Hi Greg,
Interesting page. Here are my first responses:
First off stamp your emergency details, blood group, next of kin details and National Insurance number into one of the sides.
Gack!
Stamp this information into the tin? Er... hmm... I guess that's possible. Apparently
he's managed to pull that trick off okay... Seems like a lot of extra work. How about writing in on a little piece of paper and keeping it
inside the tin?
I like the hardware blade in lieu of a razor blade. It does seem like a far superior choice.
I like his magnifying glass. I haven't practiced near as much as I should with a fresnel lens
or a normal one, so I don't know which would be best in different amounts of sunlight, but he says he does well with it.
I think I'd go with Doug's recommended Photon Micro Lite II if possible, rather than the Sapphire Light. It's smaller and has a constant on switch.
*4. In the race to the moon a means was needed to write things down, take notes etc. The American Space Programme commissioned a think tank which spent US$1.4 million developing a pen which could write upside down, work at 30°C 50°C [sic], and which was light, small and practically indestructible. The Russian Space Program also set up a think tank and faced with the same task came up with the pencil, which cost nothing.
This is just silly... like so many stories which are designed to make people feel smarter by lying about how dumb other people are. Many people like to feel like they're smarter than other people, so they
want to believe it's true. Pencils create sawdust and graphite dust; neither of which are a problem in gravity, but in zero gravity they will float around in the air to be breathed, clog up air filters faster and get into sensitive electronics. The Russions don't use pencils in space any more than the Americans do. Fisher ... a private company ... invented the pressurized solid ink cartridge, not any branch of the U.S. government nor any related agency. They spent a bunch of R&D money on it, sure. Then, they made that money back - plus a whole lot more - by selling a good product in an open market. It's called capitalism, it's called profit and it's the driving force behind much of the cool gear that gets invented in any free market country. Most government agencies in the States do not create nor manufacture things. They buy stuff from private companies. Of course, none of this has anything to do with a survival tin, but then, neither does his side note.
Buy one with at least eight strands and lubricate it regularly with candle wax. Remove the rings and saw off the swivels with a hack saw. Use a notched bow, to hold the saw and remember the most common mistake with a wire saw is sawing too fast and snapping it through over heating
Er... okay, eight strands, huh? Sounds fine, I guess. I like the idea of lubricating it with wax... or something. But cut off the ends? I don't think so, thankyouverymuch. I'll keep my split rings to run makeshift handles through. And I don't know anything about overheating a wire saw, but apparently he's done it?
It is possible to get waterproof paper but I find it too bulky.
Whereas I find it to be exactly the same bulk as normal paper.
I'm no expert on snaring, but I think stainless steel is just fine, despite what he says about needing tools to work it. Maybe he just hasn't ever seen really thin stainless wire? Doug says it takes two feet, not one, to fashion a good snare. I suppose more practice is in order to learn how much one really needs to make one's own snares? Different people may have different methods? Perhaps it depends on what exactly one is intending to snare?
I keep a picture of Alan Turing to remind me that with self belief, truly anything is possible (I'd have a piccie of Dannii and Kylie Minogue doing it. Ed)
Which, I suppose would
also serve to show that truly, anything is possible... like finding such a picture. <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
Alan Turing... an interesting choice. Not one the average outdoorsman might appreciate. This item serves well to remind us that, when it comes to gear, it's not just knives that are a very personal choice.
Fill every piece of spare space with cotton wool to help pack all the components tight and stop them rattling around.
Or use
Tinder-Quik Fire Tabs to do the same thing.
All in all, it looks like a cool tin. I like it a lot. I also like the fact that it's not a pro kit for sale, but a tutorial about how to assemble a kit like his. As we all know, a true Jedi makes his own...
Stay safe,
J.T.