Dragon Droppings

The customer has specifically requested carbon steel. Plus with Carbon steel, not only would the use of flint be good (hopefully), but a good sharp edge could be used with a ferrocium rod. (amazing how well a shower of 3000oCelsius sparks work when starting a fire. Well, crappy weather today so no forging, but tomorrow looks promising. David

Using a wool blanket as a cloak is useful even as warm as 50 degrees F. Nice thing about wool is its ability to retain heat even when wet, so if it's cold and raining (good time to light a fire) it will keep you warm and dry long enough to get your fire going. Phil, This is going to be a purely utilitarian piece...read here form *and* function. If possible, I was thinking of making the penannular in a sort of flattened at the top Omega shape(with a very tight twist, then re-flattened) good and hard at the striker portion and a bit softer for the non-striker areas. I like your idea of using the pin itself as the striker. Might run that by the customer. Maybe a bit wider than the 0.125" you spoke of. maybe 0.1875" or as wide as 0.25" but only 0.125" thick. Thanks for all your assistance guys. It really helps the design process. David

I agree with the shiny part (I'm a medieval re-enactor, militantly proud of my Scottish Ancestry). The customer is a Wilderness Survival and Self-reliance instructor. He likes to have(as do I) items that serve more than just one purpose. Keep your blanket closed like a cloak *and* be able to start your fire, while still looking stylish? Sounds like a winner to me! Thanks Tim. I appreciate the input David

Hey all, I just got a request for a blanket pin (Penannular brooch) that the customer wants to also act as a flint striker. Specs are around 3" diameter (so he can get at least 3 fingers in it while using as a striker) Any ideas? I was thinking perhaps an Omega shape, flattened on top for the Penannular. The pin portion is pretty straightforward. Should I heat treat? What color should I let it run to? Depending on how this turns out, it could end up being a production run. Thanks, David

Well, I tend to do a lot of primitive camping (not even a tent, usually. just a tarp and a wool blanket and whatever supplies I can carry on my person) so the first thing I thought of was Flint Strikers for fire making. maybe tiny tongs for grabbing a hot canteen cup off the fire? 4-6" blade fixed-blade knives, small tripods for hanging 1 quart cook pots (or stainless steel water bottles for H2O purification. A good place to ask besides here would be over at The Pathfinder Forum Hope this gives you some ideas! David