box the fourth

The fourth box arrived on Saturday, as a prime indication of why the USPS is in such trouble… when first-class mail from Atlanta gets to Knoxville after priority mail from San Diego, there might just be a problem with your routing system.
At any rate, the package in question contained one of these, a relatively unassuming black metal rod that can make all manner of fire should the situation call for it. I highly suggest viewing the video, but suffice to say that these little rods spank the hell out of just your basic flint and steel (though, as a side note, they have some kind of black coating on them that needs to be removed before much sparking will take place – coincidentally, the coating is removed with the same methodology as actually using the rod).
So, take that cute little rod, about eight feet of paracord (which you can find damn near anywhere these days), a lighter, a pair of scissors, a little hot glue, a little time, and this handy video from a gentleman who goes by “Stormdrane” online (and after you test it out a few days ago) and you end up with one of these:



To be fair, the inspiration for this project came from The Lanyard Zone‘s Fire Fob, but if I can make it at home, you can make it at home, and you probably have the vast majority of the necessary components on hand already (and both the paracord and misch metal are cheap).
And, for me, hopefully the lanyard will help keep the knife in my pocket in the future. Oh, and note to Kershaw: it would be nice if your lanyard holes were sufficiently large to accept doubled-up paracord – I had to “hardcode” this particular lanyard onto my R.A.M., so the only way to remove it is to cut it right off.
Going Gear is yet another smaller (but very quick, inexpensive, and easy-to-deal with) distributor I found by way of the EDCForums, and they might have a discount code on those forums as well…