Choose!

I'd go with fire. There are areas (the equatorial belt) where you might not need fire immediately, but most other regions can get quite nasty - some of them seasonally, some of them year round. Even most temperate regions offer high-altitude hikes where you might encounter snow in August.

If you don't need fire you are probably pretty well-off anyway with regards to the survivability of a situation.
 
In fall, winter and spring I`ll go with the firesteel. It can be mighty cold above the arctic circle. And making fire with lokal materials is nearly impossible. I`ve tried.
In summer I would choose the knife. A debris hut would provide warmth.

Tor
 
Generally speaking, if I'm allowed to choose the knife I'll take my Workchamp SAK, with the attached fob kit holding a Hot Spark ferro rod, tinder, cordage and a little bit more. If you make me "strip" the knife, I'd still take the SAK, even over a fixed blade.

Those who have chosen the ferro rod have missed a valuable point, and it was made by Pentlatch: to make fire, you need DRY wood, *and* an ignition source. It's going to be pretty hard getting to get to dry wood without a knife, if you need to split or carve it out.

But I try to always have the most basic of kits on me, even when in the comfort of my home. So this is pretty much a moot point, barring somebody doing a strip search and taking away all my toys. 8~}
 
I think this thread is excellent for starting discussion. It also underscores the simple rule taht I tell my kids. YOU NEVER GO INTO THE WILDERNESS WITHOUT YOUR LIGHTER AND YOUR KNIFE.

These two are part of my EDC here in the civilized world and they are redundant carry when I go out in the bush. I even have a card in my wallet that has 10 matches and a single edge razor as a back up to my regular Endura or CRKT M-16.

Most of the time when I take people out into the bush to give them an exposure to survival skills I have them try to make fire using primitive means. So far nobody has produced a flame. I can do it under ideal conditions, but really who wants to be in that situation.

One of the things I tell people is that when you are in a bad situation do an inventory of everything that your group has along in
their pockets. My daughter will pull out her knife and her lighter! Mac
 
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