These should be used only after all other methods for starting a fire have failed, as you have only a limited number of them.
This is a "Spark-Lite" one-handed fire starter, as used by the U.S. military
forces. It is basically a lighter mechanism without the fuel reservoir. You
hold it in your hand and roll the wheel with your thumb, just like a lighter.
This creates sparks, which can be used to ignite any prepared tinder.
It comes in a small box with several pieces of "Tinder Quik" waterproof
tinder. I added more to the box, so they are crushed down tightly to pack
more of them in. To use them, rip them apart and "poof" them up like a
cotton ball. Then, spark them with the spark-lite, and they should ignite
easily.
This small ball of tinder can be used to ignite your kindling, which can be made from moss, grass & leaves, twigs or such.
(Also, by reducing larger plant forms to their constituent fiber, you can create excellent natural tinder. So, if you can find bark or twigs, crush or grind them between rocks or larger sticks. Create a softball or grapefruit sized "birds' nest" of ground ("buffed") fiber, and you have an excellent batch of natural tinder to replace or preserve your man-made tinder.)
Remember:
The image to the right shows the "Sparky" magnesium fire starter bar on
a keyring with the striker it comes with. To save room, I threw out the
striker, and keyring (I think). What I left in was just the bar itself.
Magnesium is almost impossible to ignite in large blocks, and is thus quite safe. Shavings, however, ignite quite easily. You can scrap shavings off of the bar with the hacksaw blade or knife, and either put them in a pile or work them into your tinder. When you spark them, they will ignite with a dramatic white flame that is quite hot and burns out quite quickly! Perhaps the best use for these shavings would be to work them into moss or other flammable kindling to aid it in igniting, but you can ignite a large pile of these shavings by themself if need be.
I used the "Sparky" brand instead of other mag bars, because they are small
and would take up less room in the kit. Don't skimp on the shavings... use
a bunch if you're going to use them at all. Using only small amounts is
just going to waste it, so save it for emergencies, then use it all up.
The "Sparky" has an artificial flint rod afixed to its side. Scraping this strongly with the knife or hacksaw will produce a shower of sparks. This is the old fashioned two-handed way of using flint & steel (as opposed to the newfangled one-handed "Spark-Lite" mentioned above). Feel free to try to ignite natual tinder with just the flint sparks alone! It may very well work, saving your waterproof tinders and other fire starting methods for wetter, colder or sparser occasions, when you may need them more.
After you've prepared your tinder, place the tip of the magbar on it to hold it down, then scrape hard down the flint rod. If you find that uncontrolable, try holding the scraper above the tinder and pulling the magbar backwards toward yourself. Some people I've corresponded with say they've had better luck that way.
Note that I've never been able to light a candle with sparks, although I have lit many other things on fire with sparks, provided they were small and shredded or otherwise properly prepared.
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There are two kinds of candles in this kit. The first is a trick
self-relighting birthday cake candle. This is used as tinder for starting a
fire. If you make the birds' nest of "buffed" plant fibers described above,
you can stick the candle down into it and light the tip. As it burns down,
it will continue to feed heat into the tinder, helping it ignite.
This candle trick should probably only be used if you're having trouble getting the tinder to ignite with just the Tinder Quick artificial tinders. You don't have but one (or two?) of these candles.
The second type of candle I included are "tea" (or "tub") candles. These normally have a three hour burn time. (I wrapped them in foil to prevent them from melting all over the contents inside the can should your backpack ever be left someplace very hot.)
Somewhere in the written materials inside the can should be a diagram of a man huddled up inside a space blanket with a candle between his feet. This is an excellent way for one person to stay toasty warm. Be sure to wear a hat to keep your brain warm, or you'll not be able to think clearly. If you don't have a hat, pull the blanket up over your head like a hood.
Whether you wrap the blanket around your neck or around your face, be sure to keep it comfortably snug against the skin to keep the CO (Carbon Monoxide) from coming out around your mouth & nose. I'd recommend you keep a small opening in the blanket between your feet and lower legs, to let the CO and O2 (Oxygen) exchange away from where you need to breath. It's not shown in the diagram, but I'm sure you can imagine what I mean fairly simply.
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If I remember correctly, the wire I packed in your kit was braided, stainless
steel, teflon coated jewelry wire. Ostensibly, this is for making snares to
catch small edible game. In reality, food procurement is far less likely to
be an issue than shelter, fire and water. First, hunger won't kill you for
weeks, whereas hypothermia can do the job in hours. Second, you'll probably
do better just picking berries or something. Third, you probably won't be in
any sort of crisis for more than a day, so it's not likely to be as big a deal
as staying warm overnight.
But wire is useful stuff. You can use it as fireproof cordage, if you cordage for anything that might get close to the camp fire, or for anything else you might think of. I mainly include it because everyone I have spoken with who has spent time outdoors says it's useful stuff, and I wouldn't want to contradict those I'm still trying to learn from.
Since most of us don't know how to make a snare, I've included one to use as a
model. It's very nice, with swivels and all, but that's not really necessary.
Even a crude snare should work well enough.
You will have only, perhaps, a 10% success rate per day with snares. That means you will need to put out at least ten snares and check them daily in order to have a good shot at catching one animal to eat. In addition to this, some of them will break. Each snare will take about 2' of wire. This is why I put in so much.
If you want to pursue how to actually use snares and traps for catching food
animals, here is a link to some very informative pages:
http://www.aircav.com/survival/asch08/asch08p01.html
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I suppose you could even whittle it into shavings to use as tinder.
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Look at the front of the can. There is a diagram of a man using a pile of rocks to make a reflector for his camp fire. This throws more heat his way. You can use the foil to make an even better reflector, or for laying out on the ground to reflect upward for Search And Rescue (SAR) to see.
