Hello everybody from me new member Mr Dazzler. I am new to this survival/bushcraft stuff although I did a lot of outdoor stuff at school and in the scouts years ago. I've got some very good re-conditioned axes that are good enough to plane with (single bevel), and aim to build me a decent puukko-type knife (from a kit to start with) I read somewhere about a bloke who examines his axe/knife edges with a magnifier to check the quality. I had a (well knackered) camera which I butchered for its lenses. I was just going to keep the main ones to use for fire starting/edge testing (what a world opens up when you magnify a "sharp" edge even just 4 or 5 times!) However the best one turned out to be the tiny little viewfinder one which is only about 10mm long with a little "handle". It is about 8 or 10x mag. Using this tiny little lens and a geber diamond file I've rejuvenated most of my kitchen knives, and my 2 best axes are now even better. (but I still use a norton stone or waterstones for planes and chisels) What has all this to do with tinder shavings you ask?? :?: :roll: Well, I had just sharpened my best smoothing plane and was polish finishing some beech and some oak (I don't believe in sanded finishes only finely polish-planed ones cos the dust agravates me) The shavings were sooo thin and delicate (no where near the thickness of a rizler paper) I suddenly thought that'd make great tinder. I tried it with a lens and it worked in seconds. If I ever need to I'll maybe fill a baccy pouch with ash or birch shreds from my polishing plane.