This thing is a beast, without being to big and cumbersome. Now, I don’t mind carrying a large pocket knife, or wearing a large ferro rod, such as this one, around my neck. But, if you’re the type annoyed by anything even remotely bulky, you’ll want to carry this in a backpack, purse, whatever. It throws great sparks, and you will probably never live long enough to use it up. Starting tomorrow (12-14-18) I’m setting off to trek around North America for the next couple of years. I’m quite spontaneous, but it’s currently 38 degrees outside, so this adventure is seeming pretty stupid, even to me, at this point...LOL. Anyway, once it arrived, and I gave it a test run. I’m quite confident that, even if it were my only means of starting fires on this crazy quest (which is going to be least twice a day, for about 2 years), I doubt that I’ll need a replacement. But, being an outdoor enthusiast, and someone whose inner child still digs throwing sparks by striking a metal rod, I’ll be getting a few more anyway...LOL. I have no opinion regarding the attached metal striker. I cut the cord that was attaching it it to the ferro rod, and tossed it. That’s not to say it seemed poorly constructed, or anything, but when you plan on carrying everything you own on your back for the next 2 plus years, you tend to get a bit anal-retentive about weight. I’m carrying an Opinel No. 9 for such things, so the striker had to go...LOL. It’s a great product, high quality, and I feel the price was absolutely justified and reasonable. For me, buying this ferro rod was a no-brainer. When I finally get back to living in civilization, I’ll be buying one to stash in each backpack, bug-out-bag and haversack I own. 🤙 Read more
Decent quality Read more
Make a nice handle for your firestick from a rawhide boot lace I chose the 8” model with the intent of adding a handle using just a strip of 1/8” wide rawhide boot lace. When completed four and a half inches remain exposed. Considering it’s a half inch stick that should be good for a very long time. I did not like the feel of the raw rod in my hand, and pictured it when very cold. Materials: 1. The 8” long half inch firestick Überleben Kräftig 1/2" Thick Fire Starter | Bushcraft Ferro Rod | 5" or 8" XL Lengths | 20,000 Strikes | All Weather Emergency Survival Camping | 6 in 1 Multi-Tool - Size 8" x 1/2" 2. A 40 inch long rawhide boot lace, 1/8” square – end to end (does not taper) 40 Inch Fresh Tan Rawhide Leather Laces for all Quality Footwear 1/8 Inch Square Cut Rawhide 3. A bottle of Boot-Fix Glue Boot-Fix Shoe Glue: Instant Professional Grade Shoe Repair Glue 4. A tin Bear Grease leather conditioner BEAR Leather Dressing Bear Grease (3.5 Oz) 5. A very small pin 6. A medium size binder clip Staples Medium Metal Binder Clips, Black, 1 1/4" Size with 5/8"Capacity 7. Needle Nose pliers, I use Leatherman Super Tool Leatherman - Super Tool 300 Multitool, Stainless Steel with Leather Sheath 8. A piece of fine grit sandpaper 9. A paper towel folded to make it thick 10. A sheet of scrap paper Procedure: 1. Coat the rawhide boot lace with Bear Grease – taking care to also coat the ends 2. Allow the boot lace to dry overnight – wipe off any excess 3. Wearing eye protection, cut the pointy end of the pin such that it is now 3/8 inch in length, discard the other end with the wide “pushing” end 4. Insert one end of boot lace into hole in firestick sticking out about 1/4 inch 5. TIGHTLY wind the boot lace around the firestick. As you wind push the loops tightly toward the end of the firestick with the hole. Make sure it is tightly wound and pushed together snugly. 6. Attach the binder clip as shown, to hold the last loop of rawhide in place. This will be a bit difficult. The objective is to have the end of the bootlace secured, with the side facing the long end of the firestick in the clear for the next step. 7. Using needle nose pliers, place, point sticking out, the partial needle. Only expose about a third of the needle, about 1/8 of an inch. If more is exposed the needle will bend in the next step. 8. Push the needle, about 1/8 inch from the end of the bootlace into the bootlace. This push is from the long end toward the end with the hole, and the needle section is parallel to the firestick.. Slide the pliers back again another 1/8 of an inch, push again. Repeat for the remaining part of the needle. The objective is to secure the final part of the bootlace to the prior 2 turns to secure the final section. Push the tiny bit not inserted to make needle flush. 