Swedish FireSteel Survival Kit
No doubt, a lot of us have had experiences that put us in uncomfortable situations in the outdoors while hunting, fishing, hiking. And probably all of us have had that daydream of 'what if I was stranded on a desert island', .... what would I need to survive. Once you get past the visions of having a gorgeous companion, an abundant supply of food and beverages, shelter and weapons the real question finally settles in. At the very bare minimum, what would I really need? Based on my personal experiences and the part of the USA that I live in, it keeps coming down to one primary item. A means of starting a fire.
A fire provides a means of signalling, drying clothes, warming you, melting snow, security and a level of comfort you'll never appreciate until you spend a night outdoors without a source of heat or light. There used to be a rule of thumb called the "rule of 3's" that stated you couldn't survive more then 3 hours exposed to extremely cold temperatures, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. I know there are exceptions, but in a survival situation it's important to prioritize and the need for 'heat' is at the top of my list. If your freezing to death, it's pretty unlikely you'll spend much time foraging for food and water.
About 30 years ago a close friend was pulling his traps due to an early freeze up. He was several miles from his truck and went through thin ice soaking him to the chest in temps that were in the single digits and a subzero windchill. The coveralls he had on started to freeze solid within a matter of minutes and he realized he was in deep trouble. Probably fortunate for him, he had the presence of mind to realize he had to dry out his clothes so he could keep walking. At that time a lot of us still smoked so he pulled out his trusty zippo, got a fire going, dried out his clothes and made it out without further incident.
A few years after that incident, I was grouse hunting with two friends in Northern Minnesota and we got disoriented waaaay back in the woods. We'd followed an old logging trail into the woods for about a mile. When the trail petered out, confidence overtook common sense and we pushed on. By late afternoon, we realized we were in a compromising situation and started discussing our options. Facing the possibility of an evening in woods with temps below freezing, one of the considerations that came up was lighting a fire. Two of us had cigarette lighters in our pockets. That knowledge boosted our confidence and another hour of walking brought us out on a gravel road about 3 miles from the truck.
Move forward to 2010. Hardly anyone (other then me) carries a cigarette lighter anymore for fear of someone mistakenly thinking you're a closet smoker!! So when you go afield, what's the option? A few weeks back, I watched a couple of videos on Youtube related to survival kits and the items you should/could carry in them. It got me thinking about the above mentioned situations and actually got me laughing at a couple of the videos.
They had the Altoid can kits, backpacks etc. One of them showed a guy pulling stuff out of a fairly compact fanny pack that contained at least 20+ items INCLUDING, zip lock bags, a sewing kit, condom, tampons (yup, you read that right), fishing kit, and so on. I know that pack had to weigh over a pound and carried items you wouldn't use unless you were lost for weeks or months. I'm not saying there isn't a place for a kit like that, but 99.9% of the time, if you've got common sense and a cool head you're better off with a light weight kit that your more apt to take with you!
As a distributor of the Swedish FireSteels, I use them a lot and wouldn't think of heading out camping, hunting or fishing without one in my knife sheath or my pocket. Since all of my sheath knives don't have a FireSteel loop, I'm always looking for a better mousetrap and came up with the FireSteel Survival Kit. It's really simple and it really works. Fire Steel, tinder and kindling fit in a 4" belt sheath, weighs around 3 ounces, slips on your belt and is pretty impervious to the elements. It's small, convenient to wear, not bulky and doesn't require weight training to carry it! In other words, you're less likely to leave it at home then a larger 'do it all' kit that looks more appropriate on an EMT at a disaster scene.
They're for sale in the store if you don't want to put your own together and I posted a Short Video on Youtube to show you how it works.
A fire provides a means of signalling, drying clothes, warming you, melting snow, security and a level of comfort you'll never appreciate until you spend a night outdoors without a source of heat or light. There used to be a rule of thumb called the "rule of 3's" that stated you couldn't survive more then 3 hours exposed to extremely cold temperatures, 3 days without water and 3 weeks without food. I know there are exceptions, but in a survival situation it's important to prioritize and the need for 'heat' is at the top of my list. If your freezing to death, it's pretty unlikely you'll spend much time foraging for food and water.
About 30 years ago a close friend was pulling his traps due to an early freeze up. He was several miles from his truck and went through thin ice soaking him to the chest in temps that were in the single digits and a subzero windchill. The coveralls he had on started to freeze solid within a matter of minutes and he realized he was in deep trouble. Probably fortunate for him, he had the presence of mind to realize he had to dry out his clothes so he could keep walking. At that time a lot of us still smoked so he pulled out his trusty zippo, got a fire going, dried out his clothes and made it out without further incident.
A few years after that incident, I was grouse hunting with two friends in Northern Minnesota and we got disoriented waaaay back in the woods. We'd followed an old logging trail into the woods for about a mile. When the trail petered out, confidence overtook common sense and we pushed on. By late afternoon, we realized we were in a compromising situation and started discussing our options. Facing the possibility of an evening in woods with temps below freezing, one of the considerations that came up was lighting a fire. Two of us had cigarette lighters in our pockets. That knowledge boosted our confidence and another hour of walking brought us out on a gravel road about 3 miles from the truck.
Move forward to 2010. Hardly anyone (other then me) carries a cigarette lighter anymore for fear of someone mistakenly thinking you're a closet smoker!! So when you go afield, what's the option? A few weeks back, I watched a couple of videos on Youtube related to survival kits and the items you should/could carry in them. It got me thinking about the above mentioned situations and actually got me laughing at a couple of the videos.
They had the Altoid can kits, backpacks etc. One of them showed a guy pulling stuff out of a fairly compact fanny pack that contained at least 20+ items INCLUDING, zip lock bags, a sewing kit, condom, tampons (yup, you read that right), fishing kit, and so on. I know that pack had to weigh over a pound and carried items you wouldn't use unless you were lost for weeks or months. I'm not saying there isn't a place for a kit like that, but 99.9% of the time, if you've got common sense and a cool head you're better off with a light weight kit that your more apt to take with you!
As a distributor of the Swedish FireSteels, I use them a lot and wouldn't think of heading out camping, hunting or fishing without one in my knife sheath or my pocket. Since all of my sheath knives don't have a FireSteel loop, I'm always looking for a better mousetrap and came up with the FireSteel Survival Kit. It's really simple and it really works. Fire Steel, tinder and kindling fit in a 4" belt sheath, weighs around 3 ounces, slips on your belt and is pretty impervious to the elements. It's small, convenient to wear, not bulky and doesn't require weight training to carry it! In other words, you're less likely to leave it at home then a larger 'do it all' kit that looks more appropriate on an EMT at a disaster scene.
They're for sale in the store if you don't want to put your own together and I posted a Short Video on Youtube to show you how it works.
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