Bushman Kit

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I don't know if this truly counts as a "kit", but I thought I would include it anyway. This is a Cold Steel Bushman knife. If you're unfamiliar with this knife, it is one of the biggest bargains in survival type knives today. You can still find them at gun shows for around $16.00. The Knife is of one piece construction, with the blade and handle being made from a solid piece of carbon steel. The handle is hollow, to allow the knife to be mounted on a staff to form a spear.

The "Kit" I referred to entails taking about 10 feet of paracord, wrapping it tightly around the metal match to form a bundle that will fit tightly into the handle of the knife. If you do it correctly, you will almost have to force the bundle of cord into the handle. The friction of the cord is very tight, and it won't fall out (assuming you made it tight enough). I know its not truly a kit, but it is handy to have a knife, spear, cordage and fire all in one package.

I'm sure if a person used his imagination, he could fit all types of things in the Bushman's handle. The key to success is wrapping any handle contents in para cord to get that "friction fit" otherwise, the contents of the handle will simply fall out. This knife has no plug or screw top to hold things in. For my uses, I'll stick with just the cord and flint.

On a side note, the Boy Scout "Hot Spark" metal match has to be one of the best values out there for a tiny metal match. I bought several of them for $1.95 each from a sporting good store that carrys scouting equip. You can also get them off the boy scout web site. They don't throw as big a spark as bigger flints like the blast match... but they are tiny and cheap... perfect for mini kits. One spark from this tiny flint will almost always light a cotton ball, my favorite tinder.