Pencil shavings as tinder???

brewcitymike

brewcitymike

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Aug 26, 2011
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Just wondering if anyone has ever tried this. or what your opinions might be about it as a possibility. I was using one of those little plastic hand sharpeners to sharpen my daughter's homework pencils and after seeing the big pile of very thing very dry wood shavings I thought it seemed like a logical option:confused: So I'd like any and all opinions or input you might have. Thanks
Mike
 
Sounds like a good idea, actually. Rather than waste the shavings, keep them in a tin or something and reuse them as tinder! Since pencil shavings are so fine and dry, it sounds good.
 
"Mom, dad is burning up all my pencils again" Ha, just had to toss that in. Most pencils are made out of cedar or other softwood so it sounds ideal for a tinder source to carry along.
 
I guess....Look, if I was thinking to myself....'What piece of survival gear would I take to enhance my ability to get fire?"...I would answer - a little capsule of lighter fuel, or a nice little piece of coghlan's firestick or something like that. But if you were an artist and needed to draw for a living and had to have pencils with you....well the addition of a sharpener might be a good addition. Personally??? I'd have my knife and a firesteel. Tinder - I'd have some really flammable stuff if I needed it. Pencils? Well they are good for writing erotica and such, I might scribble a few verses and rub out a couple of...... ;)
 
Well you dont have to use pencils, like Pit said he used shards of fatwood. Pencile sharpeners weigh so little what would it hurt to drop one in your bag.
 
It sounds like a great idea. Many recommend having something to take notes with, in your survival kit, and the pencil wood and graphite should burn well.
 
I carried a nice brass pencil sharpener to make tinder many moon ago -- which was silly since the area was extremely dry with more danger of brush fire than not nine months of the year. But it seemed cool and a bit exotic.
 
This comes up every couple of years, been carrying one for this exact purpose for 20+ years. They work great!
 
I posted in one of these threads a few years ago that I found a magnesium pencil sharpener at an art supply store that I keep in my kit for shaving twigs and you can scrape the sharpener for a little fire help.
 
thebrain said:
I posted in one of these threads a few years ago that I found a magnesium pencil sharpener at an art supply store that I keep in my kit for shaving twigs and you can scrape the sharpener for a little fire help.
Click to expand...

I think this is the concept that is cool. Making fine tinder with sticks, not carrying pencils around with you for the purposes of making shavings.

Many of us are so skilled with a knife, that the idea seems pretty useless to us. But, I work with a lot of kids and knives, and they just plain aren't as good at it. If you can show them how a dinky little piece of plastic, that barely weighs anything, can be used to start fire, and as a part of an emergency kit, then I think it is worthwhile.

I am not saying that kids shouldn't work on their knife skills. But, I do think it bridges a gap for them at a certain age range.

B
 
Good point, it also works very well when your fine motor skills are gone thanks to hypothermia, and you can barely insert the stick and turn....
 
Thats the one (Kum brand) and just so you know I drilled a hole in it to make it easy to hold and I saved and lit the shavings from the drilling and it flashed nice and hot. I think it would help kids to shave some twigs and save some little fingers .
 
I have a electric sharpener in my office for work and when the shaving bin gets full I put in a a baggy or altoids. I end up giving them away to fellow woodmen and hunter. Works great.
 
I like the idea. Just ordered some of the magnesium sharperners @ 1.99 each. Can't go wrong with that investment.
 
Holy shit. I'm a teacher and have like 100 kids... Haha. Awesome. Never thought of that.
 
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