Thoughts on Swedish made Fire-Steel?

[cmd]

Kershaw makes one too, it is a short rod with magnesium and a steel for striking that are tied together with a little cord. It is used to start fires.

I'm thinking about getting one, would probably prefer a Blast Match but can't find one of those locally. My intended purpose is to start fires when camping and have the ability to make fire in emergency situations.

Anyone have experience with these? Anything else I should consider?

Chris

 

[Flotsam]

The Swedish Firesteel does not have any magnesium - it's a manmade flint rod & a steel scraper (I believe the Kershaw ones are just re-branded swedish firesteels). They work very well & should last a long time w/ routine maintenance (you have to reseal the surface w/ some kind of lacquer to prevent corrosion after you have used it - a lot of people just use acrylic nail polish).

It takes a bit of practice to get a fire going w/ one, esp. w/ man made materials. They will light a vaseline-saturated cotton ball very easily, though.

If you are looking for the blastmatch, I believe 1sks.com sells them, and the NRA had a little survival kit a while back that had the blastmatch, signal mirror & whistle packed in a small otter box for a reasonable price - you may want to check that out.

Sam

 

[Cougar Allen]

Search the Wilderness & Survival Forum here and you'll find plenty of info from people who've tried them all.

 

[pjenkins000]

indeed. but as long as we're here...

i have the kershaw. works fine but i've never really had to use it. just mostly for emergency preparedness, and messing around with (safely of course). no magnesium on that one either. just a ferocium rod and a striker. puts out a pretty good amount of sparks.

would also recommend the spark-lite. works well. waterproof. tiny and can be used with one hand. it's also handy when testing tinder because it doesn't put out a ton of sparks. i would imagine if you could light it with that you would certainly be able to light it with a larger fire-steel.

not a big fan of the magnesium ones for the magnesium. the ferocium rods on them seem to be fine though.

you can also get a coghlans firestarting kit that includes a metal match for short money. it also includes a whole bunch of tinder. i've found the metal matches to be a bit finicky (you can filll them with lighter fluid) but handy if you may need flame to light someones cigarette as well as to start a fire. the ferocium rod on the sides of those can be used without lighter fluid.

hope this was helpful

Pete