Critique my PSK please

First attempt, came out to be a whopping 40 oz. This is a backpack kit that will complement what I always carry on me, which include but not limited to knives, multitools, flashlights etc.

1st row: ziplock bags, hockey tape, 20 ft paracord, carabiner, diamond sharpener, LED light, pencil, tealights, spork, ducttape with a 2" firesteel core, storm match with 25ft fishing line, compass and brass wire, 3 trioxane tabs,

2nd row: strike anywhere match dipped in wax, 10 yd dental floss, needles, some pills, water purification tabs, bandaid, ethanol swipes, fishing hooks/leaders/jigs, glass signal mirror, fox 40 (storm whistle turned out to be too big to fit).

3rd row: keychain LED light, mag block and 3 utility knife blades, paperclips, fatwood, spare battery for LED light, Vic OHT, head net, AMK heatsheet blanket, tyvek paper, aluminum foil.

All inside a orange 1st aid bag, a bit misleading perhaps but it's the only bag that fits. Original plan was a SS lunchbox but that was a tad too small. So I'll have a SS water bottle instead.

Lemme know what you think, and what need to be added/removed.

Very nice kit. I like fire, so if it were mine, I would add a Bic lighter. Where you live you shouldn't need to pack fatwood, you have pine pitchwood and birchbark. I suggest that you replace the fatwood with cotton balls smudged with vaseline. You could start those with your firesteel stick. Is this a summer kit? If not, how will you melt snow for water? Just one man's opinion......... Have fun tweaking your kit. I am several years into that myself, and still changing it often.

Seems to me like you have the basics covered. A lot depends on the situation/s and location/s your designing your kit for.

Yeah melt snow is a problem, that's why my original plan was using a stainless lunch box, but that was too small. My thinking is since it'll be in a backpack, a stainless water bottle will accompany it.

The fishing stuff I have is plucked out of my tackle bag, 20lb fireline, scented jig, assorted hooks and leaders, I think it beats any ready made survival fishing kit.

Good idea on the loaf pan, going to find one tomorrow.

Is this the one? I know my stuff is better than what's in that kit.

http://bepreparedtosurvive.com/Survival%20Kits.htm (scroll down)

You have both hockey tape and duct tape? If you want to cut down on something, one kind of tape will probably do. Or maybe not, you may have something specific in mind - tell us

I'd added a lighter and some petroleum jelly cotton balls.

I prefer bivy bags ("space bags") rather than so-called "heat sheet". One particular important use of the sheet is to wrap it around yourself, seeking that shape which is perfected in - a bag
A bag can be converted to a sheet in less than 10 seconds with that knife of yours, but converting a sheet to a bag is plain frustrating. But a bag is bigger, and may not fit the PSK constraint. Consider bringing one in your backpack along with your water bottle - it will be a huge comfort and safety improvement. AMK's Thermo-Lite 2 Emergency Bivvy Sack weighs 7 oz and is pretty popular. The heat sheet will then be a "last ditch" option as well as a handy multi-use item: Snug inside your bivy bag and use the heet sheet as a fire reflector or waterproof lean-to. Voila, your survival mishap has just turned into an involuntary uncomfortable camping experience...

Blisters: Add something for 'em. You can sneak in some Compeed blister pads. Or use sports tape. I don't know if duct tape or hockey tape works on blisters, but you would want to know before you need it.

Good thinking on the spare battery for the LED lamp! If you use that light on a regular basis the battery will be drained when you need it. Or the light may switch on inside your pack. But do you have the tools to switch battery?

The AMK bivy bag was quite big, too big to fit into my PSK so I have to go with their emergency blanket instead.

I don't know how different hockey tape is from sports tape, but they sounds similar. It's a thin fabric tape that's soft and flexible (not stretchable), water resistant, stick to skin quite well, add traction to stuff, overall quite a few uses. But I probably don't need the whole roll, so maybe I can make a smaller one.

The spare cell is actually for the light in 1st row so no tools needed.

To save money, I would get rid of the Strike anywhere and go with some storm proof matches tucked inside a Waterproof Plastic Match container from Wally-World for $1 and Cut a piece off the striker and stick it to the inside of the lid (its adhesive on one side) and tuck your tinder and other materials in there too. I can mail you some Storm proof matches if you do not want to pay the shipping charges!

I agree with Mostly. The bags are so much better! Unless there is no wind in your area or 3 MPH at the most, the bag will do SO much more than the blanket because... well try it with a box fan! its not easy!

Nice kit overall, I would use a PSP or tin as a Base, thats what i did! Thanks Paramedic Pete <-- if you ever find this guy online.. He can help you out ALOT! Buddy him too!

