Keychain Outdoor Survival Kit

The Altoids Tin survival kit is a classic example of creativity and ingenuity packed into a pocket-sized space. The art is less in creating each element from scratch, and more about spatial arrangement and clever selection of tools tailored to a specific need or purpose- from tech to trek. In the spirit of creativity, let's take this one step further.. or rather, smaller! One particular product in the Altoids lineup, Altoids Smalls peppermint mints, come in a tiny little tin, scarcely bigger than a couple of US quarters. What kind of outdoor survival kit can we fit inside?

You will need:

1. Altoids Smalls mint tin (or comparable ultra-portable mint or candy tin)
2. razor blade in cardboard sheath
3. #10 X-acto blade
4. 1 bobby pin, rounded ends snipped off
5. a selection of basic over-the-counter medicines (my kit includes Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Claritin and Benadryl for allergies)
6. 1 1" piece of twine
7. 1 mini single-use tube of cyanoacrylate super glue
8. 1 mini brass spark generator and replacement flints (Sparklite or Zippo brand works well)
9. 5 standard 1/2''- 3/4'' barbed fish hooks
10. 1 dry fly/ woolly fly fishing lure (kept inside a 1/2'' section of plastic drinking straw for protection)
11. 1 micro SD card for storing copies of important documents, books, or other info (128GB capacity works well)
12. 1 Micro SD-to- USB adapter (I like Kingston brand, scarcely bigger than the SD card itself)
13. 1 golf pencil
14. 1 plastic-coated wire twist-tie
15. spool of high quality black sewing thread
16. emergency currency (US $20 bill shown here)
17. 1 large sewing needle
18. 1 sewing pin
19. 2 thin plastic bags from the supermarket grocery department
20. 1 wide straw (bubble tea straw or equivalent)
21. 18 gauge steel wire
22. dental floss
23. 1 tiny rare-earth magnet
24. 1 fishing snap swivel
25. 20 gauge fishing line
26. 1 small and 1 very small fishing split shot weight
27. 1 hack saw blade
28. 1 piece of white printer paper
29. 2 stamps
30. 2 strike-on-box matches
31. 2 water purification tablets in original packaging
32. 1 mini multitool (True brand key tool shown here)
33. 1 P-38 Army folding can opener
34. 1 tiny flashlight and replacement batteries (Atomlite by Polymath products shown here)
35. 1 small piece broken ceramic from an auto spark plug (also known as a "Ninja rock")
36. 1 SIM card removal tool
37. 1 1-gram gold bullion bar

The main creative decision that has to be made is what kind of survival kit are you looking to make? this will determine what elements you include, and how things are tailored. Are you expecting to be caught out in an urban environment? a rural one? a hot environment? a cold one? For such a small survival/ EDC kit, it helps to be quite generalized, and include a little bit of everything. Tools to cut wood and make a tent, as well as a micro SD card in case you're in an urban environment with access to tech hardware (even if internet and cell service is down), can prove very useful in a wide range of environments.

Part of your planning and outlining your survival kit should include writing down and categorizing your tools and elements- food, water, shelter, navigation, communication, information, medical, etc. Write lists, and edit them often. Aim for tools that are multi-purpose and that can fit many categories. With space at such a premium, you should only include tools that have a variety of uses, or tools that do one thing that is absolutely essential.

Survival kits are deeply personal, and the smaller they get, the more you have to think about your lifestyle and what's important to you. I've been in many a situation where I've had a change of dry, clean socks, but no change of shoes. There is nothing worse than having to put filthy, wet hiking shoes back on over dry socks, and feeling the socks get wet and clammy. What's needed is some barrier between sock and shoe, so you can wear your hiking shoes and protect your feet, while letting your socks stay dry and warm on your feet. Include two thin plastic bags cut down about halfway. These can be your "plastic socks" and keep water out, or alternatively, they can be doubled up and used to carry or transport water from a lake or stream to your campsite. Those thin plastic bags you find in the produce section of the grocery store can be folded very small (repeated folding compresses them better than trying to roll them up).

An important part of this mini survival kit is the fact that anything long and round can be used as a spool to wind anything long and flexible. Once you fold the bags down as neat and tight as you can, tie the end of a 10 foot length of standard dental floss around the middle of the folded bags, and carefully spool the floss down to one end of the bags, across to the other end, and back to the center, where you can loop the floss to tie it off. The wound floss will compress the bags further, and you get extremely strong and versatile dental floss in your kit. It's great for sewing or tying up anything load-bearing or heavy duty.

After you have the plastic bags tied up with dental floss, cut a section of the wide straw that is long enough to fit lengthwise into the tin. Slit it open and wrap the floss and bags inside. Wind this with 6 feet of 18 gauge steel wire, cinching the cut straw down like a C-clamp. Now you have 2 plastic bags, 10 feet of dental floss, and 6 feet of wire in one tiny little bundle.

