The round tin is water tight enough to float.. and to keep tinder dry.... Like I said I don't do the same things as others here do with the tins... And I do not fly.... I did start to fly once, and I liked it but things took a turn in life and I never went back to flying....<br><br>In my tin is a 3/4" ball of Guda cheese wax... No one here seems to have that.. I have fixed cuts in my canoe with it. I keep a 1750-1840 circa flint and steel, and a bit of jute twine. The twine can be cordage, or tinder, along with any linen, or cotton that has been charred.... Also I have 2 kinds of shelf fungas which catch and hold sparks. A burning lens from a broken binoculars set. A bone bodkin from a deer Ulna , and steel ball point needles, with deer sinew, and common polyester/cotton thread. Sometimes there is a bit of synthectic sinew, which is a extremly strong nylon, that can be split down to 6 sometmes 8 parts all of equal length.<br><br>So my kit must stay dry.... charr, fungas, sinew, and jute twine are about usless soaked..<br><br>I know some tins act as a double duty mirror for some here. Mine does not, but it is the tool that I make charr with. I highly disagree with the idea that heating these tins red hot, and often harms them.<br><br>I burn the paint off mine as best I can, and don't bother to worry about the white residue that remains for a few ore burnings.... After the first I would say the tin gets very hot, but maybe not red hot anymore. What I do is add materials what ever they may be to charr, and toss the tin in a fire,,,watch for the smoke to stop, flip the tin, watch again, and remove the tin...... Then with-draw the tin from the fire and let it cool untill it is cool to the touch....If you open it hot the charr will go up fast....<br><br> I attempt to have my charr cook to some black with tan when done. The reason is that the tan while it won't catch a spark, will blow into a flame. The full black charr will not blow into a flame and must have tinder added.<br><br>I have given many of these tins to cold folks in the past....<br>Often I have found folks that were suffering from being out in "Ice in the Bucket" weather. That is when the fungas comes in handy beside being a good spark catcher, it can be added to in size, and once it has a spark water is the only way to stop it. It will act like a coal in a almost no O2 environment... A very good pocket heater once wrapped in a rag, and placed in a pocket near the heart.<br><br>I do redundancy as well..... I wear a hat that has needles, and threads tucked in the band, and a small razor sharp blade made from a file tucked in the rear hem. That blade is a total of 1" long, about 1/2 is handle, but it will slice bull elk neck hide in one determined slice. That elk is 1/2"+ thick often.<br><br>I have forgottenabout that tiny blade to go fly on a commercial jet places, and not had a problem, but the way things are now I better not forget it...... I am not sure how to go about flying these days as often I need a cutting device at the airport where I land.... My luggage ain't exactly what you would condsider the "Norm" either ;-)<br><br>The main problem is redundancy for the flint and steel type I use, but I carry 1 in a pocket, 1 in a shooting bag, and 1 on a hunting belt, that is a 2 finger size. Also my flint gun will do the job empty or loaded. Never using gun powder ever!!!!! That would be a error, and wastefull....<br><br>I have carried fishing hooks, but don't need too. I can make them from a needle if forced to. I prefer to make them from a twig and bits of owl (or other) droppings which contain white bone. The bone acts as bait. Beech twigs have just the right shape, and wrapped with sinew and waxedover they are waterproof and will take trout all day long.<br><br>I have not used a band aid in some years, and see no reason to carry such a thing.... I guess some folks don't want to stain clothing..... When I get cut I force blood from the wound for a bit to clean it... Wash with water, and forget it.....For a bigger cut a band aid ain't gonna do squat anyway... so I see no point. For that rags and or moss work for me. I try not to get cut that bad. usually when I get cut it is what some folks would think is a very bad cut, but I am used to it.... If you show me a flint knapper that don't get cut, he ain't been knappin.... pretty simple concept... Some of the stone I work is 400 X sharper than the best surgical steel known today, and it does not cut, it divides molecules. When you divide molecules about 1/2 deep x 1 1/2" long you tend to bleed profuslly, and the common band aid for that works about as good as tryin to hold back the St. Lawrence River with a Kotex....It ain't a happin deal, if you know what I mean...<br><br>Well I hope that explains part of my views on this..... Sorry about the length....... BTW I still don't know how you use the flints glued to a tin/kek or other?? How do you get a spark? and what do you catch that spark with? I ain't got a clue... Mac