My keychain

This is the minimalistic keychain that is in my pocket almost all the time:

From left to right:

VARGO titanium whistle: My first and so far only item made out of titanium, and also the most recent addition to my keychain. I really like how slim and light it is, and it's also quite annoying when blown. With ca. 100 db it not nearly as loud as other survival whistles like a Fox 40 Micro, but one of those would be to bulky for my taste.

True Utility Keytool: I guess a lot of junk is produced by True Utility, but I have to say that I love this little tool. I've had it on my key for almost two years now, and I only stabbed myself right under the fingernail once! No seriously, I use this thing on a regular basis, for the most part to open bottles (works fine), sometimes to tighten the screws of my glasses, sometimes to use the nail file. Great piece of minimalistic gear. The small screwdriver can also be used to pop open the battery compartment of the Photon Freedom Micro.

Tiny capsule from a local pet store: You're supposed to put it on the collar of your dog or cat with your address and/or number in it on a little piece of paper. I think I've also seen it on the internet sold as a mini survival capsule for about five times the money... I've put a small piece of Coghlans Tinder in it, wrapped in a small piece of paper together with two replacement flints for the sparker (see below). The tinder is very similar to Tinder Quik, so it easily catches a spark and the little piece burns for almost a minute.

Victorinox Classic: Blade, nail file with screwdriver head, scissors, tweezers and toothpick, all of which get used on a more or less regular basis. This one was a present, and it has been on my keychain for four or five years. I really don't like a bigger knife or multitool there, and I carry one of those separately most of the time anyway. For a while I was annoyed that it has no bottle opener, but since I have the keytool that's not an issue anymore. I have to say that I also had my eye on both the Leatherman Style (quite similar to the Victorinox) and Style PS (easily accessable bottle opener), but after testing for about ten minutes, I sent them both right back (thank you Amazon). The tools were impossible to open without breaking off my finger nails, and the overall feel just wasn't right--a huge letdown considering how awesome my Leatherman Wave is. I have a Gerber Curve that I like a lot better, but since the Classic was a lovely present, I will stick with it until the end. Also, the screwdriver works great to put new flints into the Wheel Sparker, or to fasten its screw now and then.

Photon Freedom Micro: Hands down one of the best keychain flashlights in the whole wide world. Extremly lightweight, versatile, durable, and great accessories like the neck lanyard. The downside of the lamp is that in the many years I've had it on my keys, it was accidently switched on several times and the battery ran dry. The demo mode you can put it back into isn't really an option in my eyes, so I put the neck lanyard on it cover the button. I cut off the lanyard loop, since the lamp itself has a hole along with an excellent clip.

County Comm Brass Flint Wheel Sparker: Since I also wanted some sort of fire starter on my keychain, at first I tried to glue a regular piece of firesteel on the lanyard piece/button protector of the lamp, but both hot glue and superglue didn't work (it looked kind of cool though). Then I found a review of the Wheel Sparker somewhere, and I knew my search was over. The thing is attached with regular Scotch tape, because a test run with duct tape was no success: too thick to wrap it around multiple times, and thus to loose and wobbly for my taste. The regular tape works just fine, except for all the crumps and fuzz from my pocket that sticks to it. That's why I wrapped the actual lanyard from the lamp around, because it looks way cooler and I also have some cord there. The lamp/sparker combo can comfortably be used with one hand (both on and off the lamp), and the button protection/sparker can be popped off the lamp quite easily with your thumb.

That's really all I need in a keychain, and the whole thing ways just 72 g (2.54 oz).


 

My belt kit

For about the last four years or so, I've been wearing a Tatonka Travel Waistbelt equipped with some basic (survival) gear.

The general idea came after I had built an Altoids kit, but decided that I didn't really want to carry a tin in my pant pocket (I wear jeans at work most of the time, so no cargo pockets available). Another major influence was a review on Equipped To Survive about the discontinued Belt Pro Survival Kit.

The Tatonka belt itself is really sturdy, and although the buckle is made of plastic, it never failed me. Mine is black, and thus really goes with almost anything. The only occasions I don't wear it are when I have to wear a suit for work, or if I go for a run. For those few suit days I even bought a leather money belt, but there is yet no kit in it.

The zippered compartment of the belt has about 2.5 x 45 cm (1 x 17.7 inches) of space available, so I was able to cram some useful items in there (wrapped in several small zipper bags):

• a thin ferro rod (ca. 4 cm / 1.6 inches long) with a thin piece of steel as a striker
• three safety pins
• needle and ca. 50 cm / 20 inches of black, heavy duty thread
• a tiny button compass (to find the general direction)
• white nylon cord (ca. 50 cm / 20 inches)
• a small fishing kit (four hooks, two split shots, two swivels, and some fishing line)
• a Tinder Quik cut in several thin pieces
• two zipper freezer bags (1 liter)
• ten Katadyn Micropur forte water purification tablets
• small strip of duct tape 
• a scalpel blade (#20)
• cash

More than once I thought about ditching the fishing kit, but then again it doesn't really take up that much space, so what the hell. I tested the freezer bags after the first two years, and they were still intact and didn't leak. The purification tablets had to be taken from their original blister and wrapped in aluminum foil to fit in the belt, so I don't really know if they suffered from that. But I guess if I should ever get in a survival situation and had to choose between dehydration or drinking water that might not have been perfectly purified, I'd go for it.

