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- Feb 28, 2007
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I have the CDN content advisor in the title because this product is available at Canadian Tire and thus I imagine available just about anywhere in Canada.
The prodect is the Magic Striker ferror rod kit pictured below (website pics):
The kit comes with ferro rod (Army -size), striker (a file with a plastic handle) and a piece of fatwood. This is the first time I ever saw an Army-sized ferro rod in this retail store. CDN Tire used to stock Light My Fire Scout brands, but seems to have stopped stocking them as of last spring.
The kit cost $13.99, which for an Army sized ferro rod would seem to be competitive.
Initial impressions.
Appearance
The ferro rod has a long plastic handle in the shape of a bear claw or something like that. It is one of those things marketted to the masses as imitation stag or something but as usual, the imitation plastic looks really tacky and is about as attractive as a mora2000 sheath. Not only is it ugly, but it is very uncomfortable to use. At 3.5" long the handle is ugly, uncomfortable and takes up too much room. Fortunately, it is plastic and a really easy modification to simply cut off the handle just above the lanyard hole. This will make it similar in size to a Light My Fire Model.
The striker is a small file with a plastic handle and lanyard hole that attaches to the ferro rod with a relatively boring piece of string. When looking at it in the package my first thought was - cool - I can think of multiple uses of a file in my kit. It seemed so much more substantial that that crappy little striker that comes with LightMyFire models.
However, like the handle of the ferro-rod, the file is simply too long and actually heavy. It is about 5.25" long. There isn't any way to cut the file (that I know of) and doing so would separate the striker part from the lanyard hole. Also to my surprise, the file didn't really work that well as a striker. You can get sparks from the corners, but it isn't very impressive. So my second modification is to ditch the striker (well I'll stick it in my tool box).
Usage
It took several scrapes to wipe the coating off. The file part actually came in handy here. I was able to get decent scrapes once I had a good flattened surface of bare metal to work with. My little $1 knife worked much better as a striker on this thing than the supplied file did (my review of the fire scraper is here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542751.)
One thing I noticed with this firesteel, is that it almost seems to work like a doan. Slow scrapes often just released a fine powder to the ground. Hard, fast scrapes did better at sparking. If the sparks hit the powder, they would ignite and spark up. So as a firesteel, the Magic Striker does work, but my impression is that it is a relatively poor quality firesteel.
I took out my Light My Fire Scout firesteel and scraped it along with the Magic Striker side by side (for us Canucks - that's side by each
). Compared to the Light My Fire Scout firesteel, the Magic Striker is definately a poorer performer. I get consistently better sparks, longer burning sparks and better spark coverage using lighter scrapes on the Scout model then I did with the Magic Striker which is nearly 0.5" longer and the Army-model thickness.
Fatwood. I thought it was pretty cool that the kit came with a piece of fatwood. The fatwood was 4"long and about 0.5" wide. It has high resin content and the scrapings readily took a spark and turned it to flame. This is a good addition to the kit. I was able to get a flame going using the ferro rod in moderate wind conditions on my back porch. I will modify the fatwood piece by drilling a small lanyard hole in the fatwood and probably pairing it down to about 3" in length.
Summary
The Magic Striker does in fact work, but it is a much poorer quality firesteel than the Light My Fire brand firesteels. Despite the fact that this firestriker is Army-size thickness (full 1/4" diameter), its poor performance and requirement of multiple and harder scrapes will cause it to be used up much more quickly than the equivalent sized quality firesteel.
The handle on the firesteel is simply silly looking, too long and contains a sharp point that is, well, pokey. At least it can be cut off. The supplied striker is a file that is long and heavy and cannot be readily modified. You might want to use an alternate firestriker with this model. The same is also often recommended for quality fire steels.
The supplied fatwood is great and they give you a large enough piece that it will last many fires. This same company also sells small bundles of fatwood that are about 8" by 1" long. The package I purchased had 9 sticks which is more than enough fatwood (unless you use the stuff as kindling) to last forever. The fatwood bundle at $6.99 is a pretty good deal, although I understand the U.S. chains have better deals than this. Still, how much fatwood do you really need. The good news is that the Fatwood is available as its own product at Canadian Tire, and thus widely available just about anywhere in Canada.
If you don't have access to a better quality brand like Light My Fire, this is an acceptable produce that will work as intended. The ability to purchase it just about anywhere might be seen as a plus by some. My personal reaction is that this item will be stuck somewhere as a backup of a backup. I will stick to my Light My Fire's thank you.
