Doc, I learn at least as much as I teach, just by having to think about this stuff enough to put it into coherent words. I could post to threads like this for hours....
I found myself at the forge last night for the first time in a few weeks.
I've been on a flint'n'steel firemaking streak now since last fall when I first saw it done (yes, grew up in a cave...). I've forged a few steels and burnt a few tins for tinderboxes.
At work I had one of those Altoids Tiny Tins, about the size of a Zippo. You know where that lead me. To a 2 finger strike-a-light, and the rest of the kit to fit the tiny tin.
Put the kid to bed at 7:45, had fire in the forge by 8 (struck with flint'n'steel, of course). Burnt up the little tin in a charcoal brazier beside the forge. Finally tempered the finished striker at in the fading light just after 9, as the skys began to open up with yet more rain. I'm sick of rain!
Down in the man-cave, I brushed off the scale and tested the striker. A bit harder to use than a full sized one, but plenty workable.
I used a hammer to knock some flakes off a flint I'd picked a couple weeks back, and got one I was satisfied with. I packed about 3' of jute twine around the bottom of the little tin. In the centre, about 10 folded squares of charcloth, then the strike-a-light, and the flint on top.
All told, 2.25 x 1.25 x 0.625" for a flint'n'steel kit. I'm happy!
Sure was a nice way to spend the evening....
J