So far I only had to use the safety pins once, and three or four times I was more than happy to have some extra cash on me.

All in all I really like the idea of having this (extra) stuff on me without noticing it, and I have to admit that I feel kind of naked when I have to leave it at home...


UPDATE (10/28/13):

So I checked out the purification tablets in my belt, and I guess they should remain in their original packaging: back then I had wrapped them in aluminum foil, put that in a small zipper bag and taped that shut. When I opened it the other day, I found that the foil disintegrated and more or less crumbled to dust. Needless to say, the whole bundle went right into the garbage, and now I carry five tablets in their original blister, inside another small zipper bag. I'll keep you posted how they hold up inside the belt.

My EDC stuff...

Since one of the main topics of this blog is every day carry (EDC), I will now start to introduce you to some of the stuff I carry around on a more or less regular basis.

These things can be devided into gear in my car, in my backpack, in my coat, in my pants (and this stuff remains there once I get out of them), and then there are some items I really try to carry with me all the time (even at home, in my PJs if I walk around in them more than from the bed to you know where).

to be continued...

And another first aid kit

Here is another first aid kit that I built just before the small EDC FAK I presented earlier. It has a very similar set-up, only with a slightly larger capacity. It can be worn on person or thrown in a bag, but the smaller one fits more comfortably in a cargo pocket (I tried that the last couple days). Also, I don't really like putting stuff on my belt...

This kit (left) and the smaller EDC FAK (right)

The pouch is about 12 x 7 x 3 cm (4.72 x 2.76 x 1.18 inches) and weighs 136 g (4.8 oz).

A) The pouch is a Tatonka Tool Pocket in size L, made from heavy duty nylon (Texamid 11.1), that can be worn both vertically and horizontally on your belt. A large saftey pin is attached to it, because you can never have enough of those on you.
B) The contents are wrapped in a thin ziplock bag to keep them clean and more or less dry.
C) A pair of disposable gloves.
D) Two individually wrapped sterile gauze bandages, one with a 10 x 12 cm (3.94 x 4.72 inches) dressing and the other one in 8 x 10 cm (3.15 x 3.94 inches).
E) A wet towel.
F) Tape, wrapped around a piece of cardboard (ca. 50 cm / 20 inches).
G) Scalpel blade (#20)
H) Blister bandaid (I guess I'll add one or two more).
I) Five bandaids.
J) Two larger pieces of bandaid.
K) Six alcohol pads.

Again, the kit comes without any medication, but I think some aspirin or ibuprofen would be a good addition.

It is basically designed to patch up bleedings and blisters, and even a heavier bleeding could be dressed with one bandage while incorporating the other one (still wrapped) to apply pressure to the wound (at least that's what they taught me in a first aid course I had to take to get my drivers license). In my backpack I carry an Emergency (Isreali) Bandage anyway, so I guess I'd rather use that one when s**t hits the fan.

A small EDC first aid kit

This is a small first aid kit (FAK) I created a while ago. The idea came after lurking the highly recommendable Equipped To Survive forum, where I stumbled upon a thread about a small every day carry (EDC) FAK that actually came into use after an urban accident.

Anyway, my new kit comes in an old nylon pouch with fuzzy velcro and is about the size of a Leatherman (but fortunately not as heavy, it weighs only 42 g or 1.48 oz).



Crammed inside is a ziplock bag with various first aid supplies, that are basically just for immediate care of smaller wounds and blisters. The bag should keep the contents free from dirt and also more or less dry, although I won't try to submerge the kit in the tub.



A) Nylon (?) pouch, from some cheap knife or tool, I don’t remember
B) Zip lock bag, rather thin, so it might be ripped open in case of an emergency (I guess even one-handed and/or with teeth)
C) Sterile gauze bandage, with a 8 x 10 cm dressing (3.15 x 3.94 inches)
D) Sterile scalpel blade (#20)
E) Band-aid (8,5 cm / 3.34 inches), folded up so it's as wide as the rest of the items
F) Alcohol pads (six)
G) blister band-aid
H) Safety pins (two)
I) Tape, wrapped around a thin piece of plastic (about 50 cm / 20 inches I guess)
J) Band-aids (three)

I could also add some medication, like aspirin or ibuprofen. As already mentioned this should fix minor bleedings and blisters, but in my backpack I carry a larger kit as well (more on that one in a later post).

Please, feel free to leave comments or suggestions. From the wrapping of the individual items you may also have noticed that I'm from Germany, so please excuse any spelling and/or grammatical errors.

Here we go...

Welcome to my little blog, where I'll inform the world about highly important stuff and issues like every day carry (EDC), survival, outdoor adventures and much more.

After countless hours of lurking I'll finally give something back--if you want it or not!

Have fun!