I have to admit I don't own one. Tried one out many years ago but stayed with kitchen matches in a waterproof container and a good lighter.

Should I reconsider? What brand do you prefer?

Thanks

They are one more thing to carry but they work well for some tasks. I have one on qa couple of sheaths.
Lite My Fire is the one I like best. The mid size Scout model makes the most sense to me. Long enough for lots of sparks but not as heavy as the Army. The newer ones come with a whistle and striker combo attached. The whistle isn't worth much.

Carried them for the last 45 years but have never had to actually use them in anger. Still start a fire occasionally using the steel just for fun though. My limited experience in trying to start fires using a steel in wet, windy Northwest weather, is that your prep must be painstaking to be successful. During dry, calm conditions they seem to work pretty well - say inside your teepee starting the wood stove.

Given enough practice I am sure you could get pretty good with steel.

Fortunately, the weight and bulk penalty is minimal unless you opt for one of those big, bulky units ... kind of like carrying a 6" sheath knife - all for show.

Bought mine from firesteel.com. It's all I use anymore. Use it with shaved pitch wood or cotton ball with vaseline. Nothing is easier.

I am going to get one and "play" with it this Fall. I started looking at them and saw that firesteel brand offers one package with a magnesium rod. I think I'll go with just the steel, no need to complicate matters. Need to check out the Lite My Fire brand as well.

firesteel.com is good stuff.

They're pretty neat, but short of trying to throw a spark into a stove, Bic lighter seems to be better for me. One that comes in my light my fire knife handles my fire steel needs.

Heretic^

I'll always try the bic or matches first for convenience. But both can fail. I use the one this guy sells, he taught AF pilots survival skills, and his stuff is functional. Called the metal match:

www.outdoorsafe.com

might even be the same steel.

They say the Bic can fail but I've never seen it. I leave one out in the elements by my grill at home and after 5" of rain the other day I walked out and it lit like always.

Trust me, they can and do fail. If nothing else, they run out of fuel.

Looks like the old adage of... always good to have a back up plan might include a fire steel.

I'm not anti-fire steel by any means. I carry them, but even I have to admit a second Bic is probably lighter, cheaper and easier to use.

It's something that could save your life, so a plan B is a good idea. Just as important iswhat you carry to drop the spark in. Butane is not so good in extreme cold either.

I like them and pefer the "Swedish" ones that seem to be harder and only need short strokes that seem more controlled and thus accurate for me. The ones from LMF and StrikeForce seem to be the same type.

They need strikers though and it makes them less self contained. They do need practice on technique to be used effectively - at least I know I needed practice to figure out what works. My kit also has lighters and matches and Wetfire tinder.

A plus for them is you can fly with them

I did a test between the Swedish Light My Fire unit and a low cost one from Big Five Sports. Rods were the same size length and diameter, with the biggest difference the color of the plastic grip handle and the striker. Light My Fire has an ergonomic grip on a special shaped striker. The el cheapo provided a 3 inch long piece of hacksaw blade.

Conclusion: the rods produced the same amount of spark when the same striker was used. The Light My Fire striker provided far better grip. I could detect no difference in material but a huge difference when I used a striker shaped to fit my hands and fingers so that it delivers a quality striking stroke.

I took a few minutes to shape a "handle" out of red cedar and taped that onto a piece of hacksaw and now it produces a shower of sparks visually identical to the Swedish one-- at 1/3 the price.

Ok, I'm a cheap skate.

I carry a Strikeforce but I've never used it except for starting a camp stove when my POS butane striker failed (it's hard to beat propane for tinder). I've practiced with it and it works very well, putting out a serious amount of sparks. It's probably bigger and heavier than most backpackers want, though.

I carry a Gobspark Armageddon steel with scraper, always.

http://firesteel.com/gobspark-armageddon-firesteel/

And I have a couple of Altoid tin "firestarter kits" with the light my fire steels along with some Vaseline cotton balls, birch bark, fatwood slivers, etc.
But rarely do I start campfires and if I do, I'll likely use a fire steel just for "practice". I mostly carry the steels for the unlikely event of actually needing a fire. Just easier than carrying matches and will light a Vaseline cotton ball just as fast.

