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Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
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gota pencil sharpener?
- Thread starter Bushman5
- Start date
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- Oct 8, 1998
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Well, hopefully without adding to the controversy... I agree with Kevin.
I think the central issue is skill vs gadget. If you have the skill with a knife, you don't need the gadget, now, of course, anyone can argue the exception, but why.
If you want to carry it, carry it... But, I don't think I will.
Honestly, my first reaction is that it is wasteful of a good resource.... I tend to use a fairly small amount of fatwood, which I mostly process with the scraper, not the knife.
Also, you have to have a knife handy, to process the fatwood into a shape that will work with the pencil sharpener, so why not just continue to use the knife?
I think they are clever, but not necessary, and not advisable.
Marion
I think the central issue is skill vs gadget. If you have the skill with a knife, you don't need the gadget, now, of course, anyone can argue the exception, but why.
If you want to carry it, carry it... But, I don't think I will.
Honestly, my first reaction is that it is wasteful of a good resource.... I tend to use a fairly small amount of fatwood, which I mostly process with the scraper, not the knife.
Also, you have to have a knife handy, to process the fatwood into a shape that will work with the pencil sharpener, so why not just continue to use the knife?
I think they are clever, but not necessary, and not advisable.
Marion
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- Oct 8, 1998
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- 8,917
The whole concept that if you use one of these things, it is going to spoil you and make you so retarded that if you don't have it you're going to die is retarded itself.
The idea that it "takes up space" or "weighs too much" is just...dumb.
Sometimes when someone comes up with a cool shortcut, other people do have a Neo-Luddite attitude. I DO AS WELL! I'm guilty, too. I don't like the fact that Maxwell House Coffee has a pull top lid now, and Campbell's Soup and some Del Monte canned fruit. I mourn the death of the can opener. I think out of convenience, we are being dumbed down for lack of a better term. But I don't see that reality in this little tool.
The idea that it "takes up space" or "weighs too much" is just...dumb.
Sometimes when someone comes up with a cool shortcut, other people do have a Neo-Luddite attitude. I DO AS WELL! I'm guilty, too. I don't like the fact that Maxwell House Coffee has a pull top lid now, and Campbell's Soup and some Del Monte canned fruit. I mourn the death of the can opener. I think out of convenience, we are being dumbed down for lack of a better term. But I don't see that reality in this little tool.
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+1 and Amen!!!!!
Thanks for the tip Bushman5... I picked up a couple today for both kits. :thumbup:
hey i look at it this way:
redundancy is key.
one day someone might lose their knife. It might be (as i'm gathering that many only carry one knife) their only means of cutting. Yes they could go all caveman and sit there in the pissing rain making a knife by chipping pieces off a stone, hey they want to do that thats GREAT, have fun!
me i like to get that ol fire going NOW, before my hands freeze up. If i didn;t have my knife to make a pile of shavings, I would be very grateful to have a little sharpener like this on my necklace. A few dozen turns of the fatwood in the pencil sharpener = a big pile of fatwood shavings. Light it and there is fire.
but again, each to their own.
I like redundancy in my skills and gear. YMMV
btw the metal ones are a lot more robust than the plastic ones.........
redundancy is key.
one day someone might lose their knife. It might be (as i'm gathering that many only carry one knife) their only means of cutting. Yes they could go all caveman and sit there in the pissing rain making a knife by chipping pieces off a stone, hey they want to do that thats GREAT, have fun!
me i like to get that ol fire going NOW, before my hands freeze up. If i didn;t have my knife to make a pile of shavings, I would be very grateful to have a little sharpener like this on my necklace. A few dozen turns of the fatwood in the pencil sharpener = a big pile of fatwood shavings. Light it and there is fire.
but again, each to their own.
I like redundancy in my skills and gear. YMMV
btw the metal ones are a lot more robust than the plastic ones.........
Honestly, my first reaction is that it is wasteful of a good resource.... I tend to use a fairly small amount of fatwood, which I mostly process with the scraper, not the knife.
and on the topic of "wasting resources" (fatwood). If i need a fire NOW, i could care less about "wasting resources". There is an entire country filled with fatwood. Walk 30 feet to the next stump and harvest.