For first aid, foil layed as a bandage against a sucking chest would can seal the wound air tight to allow more normal breathing for the victim.
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Be aware: A sharp blade is far safer than a dull blade because you have to push harder with a dull blade and, thus, risk losing control more and/or causing more damage if/when you do lost control. Keep it sharp!
This is a Sterling Systems "Superior
Sharpener". It is made of an oval of aluminum with two pieces of super-hard
carbide set in a "V" shape. You hold it with your weak hand and pull the edge
of your blade slowly & gently through the "V" with your strong hand.
It may have a small optional pad of diamond dust adhered to one side, which can be used for finer sharpening & finishing touches, if so desired.
Read more about it here:
http://www.sterlingsharpener.com/instructions.html
This can be used to cut small limbs off trees to use for a camp fire. It's
safer than an axe. Put the split rings through the loops at the end of the
wire saw and use them for handles. For more comfort, put sticks or something
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The longest distance a successful rescue has been initiated via mirror flash was
over 100 miles! A high altitude aircraft actually saw the flash over the
other side of the horizon of the Earth!
Mirrors are great, provided the sky is clear. No batteries, and they are as bright as the sun. Most will have a hole you can look through to actually see the reflection as a ball of light. You just move the mirror to place the ball on the object or place you want to flash. Tilting the mirror to move the ball onto and off of the target flashes the target with a burst of light.
If there is no sighting hole, just hold the mirror in front of your face
with your hand out in front of you. If you "frame" the target between your
fingers, you can watch the reflection on your hand and aim with that. Just
tilt the mirror to move the reflection off of your hand and onto the target to
flash the target. The mirror should be held right under your eyes - right in
front of your face - and your framing hand should be stretched out at arm's
length in front of you.
I prefer to put the mirror under my eyes (in front of my nose) and extend my hand out with my palm facing away from me. Then, I extend my forefinger and pinky, keeping my middle and ring fingers curled down and my thumb folded down over them. This gives more room for more light to pass through than the "V" shape of using my fore and middle fingers.
I put the reflection on the back of my hand and frame my target between my two extended fingers. By moving the reflection straight up into the space between my fingers, and then back down, I know I'm flashing exactly where I want to.
Remember, three of anything is the International Distress Signal. Always flash in threes. Three flashes... wait... three more... wait a bit... three more. Even if they get confused and think it's an SOS, that's fine.
If you can find high ground, just take some time and flash the horizon. Use whatever aiming technique you prefer and aim the reflection at the horizon. Then, beging slowwwly turning around like a lighthouse. Go slowly enough that you don't become dizzy. Turn around three times, keeping the reflection solidly and steadily on the horizon. As you turn, it will be seen by any observers as a flash each time you turn past their location.
Read more about it here:
http://www.equipped.org/signal.htm#ReflectionsOfLight
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There are those who say that "Space Blankets" work no better than trash
bags. They've obviously never done an objective comparative study, or don't
understand what they are designed to do. One such person even once referred
me to a scientific study proving these things do not "insulate" even as well
as plastic sheets of similar thickness.
Well, duh! These devices have almost no insulating quality at all. They're not supposed to. But we lose heat not only by conduction. We also lose heat through exhalation, convection and radiation. Any non-porous sheet will block convection (and exhalation, if you cover your mouth with the sheet and breathe into the enclosed area next to your body). And the aluminized layer reflects radiation. Together with the insulating properties of your clothing, these thin blankets can help keep you quite warm.
Look at the front of your can again. The teepee-like structure the man has behind him is another reflector, similar to but larger than the rock reflector he has put on the far side of the fire. With the fire being reflected on both sides, and him sitting between it like that, he'll stay much more warm than with just a simple camp fire. With the knife, cordage and mylar sheet, you should be able to build something like that by tying sticks together and lashing the sheet around them. Don't worry about trying to get yourself up under or inside such a teepee, just sit or lie down between it and the fire. Between the aluminum foil as a reflector on one side, and the space blanket teepee as a reflector on the other, you should be able to create a comfortable "hot spot" in any but the worst weather.
If you're drenched or freezing so badly that you feel you don't have time for the long process of building a camp fire, you can light a candle, sit with your feet around it and wrap up in your blanket. It will reflect your own body heat and that of the candle back onto you, and allow you to warm up enough to be ready and able to go prepare some tinder, kindling and fuel. It's a short term solution only, as your candles will only last a very few hours, whereas a camp fire can be kept going indefinitely, as long as you keep feeding it more fuel.
By the way, and for what it's worth, the man in the image here has a candle between his feet. If you ever do that, do not do what he's doing. Leave a small opening between your feet to allow the Carbon Monoxide to exchange with fresh air well away from your face. Also, see if you can find something insulating to sit on. Your backpack will suffice. There's no point in wrapping up to stay warm and then letting a cold Earth suck your heat away.
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I've also included some printed material which came with some of the
items I packed in the kit. They would also be very useful to read.
Miscellaneous Added Items
These contents have been written in the order they appear on the back of the
can. I've expanded on them, where appropriate (such as adding lighter &
other fire gear with the matches).
But there are other items which were not in the can to begin with, and which I have added. Here are the ones which I currently remember.
Small enough to not take up much room, I decided to include it because so many
soldiers say they're so darned useful, and, well, just on the off chance you
had access to canned food, it sure would be darned silly not to be able to eat
it for want of an opener. I've read of people using these as hooks for
fishing.
If you ever use it, be aware the sharp hook part does not fold out all the way. It's supposed to fold out actually just a bit less than a 90º right angle.
Read more about them here:
http://www.usssatyr.com/p38.htm
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