What are your critical don’t-leave-home-without gear repair items?

My repair supplies include items already mentioned, some in slightly more generous quantities.  (One friend with a hopeless sleeping bag zipper in freezing weather was thrilled to collect two safety pins from another friend plus five from me.)

I consider my trekking poles critical equipment, down to their ‘lil rubber tips!  I keep an extra bottom pole segment in the car but carry an extra rubber tip.  The tips dramatically reduce the environmental impact of trekking poles, make them more trustworthy on rock, and prevent obtrusive clattering metal sounds.

Can someone please explain — are there particular repairs for which dental floss is especially suited?  I carry it for my teeth, of course, but for repair supplies favor fishing line and fine-gauge wire.

Although checking and tightening eyeglasses screws is a standard part of my trip prep, I like the idea of carrying those!

After using my needle and dental floss (I like Glide) to repair a pack shoulder strap for a friend I added a thimble to my repair kit.  Perhaps my needle was too dull, but after poking through the shoulder strap a few times I had to find a stick to push the needle through because I was afraid I’d destroy my fingers.

Practice your “worst case” scenario at home to make sure your repair kit will do what you need.  You don’t want to be on the trail and have, for example, a shoulder strap fail only to find out that your needle won’t go through the material.

I do carry two heavy-weight zip ties and two smaller ones in my kit as well.

1 Loop Alien, extra length of guy line.  I carry them in case i need a little extra length of ridge line for my tarp. The extra guy line i can use for many things if needed.

I also carry 1 spare buckle for my pack..

Needle and thread (saftey pin dental floss..), tape..all part of my first aid kit

eyeglass screws?

my screws occasionally come loose and then the lens pops out.  Screw falls to ground and I have to find it.  (pun intended)

Currently, I tried loctite thread blocker blue 242.  Back the screw out some, put a drop on from the other side so it flowed onto the screw, then screwed it back in.  Normally, you put the loctite on the screw, then screw it in, but that’s difficult with tiny eyeglass screws.

This only happens once every few years so I may never know if the Loctite actually makes a difference.

I have a Leatherman Micra which has a screwdriver tip that fits eyeglass screws.  I can actually apply more pressure to get screw tighter than normal screwdriver.  I carry a spare pair of glasses that I could poach a screw off of.

Lol, sorry, my question wasn’t blunt enough!  I was wondering whether dental floss had some magical or physical properties to which I am oblivious and that make it especially amazing as a repair medium!  This thread is titled, “What are your critical don’t-leave-home-without gear repair items.”  Wouldn’t wire or fishing line of a suitable gauge — or, hey, the type of sturdy repair thread sold at outdoor gear shops! — be better?  Do any of you actually choose intentionally to Carry Floss as Critical for Repairs?  Or did you not have time to gather or purchase fishing line, wire, and pack thread… or didn’t really plan for emergency repairs… so you made do with floss?   Yeah, this is a silly question but for 20 years I’ve heard backpackers mention carrying floss for repairs and have always been mystified why anyone would, during pre-trip prep, choose it over the alternatives.

Spare O-ring for my Sawyer

Tenacious tape

Needle (I’ll use my dental floss for thread)

Spare water bottle cap

Small tube of superglue (Although honestly I haven’t found superglue to be all that super except to glue your fingers together!)

Kevin mentioned a thimble. I’ve been really happy with my MYOG Chouinard Expedition Sewing Kit (there’s a BPL thread about it here) as a way to distribute the pressure across the palm of your hand when sewing through webbing or other tough materials.

@Laura – I do indeed plan (and have used) my Glide dental floss as my thread for repairs.  I don’t know what the breaking point is, but it was stronger than any thread I could find (which means fewer stitches).

@Laura: Dental floss is a handy repair thread largely because it is Dual Use- you probably already have it with you, so you just need to bring a needle with a large eye.  It’s not otherwise especially awesome.  It is pretty strong.  Get the unwaxed version.  AAFES sells 100yd packs.