Tag Archives: Bag O’ Tricks

Portable and potable

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Have you ever watched a movie where the hero is off in some sort of arid environment and there’s that classic scene where he tilts the canteen to his lips, a single drop drips out, he looks disgustedly at the canteen, and then throws it away?Why would you do that? Just because you don’t have any water at that moment doesn’t mean you’re not going to come across some later. And if you do come across some, and drink your fill, how are you going to carry some of that water with you since you threw your canteen away?

I mention this because I posted earlier about those water pouches and the conversation developed into a discussion about various water portage options. I always keep one heavy-duty-plastic bottle of water in my Bag O’ Tricks(tm) because you never know when you’re gonna get stuck somewhere. (I also keep a couple small ‘lifeboat’ ration bars in there too. If I’m gonna be stuck somewhere I’m not gonna spend the time listening to my stomach growl.) But in addition to the plastic water botle, I also keep one of these guys rolled up and tucked away. Although I like the Platypus, I go with the Nalgene because the mouth of this bladder takes all Nalgene lid accessories, including this one which I highly recommend. Importantly, the Nalgene version has the wide mouth so you can fill this thing in a hurry and even throw in snow/ice if you have to. And..I can fill it from a questionable water source and be abble to fit a LifeStraw through the mouth of it.

I carry it in my bag because I simply cannot carry as much water with me as I would like….its heavy stuff. But I can keep a water container with me in my bag so that if I do run across a water source…a natural body of water, a hose bib, an unattended faucet, or that sort of thing, I can supplement what I have.

You might ask, since I’m already carrying a plastic bottle of water, why not refill that? If it wer eempty, I absolutely would…every chance I get. But in a crisis I want more water than just the one bottle’s worth…more is better in this case.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but if you’re going to carry around a  (insert acronym here) bag, you may as well take the two ounce weight penalty and have the option to carry around extra water when you come across the opportunity.

How’d that shoulderbag search go?

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Well, funny you should ask…I narrowed it down to two candidates and, being a bit of a gear queer, ordered them both. First one to show up today was the Emdom. Expensive? Oh yes*, but on first blush I have to admit…it’s got some interesting design features. I’ll be banging it around for the next week and see how I like it. It’s a bit heavy on the ‘tactical’ side of things…more of a tactical bag than a ‘wandering the boonies’ bag. But we shall see.

The other one I ordered was this guy. I like the looks of it, we’ll see how it’s utility stacks up.

There are two roles I’m looking to fill. One, is a smaller, handier, version of my Bag O’ Tricks. Something that lends itself to a bit more ‘everyday use’ without looking like Burt Gummer. The other role is as a bag for any activity in the boonies. Fishing, hunting, hiking, geocaching, etc…something to carry the Ten Essentials, a jacket, water, food, compass, FAK, and the usual stuff. But a smaller kit than my hunting pack.

So far, the Emdom is pretty sweet. I need to load it up and give it a good workout. Stay tuned.

 

* = Expensive gear is, often, worth it. I’m not one of these survivalists who craps on people who buy ‘expensive yuppie survivalist gear’ because a) I can afford it and b) just because you want to take pride in poverty doesn’t mean I have to.

Bag O’ Tricks – Owie version

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The problem with posting about anything you carry around or store is that, no matter what it is, there’s always some moron who says “What if…”. For example, if you say you have enough fuel stored to run your generator for three weeks, they’ll chime in with something brilliant like “But what if the disaster runs four weeks?”. If you said you had fuel for five years they’d come back with “Yeah, but what if the disaster runs six years?”. I genuinely believe that if you said you had enough food to last you fifty years they’d come back with “But what if the disaster lasts 51 years?” and not realize they’re being idiots.  It’s because of morons like that I usually don’t bother giving exact quantities of things I keep around. It’s just so irritating, y’know?

Anyway….

From time to time, I mention the Bag O’ Tricks. It’s nothing dramatic, it’s just a bag with a lot of things that would be useful across the board if I get caught somewhere. It’s not a ‘get home’ bag, it’s not a ‘bugout bag’, and it’s not a ‘bailout bag’. It’s just a bag with things that I like to have around in case something unexpected happens. I’ve mentioned it before. Matter of fact, last time I was asked about it the response I gave was very similar to the opening paragraph:

The problem is, no matter what I write, some idiot will chime in with “But what about…”, “You dont need…”, “You should have….”, and that sort of thing. I’ll give you an example… everytime someone posts something about how much food they have it goes like this: “We keep enough stored food for [X] months” and someone says “But what if the disaster goes on for [x+1] months?”. Doesn’t matter how long the timeframe is…if I said I had enough food for twenty five years some idiot will jump in with “But what if the crisis lasts 26 years.” Those kinds of conversations annoy me to no end. So…no junk-on-the-bunk dumpout of the Bag O’ Trick. Just a once in a while thing where I pull something out and mention it.

