One way of starting a fire is with the use of flint and steel. This method requires a tinder to catch the sparks produced when the steels strikes the flint. The tinder used oftentimes is a char cloth. I've seen some people in Youtube use chaga as tinder but the majority uses char cloth. I myself uses char cloth as tinder for flint and steel firemaking but char cloth is somewhat messy to use. While browsing the Internet, I came across a fire tinder tube from Rons Primitive Skills blog. I thought it was a very cool idea so I decided to make one.
This is the fire tinder tube from Rons Primitive Skills blog. Visit his blog to learn more about it.
The 3 cotton ropes I bought from eBay. I have charred one of the rope end and tried it with my flint and steel. It works well and not so messy as char cloth is. All I need now is the copper tube and I'm good to go. It will be a nice addition to my fire kit.
That's all folks! Thanks for reading.
Brrr. The temperature is really going down to almost single digit, usually in the 12-10 degrees range this week. I guess it's time to bring out the hand warmers.
My job requires me to work outside early in the morning for 1-2 hours and with these kind of weather you're sure to get numb and painful fingers, even when you have your gloves on. Before I had my hand warmer, I used to go back inside the building maybe 2 or 3 times to warm my hands and that's a lot of hustle because you have to walk quite a distance. Ever since I had my hand warmer I don't need to do that anymore.
The Jon-e hand warmer I bought in a garage sale last summer for $2. You have to fill it with lighter fluid and light it and works similar to a regular liquid filled lighter. Zippo also makes a hand warmer like this and there are China made ones that are of comparable quality. One refill will last for 8 hours, they say, but I haven't used the hand warmer that long yet.
There are also disposable single-use hand warmers and there are reusable ones that are chemically filled but they do not give enough heat. The same is true with electronic hand warmers. For me, the Jon-e type hand warmers are the best.
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I ordered online a replacement flint for my flint & steel kit. I was wondering if this kind of stone can be found in my country, the Philippines. Maybe there is another kind of stone with similar characteristics that I can use instead.
1 of the 2 English flint I ordered online for $5.
The Hudson Bay Flint & Steel Kit. Highly recommended kit.
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I got the tree in front of our house trimmed because its branches are almost touching the roof and scratching it when the wind blows. I don't even know what kind of tree it was but when I saw its wood grain, I thought it would make a good knife handle material. And so I got my tools and went on to carving a knife handle.
The knife handle almost done and the knife already epoxied in it.
Done, stained and oiled. What do you think guys?
That's all folks! Thanks for reading.
I first saw this set up from one Youtuber named luv2sharpen. He says this is what he carries when running on the trail because it's light and don't take much space. His plastic match box contains a fire steel, small sticks of fatwood and folded wax paper for fire making. My container below stores the same items but I added a jute twine as well.
Opinel #6 and Coghlans's plastic match box.
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I like coffee, especially on a chilly morning. Sometimes I drop by the park after working night shift, take a short walk and then have a cup of coffee afterwards. I just enjoy preparing my coffee by myself boiling the water using my alcohol stove. But I want to try something else too, not always the instant coffee variety. So when I saw this small, simple espresso maker, I did not hesitate to buy it.
Primula Aluminum 1 Cup Stovetop Espresso Maker, $12.95 at Amazon.
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I went biking in the park near my place when I noticed a flock of birds congregating on a secluded area where I use to pass by. I was curious what was in it so I went to take a look and what do you know, a mulberry tree full of ripe berries.
And so I cut my empty water bottle, tie a sisal twine for a strap and picked some berries.
Mulberries are excellent source of vitamin C and a powerful natural anti oxidant.
Knowing the edible landscape in your environment is an important aspect of urban survival especially when your food storage is exhausted. You'll be surprised what non traditional foods you walk past daily that could sustain you.
That's all folks! Thanks for reading.
Well, I have never bushwhacked really. If I were back in my country I could easily do that but here where I live presently, I never have had the opportunity to do real bushwhacking. The closest I can get to bushwhacking is trimming the hedges in our backyard. And it is not even a bush.
After trimming the hedges, the branches have to be bundled for the free branch pickup service of the village. The bundle should not be more 18" in diameter and not more than 4' in length and tied with natural twine otherwise the service crews will not collect them. The branches have to be cut to conform to the required specifications and to do the job that calls for my Ontario 12" machete.
What I can say is that backyard bushwhacking is better than armchair bushwhacking. What can say about that guys?
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After the chilly winter-like temperature of spring, we finally got a bright sunny weather these past few days. At 70F to 80F range, everybody is out in the park playing baseball, biking, walking or just sitting on the bench and enjoying the warm weather.
For me, it's tennis time. I have been grooving my strokes on the backboard for 2 days in a row and these past few days, I played with my friend on the court.
With the high temperature comes the danger of heat stroke so I always carry with me a bottle of water, juice or an oral re-hydration fluid like the one pictured above. And of course, my EDC stuff is always at hand wherever I go.
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Spring is here no doubt about that, and what better indicator can there be, than Dandelions growing everywhere!
Many people abhor these weeds in their lawn and do all thing to eradicate them. I for one, pull them out but they are just so stubborn they come back in a jiffy. It's much easier to use chemicals but you also poison the ground that way. Some people eat Dandelions but I guess they don't taste good otherwise there would not be a lot of them around.
But its good to know that Dandelions are edible. I never did until I saw this video. It is wise to know wild edibles available in your local environment because they are a source of food in time of extreme necessity.
That's all folks! Thanks for reading.