9. The 3/8 inch needle now is thru the last loop and also the 2 prior loops and will secure the bootlace from unraveling. 10. Remove the binder clip, again push coil toward hole in firestick to compress the loops tightly. 11. Wear eye protection and, if you have them disposable rubber gloves for next step. 12. Holding the long end of the firestick horizontally, apply a line of Boot-Fix Glue to the top of the bootlace coil; do this over the sheet of scrap paper in case any drips. 13. Use the piece of paper towel (about 8 thicknesses) to spread the glue evenly to all parts of the bootlace. It helps to turn the long end while wiping with the paper towel. Work the glue into the tiny gaps between the turns, but work quickly – you have about 30 seconds. The glue will stick to fingers, vegetable oil is the solvent to remove it – but it works slowly. No harm is done if some glue gets on the firestick, it will come off easily. 14. Allow at least an hour for the glue to dry. It takes time because it is the glue between the turns that must become dry. 15. When dry the “handle” will feel rough and unpleasant. 16. Gently sand the TOP of the loops to remove most of the rough texture, getting most of it off is enough. It will now look ugly, with some parts white, some brown, etc. 17. Wipe the sanding dust off with some paper towel 18. Apply an additional light coat of Bear Grease to ALL of the bootlace, ends too. 19. I used toenail clippers to trim the part sticking out of the hole to be level with the loops. 20. Allow about an hour for the light coat of Bear Grease to dry. 21. Admire your new handle. NOTE: The STRIKER is key to getting a shower of sparks and hot globs. The supplied one was adequate but not great. I verify from a prior review that the best striker is the back side of the saw tool on a Leatherman tool. The combination of this firestick with the back side of the saw on the Leatherman might make this combination qualify as a weapon! It's that amazing. When using the Leatherman there is a firm grip and a very long active scraping component. Try other scrapers, some will make a wimpy spark, others will amaze A click that you liked this review or even better a click and a comment would be appreciated. Read more
The media could not be loaded. This rod and striking tool don't look like much, but they are super effective. The first few strikes are mostly to clear the black coating off of a section, revealing the metal beneath. Once we were striking metal, the sparks were plentiful. While the multitool wasn't too effective at making shavings with the fatwood (perhaps it's too hard with all the resin), it did work okay on a chunk of typical firewood. Striking the ferro rod with the back of a pocket knife was equally effective, if not slightly more due to the extra grip we had. The 5 inch length was perfect for our kids to get a good grip and have plenty of striking distance. As amateurs, we're very happy we didn't go for a shorter rod. We purchased this and some fatwood for our kids (ages 11-13) to learn how to make a fire. We often go camping and they love helping us build the campfire. As you can see in the video, our inexperienced 13 year old was able to start a fire in just a few minutes by shaving a little fatwood and using this rod. Note to add that he is our non-athletic kid. If he can do it, there's a REALLY good chance you can too. The adults were easily able to get 5 times as many sparks per strike. Read more
The media could not be loaded. We got this for our nine year old for him to learn how to use for an outdoor group we're a part of called Trail Life. We got it as a stocking stuffer for him for Christmas. He thinks it's really cool and he was able to get a lot of good sized sparks. It's a nice size, easy to hold onto, bigger than some other ones we've tried. Read more
This Rod is is great and well established. I don't want to take anything away from this but I got to be honest in my review by saying that for the price of this I found rods that perform equally if not better than this and far cheaper. But they are established and have good quality rods so the review will stand at four stars. You're not going to go wrong with this rod. Read more
If you are looking for a reliable and solidly constructed fire steel NOT made in China, look no further! I am thoroughly impressed with the quality and wish I had come across this brand first. Five stars from me! Read more
