Misch metal rods

Just got mine in the mail today and should be able to give it a good try by this weekend.
Thanks RAT
 
rocketbomb said:
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.
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The ZDP must be paper thin? I've used these rods on several knives (RC knives, BladeTech Magnum Hunter, etc.) and it will make a nasty looking place on the knife and leave some splatter, but it comes off and cleans up real easy. Hasn't ruined the edge yet except for dulling a little.
 
If you carry a SAK with a saw blade, use the back of that. The metal on those rods is really soft, cleaning it up is pretty easy IMO. I have Koster Buschcraft in 3v and used the edge of that before and it didn't even dull it a bit. I actually like these type of rods better than the reg LMF rods. There is learning curve but if you make controlled strikes, and when you don't get a spark you will ber dropping shavings in the same spot, so when you do get the spark.... Bam instant fire.
 
I got my rod yesterday and had a chance to test it out starting a fire today. The outside temp was 25 and we had a few early snow flakes falling during the test. I was able to shred some birch bark and it lit once I got the hang of striking this rod. It was a bit hard to hang on to as others have mentioned already. The sparks also seemed to dance around a bit more than with a ferro rod even launching themselves out of the cupped area I had set to catch them at times. My only real concern with this rod is that it did dull my blade on my RC3 quite a bit with only 15 mins of fire starting, it also left some good dents in the blade after from some of the strikes.

Thank you RAT for the chance to test this product out, I will be keeping it with the emergency kit.
 
R.A.T. said:
The ZDP must be paper thin? I've used these rods on several knives (RC knives, BladeTech Magnum Hunter, etc.) and it will make a nasty looking place on the knife and leave some splatter, but it comes off and cleans up real easy. Hasn't ruined the edge yet except for dulling a little.
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Well, by "ruining" I mean it rolled it pretty badly. It's a combo edge blade, so I ended up using most of the PE section to strike the rod. That wasn't such a good idea, almost the whole PE section is dull as a butterknife right now. The edge is at the factory angle, which is right around 20*.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty anal about keeping the edges of my knives nice and sharp, so when this happens it really annoys me. Perhaps I overreacted a bit, but it definitely did not do good things to the edge.
 
Hmm. Overall im liking what I hear. Seems like a great last ditch firestarter.:thumbup:

Not to sure what I think about having to use the edge, but if it came down to it. I would be having a fire! Cant wait to get one to see for myself!:thumbup:
 
We're working with a good shop to get this fire kit produced. I sent them 250 pcs of the Misch metal rod and should be approving a sample from them before too long.
 
Maybe I'll just stick with ye olde phosphorous grenade. . .

Question: will a file strike a spark off of one of these with a fast stroke?
 
Will there be any form of striker offered with the fire kit? I'd rather have a tiny bit less space in my pack than use my knife. Does a section of hacksaw blade work on these?
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Maybe I'll just stick with ye olde phosphorous grenade. . .

Question: will a file strike a spark off of one of these with a fast stroke?
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I tried various cheap files and did not get any sparks. Then I grabbed an old 10 inch mill bastard file and it produced lots of sparks, not quite as much as a ferro rod, but more than I was getting with other methods. I did find however that lots of the sparks seemed to stick to the file, more so than with other strikers I used.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
Will there be any form of striker offered with the fire kit? I'd rather have a tiny bit less space in my pack than use my knife. Does a section of hacksaw blade work on these?
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I tried a section of hacksaw blade and got pretty good results. After trying various strikers I'd say I had the best luck with a hacksaw blade. Not a bad thing to carry, since it's multiuse and could be handy for other uses too.:thumbup:
 
DGold said:
I tried various cheap files and did not get any sparks. Then I grabbed an old 10 inch mill bastard file and it produced lots of sparks, not quite as much as a ferro rod, but more than I was getting with other methods. I did find however that lots of the sparks seemed to stick to the file, more so than with other strikers I used.
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Cool. Were you using the teeth, or the smooth part behind the teeth (not the soft tang, just where the teeth end) -- might not stick if you use the smooth part? I've used the smooth part on a ferro rod and it sparks like crazy, didn't know if it'd do the same here.
 
