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Misch metal rods
- Thread starter R.A.T.
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2001
- Messages
- 18,423
I gave mine a first test run today.
I tested it up against a BSA Hot Spark, using an Eriksson 511 as the scraping blade.
How many strikes until a fire started is the comparison.
First initial observations, is that the BSA Hot Spark puts off a lot of small sparks very easily, but the Mish. Metal Rod puts off fewer, but they are bigger and burn noticeably longer.
The Mish. Metal rod REALLY needs to be longer, or have some sort of handle attached. As it is, it is almost to short to use. I ended up holding it with pliers for the test.
The BSA Hot Spark, consistently sparked throughout the test, while the Mish. Metal Rod did initially, but after the outer darker coating was scrapped away, the shiny exposed metal underneath quickly dropped to only sparking about 1 in 4 strikes, and shaved curls of metal off the rest.
I tried a few different types of tinder, starting at the top left:
1. Paper from my shredder.
2. Toilet Paper
3. Dryer Lint
4. A mix of dried leaves and grass.
1. Shredder paper.
BSA Hot Spark 12 strikes to fire.
Mish. Metal 2 strikes.
2. Toilet Paper
BSA Hot Spark 6 strikes to fire.
Mish. Metal 3 strikes.
3. Dryer Lint.
BSA Hot Spark 3 strikes to fire.
Mish. Metal 1 strike.
4. Leaves and Grass.
BSA Hot Spark FAILED, not matter how long I tried, they just were not catching.
Mish. Metal finally started a fire, after nearly an hour of trying.
Here is where I ran into some concerns with the Mish. Metal Rod. Once the outer darker part was scrapped away, the shiny surface underneath, began to spark much less. And throughout this hour, they shavings that did ignite, were sticking to the blade in little balls of molten metal, and would not reliably fall into the tinder.
Here is a picture that I circled some of them in yellow, that are still orange and hot when I took the picture.
This happened a lot, and to ignite the leaves and grass, it took nearly an hour and I used up probably 40% of the Mish. Metal Rod.
I'm a little mixed on these results, the burning sparks sticking to the blade, were a real problem, I just could not get them to fall onto the tinder very well.
When they ignite, they are pretty fierce sparks though.
I tested it up against a BSA Hot Spark, using an Eriksson 511 as the scraping blade.
How many strikes until a fire started is the comparison.
First initial observations, is that the BSA Hot Spark puts off a lot of small sparks very easily, but the Mish. Metal Rod puts off fewer, but they are bigger and burn noticeably longer.
The Mish. Metal rod REALLY needs to be longer, or have some sort of handle attached. As it is, it is almost to short to use. I ended up holding it with pliers for the test.
The BSA Hot Spark, consistently sparked throughout the test, while the Mish. Metal Rod did initially, but after the outer darker coating was scrapped away, the shiny exposed metal underneath quickly dropped to only sparking about 1 in 4 strikes, and shaved curls of metal off the rest.
I tried a few different types of tinder, starting at the top left:
1. Paper from my shredder.
2. Toilet Paper
3. Dryer Lint
4. A mix of dried leaves and grass.
1. Shredder paper.
BSA Hot Spark 12 strikes to fire.
Mish. Metal 2 strikes.
2. Toilet Paper
BSA Hot Spark 6 strikes to fire.
Mish. Metal 3 strikes.
3. Dryer Lint.
BSA Hot Spark 3 strikes to fire.
Mish. Metal 1 strike.
4. Leaves and Grass.
BSA Hot Spark FAILED, not matter how long I tried, they just were not catching.
Mish. Metal finally started a fire, after nearly an hour of trying.
Here is where I ran into some concerns with the Mish. Metal Rod. Once the outer darker part was scrapped away, the shiny surface underneath, began to spark much less. And throughout this hour, they shavings that did ignite, were sticking to the blade in little balls of molten metal, and would not reliably fall into the tinder.
Here is a picture that I circled some of them in yellow, that are still orange and hot when I took the picture.
