Use a mischmetal ferro rod / firesteel

storl

storl

Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
1,607
I get asked how to use my firesteels quite a bit, so I went outside today and made a video about it. I've seen the question in here too, so I figured some of you guys might find this useful:

[youtube]oS8TJAXC9zQ[/youtube]

That PJ cotton ball actually lit on accident. I was going to use it later in the video, but it ended up looking pretty cool. :D
 
Fantastic. When the heck you gonna have more sparky knives? (I know we have talked about it, but they are sooooo cool!)
 
Not only did the video provide examples for striking a ferrorod, but it was also a testament for using petroleum jelly cotton balls as tinder. The PJ ball burned the entire time.
 
So, judging by the description and video these are the same kind of rod used in the RAT fire kits? Harder to strike/hotter to burn? If so I want two! :D
 
Mischmetal is cool, thanks for the video!

Q: Does the type of steel used to strike make a difference? Is carbon preferred over stainless?
 
From what I understand, the alloys that make up firesteels can only ever reach a max temp of 5500F in controlled settings so there is really no such thing as a hotter ferro rod.

They can however lower the ignition temperature using certain alloys which may be why Light My Fire steels work so effortlessly compared to most other manufacturers.

Sweet vid, Storl

Those ferros really throw a good spark.... have you seen my vid on extending the life of your ferro? You might find it neat.


Rick
 
CSG said:
$20 for a firesteel? Yikes!
Click to expand...

Dude, that's for the large ones with custom exotic wood handles. Comparable ones to those are usually at least ten to twenty dollars more than that.

You can get many other sizes from that site for just a couple of bucks.
 
Perhaps you could add other types of tender to the video, showing how easily other types are ignited and how long they burn. Obviously ( as already mentioned) that video will sell as many PJ cotton balls as firesteels, maybe the other tenders would sell better as well if they were included in your demo video. Also, that video will sell that sparky ( in my opinion) as it created the best sparks by far, were the better sparks due to more leverage from the larger striker or did you just apply more pressure when using the knife?

David
 
Very cool ... from what I see in the video it should pretty much light anything.

Q: Is using the knife blade edge the preferred method to spark ?
 
Thanks Grampa..... I'm gonna order some of Storl's rods I think.... good price and they seem to spark easily..... using that little tip on one of his monster ferros would extend the life indefinately, I think....... lol
 
KuRUpTD said:
Very cool ... from what I see in the video it should pretty much light anything.

Q: Is using the knife blade edge the preferred method to spark ?
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No!!! The spine is preferred, assuming it is appropriately squared. That or something like a piece of hacksaw blade. But there's no sense in screwing up your knife edge!
 
I just ordered the one that comes with the capsule handle. bought a few other things too. Can't wait for the package to come.
 
Thanks guys ... haven't had my morning jo yet :D

When I first played the video it "looked" like he was using the edge and I also should know better ;)

I have to get some of those
 
Echo4v said:
Perhaps you could add other types of tender to the video, showing how easily other types are ignited and how long they burn. Obviously ( as already mentioned) that video will sell as many PJ cotton balls as firesteels, maybe the other tenders would sell better as well if they were included in your demo video. Also, that video will sell that sparky ( in my opinion) as it created the best sparks by far, were the better sparks due to more leverage from the larger striker or did you just apply more pressure when using the knife?

David
Click to expand...

I'm working on another video where I show how to prepare and use several different tinders. I'm going to try to scrounge up 4-5 different ones to show how easy they all are to use, as long as you prepare them correctly.

I think the Sparky threw the best sparks because it had the most rigid surface that did not flex when I scraped. The hacksaw flexed and wobbled a bit, which made it a little harder to control. I don't really have a good answer for why the SAK did not perform as well, but I'm guessing that the larger size and weight of the Sparky helped out quite a bit. I definitely have not found anything that scrapes better than the squared off spine of a fixed blade, Sparky or not.
 
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