I carry about 1 lb of fatwood with me, in the jacket, PSK, woods kit bag, cargo pants. If i start a fire i use an entire 1" diameter by 8" long stick of the stuff. An initial fire using that amount produces a MASSIVE hot flame grouping, which GUARANTEES that the wood i have placed over it will RAPIDLY dry out and ignite QUICKLY.
again, YMMV
and on the topic of "wasting resources" (fatwood). If i need a fire NOW, i could care less about "wasting resources". There is an entire country filled with fatwood. Walk 30 feet to the next stump and harvest.
I carry about 1 lb of fatwood with me, in the jacket, PSK, woods kit bag, cargo pants. If i start a fire i use an entire 1" diameter by 8" long stick of the stuff. An initial fire using that amount produces a MASSIVE hot flame grouping, which GUARANTEES that the wood i have placed over it will RAPIDLY dry out and ignite QUICKLY.
again, YMMV
Have no intrest in adding to the argument. For the ones that do like to carry a sharpener if you go to the cosmetic isle you would find the metal ones that realy last a life time. They also have two sizes and both are for under $4. I like the big one and you can sharpen the blade and put it back. Just a heads up for the ones that do like to carry.
Sasha
Sasha
J. Doyle
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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Couldn't agree more Don. Well said. I really don't have any more to add but quite honestly neither did Kevin with his first post. I've seen lots of times where mods tell someone 'If you don't have anything useful to add, butt out.' Maybe this thread shouldn't have gotten this far but it doesn't seem helpful to just come on and bash it in a negative way. Like has been said lots of times, if you don't want to carry one, don't. If you do, carry.
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Frankly, I like the idea of a lightweight pencil sharpener to make tinder FAST and thin. I carry a bunch of stuff in my kit I could probably do without, such as a flashlight. I mean, if I can make fire, do I need it? I think it is HANDY and convenient, just like the pencil sharpener. Really it weights like a gram. Nice thought Bushman5. It is using the items around us for practical and unintended purposes that fosters creative thought. You have to admit, some of the chatter here is pure comedy though.
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When I initially read about using pencil sharpeners for tinder making, I bought the model which has a built in shavings container (from Muji).
Its versatile, tiny, weighs nothing, costs about the same, and the shavings container may be used to store items in transit.
Clearly, the titanium and carbon fibre 'Tactical Tinder Tech Tool' would have the gadget fiends drooling, but I'm happy with my Muji version.
Perhaps Dark Ops will market one for 2010!
Its versatile, tiny, weighs nothing, costs about the same, and the shavings container may be used to store items in transit.
Clearly, the titanium and carbon fibre 'Tactical Tinder Tech Tool' would have the gadget fiends drooling, but I'm happy with my Muji version.
Perhaps Dark Ops will market one for 2010!
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Sixteen tons...whattya get? Trolls get bolder on that you can bet. Saint Peter don't ya call me 'cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the CountyComm Stooooooreeeee...
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If, like these, its made of magnesium alloy, it'd weigh very little, plus, you've got a little block of magnesium which happens to be pencil sharpener shaped!
Lots of different magnesium alloy sharpeners, here. They make sharpeners which will take up to 17mm (0.67") diameter wood!
This magnesium sharpener has a built in shavings container.
Lots of different magnesium alloy sharpeners, here. They make sharpeners which will take up to 17mm (0.67") diameter wood!
This magnesium sharpener has a built in shavings container.
Last edited:
riz_aaroni
Gold Member
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Using a pencil sharpener is ingenious. Will have to pick one up. The one with the spare blade pictured two posts up would be sweet.
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I would just like to ask that we all express our opinions, respectfully.
Kevin has his perspective, and others have theirs.
Don is using humour to make some of his points, and he does that well.
But, saying that someone expressing their opinion amounts to having nothing to contribute, is inimical to this type of discussion. We come to these forums, for this very type of discussion.
If you do not agree with someone, say so. But, please do so in a pleasant way.
Marion
Kevin has his perspective, and others have theirs.
Don is using humour to make some of his points, and he does that well.
But, saying that someone expressing their opinion amounts to having nothing to contribute, is inimical to this type of discussion. We come to these forums, for this very type of discussion.
If you do not agree with someone, say so. But, please do so in a pleasant way.
Marion