Can someone school me on firesteel and firestarters

W

_woo_

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Jan 25, 2010
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I am a complete NOOB to firesteel and different types of firestarting tools. Can someone please give me a rundown of what i want? Maybe a good link or something. I don't have any type of firestarter other then matches and lighters. Thanks!
 
Thanks! I had checked that out b4 but I didn't remember it being that informative.
 
yeah it looks to be pretty versatile, i am toying around with the idea of getting one, :D
 
you can always but the ferro rods and the scratcher from going gear and create a little handle for it... total price about 2 bucks for the steel and 1.5 bucks for the scratcher... this is what i did... i put a custom handle on it... works pretty good... goinggear.com is the place... and always check youtube videos on it..
 
I just checked goinggear for the time. That is funny you mentioned that! I was looking at paracord. What kind of handle did you make?
 
Goinggear has all kinds of cool stuff available to make fire. Their little plastic handled striker is one of the best I've used.

They also have any size you could want of either regular or misch metal firesteel.

Also, if you have a outdoors store (REI, Basspro, GanderMtn., ect..) you can get the Lightmyfire brand there which is as good as any.

As was mentioned, the ESEE firekit is also fantastic, allowing you to store dry tinder and other small supplies in the handle. Keep in mind that the ESEE firekit no longer comes with a misch firesteel but a regular one of the same size instead.
 
Most any rod is going to work well for you. Esee, goinggear, firesteel.com has greatones too.

The key is tinder. The simplest I've found is cotton balls soaked in vasoline. Burns long and catches easy. I keep old redbull shot bottles full of them
 
Misch is harder but produces larger peices of molten metal. You need a hacksaw blade or any other SHARP striker.

Standard ferro rods are easier to strike with duller strikers (you still need a right-angle edge) and they produce sparks instead of the bigger chunks of the mischmetal.
 
Misch is actually much softer. You need a sharp knife to shave or peel off shards of metal to burn. Usually doesn't do much damage to an edge. Ferro rods do a fair bit of damage to my knives. Folded edges are nearly a sure thing.

The old rat fire kits are misch and I love them. Not a fan of the new ones. They work, but aren't the best. Light my fire or firesteel.com are my gotos for new kits now.
 
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I got some misch ones from goinggear.com and I really like them! However, I completely ruined the edge on my 15° Izula, so I use a dedicated striker now. I'm considering sharpening up the tip of the spine, so I'll get a perfect 90° angle to strike with, so as not to ruin the cutting edge. I like the misch metal, but find that it takes a whole lot more technique and force to produce sparks/molten than with regular firesteels.

EDIT/UPDATE: Yup, so I've gone ahead and done this. I sanded down the spine on my Izula and thus created a 90° edge on both sides, which sole purpose is for striking fire steels.
The good news is that it works great... but with a cost. You see, the misch metal ones considerably dulls even the 90° edge after 2-3 good strikes, whereas my "Light My Fire"-striker hardly dulls the edge at all even after 10-15 strikes!
I've taped a small misch metal one onto the back of my Izula sheath, just to have it — but I doubt I'll be using anything other than my "Light My Fire"-one.

firesteel_scout_army.jpg
 
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Thanks guys. I will have to get one and try different things. I have checked firesteel.com and briefly looked at goinggear.com.
 
Yep, check out Going Gear for rods and their mini striker (it's a great striker) for lots of brands of firesteels.

The ESEE fire kit is really nice quality. As mentioned they've switched from a misch rod to a standard ferro rod.
 
Not so much redesigned, but re logo'd. the esee crest is the old one, and the rod is screwed in. the new ones have a circular logo, and the rod is glued/epoxy'd in.

new:
4420535576_6ffb8a6f9f_b.jpg


Old:
3993618583_47de2ef8a4_b.jpg
 
OK I went with the LIGHT MY FIRE "scout". I was @ Gander Mtn and the had them so I thought I would try it out. I will try to have some action shots from my first fire maybe 2morrow. Thanks guys
 
thank you :)

I was going to post a little video yesterday of that steel working but couldn't... I might be able to do that later today...

I tried it on a piece of cotton (just the cotton) and it lit it on the first try! It's awsome...

I ordered the striker : http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=350

I ordered this rod: http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=5

And I ordered this whistle: http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=12

After I made the handle... I run a piece of paracord through the handle's hole, through the striker's hole, and then tied it to the whistle (actually, the whistle joins the two ends... btw, you have to remove the inner strands of the paracord...)

If you need to see this, i'll do my best to get a picture today (don't have a camera so i have to go over to my brother's :D)

Total cost for this, without the time to make the handle, about 7 dollars...

BTW, where is your location...?
 
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