TIPs FROM READERS

As I peruse through the various blogs (yours are my top 3) each day there is often discussed techniques for starting fires. But I don't recall one being mentioned. . . Steel Burns!


Here is a tip: Get some fine mesh, un-coated Steel Wool from your Hardware Store. It is very cheap stuff. Pick up some 9 Volt batteries too. This is important because both battery terminals are on the same end of the 9 Volt type.


Fluff up a chunk of the steel wool and touch the battery posts to it. Sparks will start to travel in the steel wool strands. Put into the kindling and blow. Instant molten steel and a Helluva Fire Starter.


If you make a long stretch of steel wool and swish it in the air once it is ignited it can be used as a signaling device, although wearing thick gloves would be advised.


Yep, steel actually burns! I keep some set up in my survival supplies at all times, old pill bottles are great for storage.


Thought you could pass the knowledge along. And give it a try, it will keep people entertained for an hour!


Signed; EM-Joe in the Post Katrina Louisiana Swamplands.

DCCDMOM wrote:

I'm always trying to get people to grow food. Even for non survivalists it makes sense. It's cheaper, fresher, and no pesticides. We have the typical 50 x 100 ft lot in town( I know, I know, but we just can't afford to move to a country location yet). We have 11 fruit trees(apple, pear, cherry,plum,nectarine), 3 huckleberries, 6 blueberry bushes, 3 gooseberries, 4 current bushes, a raspberry patch, a strawberry patch, a boysenberry patch, 2 milk goats(nigerian dwarf), 14 rabbits(mix of meat and angora), 4 ducks, 5 chickens, and several large spots for seasonal vegetables. I've been experimenting with 4 season gardening and we usually have carrots, parsnips, chard, salad greens, and kale through the winter. We water all the animals and the garden from rain barrel water. We also have 3 4x4x4 compost bins. It just bugs me to see people on large properties not growing anything.