Bill,<br>I do carry Potassium Permanganate in my PSK. In my recent post on Potassium Permanganate (sorry I have not figured out how to link this here) I discussed my understanding of the various uses for KMnO4 and ended up concluding that I would carry it...I have convinced myself that the firestarting aspects make it worth carrying. I am a Chemist so these kinds of chemical reactions are "neat". This reason really does not hold up very well in a detailed analysis, but I still carry it. <br><br>I would use it as a fallback water purification method only if ALL my other options were unavailable. The EPA link posted by Tom certainly backs this up. There are far better options with more proven efficacy for the "bugs" we should be concerned about.<br><br>I have evaluated my risks and found that Urban rather than Wilderness use for water purification is more likely. Given that I carry Potable Aqua at all times in my Vest, and have a mechanical filter and Polar Pure (saturated iodine solution) options in my larger gear collections, I do not anticipate ever having to use KMnO4 as a water purifier. I am still glad to know some of the basics of the use, however.<br><br>Immediately after last years EarthQuake in Seattle, I had to evacuate my worksite. I could not get to my car in the parking garage, and was left with just the things I normally carry. This is the type of event for which my PSK has been designed.<br><br>I like having information on the Cheat Sheet that is not just for the contents of the kit. I think that you should keep brief notes on various water purification options on the Cheat Sheet. In an Urban setting, it is likely I could find bleach, tincture of iodine, and maybe mechanical filters. It is very useful to know how many drops of whatever chemical may work as a water purification technique. Standing under the shade of your Cessna wing in the middle of the Canadian NW Territories .....hum...at least you know you could trim off this small piece of the Cheat Sheet to use for something else . <br><br>As for the Chemical Safety of KMnO4. The dry chemical does present a risk of burn, particularily to the eyes or mucus membranes. It may not be a great choice in Scouts kits for this reason. I know I had this in my Chemistry set as a kid, and had purple fingers. It may not even be available in such kits now. The risks at least need to be understood so each Scout, their parents and ScoutMaster could decide.<br><br>Good Luck<br>Randy<br>

Willie,<br><br>Maybe backing up a moment would be helpful...<br><br>I think that your PSK cheat sheet has useful information on it as-is. Consider the likely user(s) of a specific PSK and consider what, if any, useful information that person or persons would not already know, and design accordingly. For example, your main audience right now are the scouts in a Troop based in an urban area. What things are those lads likely to need to know that they do not already know? If you have covered those bases, you're right on target.<br><br>For myself, for my PSK, the primary audience (me) does not need any instructions - yours or the one I pieced to gether. But - what if I am incapacitated and with another person or persons - would they benefit from such a crib sheet? Not knowing in advance (as we assemble the PSK) who that person or persons may be, it's too unknown to give a proper answer. Then there's the skill element. "Tell, show, do..." A crib sheet satisfies the first part of that process and is the only part we can "control".<br><br>Thinking of the few-hours to 3 days situations, whatever info we can put into the kit seems prudent. Beyond that... it's tough to put all the other info in and questionable in my mind if sufficient skill could be developed fast enough to matter. No harm in putting fishing knots on the sheet - as long as more immediately needed info is covered.<br><br>In a related (I hope) vein - we seem to be somewhat complacent about urban situations - not trying to be Chicken Little or alarmist, but is there a significant role for a PSK in urban settings? Does a PSK for the unskilled or unpracticed carried in an urban situation ("daily carry") need different crib sheets than a wilderness PSK or a general purpose PSK?<br><br>Audience, environment, risk-management - things like this should shape any crib-sheets. I think yours is fine - but there's no harm in tweaking it to be "better".<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom

Bill, <br><br>Yes, I do. It took me forever to find the stuff, too. I'm reconsidering carrying it now, but given that my PSK is larger than an Altoids tin and the stuff in it rattles around anyway, I'll probably keep it in there until I need the room (my PSK isn't finished yet). Thanks to you and Tom for the info.<br><br>Take care,<br><br>Andy

I understand that in a survival situation, we may forget how to use our firestarter or how to make a knot. But, I have been thinking that instead of including 'technical' information, that I might be better off with information that is a bit more 'morale' related.<br><br>For example, in my document, I have included a section straight out of Doug Ritter's information on survival, "...No matter how bad your situation, u can be sure others have survived far worse with much less". The typo that you may have just noticed was intentional to conserve space on the document that would be included in my tin.<br><br>On four (eight total, due to front & back) accordian-style pages, I have notes from ten different sources, including Tom Brown and John Wiseman, covering subjects such as Attitude, Priorities, Fear, Panic, Injury, Determination...<br><br>Yes, I could add the 'technical' document to my PSK, but, then, there's that forever nagging issue of space. Note that I do have the STOP details taped to the outside of my tin, with the contents list on the other side.<br><br>How do people feel about which time of information to include?<br><br>