Ferrocerium rods, metal match, artificial flint, or sparker - carry methods

CMC, To get a ferro rod from the old Got Fire company (now Strike Master), Bestglide.com has one model of a Strike Master ferrocium rod. (link below) They don't give the dimensions of the rod. But the picture looks like it's about a 1/4"-3/8" diameter rod.
http://www.bestglide.com/cgi-bin/cart.pl?db=stuff.dat&category=Shelter+And+Warmth&search=WS1006

To get a ferro rod at a good price from one of the best guys on the web, email Piet Henskens (Bagheera on BFC) at phenskens@hotmail.com He periodically sells both the bigger Military and smaller Scout models from the LightMyFire.com company. The proceeds support their Boy Scout troop, so it goes to a good cause.

Donald, That's a nice pic of your carry items. Thank you for posting it. Is the orange thing a whistle, as I assume it is? What is the purpose for the holes in the fatwood?
 
RokJok,

I did not think about you not being able to see the caption, sorry about that. It seems that trying to follow or truncate the link to see the rest of the pictures is difficult, although I did not try too hard, since I have the link. ;)

The items starting from the top left at the orange item and going around counter-clockwise are: Acme Tornado 635 Whistle, Arc lSL LED flashlight, Simonich Talonite Bitteroot, Fatwood Ferrocerium rod holder, and holding them all together, a Twisty keyring, which is a plastic coated aircraft aluminum cable.


I put the holes in with the idea that I could visually verify that the 2" x 1/8" piece of ferrocerium rod was inside, and to some extent the condition of the rod. The holes also allow any moisture that gets in to evaporate. You can actually shake it, and hear the slight noise of the rod, if you do not have everything attached. Lastly, the holes make it easier to split the holder open, if the rod becomes stuck, say because of corrosion, especially in the event that you have become separated from your tools. Or one can use a hole to insert something small, say a small screwdriver from a Leatherman Wave, or the corkscrew held SAK screwdriver, snare wire, etc., and jiggle the rod lose. I have not, however, had any problems with it sticking. :)

The link to my "gallery" of knives, etc., can be found at the below link. Some of the folders have subfolders, which do not show until one clicks on the parent page.

Donald’s Knives & Miscellany

:D
 
I just saw a post where someone was having trouble getting their fatwood to light. The suggestion was to scrape it to get dust/powder which will light. That might help someone, so I thought I would pass it on, as it does not seem to be mentioned in this thread.

Further, I notice that it seems that no one mentioned another method I have seen and used. That is just sawing into the fatwood to create some “sawdust. ” A page by Bill Qualls, showing this, is here:
Spark-based Firemaking with Fatwood

On one of his other pages he mentions, what has also been mentioned here, that a rubber band from an inner tube or just a regular rubber band will add burn time to you tinder, just stay away from the noxious smoke. Rubber has the advantage, like fatwood, that it will work in a damp environment. I don’t know if it will start directly from a spark though, perhaps if scraped?, another experiment. It really does burn. If part of a kit for a number of years, the rubber might have to be replaced, there always seem to be a few that turn gummy and stick to things. The bicycle tire inner tube, has been hanging in my garage for years though, and is still OK, except for that flat.... ;)

I have also combined the dust with the curls on the featherstick, although with fine curls it is not necessary. I note that in speaking with someone at my local outdoors store, Jet Outdoors, that they cannot obtain any BlastMatch’s at the present time because they are going into survival kits and being shipped overseas, as fast as they can make them. So technique might be more important at the moment, as the BlastMatch makes it easier to light the fatwood. You can see the particles of ferrocerium and the sparks, settle in the curls, as they get scraped by the efficient tungsten carbide scraper. :D

I actually now often use a 2.5" Bahco or Sandvik Wolfram/Tungsten carbide scraper replacement blade as my scraper. Of course this is after making sure that the spine of my knife, awl on my Farmer SAK, file, jig saw, hack saw, back of the SAK saw, etc., would also work if that is what I had with me. So far I have seen no effect on the scraper blade. I recently wrapped a piece of 100 mph tape around the end to serve as a handle and hold a piece of mason’s twine to serve as a loop. It could be mounted to something if one cared, or was industrious. Once at a party I used the S30V blade on my Benchmade 940Ti to scrape the HotSpark (Boy Scouts) that I have on my key chain, to light an alcohol burner. I did not see any noticable effect on the blade, but that did not take but a scrape or two.
 
There is a small piece of fatwood in my wilderness support package or personal survival kit, that holds a needle and awl, will serve as the handle for my jig saw blade, and if needed will provide tinder. You cannot really see it in the picture, but you can see the Tinder-Quik Fire Tabs which are handy as they have a long shelf life, are not messy, and keep things from rattling around.

A picture is here: DUSK

and the Benchmade 940Ti mentioned above:

Benchmade940Ti-07resized.jpg
 
I normally carry one in my pack but there is also one on my sheath just to make sure I always have it.
chainsawA.jpg
 
Hi Terrill,

So what do you call this photograph?, "Outdoor Person's Fantasy." :)

What rifle is that?
______________
Your post encouraged me to consider what number or ferrocerium rods I carry. I always have a Boy Scout Hot-Spark on my key chain, .2 oz.

I then have a small ferrocerium rod in my wilderness support package a/k/a personal survival kit and a Spark-lite. Neither of those weighs much .3 or .2 ounces respectively. The Spark-lite will light the tinder in the box, one-handed. It also works well for lighting a candle with a wisp of tinder (e.g. cotton or tinder). I know from experimentation that I could start other tinder with the rod, e.g. a piece of fatwood.

I also carry the rod, because the current Spark-lite has a flaw, i.e. one cannot easily determine how much artificial flint is remaining. Thus, if it is new there is no problem, but if one were to routinely use it, you do not really know when it will stop working. I wish they would make make at least one side out of polycarbonate or something one could see through. Early ones use to be refillable, so one could check that way.

I then carry one of the following, for general use: BlastMatch (2.76 oz.), Swedish Firesteel or an equivalent 3/8" ferrocerium rod (1.5 or 1.6 oz) (see Terrills above picture, or mine below), or the Doan Tool (unsure of weight, only weight I saw is 1 oz.)

_OSF-Sheath640.jpg
 
Hey bill2054, I've been looking for a ferro manufacturer. I tried 3 Chinese companies and the quality is very poor and would never sell their product. What is this Austrian manufacturer?
 
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