Belt pouch and fire kit

With the weather getting cooler my interest in camping and backpacking is rising. I'm also falling back into my interest in bushcraft. To be able to do somethings in the field without high-tech equipment is gratifying. Creating fire without matches or a lighter should be a skill everyone entering the woods needs to learn.

I wanted a nice way of carrying my fire kit with me. I started carrying everything in a tobacco tin in my bag which was great since it had a screw on lid with a gasket. But it was sometimes hard to open. I went to a Altoids tin so the kit would be smaller and I would carry it on my person instead of in the bag.

I took my carry option a step further with making myself a leather belt pouch for the Altiods tin. This was my first wet molded leather pouch, it came out okay but had several problems along the way creating the pouch. I learned not to use pine for the entire mold, at least not for the part that pulls the leather down on the shape of the pouch. I mounted the belt loops too low, having to cut and restitch them back on after the pouch was made was a pain in the butt. Forgot the thumb hole in the bottom of the pouch, this was needed to push the tin up out of the pouch. This hole was later useful to restitching the belt loops. I still need to finish staining the leather and waxing it but I'm waiting for the leather to fully dry. This was a great project for to learn more about leather working, it took entirely too long but I'm pleased with the results.

In my fire kit I have a light my fire brand fire steel, a small wrap of jute twine for tender. I also carry a piece of lighter pine and a slow match made from a .22 mag shell and cotton cord. The slow match has been useful around my friends that smoke, it's interesting to watch their reaction to me lighting it for them so they can light their cigarettes or pipe. The tin itself can be used to create char cloth, reason why the tin is blacked, although I don't normally carry any char cloth.