Anyone else want to play?

I know the "Altoid Tin" game has been played...let's take it down a level in size.

What's the TINIEST PSK that can have any value at all?
My entries:

The Tic-Tac Box PSK:
5 Waterproof Matches & Striker Sheet
4 Sheets of Toilet Paper (tinder)
1 Utility Knife Blade
1 .22LR Empty Casing (Whistle)
2' Duct Tape Wrapped Around Box
1 Non-Lube Condom (Water Container)

Film Canister PSK
5 Waterproof Matches & Striker Sheet
5 Sheets Toilet Paper (Tinder)
1 .22LR Empty Casing (Whistle)
2 X-Acto Knife Blades (#24)
2' Duct tape (Wrapped Around Can)
1 Non-Lube Condom (Water Container)

I have a nato lifeboat match container that i managed to cram with
1 button compass
8 lifeboat matches
2 safty pins
2 puritbs
12 foot of nylon cord ( from a venition blind)
small fishing kit consisting of 15feet 10lb test 7 small hooks and 3 lead shot
1 novalty candle (blow it out it relights)
1 2"needlle
10 foot roll of thin copper wire
the original cottonwool plug still fits in the cap and lastly 20' of that nylon "blind" cord wrapped around the container.
Now i have to re-pack it <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />
Good game <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />
Mike

How about a bison capsule with:

Mini ferro rod
Fishing bobber light
Exacto blade
Tinder Quik tab
Safety pin
Some dental floss
Sewing needle
Wrap the outside with duct tape?

I'll have to try this when I get home. Thanks, Martin. This will take my mind off of last night's Yankee game.

Years before I ever discovered ETS, I had a small zippered pouch that had been part of a key chain. In it I had a small compass, small 2'' blade knife and mini bic. It was always in the pocket when I was in the woods.

I noticed you include:

"12 foot of nylon cord ( from a venition blind)"

My wife had me working on taking down blinds one day and I noticed how stout that cord is on good blinds. I stripped all of it off and have used it, also.

Good thing to add to the list of Free and Cheap stuff to scrounge.

Cool idea. I have a Chris Reeve "Sable". At the moment, there's a spark lite, some tinder and some cash stuffed in the hollow handle. And it's not a "silly" psk... it's an iPSK Nano, thankyouverymuch. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

In the very back right side molar...

Silly or dangerous? We call it a button compass because the RAF camouflaged the things in uniform buttons. Now I've been through some silly metal detector adventures, but even the TSA doesn't hire retired luftwaffe guards- yet. PSKs are usefull because in extreme conditons you may very well have little else. A securely pocketed Altoids tin is one thing. Anything less is getting Mac Gyver cute. Unless your running around Burning Man in body paint and secrete gear in that fake molar even the word MINIMAL should be readable without a fresnel lens. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

My tiniest PSK is included in my EDC and I keep it between my ears.
<img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The best item you can have is PMA.

Positive Mental Attitude. Read "Deep Survival."

I'm trying to remember the phrase that Cody Lundin uses? It's along the same lines.

"Party on."

Maybe we could organise an annual competition for the smallest useful survival container and other forum members could judge.
Then we could add conditions like only people who have donated to ETS can enter or judge.
Another insentive for a money raising idea for ETS, and the prize could just be a hall of fame type of Web page linked from ETS home page.
Then we could have other catagories for other competitions.

Tiniest? Smaller than an Altoids tin? <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

So I am told <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

"The more you know, the less you need." From his website:

Cody Lundin's School

> Silly or dangerous?

Obviously a small kit can't do the job of a big one, but generally having something is better than nothing. If a micro-kit contains the ability to make fire and nothing else, it's still worth having, surely?

It's a while since I tried, but I remember getting quite a lot into a 35mm film cannister. A coin-cell LED torch, matches, striker, tinder, blade, some paper money, sewing needle and thread, tweezers and pen from a SAK, plastic straw. I forget whether I managed a button compass or whether I had to magnetise the sewing needle.

Probably my smallest kit at the moment is a thin money-belt. It contains some money, some plastic bags and some water treatment pills, and a tin-opener. I have it with me in the summer when wear shorts and no jacket, and I don't have room for an Altoids tin.

