"Jane, I gotta tell yah, It's always sumthin!"
You go out to mow the lawn and the tractor has a flat...
Want to plane an edge and the plane needs sharpening....
You look for an hour for that cool little sight smoker you just know you used to have...
when you finally find it... it's in a bad need of tuning before it will work....
"Yah know Jane, It's always sumthin."
I spent a pleasant forty five minutes detail cleaning the little carbide smoker. It's a simple little device that produces a smokey flame off a chunk of carbide and water, the same theory behind the lamps used by miners. It was just like new ... except...wait, the striker didn't work.
Remove the top with the the wheel... oh, no flint.
... what... that pesky little spring... 
... shot right into the trash can beside the desk. 
Went thru the trash can paper by paper, glove by glove. (Gun cleaning trash can) All the way to the bottom... and no tiny spring. Got the magnet from the shop... swept the office carpet. No tiny spring. Crawled around in the dark at floor level with a flashlight. No tiny spring."It's always sumthin."
Lost a rebound spring in the same room from a department gun twenty-five years ago. Still haven't found it. I was doing semi annual inspections on guns while the guys were scheduled off. Good thing I had a parts bin for the model 64s.
I'll be lighting the smoker with a bic I guess. Thinking back, I think that's why there was no flint in the lighter assy. It was always fickle anyway.
