Since I'm a one income family of 4 spare money for fun stuff is hard to come by so as with most of my projects they are done with free or very cheap materials. Camping Pot with Rocket Stove insert, made from a $25 Asparagus pot, 5 soup cans, small sheet of metal from the HVAC dept, and the left over insulwool from my Paint Can Forge. My Broad Ax. A $5.00 flea Market find that I re-handled. Took hours to clean up the mushroomed end, re-flatten the one side, and remove the back bevel one of the previous owners put on there. I also made a leather sheath for the ax so i could carry it without it slicing through stuff as it's very sharp. My Folding saw "old saws-all pruning blade" that was cut down. I cut out a small piece of brass to use as a support and a thumb screw to hold everything in place. Turned out it folds down nicely and fits into the cardboard/duct tape sheath. Cost = 1.39 My Bushcraft knife set "$13 Paula Deen set" from Walmart. I cut down the Chef's knife with a Dremel and bent one of the paring knifes into a hookspoon knife by heating with a torch until red then bending with a pair of pliers. This set of knifes takes and holds a surprisingly good edge. I also made a custom sheath for each knife. The weird wide topped one is actually to hang around your neck. Each corner is to tie a lanyard to, it actually gets in the way less than the sheath that straps to my belt. My Personal Survival Kit: These are one of those things that you probably will never need but it's a good idea to have with you whenever you go out. Even if your camping somewhere familiar you should always have a PSK strapped to your belt or tucked in your pocket because you never know what may happen. Fire Starters in a resealable straw: This is something I picked up somewhere on the internet. Basically pick up a few extra big straws from McD's. Pinch one end in a pair of long nose pliers with about 1/8" sticking out. Heat that little end with a lighter until it shrivels up against the pliers. Let cool for a few seconds. Stuff a single cotton ball that has had petroleum jelly smeared into it as tightly in as you can. Cut the straw off flush with the top of the cotton ball wad "important to be able to get it out later". Now, cut a slit about 1/4" in on the end of the straw to allow you to compress the end. Now to make the cap. Seal the end of the left over straw in the same manner as the last time. Now cut the left over straw so you have a 1/2" - 3/4" short straw with one sealed end. Now just pinch the end of your cotton ball straw and stuff it into your Cap so the 1/4" cut is completely covered. You now have a waterproof and resealable fire starter tube. Next time I make them I'll try to take some more pictures. You can see some pictures of the assembled straws in my Personal Survival Kit. |

