Survival Mess Kit

This was my main survival kit that I used for a few years. I went with this partly because it could hold more than some of the small and medium kits I have, and also because it was actually realistic to boil water or melt snow in this.

Tatonka tins. Morph between oval and rectangular. Meant as a mess tin. They don’t make it any more, but just for fits and shiggles, the info I have for it is Stainless Steel Box "M", Art. No. 4006. 14½ x 10½ x 5½ cm, weight is 340 g and the volume is 350 ml. Handle that folds over the top, and then latches down. Latch and handle spot welded on. I’ve wondered if those spot welds might not be the weak point on it, but so far they have survived just fine. Nothing to complain about after using it for 15 years.

For anyone interested in something similar, there are two options I can think of. They are aluminum though, not steel, and do not possess a handle. But the size appears to be about the same.
http://www.survivalaids.com/order1.php?pg=1183&mc=1
http://www.sigg.com/ch-shop/en/accessories.html

I spray painted the outside with high heat manifold paint. Too shiny for this uber stealthy ninja.

I didn’t bother putting a mirror in this kit because the underside of the lid is shiny enough.

The lid has a rubber (might be something else, can’t really tell you for certain exactly what the compound is) gasket, that I would say with almost certainty needs to be procured from the company itself if it needed to be replaced. It’s reminiscent of the gasket on a mason jar or on one of those glass flip top jars. But that’s where the similarity ends. Its unique shape makes it almost certainly a proprietary thing. I’ve in all honesty never needed a replacement, but I guess if they’ve stopped making them, I’m probably screwed. The thing that is kind of annoying about those gaskets is that they are loose in the groove for it. When you put it in you can pretty much get it to fit perfectly, but it’ll never stay put for that long. I suspect the reason for it is so that if you do any cooking with it, you can take it out, so the heat doesn’t damage it. I’ve thought of some sort of silicone caulking, but I’m just afraid of totally mucking it up.

I’ve largely given up on matches. Mainly because they are a very finite source of fire-lighting. I have them in here, but one of those things that should really be replaced by some more water purification tablets or a lighter.

Pair of nitrile gloves. Besides their use for administering first aid, they can also be filled with water, a hole poked in a finger and used to irrigate wounds, they can also serve as a vapor barrier. Under a pair of gloves they help keep your hands just a little warmer. Or if you have no gloves, these are better than nothing.

Unknown length of fishing line on a bobbin.

2 Breast Milk Storage Bags. (water storage, tinder storage, collecting food stuffs, transpiration bag, etc.)   

Fresnel Lens Magnifier. (fire lighting in day light hours, aid in removing splinters, aid in reading instruction sheet)

Bic lighter with a zip tie under the plunger to prevent the butane leaking out and a piece of cord taped on to tie a lanyard to.

1 #11 Scalpel Blade. (rudimentary back up blade)

Rolled up trash bag. Good for gathering leaves for constructing a debris shelter, keeping stuff dry, sitting on, a rudimentary rain poncho, a roof on a shelter, gathering water, etc. Very versatile bit of kit.

4 MicroPur MP-1 Water Purification Tablets

Fox-40 Micro whistle. (Signalling)

Vaseline soaked cotton balls in straws, the ends sealed with wax.

Length of hacksaw blade. (striker for flint, cutting)

15 meters (50 ft.) nylon cord. (shelter building, repairs, traps, fishing, etc., etc.)

5 Meters of 96 lb. Test Nylon Cord. (shelter building, repairs, traps, fishing, etc., etc.)

Suunto Comet Compass/Thermometer. (No longer offered.)

WetFire, pre-crumbled.

3 meters (10 ft.) of #18 68 kg (150 lb) test braided nylon cord.(shelter building, repairs, traps, fishing, etc., etc.)

5µ Silicon Carbide on a mylar backing (micro-abrasive for sharpening)

Folded up baking pan. (cooking, boiling water, melting snow)

Two pieces of Rite in the Rain Paper. (for leaving notes for rescuers, as a memory aid)

1 sq meter of aluminum foil. (cooking, insulation, signalling, waterproofing)

(Autocross, Tech3, and Compact Ballpoint Pen Refill). About the smallest pen refill out there.

Piercing needle. Lancing a blister maybe. Not really a necessary item, but I had one, it takes up no room really and weighs next to nothing. What the heck, throw it in there. Could find some use for it if the situation was truly that desperate.

And everything put back in.

NyfFyrLyt™ 3

The other two versions worked, but I still wasn’t entirely happy with them.

Sooo....back to the drawing board. Main thing I didn’t like about the second go around was the zippered top opening. Thought a flap might work better. Wanted to carry all the stuff that went into the original two versions, but I also wanted to carry some more stuff. Redundant perhaps, but I wanted to carry my Leatherman Wave as well as the Victorinox Huntsman. The bits that accompany the LM. A PocketWrench 2. A pen. A lighter. Having the battery die in the flashlight is annoying, so wanted to have a way to carry extra batteries as well.

I’d seen the Skinths, and thought they had some cool features. But while Eric is a good guy, buying one from him would deprive me of the fun of making my own thing, and there were a bunch of my own features I wanted to add. 

I could have gone narrow and thick, and instead opted to go with wide and thin.

Like Soviet weaponry, it’s not pretty, but it’s effective.

First component for the four main tools. The two white bits at the bottom...

....are Spectra cord that I used to hold the pen in place.

The back/flap component for the four flat tools/items.

The two side by side.

The third front and sides component. Decided to add a SliverGripper to the side as well.

All three components combined. I added an H&K hook to it to hang keys on.

The size of the whole thing is about 180 cm (7") by 120 cm (5") by 50 cm (2"). The main pouch is about 110 cm (4.5") by 105 cm (4") by 30 cm (1.25"). And the weight of it is a heavy 1 kg (2.2 lbs.).

The back side. One change I made to the whole set up was to have straps that I could detach at the bottom. This way I can either have it high up on the belt, or drop it down low so that when I’m wearing a backpack with a waist belt, it hangs down below that waist belt. Having that lump of stuff under a belt is really uncomfortable. Yet I still wanted to have this on my belt, on my person, so that if I ditch the pack I would still have it. This attachment system is known as BALLS - Belt Attachment Lowerable Loop System.

Viewed from above.

The front side, with a pouch for a lighter. It’ll hold a Bic, and any other similar sized disposable or refillable lighter. Hemmed and hawed about whether I should put the lighter on the inside, or maybe the flashlight or the SAK on the outside pouch. The lighter ended up on the outside. Maybe if I tackle version 4, it might not be there. 

The back side, with a pouch for two AA batteries. I found that 1" tubular webbing is the perfect size to house the batteries. Made it so that it flips down to release them. One drawback to this approach is that I already knew that the tube would push loose from side to side, so I added some shock cord and a cord lock to help hold it in place. I put the batteries in facing a different direction and also put a circle of plastic between the two batteries to make sure they didn’t drain.

The contents. 
Top row: Fisher Trekker Space Pen, Silva Matchcase, Leatherman Wave 2004, Victorinox Huntsman, Whistle, Fenix L1D, Bic Lighter 
Bottom row: Sliver Grippers, PocketWrench 2, Leatherman Bit Kit, Brass Calipers, AA batteries

And here you can see it worn normally on the belt, and worn low on the belt.

The BALLS straps on the back also allow me to mount it on PALS webbing, like here on the Messenge’mups.

Oh yeah, and I sewed the whole thing by hand.

I suspect that like the other ones, I may find some flaws with this one after living with it for a while and tackle version 4. But for now, I’m happy with it.