>>350423Jesus Christ, where to begin...
The knife is supposed to be the stationary object. You pull the rod out from under it. I know most noobs slide the knife across the rod and look like stupid noobs that keep messing up their tinder bundle with that method and wonder why it doesn't light.
Second... you've never used one of these, have you? You need quite a bit of pressure as well as speed to get it to spark properly. Holding it at one end without the handle, it's too short to apply sufficient pressure. It's just gonna make your fingers hurt.
With one finger at each end of the rod (thumb + index) you'll get enough pressure but the speed will be too slow because you can't slide the knife off the end of the rod anymore.
OP: if you have some basic fab skills, you should be able to fix it:
- Get a piece of metal tube (aluminum would work) that just barely fits over the rod
- Cut off a piece that is the length of the rod (minus about 1/4'') plus however long you want the handle to be
- Cut the tube in half lengthwise. Not all the way, but just the length of the rod (minus the 1/4'')
- Cut about halfway into the tube where the lengthwise cut ends, in order to get rid of one of those half sections of tube
- stick the rod about 1/4'' into the handle. The end of the rod should now be flush with the end of the tube
- Glue it in place
The half of the tube supports the rod so you won't break it again, and also you won't lose too much length because you don't have to stick it in the handle very far.
I drew a picture that might help you understand what I mean.
blue = tube
red = rod
