It’s always interesting to see what some of the oddball type items folks carry in their packs/kits.
I’d say the strangest item I carry is a pencil sharpener. It makes short work of pines, and beats the hell out of carving up feathersticks by hand.
The other odd one is modified, waterproof sparklers.
Other than that, it’s pretty much standard fare. Just curious to see what some of y’all are carrying that’s atypical.
Small bottle of potassium permanganate.
Firestarter, disinfectant, water purifier, and it will flat out kill jungle rot on your feet.
Very… VERY interesting.
Recently learned about this as a friend ignited it atop some snow. VERY cool.
Vaseline infused cotton balls in a zip lock bag for fire starting.
Yep same here awesome way to start a fire.
Yeah, a long time ago I used to spend a lot of time in jungle environments. Some nice fellow with a British accent explained how they carried it in their kit, and following him around made me a believer.
It is getting harder to find now. You used to be able to pick it up from most swimming pool supply stores. I ordered the last container from a place on eBay.
When wandering about the landscape, I always try to carry at least three methods of starting fires, preferably four. This one is handy as also serves medicinal purposes. A sterilizer/disinfectant has proved to be very useful to me in the past. The darker the color, the more bugs it kills. Just a few crystals dropped into a canteen will kill most of the critters in it. A very light pink color will disinfect a wound.
ETA: And be careful with the stuff around brake fluid. Search YouTube for more info on that. 
Good man.
I always go for multiple redundancies on fire prep and water prep.
Sounds like the Pot-Perm will serve double duty on both of those.
Thanks for the heads up on this stuff.
A little silly, but a Lego Darth Vader keychain flashlight. http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Star-Darth-Vader-Light/dp/B005AN6DEO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1425329165&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+darth+vader+keychain
It is in all my kits to serve two purposes:
As he has grown, it gives me a reason to evaluate, inspect, and update things periodically to meet current needs. It is small enough not to be space wasting and is safe and easy for him to use if he needed to (not retina burning like a Surefire Ultra).
I keep one of the County Comm micro grapple hooks in my “travel/go” bag
For the potassium permanganate, is also gets interesting when mixed with glycerin IIRC
School me on that hook. Looks very interesting…
The hook is made of stainless steel, has three prongs which screw out and are stored withing the body of the hook. The back (where you would tie your cordage) unscrews and this is where you put the tines. It has a decent heft to it. I find it effective to use with paracord for straining up backpacks, food etc. in the woods. There is a larger model as well, but I wanted “micro”.
It also appears that they now have an even smaller version, a ‘pico’
I acquired them from county countycomm.com
Let me know if I didn’t answer your questions and I will remedy.
You can find various quantities of potassium permanganate on Amazon up to 2 lbs.
I really like anything that can’t be fabricated, or is difficult fabricate in the woods, that can serve multiple purposes and still be lightweight.
That pico looks pretty damned cool.
I think the pico might actually be too small to be useful. I wish the tines on the micro were a tad longer.
County Comm has lots of unusual but useful stuff that would go nicely in this thread. Don’t know how unusual it is…but I have their small shortwave radio with extra antennae. This little beast is awesome, and has an alarm and small LED light too. Worth every penny.
I carry a small lockpick kit in my BOB. I figure if the S really hits the F, it could come in handy to procure propane from those locked outdoor cabinets or perhaps gain entry into an abandoned house to use as a temporary domicile without destroying the door. Most household locks can be raked open or picked within a minute and the Masterlocks that they use to secure those propane tanks are a joke - 20-30 seconds tops. Plus, it beats carrying around a giant prybar.
Survco card axe http://youtu.be/L26b_VDRxDw
Titanium roll up volcano stove.
Weighs practically nothing and is perfect for making coffee, ramen, whatever, for a hot meal from just a few twigs.
Condoms and anti-biotics… you never know what kind of STDs will run rampant after the SHTF. 