Iodine crystals for water purification Ron Hood style

This is something I have wanted to do for a long time. I remember watching the late Ron Hood describe how he made a water purification kit with Iodine crystals and an empty bottle in one of his early video tapes. So, I bought a one ounce bottle of Iodine crystals which are 99.9% pure and several empty one ounce brown glass bottles. I like the idea of using a brown bottle since it keeps sunlight from harming the effectiveness of the Iodine.
From all the information I've read 7 or 8 grams of Iodine crystals to one one ounce bottle is the formula. Since I bought 3 one ounce bottles I'll split the Iodine crystals 4 ways (28.35 grams is an ounce). This will give me 7 grams of Iodine crystals per bottle. I'll have enough Iodine for 4 water treatment bottles. I plan on making two bottles. One for the wife's kit and one for mine.
The directions are:
Fill the bottle with water. Treated or untreated doesn't matter as long as it isn't muddy or have a bunch of junk floating in it. The treatment works faster if the solution gets warm. You can set the bottle in the sun or keep it next to your body. The Iodine crystals will saturate the water and you will not be able to tell how much crystal has dissolved into solution. Leaving the water in the bottle will not cause the water to super saturate. The Iodine stops dissolving when a limit is reached. That's the beauty of this system. You can leave the water in the bottle for the next treatment and not worry. After the water is nice and warm and has set for around 1 hour, you carefully pour off half the water from the bottle into a 1 liter/quart container of water to be treated. You must let the water set for a determined amount of time depending on the temperature of the water. See the table below. Try not to get any of the crystals into the water. This is so you don't waste them and also so you don't ingest too much of them. A little crystal won't hurt you but too much can make you sick. If you are really concerned, you can use a piece of nylon stocking over the opening of the bottle when you pour off the solution to catch any crystals. A piece of panty hose would work fine. Read all the warnings about Iodine in the information from Raems below.
My plan is to use my Bobble carbon filter to take out the iodine taste from my water. Also, I will add a bit of vitamin C to the water after the allotted treatment time to sublimate the Iodine out of solution. This should remove the taste completely.
On vitamin C for removing the Iodine taste, you only need a little bit to get the job done. If you get a chance to see the vitamin C tablets that come in the second bottle of the Portable Aqua kit, you will see how small they are. One concern I've heard about this system of water purification is that the glass bottle is a bad idea. I have carried an old Vanilla Extract bottle full of olive oil in my pack for more than ten years and its still fine and its an odd shaped flat bottle at that. The Iodine bottle is round and that makes it a little more durable. Use common sense and treat your gear good and all will be OK.
All in all I have spent $5 for the 3 bottles and $17 for the Iodine crystals. That includes shipping. Now, one bottle of Polar Pure is around $20 and I have seen it for $14 once. My 4 bottles will work out to $7.25 each. Thats a pretty good savings. I plan to use them only for the times when I can't boil my water which is my first choice. That means they should last me many, many years.

Here's some information from a company in Canada that makes an Iodine crystal purification bottle. This is a link to their site: http://www.raems.com/webad/USP.html

"USP Iodine in 1 Ounce bottle 
Each amber bottle contains 8 grams of USP Resublimated Iodine Crystals.  It may be reused to treat up to 5000 quarts. Once the crystals are dissolved, the bottle is finished. This may take years! Each fill of the bottle will give you a saturated solution of 8 ppm (parts per million). This solution strength will disinfect water according to the following table:

           Temperature       41F / 5 C       59F / 15C        86F / 30C

              Time in            60                  30                    15
              minutes