All kidding aside, I usually use a Bic lighter to light my stove...which is about the only thing I "light" when on a backpack hunt, and usually have one on my person.
And though I've never had a failure of a Bic it could fail and thus I carry the firesteels. I don't dink around with matches much since finding true strike anywhere matches is difficult. And you can't fly with them.

Not if you're carrying the fuel on your back.

We do a fire-building demo for the survival part of our hunter ed class. Using cotton balls with vaseline and the metal match, with no practice beforehand, it usually lights on the first strike, and almost always by the second.

Perfect conditions, but still it's pretty foolproof.

That's true. But the "backs" he uses for packing are attached to four legs. And there's 4 of 'em. Heck that's 20 legs not counting his own 2!

Yes, I know that but some others reading this might be scratching their heads wondering what kind of off-season workout program he uses so he can casually tote propane cylinders in the backcountry.

I think I've owned all of them and I have found they all work very well. Including the older style ones that are contained in a block of magnesium.

I have also found using a knife works a lot better than any of the strikers they usually come with.

I light fires with them regularly but that is almost always with some form of easily ignited fuel (lint, cotton balls, esbit tablet, dry moss, etc.) If I were shivering to death and all I had were some pine shavings and small tinder, I'd be using a match or a bic.

I know the argument is that they can work in "all conditions" but the reality is (as previously stated) a bic seems to work in all conditions as well. And I have found waterproof matches to be pretty goddammn waterproof. Not to mention I keep my fire making stuff in a plastic bag anyway. So if I do happen to fall into a lake, I should be fine regardless.


Travis

For serious backpacking, I use the 20lb propane cyl off my camp trailer. Keeps the knees limber, you know.

Yeah, they work fine, right up until they break.

There must be something wrong with the ones I have. They keep working.




Travis

Of course. A little creative ciphering can be useful at tax time, too. Right?

Have you ever jumped out of an airplane?

I don't think so.

Should I?




Travis

If you haven't, you don't know squat about backpack hunting.

Understood.

I'll GFM now.




Travis

Plan A - waterproof matches

Plan B - Bic lighter somewhere in pack.

I've never got past Plan A.

Firesteel - extra weight.

If you were truly squared away, you would have already taken care of that.

Last year we elk hunted out of a CO drop camp in 12" to 15" of snow with a poorly vented (worn out) wood stove. Everything was wet and starting fires in the stove was a real challenge. My hunting buddy and I are not new to using wood stoves but this one was nearly worthless. Once we got a fire started it nearly smoked us out of our wall tent. This year we have our own SO 6-man tipi with a SO large Ti stove. I will carry a Bic lighter or two but based on the potential for wet weather, this year we will be better prepared and will carry a (magnesium and flint) Survivor Fire starter.

I got a firesteel based on all the talk about them on this damn forum. I got the Firesteel 2.0 scout and have only used it to make sparks. It's pretty cool.

I also have and have used the Mg block with a sparker built in - also pretty cool and works well.

I got the firesteel mostly because I subscribe to the "at least 3 ways to make fire" rule. I usually overdo that one.





Here's a tip for anyone that is not satisfied with the spark shower from a sparker unit.

Use a piece of old hacksaw blade.



It's way better than a knife because it's very hard. Not strong, but hard, which is what is needed to get a spark shower.

ironbender;
Good evening to you sir, I hope this finds you and yours well this warm August evening.

One of the interesting things I find about forums like this place is that a few of us have arrived at similar conclusions working at the question independently.

I'm speaking of using a chunk of hacksaw blade for a spark scraper here - I discovered that it will shred chunks of magnesium off the block in fine style about the same time....

When I'm teaching the survival night of our BC Hunter Safety course I'll pull out my day pack and show the class it's contents. When I say that unless I'm struck unconscious or become paralyzed - if I'm ever stuck up on the local mountains they'll spot the fire I've built from any satellite.

In my pants pocket during season I carry a Light My Fire steel, along with 0000 steel wool and cotton balls that are soaked in petroleum jelly.

The pack has a pocket torch, waterproof and windproof matches, regular wooden strike anywhere matches and the above mentioned magnesium block.

As others have noted, the ferro rods indeed work best with some tinder much better than others. I've found that fatwood dust, petroleum jelly soaked cotton balls and steel wool and dollar store twine chopped fine works well with them.

There are a bunch of youtube videos comparing the different ferrocerium rods - some with different results - so I'm not sure one is better than another really.

I've played with some offshore ones as well as the Light My Fire one I carry and can't see a whole pile of difference.

Lastly I try to start a few fires every year with a ferro rod, even if it's in the wood stove, the prevailing theory being if I really need to use one someday I'd better be able to do it by the numbers so to speak.

Anyway that's all I've learned about fire starting so far sir, but as it's a bit of a hobby with me like as not I'll continue experimenting as long as I'm able.

Hopefully that was useful information to someone out there tonight and all the best to you and your family this fall ironbender.

Dwayne

Lots of guys use dryer lint for tinder. However...if you have small kids at home, you'd better give the lint a try before you leave home. Federal law requires all children's clothing to be treated with a fire resistant coating. Your lint might be fireproofed.

Highly recommended combo for value and effectiveness...

http://www.amazon.com/Light-Fire-FireKnife-Stainless-FireSteel/dp/B007BO9G1W

Been there, done that and have the tee shirt to account for my failures. A Bic lighter and petroleum jelly soaked cotton swabs were barely enough to get my stove to light when conditions less than idea (read: wet wood and damp conditions in my SO 8-man tipi and large Ti stove). To be fair, I was still warm and comfortable after burning more wood than I should have. Just saying that your combo won't be the do-all-save-all you might think it will be in tough conditions.

When my son was in 4th grade they had a survival camp overnight trip and I volunteered to help at the fire starting station. Everyone had to start a fire with vaseline soaked cotton swaps using a flint. It was a good day to learn fire building skills as temps were in the teens and it was snowing and windy. Every kid managed to get a fire started, but if you took too much time the cotton ball would start getting wet from the snow and be harder to start.

Of course that's the catch 22 of starting a fire, when you really need one you and your fuel will be wet.

I carry a small kit in all my packs. Dryer lint, fat wood sticks, a Bic lighter, some water proof matches in a little brass bottle, and a fire steel with striker. Brand does not seem to matter a lot for me.
No one should depend on just one method.

Chickenschidt legs.

You two should get a room.

Not to interrupt, but my legs are fabulous.

Maybe. Do you dress yourself?

Every Monday.



Travis

Same here, and from Going Gear as well. Soaked cotton balls and some sparks have been enough even when it's wet out with proper prep, skills.

I received my Survivor Fire Starter yesterday and have played with it a few hours now. I got the 20,000 strike magnesium and flint fire starter with a compass, thermometer, and signal mirror. I have to say, I'm impressed�with the fire starter. The additional features all work but will be marginally useful at best. The striker and flint throw's off a good spark and the magnesium appears to be very pure as it is highly flammable and creates a HOT, sustained flame. It should be easy to start a fire. It will be useful to start up my Ti tipi stove on this year's elk hunt.

Dwayne-
First off, I commend you on what a gentleman's gentleman you always are in your replies. I wish I could emulate that.

Secondly, thank you for the reply. At the time it was posted I was traveling and have missed this thread since.

I'm uncertain where I got the hacksaw blade info from, but after not having a lot of success making sparks with a knife blade, I took that bit of info to heart and found it to be worth far more than I paid for it.

A sparker and Mg bar, VCBs, bicycle tire tube rings, piezo lighter (preferred over Bic flinters) will just about always give a guy something to coax into a fire.

All the best to you too!

Hi Dwayne,

Thanks for your post. Hopefully you and yours are doing well!

Quick question- how are you using the steel wool?

Thanks
Jordan

Just an additional thought. In cold weather I include a chem hand warmer w/ my kit. Sometimes you just get 1 chance and cold numb hands can help you screw the pooch in a worst case scenario.

mike r

I understand that wet conditions along with wet wood and kindling make it increasingly difficult to start a fire. I know that the stove doesn't have much to do with starting a fire. Our problem was keeping a good, warming fire going once we got a fire stated. When we did, we were literally smoked out of our tent. Based on three solid test burns (one using wet wood), I don't think that will be a problem with the SO stove.

Of course I can't answer for Dwayne, but...

I've only played with 0000 steel wool and batteries. The strands are fine enough that even the small amount of current from a battery will cause them to overheat and be incandescent like a lightbulb filament.

It generates a high temp, but there is not a lot of mass, so you have to use that to get the next level burning - VCBs, bicycle tire tube.

I can see using a firesteel and VCBs and topping with steel wool.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=firestarting+with+steel+wool

for 30 years a bic lighter in a zip lock bag and either trioxane or vaseline and cotton balls have never let me down once. From NY to BC and AK not once have they failed me.

Thank you!

Old style camera flash bulbs contained a wad of supper fine steel wool. It was fine enough for the camera battery to ignite it instantly with a flash. Years ago, I'd break open bulbs for the wool and use it to ignite homemade firecrackers. Later the invention of model rocket engine igniters replaced the flash bulbs.

I carry matches, a Bic, and a Blastmatch.

The Bic is option 1. The Blastmatch is a spring-loaded sparker that can be used one-handed, which is a plus if you are lost AND hurt. It throws a heck of a shower of sparks and also has a compartment for a starter cube. The matches make fine tinder in a pinch.

I bought some NATO surplus lifeboat matches once and they were defective right out of the package. They had apparently had gotten damp somewhere, even though they were in a sealed plastic tube.

Jordan;
Sorry I missed your question initially Jordan - I hope all is well with you and yours by the way.

So the 0000 steel wool is plastered in petroleum jelly along with the cotton balls.

One gets the wood all set up the way you like it, including smaller bits and then take the steel wool and make a bit of a pocket or nest in it. Insert the cotton ball into the pocket and then hit the cotton ball with the sparks from the fire steel.

The steel wool sort of glows red and to me appears to hold the heat better than cotton balls alone Jordan, which is handy if one is working with damp wood.

I can't for the life of me recall who recommended this to me, but I was skeptical of it burning well until I tried it and sure enough - I was wrong again!

Oh, it really does well with some magnesium chips added into the nest pocket too Jordan.

Hopefully that made sense and was useful information to you or someone out there this afternoon sir. All the best to you folks and good luck on your hunts this fall.

Dwayne

I've seen bics fail a couple of times, but it can be protected against.

The ones I've seen fail seem to have lost all their fuel due to being carried or stored in a way that the fuel flow tab was depressed in a pack, bag, or pocket.

I like and use various fire steels because, with a tad of prep, they are so bombproof reliable.
At the same time, I am not above using a bic or other lighter.

I have not seen a match worth carrying in quite some time...

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to have a [bleep] of 3 day weekends, 3 weeks paid vacation, a [bleep] of outdoor hobbies, and the 4th largest wilderness in the lower 48 pretty much right out my backdoor.

I honestly couldn't even guess how many fires I've built in the backcountry. I've learned a few things over the years.

Matches.... They're awesome. If you live in an old house with no fart fan or window in the [bleep]. You can light one when you're done poopin' and the humans you choose to live with can smell a mix of [bleep], and burnt sulfer... Which is as American as Bacon, Cocaine, Strippers and apple pie.

Bics.... I use one a lot. Especially lighting my EdT C stove. I ran one out of fuel once because the lever got pushed on by something in my pack. Coincedently, one of my pot smoking slut ex girlfriends left a bic at my house in a fancy lighter case. I gutted the fancy lighter case, and saved the plastic tube it was built around. When you stick a bic in it upside down, the lever cant get pushed on. It weights a gram and a half. It's cheap insurance. I've also had Bics get cold enough in packs in the winter that they barely want to light. This is corrected by leaving them in a pocket that is on your body, or in the bag with you at night.

Firesteels.... I never leave home without one. In all the types I've used, I've come to the same conclusion as others. The striker is as important as the firesteel. I use the new V2.0 Scout from Light My Fire 9 months out of the year. It's got more horsepower than every other firesteel, except.,... The one I carry once it's hunting season in Montana. Morakniv makes a knife/firesteel combo that I've used for over a year and absolutely love. The Bushcraft Survival knife is a 1/8" thick chunk of Sandvic S134 stainless, paired with a 2.6" long firesteel that's quite a bit softer material than the LMFs. It throws lots of pissed off sparks that stick around for a while.

Then there's the basics.... Tinder. Don't wait until you need the [bleep]. Pick it up along the way. Chances are, you'll encounter some blazed trees on the trail you're walking. The pitch balls that collect around blazes are great fire starters. Dry moss, naturally peeling birch bark, and hippies that were skinned alive are all great fire starters too.

Fatwood... I always have a stick of it. it's 20-30 grams of fire starting badass. You can use the spine of your knife (especially the Bushcraft Survival, or the Fireknife, which is ground dead flat for scraping) to make a nice little fluffy pile of naplam to catch sparks in. Or shave curls to light with a bic. Or, do both if your tinder is less than dry. Or, sliver the entire stick, and throw a pile of sticks on top of that if your ass fell in a creek on a spring bear hunt.

Carry an axe... Or big knife... If you're on an overnighter. Especially if it's cold enough that you NEED a fire. If I'm wearing a backpack, there's a Gransfors Brux Outdoors axe in it (which is just a cool way to say it's a Swedish Tomahawk) 18 ounces... Besides firewood, it does a great job beating in tent stakes, and it works great for skinning critters and hippies.

If you can't make fire with fatwood, tinder you pick up, a bic, firesteel, and an axe.

You deserve to be removed from the genepool due to a surplus of ignorance.

My strategy is to try to have 3 ways to get a fire lit� all involve vaseline soaked cotton balls, and/or dryer lint, and/or fat wood (of which all are in my small emergency kit).

Plan A- Bic lighter (but these don't work very well in extremely cold weather or high altitude, or high wind. And they can get lost or break.. then your F'd. I carry two.

Plan B- Waterproof matches. But these require a striker and I've had issues with these in the past� if the striker is damp it get's soft and won't light off the match.

Plan C- A Firesteel� hard to get to work if you're not proficient at it and takes a lot of practice to get that way� but if you know how to use it they can save your arse. I carry a magnesium block with mine as well in the event my tinder is damp.

IME, Plan A works most of the time, and I've only had to resort to Plan B a couple times. I've never had to resort to Plan C. Probably a good thing as I only practice with my fire steel every couple of years when I get a whimsy to do it� which means if the rubber ever me the road and I had to use Plan C I'd likely be screwed�

Foxx...

Napalm





Never had a problem with matches in one of these:




More fire-starter goods here.

I make it a point, once winter comes on, to walk the ridge trail near my home and at least make a fire weekly for a hot drink...
To do this I carry water, a tin cup, coffee or cocoa, and a fire steel... No tinder, no fire paste, no cotton balls or vaseline...

The cotton balls and tinder always ride along, but I use shavings and dried grass to start my fire. Most fire steels are quite capable of doing the job if you prepare properly.

I can generally pick up my tinder while I walk, and have my fire made, water heated, and drink finished in a half hour...
It's become a bit of a ritual, and I sorta enjoy the time I spend on it...

That's pretty cool, I might start doing that. It's a great idea, thanks for sharing.

Late to the party and will read through it all, but here are my suggestions:

Boy scout "hot spark" for a lightweight low cost one. Its small and fits on key rings, compass lanyards, or survival necklace

Coughlan (spell?) has a bigger one for about $5 thats stout and works well.

And... Bic lighter or similar without the safety thing in the striker wheel.

I find it is easier to start fire with fire, but watching a hot spark igniting a vaseline soaked cotton ball during our survival segment in youth fire arms safety convince me to carry the cotton balls.

DanAdair, excellent post! You nailed it.

My only problem with Bic type lighters is that I have had a few of them come apart in pocket or pack, so that the striker disassembles itself into little tiny parts. I say Bic type because they may have been knock-offs rather than Bic brand.

Doesn't anyone make a good match striker for lighting 'strike on box' matches? One that will last through dozens of boxes of matches long after the one on the box is worn out? You could attach one to every stove or BBQ. Carry one in your pack along with cheap strike-on-box matches.

In addition to a Bic lighter and a magnesieum block with sparking insert, I carry homemade waterproof matches. They are simple to make. Get some strike anywhere matches, preferably kitchen size, and paint them with fingernail polish. I paint the entire match to prevent any water soaking. Strike on a rough surface when needed. I like to carry these in a plastic waterproof container with a piece of sandpaper (optional).