Old man's survival kit.

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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The post about the demise of the scholl boys survival kit made me think about my dad's survival kit.

Dad was a bit of a strange bird, and I had the impression that living through the great depression made him think about survival. He had his edc pocket stuff, and he seemed to be able to deal with just about everything with just a few items.

His pocket knife for all the years I knew him, was a Case peanut. He got by with that 2 inch little blade most of the time.

He smoked a pipe, so he always had his old beat up Zippo lighter on him. He had this keyring, and it was sort of his bat ring. Keychain tools he used in emergencys. He had one of those round Sears 4-way screw drives on it, and a P-38. In his pocket was a short wood pencil with some jute twine wraped around it, secured by some black electical tape. The electrical tape was the duct tape of his era I guess. i know I must have watched him fix a ton of stuff with running repairs from his edc pocket stuff.

I guess those old timers from the pre-WW2 era knew how to get by with just a few things. I watched him make fires , clean fish, and general camp chores with that small amount of gear. He had a cutting tool, fire, and some cordage. All the rest of it seemed to be in his head.

Makes me wonder about the toy collections.
 
I do an amazing amount of stuff everyday with just a Victorinox Cadet that is on my keychain. I carry an Inova flashlight in my right cargo pocket and a Leatherman Core in the left cargo pocket. Everyone at work comes to me for EVERYTHING. I also carry an Under Armour gymbag full of goodies but I rarely need to go in there. I keep Gorilla Tape and electrical tape around my flashlight BTW.
 
jackknife said:
The post about the demise of the scholl boys survival kit made me think about my dad's survival kit.

Dad was a bit of a strange bird, and I had the impression that living through the great depression made him think about survival. He had his edc pocket stuff, and he seemed to be able to deal with just about everything with just a few items.

His pocket knife for all the years I knew him, was a Case peanut. He got by with that 2 inch little blade most of the time.

He smoked a pipe, so he always had his old beat up Zippo lighter on him. He had this keyring, and it was sort of his bat ring. Keychain tools he used in emergencys. He had one of those round Sears 4-way screw drives on it, and a P-38. In his pocket was a short wood pencil with some jute twine wraped around it, secured by some black electical tape. The electrical tape was the duct tape of his era I guess. i know I must have watched him fix a ton of stuff with running repairs from his edc pocket stuff.

I guess those old timers from the pre-WW2 era knew how to get by with just a few things. I watched him make fires , clean fish, and general camp chores with that small amount of gear. He had a cutting tool, fire, and some cordage. All the rest of it seemed to be in his head.

Makes me wonder about the toy collections.
Click to expand...




Everything else is a luxury :thumbup: Good post and kudos to your dad
 
My dad was the same way. He carried one of those medium sized 3 bladed Old Timer's all his life.
It was amazing what he could do with it.
 
That reminds me of the guys down here.
All they carry is a machete, a folder, and fire. Most have black nylon cord that they use to tie plants to stakes wrapped around the sheath of the machete.
Brain surgery, haircut, fight,broken zipper. No problem
I'll have to get you guys a picture of a cord and bamboo " backpack" for hauling sacks of fertilizer, heads of bananas, sacks coffee etc.
 
we envy and admire those types of guys. but then how on earth, can we ever stop buying more cool gear, when buying cool gear gives meaning to our lives?
 
Toucan Oasis said:
That reminds me of the guys down here.
All they carry is a machete, a folder, and fire. Most have black nylon cord that they use to tie plants to stakes wrapped around the sheath of the machete.
Brain surgery, haircut, fight,broken zipper. No problem
I'll have to get you guys a picture of a cord and bamboo " backpack" for hauling sacks of fertilizer, heads of bananas, sacks coffee etc.
Click to expand...

^Yep! Very familiar things here as well.
 
Good points Jackknife! You are right about the toys, I carry more simply because I'm not as good or smart as your Dad was - and I'd be the first to admit it! But I DO take notes from posts like yours, and try to keep learning! ;)
 
That's why I like this survival triangle from the SAS Survival Handbook:

SP.gif


Kit is nice, but it's the last thing...
 
MacGyver had the same old school spirit. Even if he was a TV character.

A SAK and some duct tape was all he ever needed to carry.
 
Those old guys were a different breed. They made do with what they had and for the most part did quite well. A lot of it was more than likely attitude.

My Grandad for example was an excellent hunter and woodsman and he rarely carried anything, other than his gun, that wouldn't fit in his pockets. He fed his family with a gun, a little corn patch, and garden and from what I understand they didn't use the corn for eatin'. I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with him before he passed and I would say his most important survival tool was his attitude...there was absolutely no quit in the man. It is doubtful that he ever owned anything that could be considered "tactical" and what he did have was well used but well cared for.
 
:thumbup::thumbup: Great post and VERY true.....my grandfather would have been amused at what folks think they need to "survive" these days.
 
woodzman......good point regarding the role attitude plays, same with my grandfather, "quit" was not even remotely in his vocabulary.
 
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