Iodine is light sensitive and must always be stored in a dark bottle. It works best if the water is over 68° F (21° C). Iodine has been shown to be more effective than chlorine-based treatments in inactivating Giardia cysts. It is important to note that you are using the iodine solution to treat the water, not the iodine 
crystals. The concentration of iodine in a crystal is poisonous and can burn tissue or eyes.  Fill the bottle with some of the water to be treated, cap it, shake, and let it sit for a few minutes.  Decant the solution ( not the crystals) into a one quart ( 1 litre) container holding water to be treated. Let the treated water stand 
  for 30 minutes before drinking. In order to destroy Giardia cysts, the drinking water must be at least 68° F (20° C). Be aware that some people are allergic to iodine and cannot use it as a form of water purification. Persons with thyroid problems or on lithum, women over fifty, and pregnant women should consult their physician prior to using iodine for purification. Also, some people who are allergic to shellfish are also allergic to iodine. If someone cannot use iodine, use either a chlorine-based product or a non-iodine-based filter, such as the PUR Hiker Microfilter, MSR WaterWorks, or the Katadyn Water Filter.
Always ensure the bottle is tightly capped, as iodine crystals sublime into the air quite quickly, and may stain surrounding items. They will also cause corroding of most metals. Leaving water in the bottle is okay, and will not create a superstrong solution. Any residual iodine aroma in the treated water may be neutralized by adding drink crystals containing vitamin C."

Here's more info from a different site:

"USP-grade resublimed Iodine Crystals (Kahn-Vassher solution, Polar Pure)

This system incorporates a bottle of poorly soluble iodine crystals and is one of the best systems for treating small amounts of water, since it is relatively effective and has an indefinite shelf life.  This is probably the most reliable iodine treatment system available to backpackers and is widely used by mountaineers traveling abroad.

Glass is the only appropriate material for storing aqueous iodine solutions.  The main disadvantage of this is the potential of a full bottle freezing an breaking.  This can often be avoided by placing the bottle in your shirt, sleeping with it in your bag or only half filing it prior to nightfall.

Once water is added to your crystals, the water quickly (up to an hour) becomes saturated with iodine.  This saturated iodine solution is then added to your drinking water.

Since the amount of iodine saturated in water is dependant on the temperature of the solution, you should take into account the temperature of the solution to determine how much of it to add to the water you would like to treat.  The Polar Pure bottle and a thermometer on it for dose calculation for 4 mg/L.  The following chart shows how many capfuls (Polar Pure) of saturated solution are needed to treat water:

Temperature of Solution	Capfuls per Quart (Liter)
95° F (35° C)	1.2
86° F (30° C)	1.3
77° F (25° C)	1.5
68° F (20° C)	2
59° F (15° C)	2.5
50° F (10° C)	3.5
41° F (5° C)	4

Saturation of iodine is increased if you keep the bottle warm by keeping it in your packet or setting it out in the sun prior to use.

For treating Giardia, it is recommended that you warm the bottle and use a double dose to 8mg/L for 90-120 minutes.

The original system system described by Kahn and Visscher in 1975 incorporates a 30cc (1 fl oz) bottle, paper lined bakelite cap, and 2-8 g USP grad resublimed iodine crystals.  The bottle is filled, shaken and left to stand for at least one hour.  At a temperature of 68°F (20°C), which can be maintained by placing the bottle in a shirt pocket, half a bottle (15cc) of saturated iodine solution should be able to treat one liter (quart) with about 9mg/L of iodine.  One 30cc (1 fl oz) bottle is enough to treat 2 liters of water.

Other guidelines recommend 13 ml (2.5 teaspoons) of saturated iodine solution pee quart (liter) of clear water or 25 ml (5 teaspoons) per quart (liter) of cloudy water.

It is important to note that the 4-8 grams of crystals used constitutes a potential lethal human dose if consumed all at once.  Because of this, the bottles supplied with Polar Pure are designed to trap the crystals when the iodine solution is poured out.  DIY backpackers should use a strainer insert in their bottles to prevent accidental pouring of crystals into your water.  These crystals can be purchased from a pharmacy.  Because of the poisoning potential, this system should not be entrusted with children."

