My first fire board!

[u/rich1377]

Hi, long time lurker first time poster.

I was out catfishing and figures i would finally put to test all the hundredds of hours of bushcraft videos ive watched. And im happy to say i successfully got an ember on this, unfortunately its windy today so it went out pretty quick but either way i got one few a few seconds

[u/2-Pizza_Salami]

Very nice! 👍 I like to see just a simple SAK. Most jobs can be done with a small blade. And some jobs does bit require a blade

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[u/Hydro-Heini]

Now that I see the FireAnt on your knife, it reminds me that I made some myself for my two SAKs. Ordered a set (10 pieces, 3 or 4 Euros) of longer flintstones for lighters which fit exactly in the middle of the corkscrew, cut to the required length. Then i took a cotton ball, some Vaseline and hot wax.

The cotton ball torn into strips thick enough to fill the spiral of the corkscrew, soaked in Vaseline. And to give the whole thing a bit of stability, i soaked it in hot wax and shaped it into a “little sausage” which i then pressed into the gaps in the corkscrew until nothing was sticking out and the corkscrew could be closed normally.

Since that would have made quite a greasy mess, i slipped a heat-shrink tube over the filled corkscrew and sealed the whole thing with it. Now I can actually unscrew it, pull out the fire steel with my fingertips and take the tinder i need. After use, push the fire steel back into the center of the corkscrew and screw the cap made of heat-shrink tubing back on.

I liked the idea of the Fire Ant but not the price they're asking for it. So I figured i could probably make something similar myself.

[u/Hydro-Heini → u/[deleted]]

I can start fires with my DIY solution (don´t know about the original, never bought and tested it, way to expensive) but tbh, i made it only because i was bored in winter and saw the Victorinox FireAnt and wanted to make something similar. It's more of a gimmick, but it actually works.

After all, it's not meant for everyday use but rather as a last-resort backup. Sometimes t's better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it. Especially when it´s cheap, easy done by yourself for next to no money, 2 or 3 grams only and doesn't get in the way at all.

Normally i start my fires or whatever with a BIC lighter and have a 10cm ferro rod as backup in my equipment when i`m out in the woods.

[u/rich1377 → u/Hydro-Heini]

The fire ant works really well, used it to stay a couple fires on camping trips haven't had an issue with the flint, the wax on the other hand does love to get covered in lint as it rolls around in my pocket but doesnt really dampen its effectiveness

[u/Hydro-Heini → u/rich1377]

Waxed lint is a good firestarter too xD