To be honest, you could probably dump the spare battery. Simply because, if you keep up on your kit maintenance, the battery should be good. And, its used intermittently-moving at night, unless you absolutely have to, in a survival situation, can put you in more danger than you already are. I dont carry spare batteries in any of my kits-its a personal choice of mine, I thought I would pass along.
Also, I echo the comment on the tape-stick with quality duct tape-no need to carry both. If you're concerned about using the medi-tape for medical stuff-many folks on here, including myself, can attest that duct tape and a piece of T shirt can double as a bandage. Duct tape is included in most manufactured kits for a reason .
I would suggest a SAK with a saw blade, and toss the razor blades. I see that you have an SAK OHT-I will be honest, I have no clue what that is. A rule of thumb though-minimize what you carry, and maximize its usage. IF you can get one tool that does several jobs, use that. A SAK with a saw blade is your knife, saw, and whatever other tools it comes with. SAKs are great to pack-multitools are the rage now, but a good quality SAK is a great tool to throw in a kit.
I LOVE the mosquito headnet. Thats something I need to pack in mine!
Overall, I think your kit is great. The fun part is tweaking-I have been doing that for YEARS, and still am not satisfied with what I have

oldsoldier, OHT is the abbreviation for the VIctorinox One Hand Treker, which does have a wood saw (it's a liner lock to boot too).

Thanks! I cannot look at them, as most of those sites are blocked at work

I'd carry more meds, drop the hockey tape, add 3 food bars. ( and for me sunglasses or spare glasses/ contacts) Flagging tape?

Here try this.

Agreed, but you are already relying on things outside the PSK (the stainless steel water bottle in your pack, remember?). I suggest adding the AMK bivy bag or equivalent to your pack as well.

But for all I know that pack may already have a tent inside - in which case the bivy bag is just dead weight. But for day hikes a lightweight bivy bag is a great asset.

Myself, I carry a bivy bag three times the weight of the AMK. Probably three times the packing volume as well. But my bivy bag doubles as comfort item on lots and lots of lunch breaks through the years - it splits open and can be used as a lean too or wind breaker for a whole group. A true multi purpose item, but with a weight penalty for its more robust quality: Strong fabric, good zippers and solid grommets for tying. For emergency only use I'd stick with the AMK bivy bag or the slightly bigger, but somewhat insulated "blizzard survival bag" (google and you'll find it).

Okay, I switched the hockey tape for a much smaller roll since I still would like to have some. Also added some yellow electrical tape for marking purpose. There's are space left so I stuck some hexane tabs inside too. Don't have any cotton nor vaseline, and don't want to buy a lifetime supply of them, so no petro cotton ball for now.

I have a coghlan's tube tent that will go in the backpack, I know it's crappy but don't know anything else that's as compact.

I am puzzled by the carabiner. First off, please tell me it is a climbing strength biner, and not one of those toy look-a-likes with "Do Not Use for Climbing" stamped on it. If you are going to carry one, it should be climbing strenth, some of which are extremely lightweight, albeit expensive.

If it is climbing grade, I am not sure how you plan to use it, since it is your only piece of climbing gear.

Agonizing about the carabiner is definitely quibbling. Your PSK will get you through a lot of bad stuff, but I would consider omitting the biner unless it serves some major purpose which doesn't seem to me to be very obvious.

I am open to enlightenment.

To be honest I just threw it in there because it was next to me and doesn't take up any room/weight. It's one of those "not for climbing" aluminum ones, but maybe it'll come in handy rigging up a tarp.

As for climbing gear, I have zero training in that so I'm not even going to pretend I can climb anything, and with only 20 ft of paracord it's not really enough for anything anyway.

Pretty good kit, really. Especially in the context that the OP stated, somewhere between in-pocket and in-pack.

Yes, I would add a mini-Bic. Or even a full-size Bic; the weight penalty is next to nothing. I don't like or trust kitchen matches, based on the gross failures I've seen over and over. Glad to see you have three kinds of tinder (or is that four?).

I'd suggest adding a small roll of super-sticky 1" first aid tape that will stick to skin and stay put. Apply to rub points before real trouble happens. Blisters are debilitating to both physical performance and morale.

I'd swap the paper clips for a handful of all-metal diaper pins (oversize safety pins, all metal, with a sliding lock). These are the maid of all work, even to the point of improvising clothing.

IMO stay with the Heatsheet you have (esp. if it's the 1-2 person size). It's much more versatile, and you can control moisture/ventilation. I don't like bivvy sacks, having first sweated and then frozen in one (not an AMK, but an impermeable bag is an impermeable bag).

