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Colt
11-11-2006, 04:26 PM
I've posted this on a couple of other sites, but since y'all are actually geared this direction, here it is:


I've been using a magnesium block/flint for firestarting for more years than I can recall, but this works more efficiently and easier.

Welding torch striker. Put your favorite tinder in the cup, squeeze the handle and viola! Tinder stays in the cup so you can move it around without disturbing it, and it's one-hand operation. You can manipulate your kindling, fan flames, shoot zombies....whatever. It costs about $3.99 at Big Lots, and replacement flints are about $3.00 for a 5 pack. It weighs next to nothing, and takes up very little room.


It's considerably cheaper than other spark-based firestarters, and it works as well or better--and easier--than any I've tried.



To give credit when/where it's due, my wife thought of this while she was helping me weld up a project

Ryder
11-12-2006, 06:08 AM
Good idea!

Dr. X
11-12-2006, 09:41 AM
Drop a little cattail fluff in the bowl, strike a couple o' times and voila...tell yer wife "thanks" for me...:)

as ever,
Dr. X

Colt
11-12-2006, 03:34 PM
funny, but that's exactly what she did! Our daughter brought a cattail home from our last fishing trip, and it was blowing around my shop. Bobbi said "I wonder if this would make good tinder?", stuck it in the cup and started a fire.



(0000 steel wool works a bit better, but those steel wool trees are hard to find)

Dr. X
11-12-2006, 05:46 PM
Our daughter brought a cattail home from our last fishing trip, and it was blowing around my shop. Bobbi said "I wonder if this would make good tinder?", stuck it in the cup and started a fire....

I learned that little bit of trivia at an Earthskills weekend several years back. Since cattails grow in places on my property, I always keep a couple or three in a ziploc baggie. Did I mention "free is good"? There is also a weed that grows along the creeks around here that is hollow yet mildly sturdy. A three-foot section of this, green or dried out, is a great way to blow air at the base of yer freshly-built smudge without catching yer beard on fire. (We won't go into how I know this...:rolleyes:)

as ever,
Dr. X