# Survival tin



## Gearhead14 (Mar 20, 2012)

If anyone has read SAS Survival, by John " Lofty" Wiseman, you would know about the survival tin. I'm going to build one ,and put the following items in it: mini Sweedish firesteel, wire saw, small Buck knife, keychain LED light, water purifying tablets, rescue howler whistle, assortment of plasters, 20 ft of paracord, brass wire,20mm button compass, emergency candle, etc. I don't think a altoids tin would. Does anyone know where I can get a tin big enough to hold most of those items?


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Here are some older threads that have great information on making your own:

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f32/survival-tin-2611/

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f32/mini-survival-kit-1744/


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## ContinualHarvest (Feb 19, 2012)

Gearhead14 said:


> If anyone has read SAS Survival, by John " Lofty" Wiseman


I have that book. Lots of good information.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

I have it too.notice there's little to nothing about firearms in it.still a good read though.

You know, a sandwich sized Tupperware single would make a great tin!


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## Gearhead14 (Mar 20, 2012)

Sorry about the not completed summary on my post. I couldn't finish it; I just got done editing it.


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Do they still make the metal pencil boxes for school kids? Kind of like a mini lunch box looking thing. I used to find them at stores like "5 Below" (a dollar store type place). Walmart carries small latching make up boxes. Maybe try a Goodwill or thrift store for a small "cookie tin".

Edit: Could you give an approximate size that you are looking for? I have no idea if my suggestions above would still be big enough for what you need.


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## Gearhead14 (Mar 20, 2012)

mdprepper said:


> Do they still make the metal pencil boxes for school kids? Kind of like a mini lunch box looking thing. I used to find them at stores like "5 Below" (a dollar store type place). Walmart carries small latching make up boxes. Maybe try a Goodwill or thrift store for a small "cookie tin".
> 
> Edit: Could you give an approximate size that you are looking for? I have no idea if my suggestions above would still be big enough for what you need.


Well I would want it to have the length and width of like a wallet or altoids tin, but it should have a greater height so it could carry more stuff but still fit in a pocket or pack.


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## dadmoonbunny (Oct 8, 2011)

*Addition to the tin*

As well as the buck knife, or in place of it, Try a broken, or cut hack saw blade. Take a belt sander to the BACK SIDE of the blade. Leave the teeth side alone.

Use a fine grit belt, and sharpen the back edge to a working edge, then use a whetstone. After you're happy with the edge, place several peices of duct tap along the sharp edge. This will protect the contents of your kit, the edge of your new blade, as well as giving you a few strips of tape for utility purposes. If you use the ends of the hacksaw blade, you can tie some cord through the holes, then use it to tie the blades to a stick for spear use, or to retain the blade.

The nice thing is, if you know anyone that might have even an old rusty blade, it can be cleaned up and used. They are cheap, even available at the dollar store or someplace like that. Done right, they might even possibly be useful as a last ditch hide away. * Do NOT get caught carrying even something like this concealed. *


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Okay, I was thinking too big. I used to work for Sears and we sold mens wallets that came in their own tin boxes. They are slightly bigger and deeper then the thickness of a wallet. I think you can even get checkbook covers that are sold the same way so that would be larger still. Found this: http://www.walletsplus.com/embossed-leather-checkbook-covers.html


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## Ration-AL (Apr 18, 2012)

Gearhead14 said:


> If anyone has read SAS Survival, by John " Lofty" Wiseman, you would know about the survival tin. I'm going to build one ,and put the following items in it: mini Sweedish firesteel, wire saw, small Buck knife, keychain LED light, water purifying tablets, rescue howler whistle, assortment of plasters, 20 ft of paracord, brass wire,20mm button compass, emergency candle, etc. I don't think a altoids tin would. Does anyone know where I can get a tin big enough to hold most of those items?


the wire saw is useless, the candle is pointless and the whistle is just strange for our uses....

the wire saws are 99% useless POS's that will break far before they ever get through a branch or tree, get a proper hand chain saw...they are still labeled as wire saws but are 100% different then what is usually supplied in these cheap 20 quid "survival" packages.

like this









as for the candle, your better off with some steel wool or other kind of tinder, you can get much more of it in the tin as opposed to a candle and you already have a LED light in your kit, so using the candle as nothing but a light source is kind of pointless.

the whistle, in a SHTF case who are you trying to signal and get coming looking for you? this could be a very bad means of communication in the cases we're talking about here, you could easily bring the wrong type to your location, better to stick to radio comms and light of sight types of communication. i suggest learning Morse code and using a flash light , as with a flash light it's directional and you can control where your shooting your signal out.
also here's a blog that talks about this and also tells you how to add chems to your tinder or just to carry and add to your fire for signaling.

one thing i want to touch on that's mentioned in that blog is the use of code, me and my group are using the old hobo code of the rails, it's little known but yet still prevalent enough were we could come across it out there in the great wide open and even possibly help others who know out as well.

here's the hobo code.










ssoooooo, with all of that said, you should be building your own survival tin, buying a survival tin is like buying a BOB, sure some of it is ok, but for the most part it's low quality crap that's packaged together to sell to the masses who don't know any better, i've taken a few of these tins out on backpacking trips to see how they handled, i have yet to find one that i would call "good" but some how i still end up getting them every year for Christmas or my birthday from friends and family just because I'm the "outdoor guy" they know and they are cheap, lol , gotta love them for their efforts though! haha


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## tac803 (Nov 21, 2010)

Check out countycomm . They have a lot of great stuff including containers


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## Artifice (May 28, 2012)

Bestglide makes big tins. Also try bepreparedtosurvive.com


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