Maybe add a dozen hard candies if you have room. Little dollops of energy to boost your morale and energy level just a bit. (Not suitable for bear country if you want the kit in your tent/shelter.)

As for the carabiner, it's perfect for a lanyard to keep any piece of essential gear (knife, multitool, kit bag, or even USB sticks) firmly attached to your person. Each bag or kit of mine has several, always.

A handkerchief is never a waste of space, if you have any left. And a 4x4 or two gives you a sterile layer between wound and improvised bandages.

A black trash bag (untreated), or hunk of black plastic can generate a surprising amount of meltwater. Not at -30C of course, but often there are microclimates that you can exploit. I've found places at -10C where I could melt water and dry my socks somewhat while wearing them.

Plus, no toilet paper? Really? Moss is okay, but spruce tips really crush morale in a hurry.

Okay, Bic mini added.



I have the 1 person one. I looked at the scale and the 1~2 person is only a foot longer but 50% more expensive, so I went with the cheaper one.

No room for toilet paper unfortunately, have enough room for small bits and pieces but that's about it.

Sweating is something you absolutely would want to avoid.

Yup, lack of ventilation is the biggest drawback of a bivy bag. Excluding excess sweating (which you try to avoid), there will always be condensation in such a bag. It will make you damp. Given enough time, it may soak your clothes completely.

And since these bags are uninsulated you just can't expect them to be anywhere near warm enough by themselves. It sure is better than without a bag - but if you want comfort you need a sleeping bag and something to insulate yourself from the ground (bough bed or ground sheet). If you want comfort for prolonged periods of time (say, more than a night), you also need a shelter with adequate ventilation and/or something to heat it with (stove or fire). Or make a big honkin' fire in front of a lean-too, but that isn't practical in all circumstances (injured or lack of suitable firewood).

The bag or a perfectly wrapped heat sheet works because

• The excess moisture will not evaporate (major cooling factor, but also a potential long term problem since your clothes will get more and more damp, possibly wet)
• The direct heat transfer from you to the air is delayed (you're warming the air inside the bag, which then heats the bag which then heats the outside air - a much slower process than you heating outside air)
• What about the manufacturers claim that it reflects 80-90% of something mysterious called "body heat" or similar? Sorry folks, the "reflects 80-90% of body heat" is a scam - it reflects 80-90% of your radiation. The reflection part is real, but heat loss due to radiation is not that important, I am guesstimating maybe 5-10% of the total heat loss from a person. If those numbers are reasonable the reflected radiation effect will reduce the over all heat loss by 4% to 9%. Significant, but the two factors above are much more important.

With a bag, you can breathe out through the hole which cuts down a lot on the moisture content. You can also experiment by making some ventilation slots - but it is a very delicate balance. Too much ventilation and you loose too much heat due to evaporation and heat transfer to air. My bag has zippers at 3 edges, so I can experiment with ventilation without cutting holes. With a sealed bag I'd try to ventilate through the main opening, not cutting ventilation slots or anything.

All those things considered, I still prefer to have the option of a bivy bag. That doesn't exclude carrying a heat sheet (which are small multi-purpose items). Trying to make a waterproof cocoon out of a flimsy heat sheet - and make it STAY that way while trying to get some rest, hydration and food - just seems to be too much of a flimsy project for me and my liking.

That being said, neither bags nor sheets will be anywhere near comfortable over the night in a cold climate. But you're much better off inside your cocoon than without one.

Considering all the changes suggested so far, I only have one.

Swap the stick tape for pad tape. It can also be used for First Aid tape, and if colored can work as flag tape.

Granted that toy biners are handy for that purpose, in a survival kit where you are concerned about weight and bulk, I ditch the biners and use an all cord, adjustable lanyard tied with a double fisherman's knot. The DF knot is formed around both sides of the loop, giving you an adjustable figure eight lanyard.

If weight and bulk are concerns, I would definitely ditch a toy biner. The carabiner police are on your case....