This happened a lot, and to ignite the leaves and grass, it took nearly an hour and I used up probably 40% of the Mish. Metal Rod.
I'm a little mixed on these results, the burning sparks sticking to the blade, were a real problem, I just could not get them to fall onto the tinder very well.
When they ignite, they are pretty fierce sparks though.
R.A.T.
Randall's Adventure & Training
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2004
- Messages
- 10,400
Very good test and similar to my test results when I first started using these several months ago. One trick I have found is as it wears down you have to turn it slightly so you're striking on an edge and it works fine. Overall, as an emergency fire starter, I like the Misch metal much better than the standard ferro rod since it will light stuff that a standard ferro rod won't light. For that reason, I think it's better suited as a piece of real last-ditch survival gear. For every day fire lighting with good tinder, standard ferro is better, IMO.
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2006
- Messages
- 685
With mine I found very similar results. The sparks from the misch were more like pyroclasts from a volcano than the puny sparks from my LMF. I found that the misch did start to shave off after a while as well. I like the regular ferro rod better when I have some dryer lint available, but the charcloth I had did a better job of catching sparks from the misch.
Another thing with the misch is that it has to be aimed more so than the ferro rod since there are less sparks.
Another thing with the misch is that it has to be aimed more so than the ferro rod since there are less sparks.
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2007
- Messages
- 301
Yep! That happened to mine. Here are some pics of my testing with just cotton balls. I tried getting pics of the fireballs but I'm not skilled enough.. I am getting good results of this misch, so this is definitely usable for me! :thumbup:
and the most impressive shot of the night!
I got my misch today! this thing rocks. but i have some significant criticisms against it. like pretty much everyone else who has posted their input the misch puts off great but few sparks compared to the LMF. they burn way longer but fewer. and i agree with the above you have to aim more. i dont like the length of it i wish it was at least 3.5 inches but works fine for a back up for damp tinder. i just think you sacrifice striking surface and friction with the shorter length. and i also had to use pliers to get a really consistent spark off of it. mine shaved off as well doesnt seem to have the resiallance of ferro rods. and i wasnt a big fan of the stuff sticking with the edge of my knife but they were knocked off fairly easily. that being said i love the little thing. i really think with a longer version and a dedicated small knife to strike it "maybe Izula" i would pair it with my ferro if not replace it with the Misch. Much more effiicent in my opinion but thats just my opinion. i plan to do a more in depth and structured experiment between the two when i have a little bit of time.
Thanks SO much to Jeff at Rat Cutlery for sending me this i really appreciate it! Rat Cutlery ROCKS!
Thanks SO much to Jeff at Rat Cutlery for sending me this i really appreciate it! Rat Cutlery ROCKS!
R.A.T.
Randall's Adventure & Training
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2004
- Messages
- 10,400
This rod will be attached to our capsule, so it will be short but it will have a good handle. Again, what we're doing with this is making it a last-ditch fire/survival kit. To be honest, I wouldn't want this as an everyday fire starter, but for a last ditch tool that won't run out of butane or quit working if it gets wet, well, I haven't found anything better since it will light tinder that other ferro rods won't. The capsule fire kit will be shipped without a striker so the user can do with it what they want. This material needs a sharp edge to strike so a knife is the way to go. A lot of folks will not like the fact they need to use their knife. I have no problem with is since it is a last-ditch kit.
R.A.T.
Randall's Adventure & Training
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2004
- Messages
- 10,400
Not sure. All the edges I have used will clean up ok and seem to work well, but even if they didn't it's not an issue to me. If I have to use a ferro rod then I'm in trouble and having an edge that may be dull or stained is just not an issue. To be honest, I've used these Misch metal rods a lot playing and practicing being a survivor, but if I need to get a fire going under normal circumstances, I use a Bic lighter. That's just sort of logical to me for some reason 
I had a chance yesterday to do a little preliminary testing. Here is what I've found so far. I'll do some more testing this week.
Quick summary: I found the Misch rod to work better than a standard ferro rod for lighting difficult tinders, but it was much harder to use, at least initially.
