A new take on the firestraw!

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blazink

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Jan 14, 2008
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I made this out of an old ballpoint pen tube. (firepen?)
It works just like a regular firestraw, but it is strong enough to have a lanyard hole.
 
Is the opposite end from the lanyard hole open or sealed? It looks good, but I'm wondering how easy or hard it is to get to the tinder? On a regular firestraw don't you generally cut the straw open to expose the tinder? Maybe the pen tube is easier to cut than I think (never tried it before) but it seems like it would be quite a bit more difficult to use than a regular firestraw.
 
Both ends are sealed, the tube is tougher than a straw but still very easy to cut. But if you didn't have a knife it would be pretty hard to get to the tinder.
Plus even more plastic to burn and spew nasty smoke!
 
I like this. Maybe a bigger barrelled pen-- such as a Sharpie. And maybe instead of sealing it by melting, a plug of wax would do as well. Nothing to cut. You could dig out the wax with a sharp stick. More of an emergency thing.
 
blazink said:
Both ends are sealed, the tube is tougher than a straw but still very easy to cut. But if you didn't have a knife it would be pretty hard to get to the tinder.
Plus even more plastic to burn and spew nasty smoke!
Click to expand...

LOL, You're not doing a very good job of selling me on this idea. I does look neat and it's innovative, but I just don't think it's for me.

Maybe you could smash it with a rock to open it if you didn't have a knife?

Edit: I'm not really meaning to sound so critical about this, even though that's the way both of my posts seem to sound to me in retrospect. . . My apologies. :o
 
I think the concept of a small, pen-width, lanyard containing tinder tube is a good one. My preference would be something reasealable, not necessarily water proof that you can just stuff a bunch of vaseline cotton balls in.

How about using that old burned out mico-mag light after pulling out the guts?
 
just use a military match container? Big enough for LOTS of vaselene and cotton..sparker on bottom if needed...waterproof and cheap:D
 
Yea, the black smoke isn't nice, but PJ and straws make plenty of it too. Or does plain PJ not make nasty smoke? The Carmex I've been using sure does.
I was mainly thinking along the lines of emergecy tinder. I was checking out the "Hood Rig" in another thread and trying to think of a few other small things to add to the lanyard when this idea came to me.
 
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