Blue Hawk carbide tool sharpener (Lowes in the garden section) is the best striker on the planet for ferro rods.

 

SADLY...... LOWES no longer sells them......

But, I bought out every Lowes in a wide radius around me, before that happened.

There are other brands available Corona, Speedy Sharp, etc.
Trouble is they cost 2 or 3 times the price the Blue Hawk brand sold for.

You can also make your own, out of HSS, which is almost comparable to carbide.

--------

To answer Kev's question;

Everyone should carry at least three (3) means to ignite a fire.

A good Ferro rod & striker amongst those three.

I assume Kev had a Doan's type.

Which are good, but have a design flaw.
Use one a couple times, the rod wears down to the magnesium bar.
Which makes them near impossible to strike.

Optimal Ferro rods & strikers have a handle on them. For the same reason a knife, hatchet, hammer, screw driver, etc does. A handle allows a user to apply more strength, leverage & torque, so-as-to utilize the tool much more effectively.

A handle also allows a user to utilize (abrade) the full length of as Ferro rod, whereas, without a handle, the user must grip the rod with his fingers covering a good part of the rod.

Some of the few I have made;

I can throw big huge sparks 10 feet with

Kits

 

Some ferro rods are better than others, same goes for magnesium blocks. Test them before you need them to be yours works.

This is my design for a ferro rod. 30-06 case necked to 6mm with a 1/4" x 2.5" rod press in with epoxy. The head is drilled and tapped for a grade 5 bolt I lathe cut to a square edge so it could be used as a scraper. A red rubber gasket completes the waterproof seal for the waste gunpowder contained inside. Its enough for 10 emergency fire starts. I have a new one using a 50 BMG case a 1/2" x 6" rod.

Mostly I use this BIC. It has 2' of recoverable artificial sinew in the seam which is sewed with the locking double needle technique. It is also glued, and the long seam edge is treated with jeweler's rouge so I can strop a blade. With a longer lanyard it hangs inside my shirt, warm and dry.

I also have a good hand lens that works if the sun is out.

Those carbide knife ruiners work good as a scraper. The back side of your knife will works well if it has a square edge. You can put one there if it wasn't made that way.

 

I was just at Sears to spend my $6 in "free cash" that they send me every month or so, no minimum purchase required just spend the amount they give. So I picked up a second stand alone #6 torx screwdriver for $4.58 and saw they had "carbon alloy" 3/16" square screw extractor bit for $1.52 on sale, BINGO (thought to myself this will make a GREAT ferro rod striker!!). It is pretty small too, take up almost no space and has 4 "edges" for biting into the screw head for removal, so that makes 4 striking edges which are very "edgey".

This is it, but mine is a #2
http://www.sears.com/craftsman-no-1...ew-extractor/p-00952812000P?plpSellerId=Sears&prdNo=12&blockNo=12&blockType=G12

 

The magnesium stick with ferro rod never worked well for me. Maybe I just had bad ones. A few years ago I tried some ferro rods from firesteel.com and was amazed at the shower of sparks I got off those. I promptly ordered several more in different sizes put in different kits. They have a "super scraper" that works well enough that I haven't tried much else.

 

There is a huge difference between those cheap things in most "camping" departments that have a small rod in the side of a hunk of magnesium and a FireSteel brand rod.

http://firesteel.com/FireSteel-with-Magnesium/

 

If anyone wants 1/2 X 5 inch Ferro rods.
Make the eBay seller (link below) an OFFER of $40 for 10
That's $4 each, as shipping is FREE.

Any extras make great Christmas gifts & good trading material.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot10X-Hug...oor-Camping/401199933432?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

If you want to put handles on them, go to about any Dollar store & buy a few kitchen utensils for a buck each.

Saw off the handle, drill a 1/2 inch diameter hole in its business end (5/8ths of an inch deep) & super glue the rod in the hole. If you want a retractable one, go to Lowes or HD and buy a $6 Dixon tinder crayon holder (bore is 1/2 inch).

Simple, inexpensive & very effective.

Examples:

The absolute best Ferro rod striker is CARBIDE (examples below)
Once you use one, almost all others seem like a joke (they are that effective).
+ are multipurpose, as they work well for quickly sharpening knives, machetes, hatchets, axes, etc.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CARBIDE-KN...-TOOL-CORONA-CLIPPER-AC8300/201667419719?hash=item2ef4509e47:g:Oo0AAOSwdIFX1wYd

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Speedy-Sha...arpener-The-Original-ORANGE/191675772373?hash=item2ca0c42dd5:g:XPAAAOxypthRt6cv

 

I have the same rods and the same striker. Good way to go. Most of the time I use the spine of my Mora Gargerg. Those rods throw off great sparks.

