Urban EDC Keychain

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kunegos

Joined
Nov 17, 2005
Messages
80
I know this kind of thing gets beaten to death on various forums, but I have searched several times and have not yet found the answer to my question.

For someone who lives in the middle of a large city, what kinds of tools should be on my keychain? Lets assume I have a stout folder in my pocket.

Here's what I've got so far:

Leatherman Micra
Some kind of LED light
paracord lanyard
glow ring
mini bic lighter

I am also in the process of assembling an altoids type kit. Is there anything else that I'm missing? Maybe a can opener and a sharpener?
 
One thing you might consider is getting one of the old style leather key wallets, especially if you have only a couple keys. ( not the big motorcycle style, the gentlemans style that is sized to hold 6 or so keys.) You can stash a few items in there, to suppliment your tin psk. Consider a pocket sized fly box instead of the altoids tin for your psk. Many are sealed with a gasket and easily found where fly fishing gear is sold.
A mirror might be handy, I have seen inexpensive key sized led lights at Wal-Mart, and a whistle could have uses too, if it is small but still loud. I think "Storm" might make one.
A small first-aid kit might be a large part of a city survival plan, a few bandaids, ointment and aspirin , something along those lines.
 
Surprisingly, the whistle (Jet Screamer) on my key ring gets used constantly in the city for flagging down cabs, even though the original purpose was for a PSK rescue item.
Guaranteed to attract the cabbie's attention!
Also carry a mini maglite AAA for finding keyholes in the dark and a bottle opener.
Not so much "survival" items, as useful in the day to day city environment.
 
Living on the outskirts of Washington D.C.and being retired, I spend alot of time in the city. Museums, art gallerys, shows, dinning. Most of the time we go downtown I leave the car at a metro staion and we take the metro down.

twice in the last year, the metro train we were riding on had a mechanical breakdown of some sort, and the metro person and the train operator would have been the only personel with flashlights had not my wife and I been prepared. Karen always has her nite-eze AA minimag in her purse and a Photn on her keyring, and I always have a Photon on mine in addition to the AAA Dorcy in my pocket. The added lights made the walk to the emergency exit alot easier.

In the city I think some sort of emergency light is manditory. Two is better. A whistle is good. We both have high pitched Bison designs on our keyrings. Also a small keychain backup knife. I keep a Victorinox classic on mine. Its sheeple friendly and handy.

I would consider a small altoids box good for first aid items like bandaids, general pain/headache killers like asprin/Ibuprophin, matches, couple safty pins.
 
jackknife said:
In the city I think some sort of emergency light is manditory. Two is better. A whistle is good. We both have high pitched Bison designs on our keyrings. Also a small keychain backup knife. I keep a Victorinox classic on mine. Its sheeple friendly and handy.

I would consider a small altoids box good for first aid items like bandaids, general pain/headache killers like asprin/Ibuprophin, matches, couple safty pins.
Click to expand...

I'll second the call for emergency lighting. After the Loma Prieta earthquake knocked out power to most of the San Francisco bay area back in '89, flashlights were hard to come by but absolutely necessary. I usually have several sources of alternative lighting with me, including a SureFire Aviator (dual use, LED and incadescent -- expensive but well-worth the price. I carry it on my belt).

For the altoids tin, I like to carry a cheap butane lighter instead of matches. Get a clear one so that you can easily check the fuel level. Again, this is for around town. Lighters are guaranteed to fail when you need them the most in the woods.

I'm not usually carrying a whistle around town these days, but I'm thinking that I should find a way to fit one into my PSK. A whistle goes around my neck in the woods, of course.

I don't carry any kind of PSK supplies on my keyring, so all of my in town PSK supplies ride in my pocket or on my belt. The reason why is that my keyring changes depending on the car that I'm driving, or if I'm walking/biking to get wherever I'm going, so it's a poor place for me to put "always with me" gear.
 
A whistle is a great idea. I hadn't really considered that. Is there a good, compact version that would be convenient for edc on a keychain? I do carry an Inova X1 everyday, so I have 2 lights at all times, often 3.
 
kunegos said:
A whistle is a great idea. I hadn't really considered that. Is there a good, compact version that would be convenient for edc on a keychain? I do carry an Inova X1 everyday, so I have 2 lights at all times, often 3.
Click to expand...

