I have this insatiable appetite for building and creating, which usually manifests itself in a new project that I buy the parts for and then lose rapidly interest. Last weekend, I got the bug again, except this time I already owned all the parts, and there were only two of them. Folks, that is beginning of a success story.
I use a 3/8″ x 4″ firesteel to light most fires, since I can usually get things going more quickly with it then I can with a lighter. Probably because I spend more time preparing the tinder instead of attempting to light a piece of wet cardboard with a mini Bic, but that is beside the point. A blank firesteel is slightly awkward to hold, and since my dad has been “making” some hardwood handles for three months now, I decided to come up with my own handle. A handle that you just hold onto is boring, so I thought one that you could stuff stuff into would be wonderful. I have seen similar contraptions made before with success, so I figured I could make it work. Luckily, I happened to have a couple thousand capsules sitting around.
I drilled a hole in the bottom of the capsule with my trusty Ridgid Lithium drill, inserted the firesteel, then filled in the caps with JB Kwik. JB Kwik is actually quite quick (kwik?), so I had to make sure that the firesteel was inserted relatively straight, and then it was all done.
(more…)
I finally got my huge order of aluminum stuff yesterday after DHL did their best to make sure I didn’t. I was kind of wary about placing such a large order, but I am very pleased with the quality. The anodizing looks great, every item works as it should, and you have the best store in the world’s URL on every piece (except the emergency whistles). I made my prices half of what you would pay for the same thing at REI or most any other store. Come buy 10 of each so my landlord does not kick my wife and I out on the street.
Here is what’s new from that shipment:
Capsules:
Aluminum Waterproof Match Case - Gray
Aluminum Waterproof Battery Capsule - Blue
Aluminum Small Waterproof Capsule - Blue
Aluminum Small Waterproof Capsule - Red
Aluminum Waterproof Silo Capsule - Black
Carabiners:
Strap Carabiner - Purple
Strap Carabiner - Red
Wire Gate Carabiner - Silver
Wire Gate Carabiner - Black
Flat Wire Gate Carabiner - Black
Small Carabiner - Green
Whistles:
Emergency Whistle Capsule - Red
Bullet Whistle - Red
Bullet Whistle - Blue
[b]Tent Stakes:[/b]
Aluminum Tent Tri Stake - Silver
Aluminum Tent Tri Stake - Red
Discuss in forums
I made a video for the Sparky and got it up on youtube last night. I wanted to show the knife in better detail and show what it can do, so go listen to me ramble for a few minutes about sharp things.
Discuss in forums
Several people have contacted me, asking that I start offering a fire kit for sale on Going Gear, so this is that kit. The kit is a refinement of several that I have made for myself and others, and is one that will cover a wide range of situations.
You have two quick and easy flame/spark sources, a bottle lighter (no fluid included) and a firesteel. You have three types of tinders: wax and sawdust, fatwood, and PJ cotton balls. You have a striker/tinder scraper with the hacksaw blade piece. You have duct tape to hold the tinder scrapings in windy conditions, or to do just about anything else, since duct tape is the most awesome thing [i]ever[/i]. You even have a badass plastic container from Target brand travel sized Q-tips. Finally, you have a ranger band to hold it all together. Of course, being a fire kit, especially from a pyro like me, you can burn the case, the ranger band, and the duct tape as well if you are really hurting to get a fire going.
Ideally, the firesteel and lighter would be used in most situations, since you can usually find natural tinder in the area to get a fire going. If you are lazy or everything is soaking wet, then you turn to the included tinders (or the case, ranger band, and duct tape).
Discuss in forums
I finally received the firesteel knife from the knifemaker, Erik Boese, a couple of days ago. I am giddy with excitement over this thing. It is exactly what I wanted it to be, so hats off to Erik for doing a great job bringing our ideas to reality. I think I am going to go with Sparky as the name for it, since that sounds awfully appropriate for what the knife is. I wanted to wait until I had some nice shots of it before posting too much more about it, so I took care of that today:
More pictures are in the store. I have the preorder up in the store for those of you that are interested.
(more…)
I received some samples of butane lighters along with the recent bottle lighter order. Butane lighters are nice to have thanks to their high flame temperature and ease of use, so they make a nice complement to a bottle lighter or other flame source. I was looking for something small, simple, and high quality, so I asked for about 10 different lighter samples to see what kind of butane lighter would be best. The company makes some surprisingly high quality products, especially considering how cheap they are compared to most metal refillable butane lighters.
Here is what came in, along with a AA battery for size comparison:
Some are all metal, some are mostly plastic, and some are a mix between metal and plastic. All of them have great finish quality and work well in my tests. The ones I am thinking about ordering are the second from the right in the top row and the middle three on the bottom row.
The two slim ones are about as slim and sleek of a butane lighter as I have seen, and are made out of a good looking metal. The black and silver one is the lightest out of the bunch, and the other one is a nice little compact lighter. I wish I could order more than two or three, but the minimum order quantities are 500 for each lighter or 1000 each if I want a logo on there. What do you guys think?
Discuss in forums
The bottle capsule lighters I ordered last month finally made it here from China! I have them in chrome and green. The butane lighter samples came in with the bottle lighters, but I’ll talk about those in a separate post.
I picked up some 1/2 lb bags of Fatwood as well. I have the dealer information for Fatwood (the brand), so I should have fatwood in several different package sizes in the next couple of weeks. I am thinking 4 piece poly bags, 1.5 lb boxes, 3 lb boxes, and 10 lb boxes for now. The minimum order is 500 lbs, so I am going to have an awful lot of fatwood! 
I’ll have some fire starting kits up as soon as I can find a good container for the kit. There is also a HUGE (~8000 pieces) order coming from China in the next month, with aluminum carabiners, waterproof capsules, tent stakes, whistles, and match cases, all priced dirt cheap. I am working on an order with Ultimate Survival (Blastmatch, StrikeForce, WetFire, etc.) and will be a dealer for their products in the next couple of weeks. More is on the way, so I’ll let you know when stuff starts coming in!
Discuss in forums
What happens when you really like the products you are selling? You get disappointed when you ask suppliers if they can get a lighter for you, and they tell you they can’t. But then disappointment turns to giddiness when they tell you they can get you a lighter/flashlight combo. A flashlighter if you will. And not only a lighter, but a peanut lighter looking little contraption.
Yes, I realize how wonderful it is. Yes, I am going to try to get some.
Discuss in forums
