On nights that are particularly cold, windy, or in tonight's case, rainy, I like to hike a few miles out into the woods with a knife and a magnesium/ferrocerium rod and try to start a fire. I do this mostly to keep myself sharp and make sure I can still do it. I choose nights with the worst conditions because I figure I should prepare for the worst conditions.

Tonight, it was plenty wet so I had to fillet a tree branch looking for that nice dry wood inside. I found the driest spot I could and turned up the dirt a little to dry it out a bit more. I feathered up some smaller sticks to make the finest tinder I could, shaved off some magnesium, and went to town on the ferrocerium rod.

And voila!



The 311 was the perfect companion. I never felt like I needed anything more.