Boy, that was fast!

My striker arrived practically overnight and when I opened it I noticed the maker included a pretty hefty sized flint which saved me hunting around outside in the cold to find one.

I had saved the burned up rifle patches to use as charcloth and looked around for some kind of tinder and found an old piece of manila rope which I frayed down to a frazzle to serve as tinder.

The striker is new and hasn't been roughed up yet but the first time I struck it a shower of sparks landed in the charcloth and started glowing.

I guess I'm a but rusty because it took me maybe 15 seconds to get a flame going. Still,I'm not complaining. Not bad for a guy that hasn't lit a fire with flint and steel in over 35 years.

I was wondering what I used to use for a container to keep my charcloth in and remembered I had a nice little brass tobacco/tinderbox with a magnifying glass in it.

I used to be able to light a fire with the magnifying glass.Looking around on eBay I discovered that tinderboxes are too expensive. I recall I won the brass unit at a blackpowder match. Before that I used a Kiwi shoe polish tin. I see a near empty can of Parade Gloss so I suppose that's what I'll use.

I'm going to get some serious tinder and put the kit together and stuff it into my bug-out bag. It's a good thing to have there. I'm not too worried about man made trouble, it's the natural disasters the happen fast.

It's a good idea to keep a three-day pack ready to go and I use it every so often for impromptu trips. It keeps it fresh.



To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY