Izula Compass Housing

M

mbassoc2003

Joined
Jun 28, 2009
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I came up with the idea of housing a button compass in the circular hole in the Izula, by means of a small blind rubber grommet. I have explored the possibility of having somethin manufactured, but the initial outlay is beyond me, and my cost would be £4.11 ea. based on selling 500 of the things and that breaks even.

Still, as I'm not going to run with this as a private venture, I thought I'd offer the idea up here for anyone who cared to explore the possibility. As I do not use the rear hole of my Izula for the wrap, it seems the perfect place for a button compass in a little pubber grip that can be popped in and out, as needed.

Grommet.jpg
 
I could get them down to £1.16 a unit, but I'd need to buy a couple of thousand, and I don't think I could sell that many to recover my cost. Maybe it's something of a single guy casting rubber in his garage (but I don't know anyone who does that) or something a larger company or third party supplier could manage.
 
UH HUM... Not to spoil your fun, it sounds cool.
But you may have heard that high carbon steel affects magnetic poles like those found in compass needles? You would be walking in circles for a while!
:foot:
Even if the intent is to remove it before taking a bearing I bet someone would forget!
The magnetic signature of your Izula may permanently damage your compass!
Dont be a rambo anything "all purpose" doesnt do a single thing really well.
Even the compass in the RAT firesteel is offered as a general "that way" pointer and not something to serve as your primary compass.
 
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Necrodamus said:
UH HUM... Not to spoil your fun, it sounds cool.
But you may have heard that high carbon steel affects magnetic poles like those found in compass needles? You would be walking in circles for a while!
:foot:
Even if the intent is to remove it before taking a bearing I bet someone would forget!
The magnetic signature of your Izula may permanently damage your compass!
Dont be a rambo anything "all purpose" doesnt do a single thing really well.
Even the compass in the RAT firesteel is offered as a general "that way" pointer and not something to serve as your primary compass.
Click to expand...

What he said. :D Way to go for thinking outside the box thought! :cool:
 
Yeah. I checked that out before hand. Hense the number of compasses I've dismantled and the the companies I've been speaking to. My Izula has virtually no residual magnetic field, but I imagine the magnetic affect varies quite widely from batch to batch.

Add the this, the affect imparted between a residual magnetic force and a magnetized object is governed not only by the strength of the residual force, but also by the mass of the magnetised object (the receiving needle). The heavier the weight of the steel in the needle, the less it will be effected by the external force. So; a. You're better with a knife with little to no magnetic field, and b. You're better with a heavy needle compass (like a steel disk or diamond needle compass, rather than a polythene disk with a little sliver of metal tape on the underside).

All said, I would always take my compass out and hold it in my hand. A rubber gousing would just make for a larger compass to hold, with more friction and weight, and less inclined to get lost. And I'd make sure I put a damn good quality button into it. A Pyser fer example.

TBH, using your compass in anything metal falls into the same category as strapping your only survival knife to a stick and throwing it at things. If people are that stupid in survival situations, that's when natural selection kicks in.
 
Have looked at a number of off the shelf grommets. This one needs a lower Shore hardness which would make the detailing easier, but this increases the tooling cost.
 
just like using Shrink tubing to cover the Izula handle and before heating up shrink tubing place a small fishing kit or tinder tabs,whatever and shrink it to Izula frame ,and then use Gutted paracord to wrap,having a small minor PSK inside shrink tube handle and using paracord as handle,alot of ideas float around, I just dont see 1095 steel & compass working well together.
 
Wouldn't you be better off adding a small compass to additional paracord wrapping on the end of the handle?

I have done so with TAG firestarter
 
standard lighter ,Shrink tube in the UK,I dont know do you have a standard hardware store like Lowe's / Home depot or Ace hardware ? even auto parts house ,autozone,O'reily's ,Napa ?
 
mbassoc2003 said:
Yeah. I checked that out before hand. Hense the number of compasses I've dismantled and the the companies I've been speaking to. My Izula has virtually no residual magnetic field, but I imagine the magnetic affect varies quite widely from batch to batch.

Add the this, the affect imparted between a residual magnetic force and a magnetized object is governed not only by the strength of the residual force, but also by the mass of the magnetised object (the receiving needle). The heavier the weight of the steel in the needle, the less it will be effected by the external force. So; a. You're better with a knife with little to no magnetic field, and b. You're better with a heavy needle compass (like a steel disk or diamond needle compass, rather than a polythene disk with a little sliver of metal tape on the underside).

All said, I would always take my compass out and hold it in my hand. A rubber gousing would just make for a larger compass to hold, with more friction and weight, and less inclined to get lost. And I'd make sure I put a damn good quality button into it. A Pyser fer example.

TBH, using your compass in anything metal falls into the same category as strapping your only survival knife to a stick and throwing it at things. If people are that stupid in survival situations, that's when natural selection kicks in.
Click to expand...

The problem being that while your knife may not have a residual magnetic field NOW...wait and see what happens after your sharpen it a bunch of times! :eek::D
 
By hand or with a grinding wheel?
So the harpening action begins to set up a magnetic field based on the rhythm and direction of your strokes? I never knew that.
So presumably, everyone sharpens differently, so the best way to minimise the magnetic affect in the knife is to get different people to sharpen it and cycle through them. :) A knife sharpening circle. :D
Well, you learn something every day. Cheers.
 
mbassoc2003 said:
By hand or with a grinding wheel?
So the harpening action begins to set up a magnetic field based on the rhythm and direction of your strokes? I never knew that.
So presumably, everyone sharpens differently, so the best way to minimise the magnetic affect in the knife is to get different people to sharpen it and cycle through them. :) A knife sharpening circle. :D
Well, you learn something every day. Cheers.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The knife will eventually develop a slight magnetic field if you sharpen it in a consistent manner (i.e. always sharpening from the base of the blade towards the tip) and this is especially true of the straight-up carbon steels. It takes a good while for it to happen, but it often is the end result. That being said, as we all know, you can shake a weak magnetization free of a piece of steel by knocking it firmly against a rigid object...so I guess that if you baton with it it'll keep the magnetic field at bay! :D :D :D
 
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