More fire kit odds and ends

 I was impressed when I saw this tiny device in Ray Mears "The Survival Handbook" when it came out in 1990. The picture is part of a scan from page 48 of the book. I built one just like it from a Coleman Lantern Spark Igniter. I've had this thing in my fire kit for a long time and its never failed to  start char cloth, commercial tinders such a Coughlans Emergency Fire Starter tinder tabs, and jute. Not a bad little fire starter. It uses common cigarette lighter flints. It was pretty simple to cut down the Coleman's to match the one in the book. I carried it in a small medicine bottle with a few tinder tabs. Amazon has the Coleman Igniter for sale at around $7 if interested. https://www.amazon.com/Coleman-Company-Lantern-Spark-Igniter/dp/B001CEMK1K/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=coleman+lantern+spark&qid=1611968757&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-1 I put this piece of kit in my truck bag since I upgraded to the UST Micro Spark Wheel in my fire kit. 

The strange looking piece of metal in the last picture is a tool I bought from a member of Bushcraft USA in 2011. He went by the handle Petrifiedwood. I don't know his real name or what happened to him. He made these out of either O-1 or D1 steel and they are really tuff. This thing measures 3 inch's by 1 inch and 3/16 thick. I've used mine to strike sparks with a piece of flint, strike sparks with ferro rods, shave fatwood, as a handhold for a bow drill and a few other tasks. It's a handy tool for the fire kit as it can do a lot of things even non fire related. The long bottom edge of this tool is flat and makes a dandy fire steel, the end is ground to a chisel and its useful for a lot of things.The top edge has a 20 degree angle ground on it and is very sharp so its great for sparking ferro rods, shaving some fat wood or any similar tasks. I keep this with a big ferro rod, a piece of flint, and a container of char cloth in a leather pouch. I usually have this in my back pocket when I'm working here on the farm. I burn a lot of wood, brush and weeds and this keeps me in practice with flint and steel fire making.