Made my handles on my wood lathe using some scrap pieces. A good handle really helps. Some people use fatwood to make a handle so they can slice off some chips to help the tinder pile.

One thing people can do to improve life is to coat the used/exposed area when they get in from the field. I use a light coat of my wife's nail polish.

 

I usually carry a lighter with me, but I like using the ferro rods so I save the lighter. The magnesium blocks seem to take more work to start a fire shaving off the magnesium and then sparking it, but they work really well in wet conditions. I replaced the hacksaw striker with a cheap small, fine serrated pocket knife. Seems to make shaving the magnesium easier. I bought a couple of the cheap 1/2"x5" ferro rods and I can say that they do not compare to my Swedish firesteels. The firesteels create more sparks with less effort. That being said the firesteels are also softer and wear a lot faster. The cheap rods seem to need more force to spark, but will start a fire its just they don't create as many sparks as easy as the firesteels. With either it usually only takes a one or two strikes to create flames with proper tinder.

 

Always amazed at the amount of knowledge and hard work that members here pour into every aspect of survival.

Not too fond of the walmart magnesium strikers either, but the ferros that come with the upper end knife packages work really well.

Testing my new HABS-K and it's ferro while in the woods for several days. Used it every night and got flame on the first pass each time.

Some of the personal builds you people have shown here are amazing. That one with the casing used as the handle - what a cool project!

 

I'm a fan of ferro rods and always have one in both my BOB and EDC. I also practice using them regularly. I do carry other means to make fire as well and usually use a lighter or a match in most cases, but I like having a backup that works even if it happens to get wet.

 

Here is a couple really sweet small functional E&E design Ferro/MG rod I made.
(beats a Doan's type - hands down)

Another KEY factor using Ferro rods is to have optimal tinder that Ferro sparks will readily ignite
.
By optimal, I mean small/compact/light-weight – with an 8 to 10 minute burn time & large/hot flame envelope.

Cotton balls & Vaseline work well.

Examples below are some of the ones I DIY make.

Cotton make-up remover pads, dipped in melted 90% candle wax 10% charcoal lighter fluid mixture.

Once air dried hard, individually enclosed in a self-sealing flammable cellophane wrapper.

Not messy, near waterproof & will ignite in sub-zero temps & melt a hole in deep snow.

 

Cotton make-up remover pads, dipped in melted 90% candle wax 10% charcoal lighter fluid mixture.

Once air dried hard, individually enclosed in a self-sealing flammable cellophane wrapper.

Not messy, near waterproof & will ignite in sub-zero temps & melt a hole in deep snow.

Wow! Fantastic! To they catch easily on the first strikes? Better to fray them a bit before use?


Regarding tinder, I get great success with laundry fluff from the dryer.

It catches immediately but burns out too fast, so first I birdnest it, or mix it with inner bark shavings.

A last year issue of Backwoodsman magazine had a great article on making fire starters from cardboard egg carton bowls and melted candle wax. They last forever, transport easily and burn for minutes on end with high BTU. They're also fun to make with children in teaching them prepping.

 

Wow! Fantastic! To they catch easily on the first strikes? .

Cellophane ignites 1st strike, in-turn almost instantly igniting the pad under it.
No need to "fray" anything.

 

Best tinder for off the shelf folks is Weber fire lighter cubes.
Remove from factory package, store a few each in individual zip-lock Mylar bags.
Remove a cube, dice up with a knife - hit the pile with Ferro rod sparks.
You got FIRE.
Cost about $3.40 per 24 pack at Lowes, Home Depot, etc.

 

Another good striker for a ferro rod is a small swiss file.
If you want to carry a small ferro rod and striker combo, try it out.

I bought one of those carbide tool sharpeners at Sears also before they closed their store here. Works great but not so light.

 

I really like the Aurora fire steel. Shop around for prices, here is a link. It is my go to way to light my backpacking stove and can throw a bunch of sparks to start a tinder pile too.
http://www.soloscientific.com/aurora-fire-starter1.html

 

if you dont make your own, I got one of these as a gift last yer, works well, palm scraper makes it easy.
gobspark Armageddon, at www.firesteel.com . blast match is another decent one...

 

Sawzall blades make pretty good strikers! Thicker than standard hacksaw blades for a nice sturdy feel!

