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Which fire starter?

BarberFobic1992

BarberFobic1992

Joined
Jan 21, 2008
Messages
3,346
there are alot of different approaches to fireseteels, but which one do you find to be the overall best? I think it is probably between a magnesium flint, a light my fire swedish firesteel or the Blast match. so, those of you with more experience, which one?
 
Don't have a blast match, but between the magnesium and light-my-fire, the light-my-fire definitely wins. The ferrocerium rod is larger and easier to scrape. It is more ergonomic and easier to use IMO.
 
LMF sweedish army firesteel is what I use, I also have a scout model LMF in my psk, and each of my boys have a scout model LMF aswell. IMO they are the gold standard.
 
The best choice for me is the Spark-lite if you are talking survival. Small, can be used with one hand, & plenty of sparks.
 
I'll take a Doans style magnesium/ferrocerium. It's ugly and bulky, but it fits in my hand the best, it doesn't need anything extra to create flames, it lasts for years, the magnesium actually burns better in damp conditions, and it's usually the cheapest of the three choices.
 
I like the Doan mag block. If wind or rain or whatever is giving me a hard time all I need to do is scrape a really big pile :thumbup:
I know firesteels are lighter, and easier to scape and some even burn hotter but I still prefer the Doan
 
the one that i rely on is the Strike King ... this thing will last foever and looks like a flare going off. i bought one for my boyscout son, i have one, and as soon as my youngest comes of age he will get one as well. best luck.

-- Eric
 
I just made fire with my light-my-fire for the first time. It looks like crap now because of the serrated striking tool, but it works great!
I thought, it's better to practice now under normal conditions. Using it for the first time in an emergency situation isn't the best idea.
It's funny that I see mostly firesteels in NIB condition on the internet, with some exceptions. Made me feel like "why does mine look so bad now after using it - did I do something wrong?".

With proper tinder (like cotton balls with petroleum jelly - or dry grass), one strike should be enough. I used small pieces of wood which I carved with my knife (wanted to try it out), so I needed more than a dozen strikes.
 
Here's an old picture with a few different types:

FireStarters3.jpg


I like the Enviromatch and the smaller key-chain sized Sparky. LMF Scout is carried by both my kids. Don't know why, but I love my big'ol Strike Force...has a large rod, storage space for tinder and is very robust. My wife likes the Blast Match, but they are a little fragile from what I've seen. As mentioned the Spark Lite is great for a PSK and even Ron Hood's site sells a very tiny rod for kits as well. The DOAN is okay, but you really need a good wind-break and collection point (like a shirt) for all the magnesium shavings...it works, but I wouldn't want to try it for the first time when I was cold, shivering and wet with strong winds blowing! Somebody posted a video of a guy that was pulling the firesteel up against the knife while holding the knife steady...neat technique as you don't scatter your tinder with by an errant strike downwards.

ROCK6
 
DocArnie said:
It's funny that I see mostly firesteels in NIB condition on the internet, with some exceptions. Made me feel like "why does mine look so bad now after using it - did I do something wrong?".
Click to expand...

With a very serrated carbon striker/file, you'll get a lot sparks and it will "chew" it up some. After a lot of use, I'll clean them up and coat them with some clear nail polish to keep them from oxidizing. You really notice it on the ends of the larger rods after long exposure.

ROCK6
 
DocArnie said:
I just made fire with my light-my-fire for the first time. It looks like crap now because of the serrated striking tool, but it works great!
I thought, it's better to practice now under normal conditions. Using it for the first time in an emergency situation isn't the best idea.
It's funny that I see mostly firesteels in NIB condition on the internet, with some exceptions. Made me feel like "why does mine look so bad now after using it - did I do something wrong?".

With proper tinder (like cotton balls with petroleum jelly - or dry grass), one strike should be enough. I used small pieces of wood which I carved with my knife (wanted to try it out), so I needed more than a dozen strikes.
Click to expand...

Good on ya Doc for practicing.

I keep an ugly Ferro rod in my pocket and use it often on different materials as well.

As for the serated strikers, they do work well but practice with the spine of your knife and other strikers. Just in case you lose the striker. I found that the grooved thumb ramp on my Spyderco puts out a ton of sparks.

Chris
 
A question I always try and ask myself is what is the worst set of circumstances that I could be trying to use an item and still be successful. I can very easily see needing to start a fire one handed (i.e. broken arm) which is why I like the Spark-Lite. It is designed for less than ideal circumstances. Most of the other Fire Starters I have seen mentioned are going to be very difficult to use one handed.
 
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