DIY flint laces

As the snow melts, the season for forest walks, hikes and overnight fishing approaches. You should start preparing your equipment. Matches, lighters, various kindlings - all this, of course, is wonderful, but you need to think about a backup option. Every fisherman and tourist should have such a thing as a flint with them, in addition to matches or a lighter. Flint is good for everyone - it is not afraid of water and dampness, it will not break and it will not run out of gas. All that remains is to figure out how not to lose it. You can, of course, hang it around your neck, but there is a more interesting option: you can make flint laces! I recently saw these in one of the online stores, but the price of 400 rubles for a meter cord with a piece of ferrocerium at the end seemed too high to me.

There is a way to get what you want with much less spending. You just need to buy a cord of the desired color, and purchase ferrocerium rods, 4x40 mm, at a hunting or sports store.

Will need

Cord cord of the color you need, 80 cm for each cord.
Two ferrocerium rods, 4x40 mm.
Metal tube with an internal diameter of 4 mm.
Two pieces of good steel, 4x40x1 mm (can be from a knife, or from a metal blade).
Secondary glue.
A hacksaw or bur machine with a cutting disc (for cutting a tube).
Ruler.
Marker.
A piece of sandpaper.
Lighter.

Making laces with flint

Everything is as simple as shelling pears. First, let's prepare the chairs for ferrocerium flints. Using a bur machine with a cutting disk, or an emery machine, we cut out two strips of steel measuring 4x40x1 mm.

In such a way that they forcefully enter the tube. Next, you should prepare the tubes themselves. We cut off sections of 15-18 mm from the tube.

We sand the edges of the segments so that there are no burrs left.

We take one of the tubes and drive a chair into it. At 8-9 mm. If you suddenly missed the size and the chair dangles loosely in the tube, you can fix it there with a second of glue with soda or epoxy. Well, or cut a new one. So, we entered:

Now we cut off 80 cm of the cord and melt the ends of the cord with a lighter to make it easier to put them into the tube.

Next, on the opposite side of the tube from the chair, drop a drop of second glue into the tube and insert the melted end of the cord into it.

This is how the chair is made. Now, at the other end of the cord, we carry out identical actions, but instead of a chair, we install a flint rod in the tube. Like this:

Well, one lace is ready. It took about 10 minutes. Next, we repeat the above procedures with the second lace. You can wear such laces not only on shoes.

They can be used as ties for a duffel bag or hood.

Well, anyone can make a fire with such a flint, even without special skills, because ferrocerium produces a very hot and greasy spark. Thin birch bark, for example, will definitely catch fire after several attempts, as is clearly shown in the video.

This device cost us several times less than what was posted on the online store website. Perhaps this flint will one day provide an opportunity to dry off near a fire after a sudden rain, and not be chilled from the cold at night.