Cpl Punishment said:
Cool. Were you using the teeth, or the smooth part behind the teeth (not the soft tang, just where the teeth end) -- might not stick if you use the smooth part? I've used the smooth part on a ferro rod and it sparks like crazy, didn't know if it'd do the same here.
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On the cheap files, I used the edges of the file where there are no teeth. The edges where not really sharp so a squared them off a bit with a grinder but still did not get sparks.

On the mill bastard file that I used the teeth go all the way around the file, ie the top , bottom, and edges have teeth, so there was not a smooth part. I was therefore using the edge that has teeth. I didn't think to try striking where the teeth end at the top before the tang begins, but I'll give that a try tonight.
 
So I had to let my Beagle puppy out after i got home from work and like any new addict i had my new RC-4 with me (this thing is a work horse and shaving sharp, throughly impressed THANKS RAT CUTLERY!) and my Misch rod which ive been carrying in my back pocket ever since. i remembered that i had left the dryer lint that i was testing the misch out with in the fire pit. its been sprinkling steadily all day and has been outside for about a week. i gathered what pieces that were left and made a small tinder bundle out of them. after a lil effort about 20 strikes (had to get back in the hang of striking it) the misch actually lit it. although it burned only briefly it did catch fire. the wind blew it out but i was surprised that the thing lit up. I was just impressed with this and thought i would share it wit all. cant wait to see it in a longer handled version. and i agree with the above this would be a pain to start fires in good conditions with now that ive been playing with it a little bit more.
 
After a long week at work I finally got to test it out, it started raining at around 11:00 Fri. night. My son and I walked down to the woods in the rain at about 3:00 today to test it out, every thing was soaked and it was still sprinkling. We cut and tied up a garbage bag to work under and used my RC-4 to baton split some limbs we had cut up from a campout last summer,once I got to some dry wood I made a pile of shavings with the RAT and some sawdust with a multitool saw. I got close to getting it lit with the misch rod then tried my swedish fire steel,no luck with that either. Got out a petrolium covered cotton ball and struck the misch with the knife on my gerber multiplier and with the second strike the spark landed on the cotton and lit right up, and we finally got a small fire going. In the house I had no trouble lighting dryer lint and dry cotton balls and it worked great with some charcloth I made up quick. With the capsule type handle where you could keep some dry tinder of some kind this would make a great backup fire source.On a side note I never really had to get a fire going under such wet conditions before and was somewhat of a challange, but it was a great learning experience.
Thanks again RAT for the chance to test your fire rod

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I should have mentions, after the test, the edge on my Eriksson 510, pretty much looked like a micro-serrated edge, but it took little effort with a stone to clean it up and be back to a normal edge.
 
Jeff,

Is this going to be the rod that you put in that excellent little RAT Fire Kit idea you posted about? Are you also going to offer a big, fat plain ferro rod as an option as well?
 
At this stage it will probably be only the Misch metal since the goal for the kit is to be able to start a fire regardless of conditions. The Fire Kit capsule is going to be big enough to store a couple of fish hooks, some tinder and maybe a button compass, so, coupled with a knife (everyone carries a knife, right?) then you truly have a last-ditch survival kit.
 
I'm thinking that and the Izula would be just the ticket for what you speak of. :)

Do you think the early report of severe edge rolling was due to the thin blade stock on that particular knife?

Are they putting more magnesium in these rods, i.e., are they basically a juiced up ferrocerium rod like the Aurora? (But even moreso from the reports...)
 
Tonym sent me a Rod to test out. I really like the controll you get with these. It is very user friendly, if you drop a spark on the tinder....It will burn, on the first try, everytime Ive tried. Awesome stuff.

Anyone know the life of these rods?, like approx sparks from the rod you can get. Seems like they wear faster then standard ferrocium rods.
 
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