SD

 

I made a small fire starting kit in a molle 40MM grenade pouch that I use a firesteel.com gobspark ferro rod with. I have tried the magnesium bar with the ferro rod attached you can get from coghlans and hated it. I have tried a few larger ferro rods I got off ebay and they were ok but the gobspark is just amazing so it goes in all my kits now. Just ordered one with a handle and palm scraper. They sell a small scraper that I have in my kit that is fairly easy to use but the palm scraper sounds like it will be better and easier to use with gloves.

In my kit I have a 4 oz bag of pre-shaved magnisium (can buy it by the pound on ebay) a 4 oz bag of pixie dust (fat wood saw dust) some fat wood squares (to break up into kindling if needed) a small roll of char cloth with some jute twine in it, a couple of wet tinder packs, a 4 oz bag of cotton and a small Fresnel lense. I have added some storm proof matches and a bic lighter since taking the picture below.

 

Cedar Bark rolled between your hands makes and excellent tinder for catching a spark.

 

And Birch bark as well.

 

I use These fire steel strikers they are small and work very well :thumb:



This isn't my pic but I have the same set up as this except my lanyard is longer

http://firesteel.com/firesteel-super-scraper

 

Dont forget Char cloth, easy to make and probably the best tender there is, been used for centuries. A cleaned out paint can for a lot or an Altoids tin for a small amount works good.

Im always amazed how many people dont know to use the magnesium on with the strikers. Ive seen scouts who have scraped the striker part down to nothing and the magnesium was never scraped! Once I show them what a small pile of magnesium does on one strike, they are amazed. BTW, I dont know if it makes a difference but I avoid the Chinese made ones and buy only USA mainly because I know every other Chinese metal usually sux!

 

This is what I use to paint Ferro rods for LTS.

Out in the field, I just rub on a little wax off my DIY kapok/candle wax tinder bars.

A few little shavings ignite & burn like napalm.

Once back home, I repaint them.

 

In a bizarre way most of us already use ferro rods:

The 'flint' in your Bic, Clipper, or etcetera fuel-based lighter which doesn't use electricity uses a small rod, same as the larger ferro rods, to ignite the gas. I've found over time that a longer surface area is better for igniting marginal tinder and a smaller surface area is more conservative of the material. A small spark wheel will often get the job done in situations where a much larger ferro rod is unnecessary and perhaps even more difficult to use. These smaller 'flints' can often be used long after your lighter runs out of fuel to spark well-prepared tinder.

The larger ferro rods get up to the same potential temperatures as the smaller ferro rods but the concentration of material means a better chance of lighting your material (more heat is retained). Without a handle you're only getting to scrape so much surface area so, generally speaking and regards for purpose of use, a handle increases both efficiency and efficacy.

Shall we say that the more important issue with fire, as always, is material preparation; many ways to make fire with good prep, fewer ways to make fire with marginal. Bunkerbuster (see above) has given some great suggestions for tinder on this and other postings, for example, and good tinder means good fire regardless of ignition source.

All ferro rods are prone to rusting because of the iron content (the material actually igniting); if you're going to store your ferro rod for long-term use then you'll also need to proof it against rusting. Every time you scrape the rod you're exposing the iron core you're also exposing material which will rust (oxidize re: burn) and the rod will, over time, burn itself out. Mileage will vary based on humidity.

 

All ferro rods are prone to rusting because of the iron content (the material actually igniting); if you're going to store your ferro rod for long-term use then you'll also need to proof it against rusting. Every time you scrape the rod you're exposing the iron core you're also exposing material which will rust (oxidize re: burn) and the rod will, over time, burn itself out. Mileage will vary based on humidity.

Cerium is what ignites in ferroCERIUM rods.
Ferrocerium rods is an ALLOY, it doesn't have an IRON core.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocerium

 

Ferro rod and a small length of hacksaw is my preferred fire lighting method, and if I'm having difficulty getting the fire going because of muggy weather I also keep a small bottle(like 100ml or so) of metholated spirits in my kit. a splash of that on some paperbark and a few sparks and I have a fire going no problem.

 

I always have a ferro rod with me. I prefer to use the awl on my SAK Farmer to light it up, because it throws flames like there's no tomorrow. Some times I use the spine of my knife or the edge of my axe. This picture shows how I usually do a tinder bundle with the ferro rod.

 

How many people use ferro rods? Either as their primary fire starter, or as a backup fire starter?

It's fun to play around with, but i have 1 (more likely several if i'd really clean them out) lighter in each of my bags. Bic's are just a lot quicker and reliable.