The Fire starter

HOLY SMOKES!!!

my mom sent me this little tiny fire starter. It essentially a piece of metal striker and an artificial flint. Works when wets, sparks 3000C, starts fires easily, etc.

Well fire making with spindles and hearthboards had gone OK with smoke and punk (ash ember) but no fire. Likewise real flint and a metal striker had produced really hot sparks but no fire. I felt like we needed closure on the fire making so when that fire striker showed up i knew it was a sign.

Now i know my mom meant for me to use it in camping (and trust me i will) but i felt like it might work for the kids for the closure. So i started with an assorted age group of 4 kids and 40 minutes later i was forced to dump my 2 buckets of water (see I'm a prepared safety-oriented teacher) onto their fire. SUCCESS!! the year 8 boys also succeeded and so did the next group. in fact this thing is so awesome I'm thinking I'll need another one for two reasons: 1) it works so freaking well, 2) it may be good for 3000 strikes but with large groups of kids using it for fire-making its starting to wear down.

The year 8 boys are already trying to think of ways to convince the principal to let them have a bonfire down in the courtyard next term. Hmmmm, i see persuasive letter writing, planning (ie. contacting fire department to get a fire permit), cooking (they want to cook on it), etc. hmmm i smell project.

Dear mom, when you find another one of those, please purchase and hold it for me until there is another mailing to NZ. Love Carly.