As a side note for carabiner use; when I used to do a lot of alpine climbing, one standard method of removing someone from a crevasse, or up a cliff, if they are unable to do so themselves, was the use of a Z line. Essentially, this is just a zig-zag of anchor points, to allow one person to be able to pull someone up via a rope. Its a pulley reduction system. Now, using the "not rated for climbing" ones I do NOT suggest using for person-rescue-but, if you had a few attached to your pack, and needed to, say, move a log, you could rig a Z line up. Again-without proper training & equipment, do NOT attempt to rescue yourself or someone else with this. Failure of the system can potentially result in death!
That being said, the system works-I also used it for high angle rescue on S&R. Again though, we knew what we were doing, and had the proper equipment. With little biners & paracord, you are limited to what you can move-but, it beats throwing your back out, if you need to move something

I'm a little confused as to the purpose of this kit - if it lives in your rucksack then it is a back up to what you already carry, and it's hard to critique without that info. It isn't stand alone

To me a PSK needs to be carried on your person - a rucksack should have all kinds of useful stuff already, the psk is for when things have gone pear-shaped and the rucksack is missing/sinking/on fire/being mauled by a grizzly :-)

Bigreddog - I am 100% with jzmtl on this one. I use my rucksack, daypack or waist pack as an extended outdoors / wilderness PSK because the pocket size kit I've been able to make will improve the odds but are severely lacking in terms of shelter and water procurement. I can cram my bivy bag, water bottle and a pouch that holds the rest (which would be the classical "PSK") into the pockets of my anorak, but the are bulging to the point of discomfort - and where do I then put my gloves / mittens? (Standard procedure: Gloves off => into anorak pockets).

Whenever I'm into the woods or mountains I carry some small pack of a kind. The typical day hike it will hold comfort items, food, snack, whatever... and my "extended PSK" items. A quick jog or skiing trip means a small pack that will contain just those PSK items (this routine is something I started with after being a member here). A camping trip means a bigger pack, with some means to carry the PSK items if I venture out to explore.

If I replace that big heavy bivy bag with an AMK bivy bag (1/3 the weight, probably a similar reduction of volume) I just might come down to a size small enough for pocket wear. Some day I'll probably test that out. In the mean time I make the decision that the risk of me being stuck without my pack is small enough for me to live with.

Quite frankly, I am somewhat allergic to the classical "survival-in-a-tin" kind of PSKs. Some fishing hooks and moisture damaged matches doesn't exactly cover my bases in the shelter department. Don't get me wrong, altoid tins or Doug Ritters PSK pouch is a great way to carry some highly practical multipurpose items. But the bulk within an altoid tin is too small that I can live with that size restriction and call it a PSK.

The purpose of this kit is not something to have on me all the time, rather something that contains the essential items for when I'm outside populated area, so I can just throw it in my backpack without having to pack all the individual items.

I live in a large city/suburban area so most of the items inside isn't useful.

Were you to include some waterless hand cleaner, it would double as a fire starter.

For something labeled "extremely flammable", setting fire to my alcohol based hand sanitizer gel was dead dull boring. Yes, it burns. But it doesn't lit easily and it doesn't burn very hot. I was unable to lit it with a fire steel, I needed open flame from a lighter. It improves quite a bit if you soak some cotton balls - but petroleum jelly cotton balls works a hundred times better.

As always, your mileage may vary, your local brand may be better and so on. Test it before you depend on it.

I use Purell hand sanitizer, 66% ethyl alcohol per the label, and it lights quite readily with a match or lighter (haven't tried a fire steel). I use it to get my Esbit tabs going. I try to be quick, because I would think the alcohol evaporates rapidly.

Isn't esbit hexamine? You can get it going use firesteel alone quite easily.

Haven't tried hand sanitizer, but coghlan's fire paste, which is some combo of ethanol and petroleum product, lights very easily with firesteel.

Hi jzmtl,

I'm from Montréal too. Where did you find the NATO storm matches?

For some ideas on winter survival kits and melting snow, check out the book "Winter Wise" by Monty Alford and his YuCan survival stove. The book is available at La Grande Bibliothèque.

François

Hi Frank, I had to mail order it from u.s., don't think I've ever seen any locally.

MEC has storm matches, I seen them on the shelf here just last week. I don't recall the brand name as I only gave them a passing glance. Next time I am in MEC (probably sometime this week) I will take a closer look.

In the meantime, you may want to call the Montreal store for more info as I did not see the matches on the website either.

I've never seen them at local MEC. I'm going to return something tomorrow and I'll look again.

Went to MEC (Longueuil), no storm match, just red bird strike anywhere. Different store seem to have different stock, at least on the little things.

One thing some people prefer over the Fox 40:



Unfortunately most people have trouble fitting an alpenhorn into their PSK.

I see. I thought it was hazmat. I found this in Canada:

http://www.survivalpro.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=723

but I didn't order them

François

Ditch the spork.

What are you going to be eating out of with it?





I like the MEC FAK packs. I have a couple myself Nice you can buy them cheap and empty.

Heh, it's really a "I got space, why not" item. And it weights nothing.