This is from a most excellent site with a very informative write up on water purification. Here's the link to that site: http://zenbackpacking.net/WaterFilterPurifierTreatment.htm

By the way, if you don't have Ron Hoods priceless DVD's on survival, you should buy them. It would really help Karen and Jesse at this time in their lives. They need all the financial help they can get. Heres a link:
http://survival.instantestore.net/default.cfm

Here's what the Iodine crystals look like for the curious. This is the picture supplied by the seller on eBay. http://cgi.ebay.com/1oz-28-4g-pure-elemental-iodine-crystals-/280648667761?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4157f6d271

A good ax

An ax can be a God send or a death sentence-or at the very least a trip to the emergency room! I have seen some very nasty wounds from ax misuse. A glancing ax is an ax out of control. Period. And when it stops in your leg, its going to cause an awful lot of damage and bleeding. This is why a lot of folks consider it too dangerous to carry. Some depend on big blades like Kukri's, machete's and others. Well, if you don't have enough practice with these tools or are careless, you will still suffer in the end. I was fortunate to have started with a hand ax at an early age. It was an old one with a hammer poll and a cutting edge of about 4 inches. It was my grand father's and I had to put it back clean after every use. Pap was good at keeping it sharp and showed me how to cut with it and how not to take a leg off. I paid close attention to him and never suffered any self inflicted wounds. I cut many a sapling and downed trees for fire wood and other things I would make in the woods. I was told to never bury the blade in the dirt and to sink it into a log or stump of dead, dry, wood. This kept the sharp edge covered and dry won't make it rust. I would always (and still do) place my feet apart and well back from the area where I was going to take a swing. Not enough to loose balance but to avoid the ax edge if it glanced. I was taught to think each swing ahead and thus avoid glancing blows.
I've had a few different axes over the years and one of the best has been my little Norlund. It is considered a small camp ax and has a head 5 1/8" long and a cutting edge 3 1/8" wide. The head is 7/8" at the thickest point. I bought mine for around 50 cents and it was without a handle. The handle I put in is 14" long. I like it that way. It gives a little more power to the swing. There's no reason to fear such a handy woods tool. Our ancestors used them every day. It just requires a good dose of common sense and paying close attention to what you are doing. Never attempt to interrupt or have a conversation with a person who is chopping. It can lead to some nasty accidents.

Sharpening tools and methods-an update

Since I posted my last article about sharpening knives, I've come across some more information. There are a lot of new steels out there for knife makers. Some of them are pretty hard such as S30V and ball bearing steel to name a few. These new wonder steels need a different breed of sharpeners other than the good old carborundum stone.

For these new types of steel I usually use diamond followed up by a very fine ceramic rod. Then a few swipes on the strop and its good enough. Diamond sharpeners are shown in photo 4. These are made by EZ Lap and DMT as well as other companies. The fold-up Camillus at the bottom of photo 4 is a combination of diamond hone, carbide wheel sharpener, and ceramic sharpener all in one package. Camillus is now a defunct company. The ceramic sharpener in photo 5 is a Lansky and has both fine and extra fine sticks. It is one of my favorite sharpeners. Its set up to do 20 degree and 25 degree angles on blades.

In the first two photos are shown natural quarried stones from Arkansas. These are called Arkansas stones and are a form of extremely hard high temperature quartzite mix called novaculite. These are very good sharpeners for high carbon and most stainless steel. The odd looking one that resembles a wedge is called a slip and is used for sharpening carving chisels and gouges. It is hard Arkansas. This one is a Norton HS4 and is very expensive. The small one is a translucent Arkansas and when you get into the bigger stones of this variety, you will pay a lot of money. The large gray stone in the wood holder is a hard Arkansas. These run anywhere from $5 to $25 each. This came in a leather sheath and is marked Frosts.

