Hi. I thought I'd post about two items I recently investigated.

1) Alternative tinder:
Having read about the cheese flavoured puffed corn snack for tinder I was toasting marshmallows and marvelling at how easy it was for them to catch fire...

Would they make good tinder?
Test 1) Apply sparklite sparlkles to surface of marshmallow.
Result: Slight blackening of surface, but no obvious signs of bursting into flame
Test 2) Apply flame from Bic Mini lighter.
Result: Localised burning and flame. Flame continues over area where lighter flame was applied. Surface chars and flame goes out.

Conclusion: No, but it might be good to assist a weak fire.

2) Eclipse mint tin for PSK:
I like these tins. They are a nice size and shape. I ate all the mints from one (Peppermint, in the blue box). Don't do this all in one go- spread it out over a week or so, and give plenty away. I washed out the inside when the tin was empty.

Observation 1: When the tin was filled with water it leaked from all the seams (base and long edge seam).
Observation 2: Because the opening was in the small end it might be hard to fill the tin. Certainly, things would have to be packed in an explicit and careful order.

Conclusion: Useful tin, but only for certain items. I had thought about packing matches and a lighter from my PSK tin in it, so I could hand-carry that and put the other bits in hold luggage when travelling on an aeroplane. What I have done is drill a couple of small holes in one corner and put a small ring through to attach it to a keyring. Inside the tin is a pair of latex gloves and a Laerdal face shield, which I alway carry for first aid purposes.

A

hey - thanks for the research.

TRO


( cheese puffs?)