So, whats in the bag? Well, I’ve touched on a couple things that I keep in there. But, of course, there’s more. Imma pull an item out at random and we’ll see how that goes. :::fishes around in bag:::

Behold:

On the right is the Maxpedition first aid pouch. It’s got QuickClot, compress banadges, rolled gauze, various bandages, tape, pads, non stick pads, burn gel, triple antibiotic, etc, etc. (And by “etc”, that probably covers 90% of “What about…”). These aren’t supposed to be an ‘end of the world’ type of thing…they’re just to let me get myself patched up and functionable until I can get to a more detailed treatment. Woulda come in dang handy a week ago.

On the left is the very nice tourniquet kit from North American Rescue which I’ve posted about before. These kits, as well as the individual tourniquets, come on sale every so often and I really would recommend at least a couple. I also strongly encourage you to pay a little more and buy directly from NAR because the Chinese fakes of these are all over eBay and Amazon. This is not the sort of gear you want to take chances with and try to save $15 by getting one off eBay no matter how honest the seller seems. Don’t do it.

Both of these have MOLLE webbing and straps so I normally just attach them to each other to keep them handy. I do, however, need to get a nice waterproof bag to keep them in since you never know what sort of conditions you’re going to be under when something goes wrong.

But, there you go….one more trick outta the Bag O’ Tricks.

Bag O’ Tricks – AM/FMradio

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Every so often I go through my Bag O’ Tricks and think about each item that’s there and whether it’s utility and likelihood of use warrants it’s inclusion.

One item that I keep that I never question is the classic palm sized little AM/FM battery radio. In an era where, literally, the entire collected knowledge of humanity is sitting in my pocket on an internet-enabled smartphone there is still a need for the simple ‘transistor radio’. (Although, to be fair, pocket radios have evolved tremendously.)

A reasonable question to ask would be “Zero, I have the internet in front of me, a smartphone in my pocket, there’s a TV in the breakroom, and my office plays XM radio all day. Why would I need a tinny little radio to hump around in my already overcrowded EDC bag?”

Electricity. Power goes out and your office loses its XM, internet, and TV. If its a widespread outage you lose your cellphone too. (Because although those cell towers are supposed to have back up generators and batteries.. well…they were meaning to get around to that preventative maintenance but got busy.) Or, if its a big enough emergency, the phone system will be way overloaded.

So what just happened? Why’d the power go out? How widespread? Is it the result of some bad actors? Is it just a squirrel immolating himself on a transformer? Don’t know, right? So…you reach into your bag, pull out your little AA-batt radio, and start roaming up and down the dial listening for news.

This isn’t theory, I’ve had that exact situation. I’ve been sitting at my desk, theres a snapping noise, and all the power in the building goes out. A small battery radio tells me a lot when I start dialing through the frequencies…if theyre all just static or quiet, then I know its a widespread outage. If they’re carrying on like nothing happened, then I know its pretty localized. Of course, in addition to a little AM/FM/SW radio I also carry the ICOM R6 (highly recommend) so I can keep tabs on the local cop/fire response.

The folks at CountyComm have an interesting little radio that seems ideal for the task. It’s not a $12.99 WalMart radio, but then again when the power is out and I’m wondering what all the sirens are about, I suspect I’ll be glad I spent the extra money on something like that.

And, of course, since this thing gets carried around in the Bag O’ Tricks it has to be compatible with the battery logistics for the other electronic devices (and spare batts) I carry. So…AA batts.

(l.) Icom R6…tiny enough for carrying around but has tons of features. (r.) Discontinued pocket AM/FM/SW AA-batt radio from CountyComm w/ earpiece. Always pack earphones…less battery usage using earphones. Both radios fir in the Pelican 1010 case.

Like the Icom R6, the AM/FM/SW radio sits in a little Pelican case to protect it from the rough and tumble life of being in a bag that gets thrown around a lot. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you can just wrap a radio in some bubble wrap and cardboard and it’ll be okay. False economy there. No one hands out awards to the person who made it through a crisis using the cheapest gear… spend the money.

And, as always, periodically inspect your gear! Check those batteries!

 

 

 

ICOM R6

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A while back, I purchased an ICOM R6 handheld receiver (scanner). I’d been on the fence about it because even though it was rather affordable at only about $200, it was still a chunk of money for a tightwad like me.

