Unusual Item(s) In Your BOB

[drop bear]

I use a car sunshade as a sleep insulating mat. It is a bit slimmer and smaller to pack.

[drop bear]

Not sure if it's "unusual" but it's something a lot of people may have neglected. I keep half a dozen surgical mask in my GHB and BOB.
I read someone's account of having to evac through the debris field from a tornado. They said their daughter was in respiratory distress after a mile or two due to all the dust in the air. Given that a lot of the dust would be insulation and such I can see where it would be nasty. In addition the mask could be used to prevent the spread of airborne disease (Zombie cough?) and can also be used as a pre-filter for your water filtration system to keep your micro filter from getting clogged as fast.

Another item I have that I really like are some HUGE mil surplus bandana's. I know a lot of people carry one, but the standard size isn't as good as most people think when they want to use it as a arm sling or a head bandage. Try using a standard 22 inch square as a sling for an adult's arm, you will have a hard time getting enough material to tie the knot and the arm will be pulled up toward their chin in an uncomfortable position. I found some on The Sportsman's Guide that are 32 inch square.

I do flat mate masks. Which are supposed to be rated to dust and fumes.

[ineffableone]

Hate to be "that guy" but I am surprised this topic has gone 2 pages without someone bringing up that this topic has been done before. The thread Uncommon BOB items viewtopic.php?f=14&t=59093

You might want to check that one out a bit it is 15 pages of mostly good stuff.

I knew there was another one, took a bit but found another thread similarly themed. BOB or INCH oddity items? viewtopic.php?f=14&t=37393&p=770303 it wasn't as popular and only got 1 page.

[bltjr1951]

The bad thing about old threads is that the pic links are usally dead.

On another site, the most mentioned " uncommon item" is...... a condom.
And most say they will use it for water carry.

[moni1124]

A Silcock key. It can be used for getting water out of industrial areas and parks. Any stupid faucet that doesn't have a handle. There could possibly be a lot of water missed that way due to not having the tools needed for extraction.

[olbaid_dratsab]

Thinking about a wood rasp or a section of one just for making fires.

Dry wood is easy (ish) in the wet. Just chop off the wet outside. But tinder...the rasp would produce a bunch of saw dust pretty easy from the dry center of choped wood. Only reason I think of this is because I just used the saw on my Leatherman to do just that a few weeks ago in the rain. Didn't have tinder available.

May work pretty well on a magnesium bar too.

You could probably make other useful shit easier too.

[bltjr1951]

May work pretty well on a magnesium bar too.

There was a guy that used a rasp or file on a mag bar.
Also drilled holes in mag bar to make shavings to put in pill bottles.
Saved time in not having to shave bar to make fire in a hurry.

I used a file/rasp combo tool that had 4 different sections on it when working on lead sleeves for splicing.
I need to see about getting one.

[Mej1947]

I keep a half dozen heavy duty one gallon zip lock bags in my BOB. They don't take up much space and have multiple uses. They make great water storage bags. I also have a small package of beef bullion cubes in there. Not too nutritious but if I'm cooking something that doesn't have much flavor it helps fool my taste buds.