REI really does have a 20 dollar cover charge smile


Just for [bleep] and giggles, here is pretty much my Fireworks, V8.7.
[Linked Image]

I've always had an axe or hatchet on me in the backcountry, that's not really Fireworks, but it's in the same "possibles" category, as is a knife. The Fireknife was gift from a good friend, and now that it's chopped up a couple deer and proven itself worthy, it now lives in my HPG kit bag. So does that little 1 Oz Nalgene bottle full of Coughlans fire paste. EdT was spot on in his review of the Fireknife (It's lightweight, useful, and cheap enough that if you abuse it to death you aren't going to cry) I know for a fact that I can use those two to make an emergency stick fire next to any creek or river in Montana should that be all I have on me.

The rest... a Bic, 2.0 Firesteel, damp proof MRE matches, Fatwood and Birchbark all ride in a Zip-loc freezer bag in my possibles bag. With what I have there, and my brain, I can make fire anywhere, anytime, and for a couple months if I wanted too. Weight on the whole deal??? I don't give a [bleep], it's worth it to not be a statistic.

Birchbark is one of my favorites to pick up along the way in my AO. When you can find it dried and peeling off the tree, it's as good as napalm. What you see in that pic, I tear into about 1/4" strips, then grind it up in my hands to make "sparkdust" A Firesteel will easily ignite it and it burns long enough to ignite kindling the size of half pencil size. The Fatwood is new to me, but I'm wondering why I didn't play with it sooner. Shavings I get with my Fireknife I can ignite with my 2.0 Firesteel, but not the Fireknife. I plan on trying to make some sparkdust with Fatwood shavings that have been through a rock mortar and pestle and see how that catches spark.

Anyhow.... That's what works for this backwoods hillbilly.

I'm Irish...

Of course I know how to patch drywall