In photo number 3 are some man made stones. These are either silicon carbide or carborundum and aluminum oxide or India stone. The top one is a Norton carborundum twin grit, medium and fine. The middle one has no brand and is an India stone, twin grit, medium and fine. The bottom one is a Norton India stone, twin grit, medium and fine. These are always used with honing oil or water. Oil works best in my opinion. The oil keeps the tiny particles of knife blade floating so that they don't clog the stone up. 5 weight motorcycle fork oil is great for honing as is 3 in 1 oil and a few others. I know a few old timers who use kerosene. These all run around $20 and if you want quality that lasts, buy a good name brand. There are cheap stones just like these and they will wear out to a useless piece of junk in a month. You get what you pay for. I bought these 3 man made stones and the Norton slip stone on eBay for all of $10. There are a lot of bargains out there and its worth searching.

Photo number 6 shows a sharpening steel, pocket size. This is just like the big kitchen ones. I use this on my pen knives and a few of my smaller fixed blades for a quick edge touch up in the field. Its as big as a fountain pen and takes up practically no room. It was made by Forschner in Sheffield, England. Good steel. I bought it from Smoky Mountain Knife Works.

The last photo shows some of my strops. The top one is coated with jewelers or red rouge. It is great on all carbon steel blades. The middle one has a coating of green chrome oxide. This is an aggressive cutter and works good on stainless and harder steels. It will make carbon blades razor sharp. The bottom is my pack strop. It has a light application of green chrome oxide.


Thats about it for my sharpening tools. I put a link to the older article I did on the subject for reference.

photo 1

photo 2

photo 3

photo 4

photo 5

photo 6

photo 7

http://ronsprimitiveskills.blogspot.com/2009/06/sharpening-tools.html

No-sew sheath for the Condor Golok

I have always liked to make sheaths this way. No sewing. Just good old copper belt rivets and burrs. Why are they called belt rivets? Back before electric motors were common and even steam was still being used, machine tools were run from a central power station and all the drills, lathes, milling cutters, etc were hooked to it with long leather belts. There is no critter that has a hide big enough to make a 30 foot belt so they were craftily spliced from various lengths with these copper belt rivets. The hide was the top grade, thickest part from the center of the cows back. I remember my grandfather had a huge machine shop back in the 50's and it was all belt driven. He inherited it from his father so it must have dated from the early 1900's. A huge electric motor ran everything. He had a big roll of this belting and when needed he would cut off the appropriate length. This stuff didn't wear out very fast. Every so many months he would take a gallon can of neatsfoot oil and with a paint brush give each belt a good coating. There was an art to adjusting the speed of the main belt bar and each individual machine through different pulleys attached to the machines. I watched him cob a belt together one day and the simplicity of the process has stayed with me all these years. If you look at some of my other knives posted on this blog you'll see this style of sheath is a recurring theme.

I made this sheath to be belt carried and to have some attachment points for carrying it on my back packs. All thats left to do is give it a good coating of beeswax and its all done.

The Condor Tool & Knife Golok

This is the Condor Tool & Knife companies "Golok". Condor T & K is a subsidiary of Imacasa Company founded by some cutlery folks from Solingen, Germany in El Salvador. Theres a long history of machete manufacture with Imacasa. I have an early model regular jungle machete that I've owned for years and there are no complaints or problems with it. OAL of the full tang Golok is 20 1/2 inches and the blade length from tip to hilt is 14 3/8 inches. Its 1/4 inch thick from the handle to 1/8 inch at the tip of the blade. The blade is made from 1075 high carbon steel. The knife weighs 1 1/2 ponds and has excellent balance. The handle is solid walnut and the ball shaped butt keeps it in your hand with little chance of slipping. Its called a machete but its more of a big knife. The Golok design is from southeast Asia:Malaya, Indonesia, Philippine Islands, etc. and is a time proven style of cutting tool. Famous BBC TV survival show producer, Ray Mears, favors this tool when he is in the area and from the way he puts it to work its a do it all kind of blade. This is the newest production from Condor. The older version was a bit rough and the tang went only about 3/4 way through to the end of the handle. I like the fact that Condor listens to their customers and improves their tools. That to me is the sign of a good company to do business with. Here's a series of photos. I'll post more as soon as I get a chance to give this blade a work out. Tomorrow I will build it a sheath.