I also have a micro-kit that is about 1/3rd the size of an Altoids tin (it measures 2"x2"x0.75") and has: mirror, Photon Freedom, compass, ferro rod, hacksaw-blade striker, 3 TinderQuick tabs, cotton wool, scalpel blade, 3 Micropur tablets, water-proof paper, Fisher pen refill, tweezers, safety pins, 1m chord.

It would of course be better to have more. It's a compromise. The mirror is very small, but still better than the shiny tin lid. There is no container for water, but I can hope to be able to improve one on the field. A scalpel blade isn't as a good as an RSK, but it's better than teeth and nails. A button compass is no good for accurate bearings but it'll prevent me walking in circles. I originally designed this kit as a supplement to my EDC, which was weak in fire-making and water purification. My EDC has a better knife, a whistle and some other stuff.

Dave you are of course correct. I was probably obtuse, or whatever the word is for vague. I've always stressed my view that somebody who reads ETS, goes to the store and spends $20 on a box of matches, carbon steel, hickory handled kitchen knife, gallon of water and hank of utility cord is now Equipped. They have the mindset to make it. The two fallacies of deviation are folks who feel they won't until the ultimate toolkit has been assembled or this very strange reverse minimalism of .22 cartridge shell whistles. It's been saturating the various survival forums for years. Try blowing a .22 while your freezing cold shaking to death vs a big old STORM unit. I'm off to the store for more caffeine. I failed to rotate my cache properly. I dug a teabag of Earl Grey out from the bananna peels and eggshells to brew a cuppa. I have just enough chemicals in me to type this and drive over. God have mercy on any SUV that crosses me. My cat has my PSK gripped in his forepaws, lying on his back and kicking it with rear legs and biting the wrapped paracord. Silly cats broke into their entire 72 hour BOB of catnip and are stoned. I'll just slip my knife and a $1 lighter in my jeans and hope the big one doesn't hit in the next 30 minutes <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Silly? Not at all- it is the last ditch items. You have to evac and the only way out is through rising flood water (you are at the high point in the middle of the flood plain), and you loose your BOB and full sized PSK during the fording. With this stashed someplace discrete, you still have a chance. I dont see it as much different that sticking a condom, some aluminum foil, a tiny, flat fishing kit, and sparklite in your wallet.

Has anyone ever seen the CIA's last didtch E&E kit? Knife blades, screw driver, files, etc, with a tiny wire cutter/handle that fit in a 4" long, 1" dia capsule with rounded ends. We won't discusse how it was intended to be concealed, but it was designed to get your butt out of a jail cell. Take out some of the duplicate items, add a ferro rod, a needle, some small hooks, a condom, a couple micropurs, and wrap the outside with fishline, some brass wire, and then duct tape, you have a very minimalist survival kit that will pass everything but prison or the TSA.

Maybe we should call this the JSK (Jockstrap Survival Kit)? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

In 1968 I put some waterproof matches, a length of nylon cord, fishing kit, snare wire, an x-acto blade and a plastic bag into a hole bored into the butt of my '06. It has been updated a bit since then but I know if I have my rifle I have a better chance than many to make it out of a situation. At the present I am working on an M6, integrating a PSK into it, to go in my BOB. It may not have everything I would like to have in it but hopefully it will have enough to get me out of a bind that I am stupid enough to get into if all I have is the rifle.

Of cats and catnip...damn that was funny...wish we could get stoned that easily and legally.

-- Craig

How 'bout this one?

nice pic. How much did you shorten the spark lite?

The very first book on survival I read some thirty years ago. It?s called ?Survival for young people? by Anthony Greenbank. I must have read it a thousand times and it still is one of my favourites. To my surprise and delight it still is available at Amazon. The author covers a range of subjects and also advises to make a full-size en mini PSK. For the mini he uses the hull from a big fountain pen.
It?s stuffed with a small blade, cut off matches in tube, magnetised needle, tape, small candle
with wire wrapped around. The space between the items is filled with nuts and sugar.
This is certainly not the most complete but it?s very portable and meets Martin?s criteria <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />