[DBR]

This is for you fine folks who like ferrocerium rods. You might call them a "Metal Match" or maybe you have an old DOAN's Magnesium Firestarter or a BSA "Hot Spark." Some of the old Metal Matches were marked FRAASS, which means you lucked out and have an original U.S.G.I. Metal Match, congratulations!

The DOAN's were also U.S.G.I. but the ferrocerium rod was mounted on top of a block of magnesium that you could easily shave off with a knife or, better yet, file a bunch of the material off with the file in a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife or Multitool. You need about one-half of a sewing thimble full of the shavings to really get anywhere but I've used less.

(Here is one of about three I have still around here, all of them are over 25 years old with varying degrees of magnesium shaved off. You will be able to tell which picture it is, I had to take it in black & white to show the detail, the damage inflicted over the years, so you get two pics in one.)

One trick I learned online on another forum is to scrape, shave or file your magnesium particles on to a small piece of duct tape from your survival kit so the wind doesn't blow the magnesium particles around. Two by two inches should do well. Works great!

Whenever survival kits are discussed, inevitably, someone will list multiple BIC lighters. Which is fine, but there have been pages long discussions turning into arguments over ferrocerium rods versus BIC lighters.

Then some people say that DOAN's Magnesium Firestarters "don't work" or that they, "like ferro rods better than DOAN's magnesium firestarters" apparently without realizing that the DOAN's has a ferro rod mounted on it. Others just don't think ferrocerium rods work or they think they are somehow an inferior way of getting a lifesaving fire lit.

Part of the problem is, tinder. The smart person is going to be carrying their own tinder in a survival kit or Bug Out Bag or whatever you fancy calling them. Preferably in a water-resistant container of some sort. This is just my way of doing it, I also use small aluminum or stainless steel pill fobs that have a gasket on them that you can purchase at almost any chain pharmacy.

My preferred tinder tube is one of these things that people call by various names. Some people call them "baby bottles" because they are basically the infantile form of a 2-liter soda bottle. But it's kind of confusing because they're not a baby bottle at all, eh? These things are "blanks" for 2-liter bottles, you can find them on websites like CountyComm, etc. You can make fishing kits out of them, snare kits, just about anything you can dream up...and...a tinder tube.

I am using some nylon cordage in these pictures, if you want to keep everything "tinder" in the tube, you can use Jute Twine (only!) that you can find at China-Mart and other places. Jute Twine, when you separate the fibers, it will catch a spark from a ferro rod and burn quite nicely.

Take a small portion of cotton cloth from a wrecked T-shirt, etc., and tie the cord onto it and shove it into the bottom of the tube. I like to alternate #0000 Steel Wool (also available from China-Mart, in the paint section) and then two cottonballs, then repeat, smashing in as much as you can until you have filled the tube then you tuck the string into the top and this will allow you to remove tinder down in the tube instead of trying to dig it out with your fingers, etc.

Just a few words to save you some trouble...

1. When purchasing cottonballs, make sure it has the cotton logo on it with 100% cotton because there are other fibrous little puffballs out there that are sold in the same sized bag but they are nylon and will not burn like cotton. They will not work at all. Get cottonballs.

2. #0000 Steel Wool is very, very fine and takes a spark just great. This burns well and you can also start an emergency fire with steel wool if you have a 9-volt battery or a couple AA or AAAs and a small piece of snare or other wire.

3. Purell Alcohol Hand Sanitizer is great because you might not always have enough water on hand to spare for washing your hands. If you get the clear Purell without Aloe Vera in it, you can use it as an aid to firestarting as well. The type with Aloe in it just doesn't work for me at all.

4. Vaseline Brand Intensive Therapy is sold in little toothpaste-like tubes. If you squirt a small noodle two-four inches long on the cottonball or steel wool, you get an even hotter fire. You don't have to mess around with kneading Vaseline into cottonballs beforehand. This works just great.

 

[awmiscool]

I have the vasoline saturated cotton balls. Burns for minutes! Really good post man, keep it up!

 

[DBR]

Cottonballs saturated with Vaseline do work great. I just don't like the whole funky-messy factor about doing them or up dealing with them. :

I just like the little tubes of the stuff and squirt a noodle of the Vaz on the cotton, charcloth or steel wool and go from there! Dryer lint, too! As long as you're drying cotton clothes.

 

[CrypticCRICKET]

Tinder and also humidity are big problems when it comes to spark ignition. In the following video I try to ignite some dry grass on a steamy night here in Florida and get nothing until I whip out some dryer lint from a zipklock bag. Dryer lint soaked with melted Vaseline is wonderfull stuff too.

 

[DBR]

Howdy! Cool video, I see by your most recent comments that you found out the secret to Coghlan's low prices. They take other people's popular ideas, copy them and then sell it real cheap and stuff tends to fall apart. The copy of the DOAN's Magnesium Firestarter they have has had some of the same issues with the ferrocerium rod falling off of it, etc. I try to avoid Coghlan's like the plague.

 

[CrypticCRICKET]

Howdy! Cool video, I see by your most recent comments that you found out the secret to Coghlan's low prices. They take other people's popular ideas, copy them and then sell it real cheap and stuff tends to fall apart. The copy of the DOAN's Magnesium Firestarter they have has had some of the same issues with the ferrocerium rod falling off of it, etc. I try to avoid Coghlan's like the plague.

The really stupid thing about the bad engineering in the Cohglan's fire striker handle is that they could have molded the plastic handle with a deeper hole, made a better product as a result, and used less plastic in the product thereby saving themselves some money while setting themselves up to make lots more money.

 

[DBR]

I think the people at Coghlan's are like the people at Ozark Trails (Wal-Mart junk). They don't particularly care if you strike that thing because you're going into hypothermia and the thing falls apart and you can't find it in the dark. They're not interested in making lifesaving gear. They are intensely interested in making a lot of money and that's all they are interested in. They know that some people are going to look at the LMF Brand Army "Fire Steel" and bolt for their model for a third of the price. It would be wonderful if they would see things like we do, but they don't. I really don't think they care at all, they just see things and they decide what they are going to steal.

 

[trekker111]

The quality of the coghlan fire starters is really hit or miss, some spark great, others don't.

The best ferrocium fire starter I have found was given to me by Chris Janowski, the owner of the world survival institute in Tok, Alaska. I'm not sure if he made then or they were outsourced. He gave me two different styles, one like this one:

http://www.alpharubicon.com/prods/p60chotspark.htm

except mine predated the addition of the knife sharpener, and one that was a large, 1/4" ferrocium rod mounted into a 1/2" magnesium rod. They both worked exceptionally well. Chris died a few years ago and it doesn't seem like anyone picked up the torch with his school, or his products.

Second best, oddly enough, was the one that came with a bear grylis ultimate survival knife, it works good enough I have considered buying his stand alone fire starter.

Third would have to be a Boy Scouts of America set, it's main drawback for me is it is small.

Next on my list would be an actual military magnesium/ ferrocium block from a roughly Vietnam vintage airforce survival kit.

I have gotten quite good at starting fires with ferrocium rods, and rarely use any magnesium, but still carry vaseline cotton balls. Working the vaseline into each cotton ball is preferred. I tried melting vaseline and soaking the cotton balls in the vaseline. They soak up way too much vaseline, and even after they have most of the vaseline squeezed out they still don't seem to work as well.

I still carry my ferrocium fire starters, but use actual flint and steel, and char cloth, to start fires. Once you get used to it, it is pretty fast and easy. There was a learning curve for me because I was expecting it to be more like ferrocium.

I have tried finding a source to find large rods of ferrocium to make my own fire starters to no avail.

 

[DBR]

The best ferrocium fire starter I have found was given to me by Chris Janowski, the owner of the world survival institute in Tok, Alaska. I'm not sure if he made then or they were outsourced.

Chris died a few years ago and it doesn't seem like anyone picked up the torch with his school, or his products.

I picked up a VHS of his years ago, probably 12 years ago at a show, it was on tracking. Interesting stuff. I always wanted to get some of his other stuff but never got around to it.

Now he is gone, Ron Hood's been gone a little over a month now.

Third would have to be a Boy Scouts of America set, it's main drawback for me is it is small.

The classic BSA Hot Spark? Ah-hah! But you see, you use that small size but has a good grip to your benefit and just place that in smaller kits. :

Next on my list would be an actual military magnesium/ ferrocium block from a roughly Vietnam vintage airforce survival kit.

It should be marked DOAN MFG with an NSN and date of manufacture and the possibly the Patent Number as well, as you see in one of the pics above. Is it like that one?

I have gotten quite good at starting fires with ferrocium rods, and rarely use any magnesium, but still carry vaseline cotton balls. Working the vaseline into each cotton ball is preferred. I tried melting vaseline and soaking the cotton balls in the vaseline. They soak up way too much vaseline, and even after they have most of the vaseline squeezed out they still don't seem to work as well.

I've worked the Vaz-goop into the cottonballs and I just don't see any difference between working it in and slathering it on or squirting a noodle of it out of a tube onto the cottonball or steel wool. In whatever method chosen, one thing cannot be debated - Vaseline burns blazing hot!

I have tried finding a source to find large rods of ferrocium to make my own fire starters to no avail.

I believe the website goinggear.com has them.

 

[bltjr1951]

Cottonballs saturated with Vaseline do work great.

There's a guy on another site that puts PJ in microwave and pours it onto cottonballs.
Swears they burn hotter and longer. Maybe a youtube or two on it?

I can't get anyone to say which burns first, PJ or cotton?
Been told to fluff up cotton to catch spark and PJ will burn after cotton.
Others say PJ will burn as cotton acts as a wick, old navy trick.

I just don't play with fire anymore.
As for hand sanitizers, "Flammable. Keep away from heat and flame" right on label.
Also goes for alcohol swabs, 100 to a box, carry a couple in PSK.

 

[voyuer1]

The quality of the coghlan fire starters is really hit or miss, some spark great, others don't.

The best ferrocium fire starter I have found was given to me by Chris Janowski, the owner of the world survival institute in Tok, Alaska. I'm not sure if he made then or they were outsourced. He gave me two different styles, one like this one:

http://www.alpharubicon.com/prods/p60chotspark.htm

except mine predated the addition of the knife sharpener, and one that was a large, 1/4" ferrocium rod mounted into a 1/2" magnesium rod. They both worked exceptionally well. Chris died a few years ago and it doesn't seem like anyone picked up the torch with his school, or his products.

Second best, oddly enough, was the one that came with a bear grylis ultimate survival knife, it works good enough I have considered buying his stand alone fire starter.

Third would have to be a Boy Scouts of America set, it's main drawback for me is it is small.

Next on my list would be an actual military magnesium/ ferrocium block from a roughly Vietnam vintage airforce survival kit.

I have gotten quite good at starting fires with ferrocium rods, and rarely use any magnesium, but still carry vaseline cotton balls. Working the vaseline into each cotton ball is preferred. I tried melting vaseline and soaking the cotton balls in the vaseline. They soak up way too much vaseline, and even after they have most of the vaseline squeezed out they still don't seem to work as well.

I still carry my ferrocium fire starters, but use actual flint and steel, and char cloth, to start fires. Once you get used to it, it is pretty fast and easy. There was a learning curve for me because I was expecting it to be more like ferrocium.

I have tried finding a source to find large rods of ferrocium to make my own fire starters to no avail.

Look for whole sale imports sites.

 

[Shorebird]

I have 2 'last resort' fire starters that I made for starting a fire in wet weather. One is a wick 'stove' out of one of those metal pill safes - the kind with a flat bottom. You can pack it with a bunch of pieces of fiberglass wicking (the flat fiberglass pipe wrap or the the cord type). Add about 1/8 oz of alcohol, light it and build your fire over it. I used some JB Weld to attach a short length of chain to it, so I can retrieve it from the fire. The nice part is that because there's an o-ring in the cap, you can carry it already filled.

The second one is made from 2 metal tea light cups fitted together and JB Welded tight. I packed it with carbon felt. Using a push pin, I made jet holes around the top. It's sort of a teeny soda can type stove. The center of the top is depressed to form a well and has 7-9 holes. That's where you fill it. Also a piece of wicking around it to prime it. There's a 16'' piece of that lightweight aluminum folded chain, used for toilet flushing mechanism, JB Welded to it it's easy to pull out of the fire once it's going. Both of them can be used to heat 8oz of water in a pinch.

