
John D. McCann, author of Stay Alive! Survival Skills You Need, demonstrates how to start a fire using pencil sharpeners. These tools are perfect for making tinder with wet sticks.
For more practical survival tips, order McCann's book for 33% off retail.
Why You Can Trust Gun Digest
Since 1944, Gun Digest has been a trusted authority on firearms, shooting and shooting gear, delivering expert firearms reviews backed by nearly a century of experience. We go beyond standard reviews, combining hands-on independent gun testing, in-depth research, and expert insights from industry professionals and manufacturers.
Our reviewers are the bedrock of our testing and come from a comprehensive cross section of the shooting world. Their diverse backgrounds include law enforcement professionals, military veterans, competitive shooters, seasoned hunters and life-long firearms enthusiasts. In addition to being firearm experts, we are also thorough journalists adhering to the strictest standards of the profession.
For our readers, this means objective, unbiased reviews, free from outside influence. Our priority is to provide the information you need to make informed decisions—whether a firearm or piece of gear is a must-have investment or one to pass on.
Find out more about our Editorial Standards and Evaluation Process
What a waste of time! We are all aware of how pencil sharpeners function, and you re-covered that without showing how well the tinder worked. The tinder is the point, not the trivial use of the pencil sharpener. The use of the pencil sharpener on twigs could have been covered in one sentence; it did not require a 5 minute video.