The first thing I did was to drill a small 3/8 hole in a small piece of wood and epoxy in the rod to make it easier to use.
I then tried various strikers. Could not get a Light my Fire striker to work (at first, though later I could get some sparks with difficulty). I then decided to use the edge of a blade. Not wanting to use the edge of my RC-3 or RC-4 in a non survival situation, I grabbed a cheap mora knife. That worked much better. There is definitely a learning curve and technique to using the misch rod, but with some practice I was able to get more consistent sparks. As others noted, the misch rod produced less sparks than a ferro rod, but they appeared to be hotter. What was really notable was that the sparks last quite a bit longer. I also tried using the spine of my Fallkniven F1. I seemed to get better results with more control using the spine of the F1 than a knife edge.
After quite a bit of practice getting sparks, I then tried lighting various tinders: sparklite tinder tabs, drier lint, jute twine fibers, fatwood, cedar shavings. Sparklite tinder tabs work quite well and generally ignite with a single spark. With a single small tinder tab I got better results with the ferro rod. This was primarily because I had more difficulty with the misch rod getting a spark to land on the very small tab. When a spark did land on it however, it ignited immediately. I got similar results with small bits of drier lint and jute twine. Note that I was using a very small amount of tinder, smaller than say a cotton ball. So then I tried a larger tinder bundle. I grabbed a large handful of drier lint and had much better success with the misch rod since now I could land a spark on it easier.
I now moved on to using some fine fatwood shavings and cedar shavings. I made a pile about the size of my fist and tried lighting them. With a ferro rod I can generally ignite these shavings by rapidly striking a ferro rod repeatedly. Generally a dozen strikes will ignite them. I got similar results. Moving on to the misch rod I seemed to get better results, It did not take as many strikes. On one occasion, it ignited the bundle with 4 strikes of the rod. Here's something I discovered: When you land some sparks in the bundle, if they don't ignite the bundle initially you can blow on them, and that sometimes ignites the bundle. You can do this since the sparks seem to last a second or two. There where two occasions where I got a bundle to ignite after blowing on the sparks.
I'd have to agree that for day to day firestarting, I prefer the ferro rod, especially if using small prepared tinder like tinder tabs, cotton balls, etc. While the misch rod will ignite these perfectly, I found the limiting factor to be the accuracy of aiming the sparks on a small target. I think with practice and technique you could improve this though. I preferred the misch rod with more difficult to light natural tinders, as long as I had sufficient tinder (about the size of my fist).
We had good weather that last couple of days, but I'm hoping to do some more testing this week. I'm especially interested in how the rod will work in wet windy conditions.
I think the ideal situation would be to carry both a misch and ferro rod, as each has their advantages.
Thanks Jeff for allowing us the opportunity to test the misch rod out!
Quick summary: I found the Misch rod to work better than a standard ferro rod for lighting difficult tinders, but it was much harder to use, at least initially.
The first thing I did was to drill a small 3/8 hole in a small piece of wood and epoxy in the rod to make it easier to use.
I then tried various strikers. Could not get a Light my Fire striker to work (at first, though later I could get some sparks with difficulty). I then decided to use the edge of a blade. Not wanting to use the edge of my RC-3 or RC-4 in a non survival situation, I grabbed a cheap mora knife. That worked much better. There is definitely a learning curve and technique to using the misch rod, but with some practice I was able to get more consistent sparks. As others noted, the misch rod produced less sparks than a ferro rod, but they appeared to be hotter. What was really notable was that the sparks last quite a bit longer. I also tried using the spine of my Fallkniven F1. I seemed to get better results with more control using the spine of the F1 than a knife edge.
After quite a bit of practice getting sparks, I then tried lighting various tinders: sparklite tinder tabs, drier lint, jute twine fibers, fatwood, cedar shavings. Sparklite tinder tabs work quite well and generally ignite with a single spark. With a single small tinder tab I got better results with the ferro rod. This was primarily because I had more difficulty with the misch rod getting a spark to land on the very small tab. When a spark did land on it however, it ignited immediately. I got similar results with small bits of drier lint and jute twine. Note that I was using a very small amount of tinder, smaller than say a cotton ball. So then I tried a larger tinder bundle. I grabbed a large handful of drier lint and had much better success with the misch rod since now I could land a spark on it easier.
