I think that most PSk's have too many items, many of which are irrelevant to the typical survival situation. Most survival situations last from 3-5 days, and the main strategy should be to await rescue, assuming someone who cares knows of your whereabouts. Be prepared to administer life-saving first aid (stopping bleeding, etc.), and be able to signal your position. Food aqcuisition should not be a priority, and for me, is completely left out of my PSK, as I will not starve in 3 to 5 days, and I know I can find something edible (weeds, grubs, etc.) if I have to stave of a few hunger pangs.
The point being that a PSK is just that, not a wilderness living kit, or an ultralight camping kit. Be prepared with knowledge and ingenuity first, and leave the fishing kit and the machete and the raft making-supplies for the expedition kit.
Anyway, you should be getting the point that less is more! Be smart about what to include in your kit, but don't jeopardize your best tool, your brain, with an overwhelming assortment of stuff you won't need. A false sense of security can get you into more trouble than its worth.

Totally agree with you. When I first started making kits, i had a ton of useless stuff in them. But i changed them around and i have a wealth of knowledge now, and my kits are way better than they ever were.

Doug Ritters psk has all the essentials you need and nothing useless, at least thats the way i see it.

His kit is small, and while I wouldn't call anything useless, I don't really see a need for a sewing kit or a scalpel for that matter. If I'm going to include a knife in my PSK, it will be one that has a positive grip, so I don't cut myself when wet and cold. Anyhow, for a PSK, life-saving first aid, signalling, fire, and staying dry take precedence over any knife. Remember that most survival situations are 3-5 day waiting games, not wilderness expeditions. The idea should simply be to sit tight, stay warm and try not go nuts, while awaiting rescue. Save the hiking, fishing, rabbit hunting, navigating, and river crossing supplies for the wilderness expedition pack. A PSK should only be designed to get you back to civilization alive when an unanticipated survival situation arises. If it is bigger than just that, it might be left behind.

A survival situation by definition means a cessation of normal routine and the support mechanism of daily existence. Part of that normal routine for people assembling PSKs is a PRECONCEIVED idea of that very survival situation. It is 'comforting' to know most end in 72 hours. And for some people it plays like a script as neat as the drawings of a brush shelter; I will use the STOP acronym, build my 3 fires and debri shelter and wait for rescue. Well O.K. well and good, but you've torn your trousers badly. I suppose the horrific wieght penalty of those needles and thread makes sense as your 'credentials' are subjected to the elements. The Inuit say the two most important survival items are a knife and a sewing kit. In all the documentaries on Inuit I have yet to see one with his 'credentials' ever hanging out. PSK items by definition are the bare minimum to fullfill most POSSIBLE survival needs- no more no less. It's that less that gets people into trouble. Much is made of your best tool being your 'brain.' Yet another well known instructor has pointed out The mindset that gets people into these situations is very different from that required to get out of them. I'd rather shlep my horribly heavy twin tins around and never use 90% of the kit in a wreck than stand there like an idiot with my knife while those 'credentials' suffer frostbite.The unforeseen use of my knife then is to horrible to discuss in this family friendly forum. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You beat me to it... I was going to respond that a needle, thread and scalpel blade take virtually no space and add so little weight as to be nearly impossible to detect. Why NOT take them with you?

That logic fails IMO

Too many items? When I decided on a size I'd be willing to carry around, my goal from there on is not to get it as empty as possible, but to get it as _full_ as possible, so long as the basics are covered. Sure, there are quite a few things in my tin that I may not need, that may be considered luxury items. A few fishing parts, some safety pins, and so forth... but so what? Many of these items take up almost no room and just about all of them would be difficult to make a field expedient substitute for if I did find myself in need of them.

Having a kit with tons of items in it does not imply that one is lacking in the knowledge department, nor does having a spartan kit imply someone is skilled enough that he or she does not need anything more.

There is a time when your PSK is packed with too many items: when you're not willing to carry it.
Other than that, more power to you if you can squeeze something else in there that might prove useful, so long as you have the basics covered.

In conceiving and advising regarding PSKs over the years I've had some guiding questions/principles:
- what is my size and weight optimum for assured carry?
- what will aid rescue?
- include everything (at my 'weight point') needed to assist survival
- include nothing not needed to assist survival
- stress items for which there is little hope of field expedient

Your reference to the Inuit is germane. When thinking survival I have asked myself, "What were the first items that Indigenous Peoples traded for when Europeans arrived?" This gives some clear direction about items one might need/want when living on your own shank. Knife and needles were some of the first items. Hard to make good ones in the boonies! Big and little needles and two sizes of thread are in my kit. May need a suture! <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

As was pointed out before suturing in the field may not be a good idea. Better use wound closure strips or Crazy glue.
See the What's the best size suture for a PSK FAK thread

My PSK is not strictly a survival kit per se, it is also a "wilderness utility kit". I totally agree with your original post, and if survival is your only goal, you can go with a lot less items in favor of bleeding first aid, etc.

However, my kit has zip-ties, a small pencil and paper, some duct tape, paracord... sometimes the line between a pure "PSK" and a PSK-utility kit hybrid is difficult to draw. But what I wanted in my kit in the first place, were some utility items and things for those situations where you go "gee... I wish I had a bit of ______ handy".

That makes perfect sense--for your situation, not mine. For example, where I hunt there are innumerable small lakes and ponds that are sometimes teeming with smallish trout. It would be foolish of me not to include some small way of taking advantage of that. I don't know, maybe carrying a machete makes perfect sense in the Everglades. Maybe somebody living in the bayou might need to make a raft, who knows? Once size fits all just doesn't work in a country--and world--as vast and diverse as this.