thoughts... You have needles but no thread. You may be planning on using the inner strands of the 550 cord. In a pinch, you could use a zip tie to secure the wire saw to a branch, etc. and use it as a snare. No bandaids? You probably have them elsewhere.
Overall, great supplemental kit. Thanks for sharing.

Have you had any trouble with the birthday candle melting? Here in south Louisiana carrying candles in a tin, in your pocket is asking for a mess.

Great job.
--Luke

Hi Luke,
Thanks. I appreciate the kind words.
The paracord can be dissected for "thread" and I can use the braided Dacron line wrapped around the kit. It fits through the eyes of the needles. It's too small a kit to worry about food, so yeah, I wasn't thinking about a snare, but the saw? Hmm... interesting idea. You're right about the bandaids. I keep my FAK supplies separate and not wrapped up. I want to encourage myself to use them while discouraging myself from dipping into survival gear. I haven't had any problem with the candle melting, but, living in Texas as I do, I never leave it in a car or anywhere else. It's on my person or it's on a shelf in my home. So far, so good...
Thanks again.
Stay safe,
J.T.

You might also look at getting some of the really, really small zip-close plastic bags sold by the C.L. Morgan company. They sent me a “sample pack” for free. I was amazed at how small some of the bags were, and promptly used them to segregate some of the potentially messy items in my PSK. Here is the link: C L Morgan Co.

Good grief! Thanks for the link, Maggot; that's amazing!
Stay safe,
J.T.