I now moved on to using some fine fatwood shavings and cedar shavings. I made a pile about the size of my fist and tried lighting them. With a ferro rod I can generally ignite these shavings by rapidly striking a ferro rod repeatedly. Generally a dozen strikes will ignite them. I got similar results. Moving on to the misch rod I seemed to get better results, It did not take as many strikes. On one occasion, it ignited the bundle with 4 strikes of the rod. Here's something I discovered: When you land some sparks in the bundle, if they don't ignite the bundle initially you can blow on them, and that sometimes ignites the bundle. You can do this since the sparks seem to last a second or two. There where two occasions where I got a bundle to ignite after blowing on the sparks.
I'd have to agree that for day to day firestarting, I prefer the ferro rod, especially if using small prepared tinder like tinder tabs, cotton balls, etc. While the misch rod will ignite these perfectly, I found the limiting factor to be the accuracy of aiming the sparks on a small target. I think with practice and technique you could improve this though. I preferred the misch rod with more difficult to light natural tinders, as long as I had sufficient tinder (about the size of my fist).
We had good weather that last couple of days, but I'm hoping to do some more testing this week. I'm especially interested in how the rod will work in wet windy conditions.
I think the ideal situation would be to carry both a misch and ferro rod, as each has their advantages.
Thanks Jeff for allowing us the opportunity to test the misch rod out!
- Joined
- Jun 25, 2008
- Messages
- 152
ok well here's my more detailed report
I tested three different products:
Light my fire Ferro rod + striker
Magnesium block+ferro rod
Misch Metal rod
For tinder, i used:
Toilet paper
Dryer lint
dried bark
I first tested all three with the dryer lint, all worked well, no real problems. I do hate the magnesium block type starters, the ferro rod is so thin. I tried using the Light my fire striker on the misch rod, and couldnt get it to work. I used a cheap old AUS-8 knife i had laying around to strike the Misch rod, as i was concerned about the heat generated by the metal (I tried using the knife on my Multi-tool, but it got dinged up pretty bad).
The toilet paper was by far these easiest to light, but i got frustrated with the magnesium block and threw it across the yard and continued to test the Misch metal and light my fire rods. The Light my fire rod took 5 or 6 strikes, while the Misch metal took only 3. This could be luck, but i did notice that the Misch Metal sparks lasted A LOT longer than the ferro rods, igniting the paper consistently, whereas sometimes the ferro sparks wouldnt light the paper.
The dried bark was going to be the real test, as getting it to light with the Ferro rods can be a pain in the rear. I was unable to light it with the ferro rod, unsurprisingly, but the Misch Rod lit it with only a few strikes. Again, all it needed was one spark to light the whole thing up.
One interesting thing i noticed was that the chemical makeup of Misch metal makes it very unstable. Reading about it, i was reminded of an experiment I witnessed in 8th grade. One of the teachers at our school put a bucket of water into the middle of a field, and dropped a block of sodium in it. He ran as fast as he could away from the bucket, and about 10 seconds later, the bucket exploded. The intense reaction left an impression on me. I had a hunch after receiving my rod. I went to the sink and scraped of little pieces of the metal into the water, but nothing happened. So the i struck the rod, sending sparks into the water. They danced around a bit, then extinguished with an audible *pop*. This could also be because of the temperature of the sparks, but either way, I believe this property will assist in lighting wet tinder.
Thanks a bunch to RAT cutlery and Jeff for letting me try this product, I hope to see it on your fire starters!
