My goal today was to finish the knife, design and build a fire starter with a lanyard, a simple drop leg rig/sheath, also integrate the fire starter into the sheath and make it all look super clean.
The knife or knives's they finished up real nice I think I was done with them around 11:00.Here they are ready to go into the tumbler for a stonewashed smooth finish.
So I got started on the lanyard which is actually a 5000 meter pace count keeper, I used one similar when I was in the Infantry. The long portion has nine black tabs, every time you pace off a 100 meters you slide one down. When you reach your first 1000 meters you slide all the bottom ones back to the top and pull down one of the the top 5 repeat, drink water repeat lol. I put a SAR Micro reflector pull tab with SOLAS tape on the bottom to finish it off.
Next up was to get started on the "Fire starter" commonly referred to as a "Fire Steel". This is where the big search started, it took well over an hour of ripping my shop apart to find these little "Ferroceium rods". Once found I went to work with my totally on the fly idea. I decided to use the small rods and some scrap F22 Raptor stealth fighter carbon fiber, this stuff is some bad to work with, once touched to the grinder I am committed to wearing my respirator for most of the day. The dust is fine, very light and nasty to breathe I try to work it wet. Here is a starter which is almost done. To use this you just hold the cf handle and using the back edge of your knife you sharply strike the rod and it will produce good sparks that in turn will catch dry tinder on fire.
Believe it or not at this point I have been in the shop since 7:00 its know around 4:00 and I have not even started on the sheaths, which I have not really settled on how I am going to make the drop thigh rig....well more "On the Fly Design" lol. I was not happy with the direction or retention on the first sheath...it looked good but was a bit to snug..shit happens in the trash bin.
Sheath number 2...on hold lol
Sheath 3 we are cooking ready to move on. How to attach the fire steel, this really killed me for some time. My answer was rubber O rings....off the the hardware store F*&k. Got back and some more OTFD (on the fly design) and we had some clean integration. Completed Fire starter with a almost completed sheath.
Now I started brainstorming how to drop the sheath onto the thigh. I liberated some 1" black flat nylon from one of my surfboard/gear tie down straps, found a ladder buckle. Measured, punch holes applied rivets and did the attachment with Chicago screws same stuff you use for "teck loks". When I made the sheath I place a single strand of 550 cord through the bottom for use as a simple adjustable leg strap. Around 12 plus hours my mission was almost complete.
I have since made the lanyard for the knife, got the leg strap working, etched my logo and put a smoking edge on some nice and toothy CPM D2. I am pretty pleased with the way this turned out, I will take the finished pictures in the early morning light when the light is flat and good pictures can be had.
See ya tomorrow, if you have any comments feel free to post them.
Here is a quick shot of the total package
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