Chris and I created the What We Carry page as an easy way of giving our readers tips on the gear we find useful to carry every day – aka everyday carry (EDC). Well, since we initially posted the page I’ve added a few small items to my EDC. I’ve added these to the What We Carry page, but I’ll use this post to explain my reasoning.
Uncle Bill’s Silver Gripper Tweezers
Early this summer, I was confronted with a spate of splinters I had to remove from my kids’ hands. The majority of these occurred while we were out and about, and not near our home or car first aid kits. I had to basically tell my kids to deal with it and wait until we got back to the car or home. I didn’t like not being able to solve their problem on the spot. Chris had mentioned a while back a tweezer that was popular within the EDC community – Uncle Bill’s Silver Gripper tweezers.
I read about the tweezers and I was sold, and went ahead and added them to my EDC in my wallet. Since getting them, I have one complaint – they don’t quite have the precise squeeze that my home tweezers have. But that’s ok, they work while we’re out and about so it’s better than nothing. They fit nicely on my Nite Ize S-Biner I already had.
UST Tick Wrangler
We live in tick country – Lyme disease tick country. As a result, it’s not unlikely one of my family members will end up with a tick after an outdoor adventure. I can remember specifically one time picking wild blackberries on Assateague Island and finding ticks all over us afterwards. So I went ahead and grabbed a tick key, the UST Tick Wrangler.
I did not pick the UST Tick Wrangler over any other similar products for any reason other than I found a clearance sale at Target. I got one for each of my vehicles and had an extra, so I decided to throw it into my EDC. I haven’t had to use it yet, to be honest, so I do not input as to its effectiveness. It does fit nicely on my Nite Ize S-Biner though!
Survival Emergency Whistle
A hunting buddy of mine bought a bunch of these survival emergency whistles on Amazon and handed them out on a hunting outing a couple years back. It really got my thinking and I now have various emergency whistles for the kids and in my regular hiking pack. The slim whistle he gave me was in my hunting bag, but I decided to add it to my wallet for EDC. You never know when you will find yourself needing to call for help with a whistle. So I took off the keychain and slid it into one of the pockets in my wallet next to a stack of credit/debit or membership cards. Now I can rest assured if I ever get stranded I can use the whistle to extend my audial range in calling for help.
GEAR AID Fire Strand 550 Paracord
I bought a bunch of this to add to some knives and survival fire starters I have. However, I had the thought that it might be a good idea to throw a string of this paracord into my wallet for EDC. The weight added is minimal but it comes in handy when I might need to start a fire in a pinch, such as when I took two of my kids backpacking this summer. I was having a bit of trouble getting a fire started with foraged tinder and decided to use my GEAR AID Fire Strand 550 Paracord instead. It came in handy, and dad saved the day by quickly being able to get a fire started.
Stay Tuned
As I update or alter my EDC, I’ll keep you updated with my choices and the reasoning behind them!
Have you tried any of these products? Have you recently added new products to your EDC? I would love to hear your thoughts! Comment below to start the discussion!
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