I tested three different products:
Light my fire Ferro rod + striker
Magnesium block+ferro rod
Misch Metal rod
For tinder, i used:
Toilet paper
Dryer lint
dried bark
I first tested all three with the dryer lint, all worked well, no real problems. I do hate the magnesium block type starters, the ferro rod is so thin. I tried using the Light my fire striker on the misch rod, and couldnt get it to work. I used a cheap old AUS-8 knife i had laying around to strike the Misch rod, as i was concerned about the heat generated by the metal (I tried using the knife on my Multi-tool, but it got dinged up pretty bad).
The toilet paper was by far these easiest to light, but i got frustrated with the magnesium block and threw it across the yard and continued to test the Misch metal and light my fire rods. The Light my fire rod took 5 or 6 strikes, while the Misch metal took only 3. This could be luck, but i did notice that the Misch Metal sparks lasted A LOT longer than the ferro rods, igniting the paper consistently, whereas sometimes the ferro sparks wouldnt light the paper.
The dried bark was going to be the real test, as getting it to light with the Ferro rods can be a pain in the rear. I was unable to light it with the ferro rod, unsurprisingly, but the Misch Rod lit it with only a few strikes. Again, all it needed was one spark to light the whole thing up.
One interesting thing i noticed was that the chemical makeup of Misch metal makes it very unstable. Reading about it, i was reminded of an experiment I witnessed in 8th grade. One of the teachers at our school put a bucket of water into the middle of a field, and dropped a block of sodium in it. He ran as fast as he could away from the bucket, and about 10 seconds later, the bucket exploded. The intense reaction left an impression on me. I had a hunch after receiving my rod. I went to the sink and scraped of little pieces of the metal into the water, but nothing happened. So the i struck the rod, sending sparks into the water. They danced around a bit, then extinguished with an audible *pop*. This could also be because of the temperature of the sparks, but either way, I believe this property will assist in lighting wet tinder.
Thanks a bunch to RAT cutlery and Jeff for letting me try this product, I hope to see it on your fire starters!
ok..... I am in line with all the other posts. It seems that the misch is WAY hotter than any other fire starter that I have. It only took one strike to get my dryer lint to go and only 2 to get the TP to start. I had some issues with getting the strike on target but this would be a great survival item. Thanks again to Jeff and RC for allowing me to try this out. I look forward to getting the final product as a handle will greatly enhance the usability of this rod.
Well 2000+ degs is not going to enhance performance thats for sure.
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2002
- Messages
- 133
If you like your knife you will not use the edge to strike a firesteel - ever. If you are in a life or death survival situation and need a fire chances are you will not like your knife's edge very much.
-Connor
R.A.T.
Randall's Adventure & Training
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2004
- Messages
- 10,400
If you are in a life or death survival situation chances are you will not think very much about the condition of your knife.
-Connor
That is absolutely correct. The whole idea behind this fire kit concept is a last-ditch survival tool. Misch metal rods will light tinder that regular ferro won't light but it takes a sharp edge to do it. So, we say use your regular ferro rods and Bic lighters to play survival and light fires. Use the Misch metal and your knife blade if the shit hits the fan and you have to have a rod that will light a fire without question.
- Joined
- Apr 25, 2007
- Messages
- 3,427
Well, I'd agree, this is definitely a last-ditch item. First tried to spark it with my ZDP Endura and promptly destroyed the edge trying to get a spark. Screwing up the ZDP is a pretty big accomplishment. I was not impressed with how difficult it is to get a spark from this rod. It's a big spark, but I like the edge on my knives a lot. Not looking forward to reworking that Endura.
I found that the awl on my SAK Farmer was best at getting sparks from the rod, but man did the rod do a number on that thing. Will have to spend time getting that back into shape as well.
In the end, I really prefer the regular ferro rod. Will keep this one around, but it is going to give my diamond benchstones a real workout tomorrow fixing edges. Should take some pictures to show what it did.
I found that the awl on my SAK Farmer was best at getting sparks from the rod, but man did the rod do a number on that thing. Will have to spend time getting that back into shape as well.
In the end, I really prefer the regular ferro rod. Will keep this one around, but it is going to give my diamond benchstones a real workout tomorrow fixing edges. Should take some pictures to show what it did.