 

[weaselrunner]

I think I still have a few of these around the house. A buddy if mine years ago would make a delivery to someplace in Maryland if I remember right, that made the blanks for Pepsi / Coke, etc 1 and 2 ltrs. He would hit the dumpster and grab a bunch that had been pitched for some reason. These look like the blanks before they are heated and blown up to size. Almost indestructable and took a universal cap. Need a new cap -- buy a drink or raid one off an empty. Wish I knew where the place was exactly. 1001 uses.

 

[arleigh]

Just as a note ,Indians carried their fire with them in a bundle that would smoke but shielded from the wind untill needed.
If a person is traveling and expects to be making camp each time they stop this method could be used to have an instant fire on demand .
I am not sure of all the details and I am sure it would depend on what is available as you go , but in theory ,one would not have to use up their flint every single time a fire is needed.
It seems to me that tinder that has been started and put out will restart easier ,yes ?
The idea of survival is not the use only of modern materials but available materials, and some of that as well is knowing how to find flint in the bush . Indians did not have steel ,
they had stone ,antler, bone, and wood.
In a long term survival event all the "toys" are going to wear out . If the EOTWAWKI happens , manufacturing will no longer exist either . The cheapest piece of junk fire starter will be worth it's weight in gold, unless one has learned to find the elements necessary ,in the bush .
By all means , stock up on flint ,good barter material.
Personally , I choose every means of fire starting ,but the one most appropreate for the moment is the one I use, and it might just be the bic lighter , because even after the gas is gone the flint will still work for a while .
Vasoline is a great tool , however when it is gone then what ? How about animal fat and dried grass ,
One last thing,
Learning to make a small fire,and keep it small, is a great advantage , both in fuel consumption and exposure.
Laying the sticks all pointing to the center ,rather than across it ,keeps the fire at a minimum although babysitting it is required a bit more often .Also ,if you dig the pit cone shape as the wood burns and coals develop the wood may naturally slide down into the base.
Having to forage in the dark for more fuel is not a fun thing.

 

[Bigbangtheory]

If you heat the petroleum jelly up it'll allow you to dip the Cotten balls in it. Place them on aluminum foil and allow to solidify. This will keep you from getting " messy hands" lol

 

[Hubb]

The following shows how I carry one form of tinder, along with the tinder itself. The container is a waterproof match box. The reasons for choosing this are numerous. It is cheap, waterproof, small, lightweight, easy to find if I drop it, and it has a tiny ferro on the bottom side.

The tinder are actually drinking straws stuffed with petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls. The container can hold 16 of them at one time. And since they burn so well, I can cut them in half before using them, essentially giving me 32 pieces of tinder in a package that is smaller than a roll of quarters. The "tinder straws" should be self-explanatory, but I can go into more detail if needed.

 

[buckfynn]

I have tried three different Coghlan firesteels. All three of them came loose from the plastic handle in no time. I epoxied them back in the handle and haven't had any problems since. One thing I noticed with one of the firesteel is it doesn't seem to spark as well once it was about 2/3 rds worn out. I guess for $4.99 a piece, I don't expect a whole lot out of them. Also I pitch the striker that comes with the firesteel as I get much better spark with the back of my knife.

I bought a bunch of bulk misch metal rods off EBay and have made a few firesteels with wood and antler handles. So many people claim it is harder to get sparks off the misch metal compared to ferrocerium, but I really can't tell much difference between the two.

 

[buckfynn]

I have tried finding a source to find large rods of ferrocium to make my own fire starters to no avail.

You might want to check out firesteel.com and goinggear.com.

It seems my EBay source is no longer in business.

 

[OLDWarrior64]

You might want to check out firesteel.com and goinggear.com.

It seems my EBay source is no longer in business.

I'll 2nd those 2 sources, I get a lot of my ferro rods for my projects and products I sell thru goinggear.com.

Here's another source for ferro rods and lots of other items:

http://www.usaknifemaker.com/ferro-...9.html?zenid=b6898320c052e425aacc9db03439da6f

 

[cleatis]

Try soaking your cotton balls in Purel hand sanitiser. Burns hotter that jelly and lasts longer. Plus you get the benifit of sanitiser. TRY IT!!!!