Use a mischmetal ferro rod / firesteel

theonew said:
It almost looks like you could skip the tinder altogether and go straight to igniting a fuzz stick :D Anyone try this?
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I just took a dozen round tooth picks and broke them in half. I put them in an Altoids Tin and then scraped the rod a few times to get some shavings on them, and on the sixth strike I had a flame.

I am not sure if tooth picks are classified as tinder, but I had fire and that is all I care about.

Tinder to me is the largest combustible item you can light with the fire making tools you have on hand. I mean if you have a Bic and five gallons of gas, everything is tinder.
 
Something else I keep forgetting to say.

I have about 8-10 feet of 2.5'' stainless steel pipe from a milk line on a farm. It doesn't get much more stainless than that. I have some cut down to make cups out of and a few other things.

I can use the lip of these SS pipes and throw just as many globs of molten metal as I can with a hardened striker or anything else.

I hope that helps answer the ''Does it work on SS'' question.
 
Man, I saw the video the other day on his site and barely controlled my purchase finger then, you guys are NOT helping!

Thank god he is out of stock on a few things I wanted to order..... :D When are the fatwood packages coming back in stock? On the other hand, maybe he should not add anything else at all!
 
dblagent said:
Man, I saw the video the other day on his site and barely controlled my purchase finger then, you guys are NOT helping!

Thank god he is out of stock on a few things I wanted to order..... :D When are the fatwood packages coming back in stock? On the other hand, maybe he should not add anything else at all!
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I have the dealer information for fatwood, it's just that the minimum order is 500 lbs, which is a little rough. I plan on having some more in the next month. I do actually still have a couple of bags left, so I will update the site with the correct inventory amounts.
 
I've got a couple of the 3/8" x 4" rods on the way. Based on the performance of the 1/4" x 3", they are winners. Better than the Light My Fire firesteels.
 
cmdionne said:
...and I've never had a rod that worked like this one. Not just sparks but showers of molten metal that will stay red hot for up to 5-10 seconds...
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The only ferro rods I own are the ones I bought from a GB seller on eBay. I bought blanks, I drilled and I use them just like that. I always had the feeling they didn't spark very well. I have used a piece of a hacksaw as a striker, as well as back of knives, saws from a SAK, the saw from a Leatherman (again very sharp 90º edge), etc. I also tried a few of the techniques described here: scrap all the length, scrap with a twisting motion just the tip ala Magnusen (I got cut with the edge of the knife I was using somehow)... and there is no way to get showers of sparks out of them that resemble in any way the sparks I just saw in Storl's or Magnusens video.

They do spark, but it takes a whole lot more work and by no means it can be described as SHOWER OF SPARKS. They are 100x10mm.. so they are not what I would call small rods either...

Something HAS to be wrong with this rods of mine. I even tried a few seconds ago here in the office behind the desk... (I have one yn my case and I used the back of the Leathermans saw I have on my pocket).:mad:

Can't wait to put my hands on better quality firesteels...
Mikel
 
Two firesteels from GoingGear just came in today. To be honest, I wasn't sure how much difference I should expect to see between them and the Light My Fire ones that I have used in the past. I was pleasantly surprised. It is easier for me to get a really good shower of sparks with the GoingGear rods, and the sparks burn much longer. I plan to order more in the future to replace all of the older rods that I have in my various kits. :)
 
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Mine arrived today too though one had a pretty good imperfection on one end. These are 4" x 3/8" and I don't plan on putting a handle on them so I can just use the end with the imperfection as the handle end.

I went outside with my mini-Grip and on the second scrape using the spine of the blade had a shower of molten sparks go from my porch to the driveway below. These things are the shiznit compared to the typical firesteel (though all my LMF's work just dandy and the two Army models reside in a loop on my F1 sheaths so are not going to be replaced). I may get a couple more of these for sitting in the bottom of my various packs as backups though.
 
CSG said:
Mine arrived today too though one had a pretty good imperfection on one end. These are 4" x 3/8" and I don't plan on putting a handle on them so I can just use the end with the imperfection as the handle end..
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Sorry about that. :(

What was wrong with it? Usually I am good about catching the bad ones and putting them to the side for my own use. I will say that many of the rods are not perfectly smooth though, and sometimes have small pits or nicks. I complain to the manufacturer every time, but I will say that their quality has improved over the four or five orders I have placed with them.
 
There is some pretty good pitting in it, about 3/8" x 1/8" at one end of the rod. Because it's at the end and my thumb covers it when holding the rod it's not that big a deal. If one were to put a handle on it it would likely be covered too.
 
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