The prodect is the Magic Striker ferror rod kit pictured below (website pics):
The kit comes with ferro rod (Army -size), striker (a file with a plastic handle) and a piece of fatwood. This is the first time I ever saw an Army-sized ferro rod in this retail store. CDN Tire used to stock Light My Fire Scout brands, but seems to have stopped stocking them as of last spring.
The kit cost $13.99, which for an Army sized ferro rod would seem to be competitive.
Initial impressions.
Appearance
The ferro rod has a long plastic handle in the shape of a bear claw or something like that. It is one of those things marketted to the masses as imitation stag or something but as usual, the imitation plastic looks really tacky and is about as attractive as a mora2000 sheath. Not only is it ugly, but it is very uncomfortable to use. At 3.5" long the handle is ugly, uncomfortable and takes up too much room. Fortunately, it is plastic and a really easy modification to simply cut off the handle just above the lanyard hole. This will make it similar in size to a Light My Fire Model.
The striker is a small file with a plastic handle and lanyard hole that attaches to the ferro rod with a relatively boring piece of string. When looking at it in the package my first thought was - cool - I can think of multiple uses of a file in my kit. It seemed so much more substantial that that crappy little striker that comes with LightMyFire models.
However, like the handle of the ferro-rod, the file is simply too long and actually heavy. It is about 5.25" long. There isn't any way to cut the file (that I know of) and doing so would separate the striker part from the lanyard hole. Also to my surprise, the file didn't really work that well as a striker. You can get sparks from the corners, but it isn't very impressive. So my second modification is to ditch the striker (well I'll stick it in my tool box).
Usage
It took several scrapes to wipe the coating off. The file part actually came in handy here. I was able to get decent scrapes once I had a good flattened surface of bare metal to work with. My little $1 knife worked much better as a striker on this thing than the supplied file did (my review of the fire scraper is here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=542751.)
One thing I noticed with this firesteel, is that it almost seems to work like a doan. Slow scrapes often just released a fine powder to the ground. Hard, fast scrapes did better at sparking. If the sparks hit the powder, they would ignite and spark up. So as a firesteel, the Magic Striker does work, but my impression is that it is a relatively poor quality firesteel.
I took out my Light My Fire Scout firesteel and scraped it along with the Magic Striker side by side (for us Canucks - that's side by each
). Compared to the Light My Fire Scout firesteel, the Magic Striker is definately a poorer performer. I get consistently better sparks, longer burning sparks and better spark coverage using lighter scrapes on the Scout model then I did with the Magic Striker which is nearly 0.5" longer and the Army-model thickness.Fatwood. I thought it was pretty cool that the kit came with a piece of fatwood. The fatwood was 4"long and about 0.5" wide. It has high resin content and the scrapings readily took a spark and turned it to flame. This is a good addition to the kit. I was able to get a flame going using the ferro rod in moderate wind conditions on my back porch. I will modify the fatwood piece by drilling a small lanyard hole in the fatwood and probably pairing it down to about 3" in length.
Summary
The Magic Striker does in fact work, but it is a much poorer quality firesteel than the Light My Fire brand firesteels. Despite the fact that this firestriker is Army-size thickness (full 1/4" diameter), its poor performance and requirement of multiple and harder scrapes will cause it to be used up much more quickly than the equivalent sized quality firesteel.
The handle on the firesteel is simply silly looking, too long and contains a sharp point that is, well, pokey. At least it can be cut off. The supplied striker is a file that is long and heavy and cannot be readily modified. You might want to use an alternate firestriker with this model. The same is also often recommended for quality fire steels.
The supplied fatwood is great and they give you a large enough piece that it will last many fires. This same company also sells small bundles of fatwood that are about 8" by 1" long. The package I purchased had 9 sticks which is more than enough fatwood (unless you use the stuff as kindling) to last forever. The fatwood bundle at $6.99 is a pretty good deal, although I understand the U.S. chains have better deals than this. Still, how much fatwood do you really need. The good news is that the Fatwood is available as its own product at Canadian Tire, and thus widely available just about anywhere in Canada.
If you don't have access to a better quality brand like Light My Fire, this is an acceptable produce that will work as intended. The ability to purchase it just about anywhere might be seen as a plus by some. My personal reaction is that this item will be stuck somewhere as a backup of a backup. I will stick to my Light My Fire's thank you.
!! I was having spots in front of my eyes.. Was able to light some waxed jute with no trouble at all.. It takes very little effort to get sparks..