I wanted it because too often I would be somewhere and either come across some sort of accident or other police/rescue activity, or I’d hear sirens (alot of them) in the distance and wonder what was going on. Now, it isn’t necessarily that Im nosy (although I am) but rather if there is some Big Hairy Deal going on somewhere that requires the efforts of a large amount of overcompensated city employees…well…I should probably be aware of it. Chlorine tanker derails? I wanna now…now. Shooting at the Walmart and that side of town is locked down? I need to know. Car fire on the bridge downtown? Need to know. So..I picked up the R6. The R6 is tiny, which has some problems, but fits in my Bag O’ Tricks and runs on AA batts. I did a bit of research and programmed it to cover all the local police/fire channels, FRS, GRMS, and a few other useful frequencies. Sometimes it is very useful to know what other people are doing. Sure, many agencies use encrypted communications these days or some other method of defeating casual listeners like me, but…lets be honest….most cops and firemen will take the easy way out and that means just keying the mic and talking rather than remembering tactical frequencies, protocols, encryption keys, and which button on the Motorola turns off that horrible noise.

Biggest drawback is that because of the thing’s tiny size, alot of buttons do double or triple duty. Programming and navigating through different functions can be challenging with constant references back to the user manual. (Tip: keep the .pdf of the manual in your phone)

Since my bag is expected to get bounced and banged around, I keep the R6 in a little Pelican 1010 Micro case.. keeps everything safe and uncrushed.

One item I splurged on, a year or so after I bought the radio, was a programming cable and software package. Rather than go through the button pushing process, I just hooked the scanner up to my computer and loaded up the frequencies that way. Highly recommend.

Since the R6 runs on AA batts, it fits into my logistics plans nicely. The Pelican case keeps it dry and in one piece. And, when everyone is looking out the windows at all the flashing lights whizzing by on the highway I can get a handle on whats going on around me and adjust my pans accordingly.  Forewarned is forearmed and all that jazz.

AA battery case and pouch

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Battery standardization is kind of an important thing. When I need batteries for my flashlight, radio, or other geegaw, the last thing I want is to discover I’m out of the battery I need but I have zillions of the batteries I don’t.

For my general needs, it’s just three battery sizes: CR123, AA, and D. End of story. Sometimes it requires a compromise when one product might use one of those batteries but another, better, product might use something like a 9-volt or C-battery. In cases like that I usually fall on the side of logistics because even if the product is a bit better, when the batteries fade and it’s non-functional it will be a lot less than ‘better’.

For stuff that I carry around in the Bag O’ Tricks there is no room for argument – one battery size. Period. Full stop.

For that task, I go with AA lithium batts. They are expensive, yes. The advantage is that they are far less vulnerable to temperature, and they tend to keep their charge over time. The problem is, how to carry spares. I used to just take an Altoids tin, line it with plastic, put tape over the ends of the batteries, and  store ’em that way. Cheap, but there are better ways. A fella handed me a Maxpedition catalog years ago and they had this little guy:

It has been my absolute first choice for storing spare batteries in my gear. It keeps them separate from each other, protects the important ends, and conveniently splits apart and is colored to help differentiate dead from live batteries. (Whys ave the dead ones? Might be rechargeables that you want to save for later recharging.)

I’ve used this thing to carry around my spare AA batts (and it’ll carry CR123 batts as well) for years and can’t think of a problem I’ve had with it. I keep it in the nylon pouch as an added measure of safety and security, but the plastic sleeve by itself would seem to work fine in a tucked away pocket on your gear.

The things I carry in my bag that need those batteries? A couple small LED lights, a small AM/FM/SW radio, and the very small and very useful ICOM R6 receiver. All of those run on AA’s and therefore I only need to keep the one type of battery in my bag. (Also means that, in a real crunch, I could swap batteries as needed between devices.)

While the pouch has MOLLE webbing to let you mount it to your gear, I find it more useful to carry it inside my gear. Why leave it outside your bag to get banged around?

As I said, I’ve used this sort of thing for carrying around spare batts for years and haven’t had a single problem with ’em. Recommended.

TacTool

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One of the things in the Bag Of Tricks? This monster:

It’s really just a sharpened crowbar with a handle. I have it expressly for the purpose of cutting, chipping, prying, hacking, hammering my way out of or through whatever is between me and safety. Prying open doors, busting windows out of frames, hinge pins out of doors, and all that sort of thing. I have a more ‘regular’ knife or two in my bag as well, but this is the big kahuna for when something needs to be destroyed.

It’s made by Becker Knife & Tool which is now a part of Ka-Bar. Made in the USA although the sheath is made overseas. I’ve been a fan of he BK&T products for years…they have a brute ruggedness that meshes nicely with my ideas about the qualities I look for in just-in-case-the-world-ends gear. Not cheap, and you could probably get similar results with something cheaper… but I like BK&T and I don’t mind paying a bit extra for something that I might someday need in a very, very bad way.

This thing sits in its scabbard at the bottom of my bag, and it’s my first choice for deconstruction of my surroundings. Of course, it also can cut things but it’s main function, as I said, is for breaking things. Never know when you’re going to need to break down a door or window for a quick getaway, y’know?