High-quality and good tactical flint is not cheap in an online store, not to mention in regular stores - their requests make your eyes pop. After all, in essence, what is a tactical flint?
This is a ferrocerium rod, approximately 5x50 mm. and a metal flask wrapped in cord with a screw-on waterproof lid. The price of the same, only “bare” ferrocerium rod is 20-25 times lower.
It is unclear what logic motivates them there, but the fact remains. Such a thing as a tactical flint can really help out on a hike, and should be in the backpack of every outdoor enthusiast. For example, if matches or a lighter become unusable, the flint will always work, and with its help you can always get a fire to dry yourself and cook hot food. There are different types of tactical flint. Some models have an aluminum flask with a thread and a ferrocerium rod inside.
Others have a stainless steel flask with a cord of a certain length wound around it, which may sometimes be needed.There are also simple, tourist flints that do not have any flask, but only a plastic holder, and there is an even simpler one - a bare rod with a hole for a cord.
Why the flint in an aluminum flask is called “Tactical”, I personally don’t know, although there is a guess that it is included in the equipment of soldiers of the armed forces of some country. Some manufacturers of tactical flint also include a small sealed capsule for tinder (cotton wool soaked in a flammable composition, dry thin shavings or a piece of burnt fabric). However, I think that this is unnecessary - if you have at least the slightest skills in making fire in this way, then finding tinder in the forest to start a fire using a flint will not pose any difficulties. Even in wet weather, as well as in winter. Well, for those who don’t have such skills, you can assemble a separate small container with kindling, which will be attached to the flint. All we need from the store is just a small ferrocerium rod and a brass sleeve. This can be purchased at any outdoor supply, hunting or fishing stores.
Will need
- Ferrocerium rod 6.5x60 mm. (plus or minus 1.5mm)
- A metal tube with an internal diameter suitable for a ferrocerium rod.
- Spare parts from an old chandelier. Namely; hollow threads and nuts for them. You can also use any caps for them that have the same thread.
- Brass cartridge case from a 32 caliber hunting cartridge.
- Any cord, or a thin rope, for winding the body.
- A small piece of good, hardened steel for a chair (or a piece of cloth for metal).
- Secondary glue and soda.
Tools required for work:
- Emery machine.
- File.
- Scissors.
- Stationery knife.
Making flint
If you have an old, unnecessary chandelier, sconce or some kind of lamp lying around in your bins that you haven’t had time to throw away yet, then this circumstance will make your work much easier. I have such spare parts from various types of electrical appliances stored in a separate box, so I assembled the flint in literally 20 minutes. As a designer.
The only parts that had to be cut on a sanding machine were the steel strip for the chair and the brass sleeve for the chair holder. Well, and also trim some parts... So, first you need to select the base; a metal tube into which the ferrocerium rod will fit.
The length of the tube must be selected based on the length of the ferrocerium rod and the length of the steel arm combined. It is desirable that the tube have threads on both ends, onto which we will screw wide decorative washers with internal threads.
We fix it all with one-second glue with soda, namely; coat the joints with glue and sprinkle with soda.
This will be enough to prevent them from moving or unwinding. The base is ready. Now let's take care of the rod. You will need a centimeter tube with an external thread and a nut for it.
We screw a thin nut onto the thread, exactly in the middle, and drip a drop of glue to fix it. It will turn out like this:
Next, we insert a ferrocerium rod into this tube, with a screwed nut, and fix it as evenly as possible with glue and soda.
It turns out that we can hide the flint in the tube by screwing it inside, and if necessary, unscrew it and screw it into the handle with the other end for use.
Now we decorate the tube-body. To do this, just carefully wrap it with a beautiful cord.
In addition, in addition to its decorative function, the cord can also be useful for other purposes, for example, tying a couple of rungs for shelter. Now let's get to the chair. To do this, cut out a strip of good, hardened steel on sandpaper, approximately 5x40 mm. Next, we take another centimeter piece of tube with external thread. Using glue and soda, install the chair into this tube.
We mark the brass sleeve in half and cut it along the mark.
By the way, you can purchase such a cartridge case without a combat primer without any permission at any hunting store. The lower part will be the chair holder. We screw a washer onto the thread with the arm, which will fit into the sleeve.
The washer should be screwed only onto the beginning of the thread, so that part of the thread at the seat (2-3 millimeters) is free. Fix with glue. We insert the threaded washer into the sleeve and, again, secure it with glue. Here's what happens:
Now we assemble the flint together by screwing all the parts into each other.
For greater convenience, you can glue a metal eyelet into the place where the capsule should be, for a ring to attach, for example, to keys.
There you go.
Such a flint will help out when matches or a lighter become unusable. It will never get wet or damp, it doesn’t care about cold and wind. All that is needed is to remove from the birch trunk a thin birch bark, like a plastic bag, for kindling, which hangs freely on the trunk - just reach out and take it. Lichens and mosses hanging on branches also ignite well. You can use a knife to pick out the parasitic mushroom growing on a birch tree; it is always dry inside, and smolders very well, as soon as the slightest spark hits it.
It won’t be difficult to tear off a piece of bark from a dried, lifeless birch...The only thing is that in cold weather it will take a little longer to strike a spark to set fire to the birch bark; about one and a half to two minutes (this can be seen in the video), because birch bark is cold and slightly damp after a rainy autumn. But, nevertheless, it will light up.
Yes, and one more thing: if you wish, you can also hang a container for kindling from this flint. Once upon a time I soldered a small capsule with threads and a seal from a brass tube, so it would be useful for this purpose if I needed it.
Well, for those who need it, you can pick up any sealed small capsule, into which a piece of cotton wool impregnated with a flammable composition will fit, and attach it to the flint.