The second "big" element of the keychain survival kit is emergency currency folded very tight and wound with 20 feet of black sewing thread. Take whichever paper currency you prefer and fold it to fit the length of the tin- for a US $20 bill, fold the bill in half the long way, then into thirds like a business letter, measuring and adjusting each third to fit the tin. Take your time and use a crisp, new bill. Fold the 1/3 length folded bill in half, and half again, then that into thirds the long way. It should be a very tight little bundle. Tie the end of the black thread around the middle and, same as with the dental floss around the folded plastic bags, carefully wind down to the end in one layer, then another layer back to the other end, then a third layer back to the center and tie it off. It will be very tight and neat. Take the sewing needle and sewing pin, tie a short length of thread around the ends of each (so you don't lose them), and slide them carefully into opposite ends of the folded currency.

The third and final "big" part of this mini kit is the multitool. You can substitute a tiny folding knife and some screwdriver bits, but having a multitool with several screwdriver options, a file, perhaps a small blade or wire cutter, and other metal tools can be extremely useful. If you have the machinery, you can even make your own custom multitool, including all the tools you need and custom fit to the tin.

The True-brand key tool used in this kit is designed to fit over a standard US house key. In lieu of the key, I add a 2'' section of hacksaw blade (cut to size, blade edge protected with tape), 2 water purification tablets in their original packaging, and a P-38 US Army keychain can opener/ medium screwdriver.

To start assembly of the kit, cut a small piece of regular white printer paper to fit the bottom of the tin. Fold it over, and place two loose postage stamps on wax paper between the layers. On top of this, fit the plastic bag/ floss/ wire bundle, the folded emergency currency/ thread/ needle and pin bundle, and the multitool in a single layer horizontally from top to bottom.

Now it's time to add the "medium" sized tools- the tube of super glue, the micro flashlight, and the spark generator. The super glue will be factory sealed in a metal tube, so it can be gently squished and formed to fit into one corner, on top of the emergency currency bundle. The shape of the key tool multitool allows the tiny little Atomlite flashlight to nestle next to it into one corner. Remember that anything that is long and cylindrical can be a spool. Wind the 20lb fishing line around the handle of the spark generator- the square end of the Sparklite and sparking wheel at the other end make a perfect spool. Fit the spark generator in next to the super glue, tuck the 1'' of twine in underneath it. This will pad it and stop it rattling, and the twine can be teased apart and used as tinder.

Things get a little more free-form now. The only goal should be getting everything to fit as tight as possible without rattling. This will require a lot of trial and error, switching things around, finding little spots for things to go. Long, thin things can fit in the dead spaces created by the round bundles. Fit the bobby pin right up under the lip of the tin, in the dead space created by the plastic bag/ floss/ wire bundle (this will be your biggest bundle, with not a lot of room on top). Use a razor blade and shave off the majority of the wood from the golf pencil, leaving the writing graphite and just enough wood so the graphite doesn't get all over your fingers or all over the inside of the kit. Wrap the plastic-coated twist tie around the pencil and fit it in on top of the bobby pin. Store the micro SD card inside the adapter, and fit the adapter in under the lip of the tin right in front. Along the lefthand side, fit the tiny 1-gram gold bar under the lip of the tin. Cut the matches down to a 1'' length, and fit them wherever you can. Stack the 5 fish hooks and cover with a piece of tape, to keep them together in a tiny package and to protect them. They will be very thin and flat and will fit just about anywhere. Same with the tiny fishing fly. Cover the hooks, and the hook on the fishing fly, with tape for safety.

Basically, fit everything else in wherever you can. You might want to wrap the medicines you include in paper and tape, tinfoil, or plastic wrap- sometimes solid pills crumble or break. Tiny little items- the individual pills, the tiny magnet, the fishing swivel, all will fit in anywhere and will help things not rattle so much. The tiny magnet shouldn't pose a threat to anything stored on the micro SD card, but you can store them on opposite sides of the kit, or omit one or the other, if you're worried.

The last tools to add are a set of two razor blades in the lid. The standard single-edge razor blade comes wrapped in a basic cardboard sheath, for safety reasons. This provides an opportunity include another, smaller blade without adding to the thickness of the blade assembly (this is essential, since it sits in the lid and cannot be thicker than the rim of the tin body, or else the lid won't close. Very carefully, unwrap the single edge razor and flatten out the cardboard sheath. Using a fine-tip pen, trace the outline of a #10 X-acto scalpel blade onto the cardboard, where it sits flat against the single-edge blade. Cut along the traced line and carefully re-wrap the cardboard sheath around the single-edge blade. Tape the #10 scalpel blade into the shallow recess in the cardboard sheath and tape the blade assembly into the lid of the tin.