Hi Pete,<br><br>The Flintsteel is only inserted about 1/4-3/8" into the plastic thumbpiece.<br><br>It's easy to remove by grinding the plastic thumbpiece on a belt sander, the plastic will get hot and flexible and you can take out the flintsteel rod easilly.<br><br>Then comes the fun part, using a slow turning bench drill, take a drillbit that you won't be using in the future anymore size? 1/8" or so and start drilling a hole through the end of the flintsteel.<br>MAKE SURE you have nothing flammable on the workbench or synthetics on your body because you will burn holes in it :D<br><br>I use a wet rag (dripping) to stop the wood below the firesteel that I drill from catching fire, I even have thought about putting the firesteel in a small tupper ware-ish plastic box fill it with water until it's under water and then drill it holding on to the flintrod by hand.<br>Still I don't like my fingers in water when working with an electric appliance.<br><br>Well, enjoy the fireworks and you'll notice how slowly you drill through the flint rod, it has a kind of sub lubricating consistency that nmakes it hard to drill to fast + of course all the sparks flying around.<br><br>After you've drilled the hole put a split-ring through it and you have a lot mor e packable flintsteel and still a lot of control by holding onto the split-ring.<br><br>Have fun, please don't torch the house or yourself,<br><br>Bagheera