We both carry Bison Design whistles. They're made out of aluminum so they are so light as to be unnoticable on the key ring. They have a couple different designs, we picked ones that have a good piercing high pitch. Gets attention.
 
I like my keychain to have a little redundancy for my other EDC:

KeyChain.jpg


ARC 1XAAA LED
Photon
Sliver Grippers - Tweezers
Utilikey
Leatherman P4 Squirt (scissors)
Gerber Fingernail clippers
WSI Hot Spark mini-ferro rod + striker
Atwood Whistle

ROCK6
 
kunegos , how did you attach the Bic lighter to your keychain? Just intesterested because at the moment I carry a carabiner lighter which is quite heavy.
I would also add compass (Silva makes very nice compasses http://www.nevisport.com/catlist-11-catlist1_id-129-catlist2_id-422 http://www.armynavyshop.com/compass-compasses.html . They are relatively cheap, but it is hard to beat Silva's quality.
Also, I have Streamlite batonlite - you can use it as kubaton, but it is a torch as well. And it is easy to carry.
 
My 2 cents.

I cannot tell how many times a small first aid kit has come in handy with me.
I started carrying a small FAK a few years ago with just the basics
-5 or so bandaids
-small tube of neo sporin
-a few tylenol
-needle and small spool of thread
-pack of matches
-2/3 safety pins

I have bandadged plenty of fingers , removed glass from a guards toe and provided safety pins for 'errant' bras.
Comes in handy big time.
 
ROCK6 said:
I like my keychain to have a little redundancy for my other EDC:

KeyChain.jpg


ARC 1XAAA LED
Photon
Sliver Grippers - Tweezers
Utilikey
Leatherman P4 Squirt (scissors)
Gerber Fingernail clippers
Spark-Lite mini-ferro rod + striker
Atwood Whistle

ROCK6
Click to expand...

Actually, if you have a Squirt with scissors it's the S4. ;)
 
cosine said:
Actually, if you have a Squirt with scissors it's the S4. ;)
Click to expand...

You are absolutely correct, thanks! I was too lazy to pull them out of my pocket:D

ROCK6
 
I carry a large Carbiner clip that can sub for a fist load or knuckles but other than that I only have my one car key on my key chain. The reason for this is with too many gadgets on your key chain you rattle and clank like a tin man and give yourself away if you need to hide. You also complicate things in a survival ( urban ) situation as with a whole bunch of gadgets you have to take those few extra milli seconds to seconds fumbling for the right tool. Last but not least of all a heavy key chain will end up ruining the ignition on your car and one day you will need to get away and you are stuck because your urban 1 pound key chain has killed your ignition switch.
 
A mini-multi tool\SAK
photon light
keys
small pen. Much more than that and your keychain will be too heavy, but I really like the whistle and lighter idea.

minimag typle light, cell phone and bandanna in pocket, identification, some cash and a water bottle are also good. Also consider that not all emergencies are widespread. If you have to just get out of the neighborhood fast, having a credit card will let you buy new clothes, rent a room or a car, etc.
 
This is really helpful as a fine-tune my EDC. What is the most efficient way to carry a firestarter? I saw something called a flint match somewhere. It there a rod that I could use with my pocket knife to get some sparks without adding much if any bulk?
 
Here is my keychain and also what I carry besides it:
edc0130053jo.jpg


This my EDC:
edc1zo.jpg


This is what is inside the zippered wallet:
edcwalletopen1io.jpg


I too, like redundency. I have 3 methods of fire (2 ferro rods and a mini Bic) , two lights (Fenix L1P and Photon Freedom) and a few knives and multitools.

Ready
 
Here is a bunch of cool stuff. I order from them once in a while and they have good service. www.survivalkeychain.com at the top of their page in red is a tab that says "build your own" click that and it will show you all the little things they stock that can be bought individually. Also check out their links some of the other sites have some good stuff.

Wade
 
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