Hello All,
Does anyone know where I can obtain an ounce or two of resublimated iodine crystals? I'd like to have then for water purification kits.
Thanks,
Kixonrt66

I'm going to hope that these are what you are looking for...

Yes Polar Pure is what you are looking for.
But check out Katadyn MP1 or Aqua Mira tablets / liquid.
These products are chlorine dioxide based and kill Cryptosporidia (iodine does not) and leaves no taste or color; these products are superior to any iodine product.

Hello OBG,
These are close but not exactly what I'm talking about. The genuine crystals are what the special forces use in the jungle wher you might encounter any number of harmful pathogens. I understand that they are hard to find because they are also used in the manufacture of certain illicit drugs. The Crystals I am looking for used to be available at any chemical supply. They are called resublimated iodine crystals.
Thanks for the help!
Kix

Thanks Billy,
I didn't know that about polar pure. I'll have to try it out.
Kix

Uhmm... I'd ask you to site your source. I ask because everyone I know carries a filter as their main item, with chlorine dioxide TABLETS as back up. I only point that out because most of my friends from my childhood joined the military and went the special missions path, and they all give me funny looks because I still use iodine tablets, but crypto isn't an issue around me.

It sounds like what you want is iodine crystals so you can make your own version of a Polar Pure. You can buy them from any chemical supply house, but why bother? You aren't going to be able to buy the small quantity you need from a chem house. So you need to buy and ship a LOT more of a fairly dangerous corosive biocide than you need, then you need to store the leftovers. It's going to be more cost efficient to go with something like Polar Pure.

Have you read the MSDS on iodine? You will need a way to filter the crystals out- in low concentrations, perfectly safe. Injesting macroscopic crystals will give you a new definition of pain. If you were to accidentally swallow them, IF you don't burn holes in your GI tract, you will kill every bit of gut fauna you own. In the concentration that is used in Polar Pure, the crystals scar the hell out of most metals- think about what that means for your insides.

www.hollowtop.com used to sell resublimated iodine crystals that they made themselves.

The military developed what is known to us as the MSR Miox purifier.

But stick with MP1 or Aqua Mira tablets.

Astute Observations Iron Raven!
I do have a sweetwater filter that I routinely use on backpacking trips, but this is New Mexico and Colorado I'm talking about. If it weren't for animal bourne giardia and crypto this mountain stream water would be a thousand times cleaner than most tap water in major cities. I need something that doesn't take up much room and I want to be prepared for that brown swamp sludge water source if necessary, so chem purification is what I'm after. I am aware of the dangers of Iodine, I mean they don't put a skull and crossbones on the bottle just for fun. Actually, I use a concentrated form of Iodine combined with an ion beam in my work to etch the surface of Silicon semiconductor samples for SEM analysis. The vapor that forms in the process requires a full sash fume hood and significant PPE. Actually, regarding the sublimated Iodine I'm going on information I heard on another survival forum. The survival material I was issued in SE Asia in the 1970's included Iodine tablets, but it seemed that they went bad pretty easily, especially in humid environments. If you folks think that Polar Pure is the right stuff, I'll accept that advice. As for filters, I think they are useful for casual water use, but I'd hate to be hand pumping ten or twenty gallons at a time. I'm thinking extremes here. If my wife and I had to bug out of the city and stay lost in the back country for months at a time. I want to be prepared for this eventuality as well as a few nights lost in the bush. Your advice regarding accidental ingestion of Iodine crystals is wise information. Hiding out in the back country could be complicated as hell if you suddenly needed a trip to a non operational emergency room for gastric surgery.
Kix

Polar Pure is the closest to what you are looking for in a mobile configuration. If you are talking ten, twenty gallons at a shot, then your best bet chemically is either potassium permangenate (tricky, finicky and annoying) or bleach (stinky, but if it doesn't stink, there is still something to kill- let it air out overnight and add some vitamin C to it tommorrow). But I can't think of anyone who's done bulk purification with iodine, because of the thyroid issues that can pop up if it is used for more than a few months.

Oh, and iodine makes crypto giggle- the spores think it tickles. Chlorine dioxide, 1 micron filters and boiling will get it, in order of increasing effectiveness. Iodine was the hot stuff 40 years ago because it was that or halazone which has it's own issues, but against a heavily armoured spores (like crypto and anthrax, if you are in cattle or punk rocker country) and possibly some protozoa (nothing in North America is in that group, though), it doesn't do much. If anything, it probably contributed to our rates of dysentery during our stay in SEA because people thought it was safe rather than using boiling.

I know there are small scale purification systems, designed to be use at the village level, but I've never seen them. That might be your best bet at this kind of volume, but I don't know about portability short of a small truck. Either that, or a good fuel source, and a big pot, if you want to do 10+ gallons at a time. It might also be possible to do something like the Miox system, just bigger, but I haven't seen them.

You're supposed to be able to get them from a site that Christopher Nyerges is associated with, http://www.self-reliance.net/ogs4.html

They are supposed to be the kind that Ron Hood refers to in his survival videos.

Sue