Thinking of buying some misch metal rods as my primary survival firesteel...

What are you guys using for strikers, and what technique are you using to get sparks? I bought some 3/8" firesteel.com rods, and I have a terrible time trying to light a fire with these. I have much better luck with a smallish ferro rod. I can get some decent sparks with the blade of my knife, but I'd rather not do that unless it was an emergency. I even tried my broken hacksaw blade that works so well with my Doans mag bar, and nothing. I've adjusted my speed, pressure, length of stroke. Still no success. I have to strike the rod so violently to get any sparks, that the sparks go everywhere except near my tinder, or the follow through with my knife knocks all my tinder flying all over.

BB
 
Magnussen also demonstrated the score technique that works really well with LMFs which allows you to throw globs of metal but also to control how much globs come off and to direct it at the tip. Take the edge of your knife and make a small score line about 1/4" from the tip of the rod about 1/3 of the way around the diameter. Now hook the edge of your scraper into the score line and give it a forceful scrape. The scraper will remove all the metal at the score line to tip and give you a healthy smoldering glob. Nice thing about this method is that it eats your rod from the tip down in a controlled manner rather than giving it the hour glass effect
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I'll have to try that when or if I decided to get a new LMF. My last one just recently broke in half because of the hour glass effect. It got weak in the middle and broke.

Did Magnusen post a video of the technique you mentioned?


beeperboy said:
What are you guys using for strikers, and what technique are you using to get sparks? I bought some 3/8" firesteel.com rods, and I have a terrible time trying to light a fire with these. I have much better luck with a smallish ferro rod. I can get some decent sparks with the blade of my knife, but I'd rather not do that unless it was an emergency. I even tried my broken hacksaw blade that works so well with my Doans mag bar, and nothing. I've adjusted my speed, pressure, length of stroke. Still no success. I have to strike the rod so violently to get any sparks, that the sparks go everywhere except near my tinder, or the follow through with my knife knocks all my tinder flying all over.

BB
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I use the scrapers that you can buy at firesteel.com and goinggear.com. They both work great. In fact, I use the scrapers to get fatwood shavings as well. It keeps you from dulling your knife and quickly produces a good pile of shavings. You can also use the spine of your knife. Just put the spine of your knife flat on the firesteel and the rotate your knife forward so that your using the edge of the spine. Apply decent pressure and quickly pull it down and you should get a shower of sparks. I've used my Rat-1 and Bravo-1 and both have worked great.

Also, as someone mentioned, if you keep the end of your firesteel pressed into the tender you are trying to light ...when you strike it your sparks should go into the tinder.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. I'll play some more and see if I can get the shower of molten globs that you guys are talking about.

BB
 
How does ESEE's fire rod compare to goinggear, LMF, etc?

Ive only tried LMF and Primus's rods, but i was thinking about investing in ESEE's fire kit.
 
is the firesteel gobspark the same mischmetal composition as goinggear's firesteels? it's half the price altho I'm really impressed with the gg's video of the globs of molten shavings...
 
mistwalker said:
Hardness has a lot to do with it too. I have some stainless knives like the Fallkniven A-1 in laminated VG-10, and my SOGs in AUS-8 that will throw great sparks using the spine, and I have some knives in O-1 and 1095 that will throw great sparks with the spine. But I also have some knives with differential heat treats with O-1 steel and D-2 steel that even with squared spines don't throw sparks quite as well. If you really want to trow some great sparks find a nice sharp-edged sliver of flint :)
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Well the sides of the fallkniven are not that hard, its made from 420J2-steel. So I guess you can go somewhat soft and still get good sparks. (I don't know the exact hardness of the 420J2, I'm guessing its a good deal less then the VG-10 core)
 
beeperboy said:
What are you guys using for strikers, and what technique are you using to get sparks?
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I often use the spine of my knives, but those little $2 strikers that going gear sells are excellent. Another great option is the Awl of a SAK (the side opening kind not the center opening kind). The spine of the saw on a SAK makes another great striker. Hacksaw spine works okay as well, but remove the paint from the hacksaw first.

Finally, keep scraping the same spot of your firesteel for a little while, this will flatten that side and make it easier sparking. After a long while, that scraped surface will get corroded and you will have to scrape through that to get good sparks again.
 
I've had good experiences with the goinggear.com firesteels. I like them better than my LMF's. I buy the blanks and use antler for the handles.
 
spyken said:
is the firesteel gobspark the same mischmetal composition as goinggear's firesteels? it's half the price altho I'm really impressed with the gg's video of the globs of molten shavings...
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No..they are different. They will both throw globs of burning metal however the goinggear metal will burn longer. Personally, I like having both of them.
 
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