I had a 150# carabineer from backpacking light ( http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ursalite_micro_carabiner.html ) which of the same design as the countycomm clip. Just carrying it in my pocket with all the other stuff in my there caused the spring closure to get bent sideways and out of alignment.

For items I want to quickly take off of my key chain, I use $0.35 glove hooks ( http://www.dogbooties.com/glovehook.html ). You will notice in the photo that there is a gap in closing of the plastic clip. However, you can do the following to remove the gap.
1. Move the flexible part of the clip around such that it is resting on the outside of the curved section.
2. Hold flexible part of clip in the flame of your Bic light for 1 to 1.5 seconds (any more and the plastic will start to burn).
3. After the plastic cools, move the flexible part of the clip back to its original position—there will no longer be a gap in the closure.

Wow, thanks everyone for the great ideas. I think i'll pick up a couple of different clips and see what seems to work best for me.

Luckily just a couple of clips are relatively inexpensives compared to all the other items we accumulate so worth taking a few of the suggestions and trying them out

I'll report back after I've taken some time to evaluate.

Thanks again, this group is awsome -- always helpful and informative. It a pleasure to have the opportunity to learn and hopefully return the thanks some day.

And feel free to keep other good ideas coming.

Michael

Here's my current set-up which has been working fine:

http://www.equipped.org/onyrown.htm#without_it

This is the keychain:

http://www.bisondesigns.com/catalog/circle_caddie_661486.htm

Uhh, Doug,

I don't see your firestarter! If not your lighter, at least a ferrocerium rod. You know: Never leave home without it?

Doug, 10 lashes with a wet leather strop for you. And no more of this kind of thing for you either. You hear me?

[Boy, I sure hope I got this right. Otherwise you will never hear from me again! I'll be banished to some unsurvivable land without knife, ferro rod, or pot. The TSA will steal them from my luggage.]

Come to think of it, I guess I'm in trouble no matter what happens. I hear the hounds.

John
ROTFLMAO

P.S., Doug, If this post is a problem, please feel free to delete it. Best wishes, as always.

Look a little bit further down the page...

I see no reason to carry a firestarter on my person in the local urban environment. YMMV If I lived in a more rural area or traveled into a more rural area during my local travels or lived in an area where a natural disaster was at least a remote possibility, etc., it would be different. But, I don't and so I gave up carrying a firestarter on my person locally some time ago. There's a decent survival kit in the cars of course.

Why would your post be a problem? It's a reasonnable question, all things considered.

Darn it, Doug. It ain't fair! I caught you dead to rights. You shouldn't be tryin' to wriggle out on me!

More precisely, if you are not carrying the basics, including a fire starter on your person, you will not have it available when you take one of those inevitable spur-of-the-moment sidetrips that we all take, and Mr. Murphy strikes. Do you know what a BSA Hot Spark weighs? Well, it's negligible. And I strongly recommend that you attach it to your other EDC.

Regards,

John

John,

Around here I'd have to take a hell of a spur of the moment trip to get out of the urban area. And I can never, ever recall taking any such spur of the moment trips. Simply not going to happen. In the highly unlikely instance that I would, I'll be in one of the vehicles and they are well equipped for any likely emergency I might encounter while driving them, including a PSP in the glove box I could use in the unlikely event I needed to unexpectedly go off someplace where carrying one on my person would be prudent. However, to be honest, I cannot in my wildest imagination imagine how such a situation might develop.

So, feel free to carry a firestarter if you believe your situation warrants it. After a very thorough self-analysis of my circumstances, and based on just a bit of experience in this subject area, :-) I can't see a reason for me to carry one every day. I already carry a 'ton" of stuff that is more often used to help others than myself. Over the years I've pared back what I carry based on my experience and those of others. If I'm going out of the urban area, then I have my full dress kit with me and that includes at least three means of making a fire because in those circumstances that is a possibility worth covering.

Survival preparation is always about risk management. Everyone's assessment of any particular risk varies, as does their preparations. It's almost always location specific to one degree or another. I am quite confident that I'm well equipped to survive anything that I am likely to encounter in the areas I operate in. My kit varies by what I am doing and where I am doing it. For my everyday ares of operation, making a fire simply isn't a survival issue, ever.

Doug,

I defer to your expertise and judgment.

I was transferring to you the features of my own situation. My home is 1/2 mi. from a riverbed replete with trails and 3/4 mi. from a national forest. We regularly hike and bike these areas. My work takes me to a variety of locations mostly within 50 mi. of home, but many trips can run over 100 mi each way. Thus I regularly cover a lot of different ground. I often take short sidetrips as the occasions present themselves. I prefer having my gear along. Mostly it is in the car, but a lot also is carried on my person and in my briefcase. Then there are the Boy Scout and hunting activities. I think I'll keep my Hot Spark.

My major concerns re fire starting capability in everyday life are outdoor trips gone awry; in urban trips, great earthquakes or WMD attacks (EMP)supervening, or for that matter any other catastrophe that disrupts vehicular traffic. In those situations, separation from your vehicular kit is a strong possibility. A ferrocerium rod is simply too small, too lightweight, and too cheap to be caught without. I'm a scoutmaster; if I don't carry a fire starter, why should our scouts think it's important.

Sounds like our favorite survival guru isn't getting much outdoor survival lately. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> Hope you get a change soon. Somehow I had envisioned you as regularly outdoors testing gear and techniques. Another romantic delusion dashed.

Be careful you don't let your knife become superfluous. Then the Babbits of PC will have sucked the life out of you.

Regards,

John

I agree with Doug. I especially like his last paragraph. Everyone critiques their equipment to their personal situation. I do not include fire starting equipment in my EDC. In my “man-purse” I have a lighter, lifeboat matches, and cotton balls but I do not edc it.

I'm glad to hear you say it. I currently carry fire-making in my EDC, but for a long time I didn't, and I've argued here that it's not as crucial for my urban environment.

And I've had similar arguments over water purification. I don't see an explicit water treatment supplies mentioned in your EDC. Is there something in your first aid kit that you plan to use, or do you figure it's something else that is not crucial in your every-day situation?