Signal/Fire Dog Tag

Survival kits these days have huge signal mirrors that take up so much space, and matches or fire-starters that eventually run out. Well, magnifying glasses don't run out for starting fires, and a necklace doesn't get in the way. Plus, dog tags are just awesome, right? Well, combine all three elements for a great mini-survival-tool.

I used a plain CD which makes a cool rainbow reflection, but I am planning to remake it using the metal disc inside of a computer hard-drive. The disc in a hard-drive is thicker, stronger, and more reflective than an average CD, but harder to come by, and harder to shape.

Draw the outline of a dog tag on the disc and cut it out. I used a bench grinder to shave out the piece form the disk. This completely destroys the entire rest of the disk and leaves nothing left. I recommend using a dremel cutting disk to just cut out the shape from the disk. Cover the non-reflective side of the dog-tag in duct tape, and then tear it off to remove any design and make both sides reflective.

Plastic magnifying glasses are easier to shape as they will not chip, but glass ones look and function better. If you're making your dog tag out of a CD, use plastic magnifying glass. If you're making you dog tag out of a metal hard-drive disk, use glass. Shave down the glass with a grinder until it seems a good size to fit in the bottom half of the dog tag. 

Shave out a circle at the bottom of the dog tag to fit the magnifying glass. Make it a bit tight. Super glue it in and wait for it to set. Then you can add a silencer and chain or whatever if you want.