I’ve been practicing with the bow nearly all weekend. Oh…you’re back then! You didn’t need to spend so long there! Unlike the game, this is getting quite an expensive past-time as I’ve lost 2 arrows and broken 2 others. At this rate I won’t have any arrows left for the field shoot next weekend. I’ve decided that I’ll buy an arrow jig and have a go at making them myself. I’ll probably do this after Christmas. At least I’m hitting the target most of the time and the grouping is getting a bit better. No more practice now until the big day next Sunday.

With a cloudless sky but a fresh cold wind which made me put on my fleece gloves, I ventured into the woods this morning. I travelled light with just a flask of tea, folding sit mat, the usual tool bag and the NRA survival kit. I wanted to have a general look at all the contents in the field but not put them under any great test…yet.
I wanted to have a good look at Blastmatch first of all. My first thoughts were, “Wow, this is big.” It’s nearly 4 inches long and a little heavy. I weighed this up with the fact that it is a survival tool and not really a bushcraft tool. Even though I had read the instructions, I scratched my head for a while before I actually managed to get it to work. And when I did…I was literally blinded by the number and strength of the sparks. This thing is awesome! I just had to get some tinder (without using the wet-fire tinder in the NRA kit) and try starting a fire. I needn’t have bothered with the tinder as even damp, unprepared wood just about caught with the extreme heat of the produced sparks. I actually wondered if there was any magnesium in the striker.
This bit of kit is a survival ‘ace’. The design allows the unit to be used one-handed which is a great advantage. This is because the thumb pushes against the catch which contains the striker. By pushing against this, and pushing the tip of the rod against a hard surface the rod is pushed down the spring-loaded tube. Looking closely, I realised that this very system might have one disadvantage. The part where you press your thumb to cause the necessary friction against the rod was also the tube catch which keeps the top closed. This part of the unit had already part-melted with the intense heat thus, because the top is closed under the pressure of the spring, it now ocassionally springs open. A point to note. Don’t push the flint rod too far down when striking. I wondered if this was a design fault. All it needed was a stopper to stop the rod going too far down the tube. It’s also advantageous to have something solid to rest the tip of the rod against as you push down. It doesn’t take a great deal of pressure to create the spark, but you couldn’t create a spark by pushing the rod into soft ground.
I can’t fault this unit except to say that it is a bit bulky and heavy. It’s just slighlty too big to go in my possibles pouch (without taking something else out) but I would have no hesitation in packing it in my expedition survival kit. Will any of the other items in the NRA kit join it? We’ll have to wait and see.
Even though I was getting warm working with the Blastmatch, my feet were getting cold with inactivity and I decided to walk around the wood. I noticed that the leaves were at last turning, but some were stubbornly hanging on to the trees. The bright light shining through them made a wonderful autumnal spectacle.