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ferro rods


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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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  • #1279544
    Dennis Park
    BPL Member

    @dpark

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    Apart from size, are ferro rods all the same?

    #1781074
    Ken Thompson
    BPL Member

    @here

    Locale: Right there

    They can vary in composition also.

    #1781075
    Dennis Park
    BPL Member

    @dpark

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    OK. I had a suspicion. I received a Mg bar/rod as a gift. Compared to my Light my fire, it's really hard to create a spark.

    Who else sells good rods?

    #1781080
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    "Misch metal" is interesting stuff– it gives of flaming gobs vs sparks. I made a couple fire steels using misch metal blanks and the top barrel off a wood bodied ballpoint pen with JB Weld epoxy. That gives you something to grip and has a pocket clip and the wood looks cool. I like a good ol' Light My Fire mini for my emergency backup though. The pen barrel rigs have languished in my gear locker.

    http://goinggear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4 has the misch metal blanks.

    DIY firesteels

    #1781081
    Dale Wambaugh
    BPL Member

    @dwambaugh

    Locale: Pacific Northwest

    "OK. I had a suspicion. I received a Mg bar/rod as a gift. Compared to my Light my fire, it's really hard to create a spark."

    Try a different scraper, like a section of hacksaw blade. Go slower and more pressure. You may need to work through the coating too.

    #1781082
    Dennis Park
    BPL Member

    @dpark

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    Very aesthetic! I took a chisel and hammer to the handle of my Light my fire to remove it (too bulky and useless weight for me) and wrapped/glued some string to the end of the rod to create a loop. This is then threaded on a lanyard. With the lanyard wrapped around 3-4 fingers, it creates a "handle" for a good grip on the rod blank.

    #1781137
    Nick Larsen
    Member

    @stingray4540

    Locale: South Bay

    Yes, firesteels can be very different in the sparks they produce as well as how to get those sparks. Personally, I would second the recommendation for goinggear.com firesteels. They will produce giant globs of sparks that burn for a long time(compared to LMF)As far as strikers are concerned, I've found the best to be the squared off spine of a fixed blade knife. I always carry a fixed blade knife, even if it's a small one. Just put it in a vise(between some leather) and take a file to the spine until it is nice and flat and you have to nice sharp 90degree angles.

    #1781144
    Erik Basil
    BPL Member

    @ebasil

    Locale: Atzlan

    I want to check out that mischo-metal or whatnot, after reading its description — which underscores that there are different alloy/mixes in the market for ferro-steel striking rods. I like how they sell various sizes.

    I've tried a few and like those used in the Light My Fire units, which seem easy to generate sparks with for me, and for the youth in my Scout troop. I have also seen a few that are much harder to generate good spark with, including one this summer that a boy couldn't even get to spark at all and I had to really wrench on it to force a spark. Blah.

    Now, those "classic" blocks of magnesium with a striker embedded in one edge? Double-blech! First, they're hard as heck to carve shavings off of without hauling around a file, and they're a great way to ruin the blade of a knife after you figure out the back of it ain't gonna do. Second, the shavings are more work than they're worth unless you do use a file and then the striker is only so-so. Don't do it at Scout camp, but the best use might be as a "beacon fire" when you're out in the desert with the big kids… think of it like a little bitty piece of a VW block. :)

    #1781156
    Mike M
    BPL Member

    @mtwarden

    Locale: Montana

    the technique for the "harder" ferro rods (ala LMF) is different than the "softer" misch metal ones (going gear, firesteel.com, etc), the misch metals ones need a faster, more aggressive stroke- takes more practice imo but the reward are larger, longer burning globules of sparks- the LMF style ones produce a spark more readily and you can use a slower, more controlled stroke

    like anything, practice makes perfect

    I use both and don't really have a preference, both are effective- just need to use a slightly different technique

    #1781232
    Tony Wong
    BPL Member

    @valshar

    Locale: San Francisco Bay Area

    May not directly answer your question, but I have bought fire steels from this site and they come in a number of sizes and very reasonable, dare I say, cheap too.

    http://firesteel.com/

    I hot glued one of the shorter ones into a cork to make a very light weight handle.

    -Tony

    #1781240
    drowning in spam
    Member

    @leaftye

    Locale: SoCal

    I also bought a couple from Firesteel.com

    #1781242
    Cayenne Redmonk
    BPL Member

    @redmonk

    Locale: Greater California Ecosystem

    I liked the firesteel.com more than goinggear.com, but both had larger globs than LMF products.

    I have an easier time sparking the firesteel rods without a special sparker.

    #1781247
    Steve Gaioni
    BPL Member

    @sgaioni

    Locale: Mid-Atlantic

    I gave up on ferro rods after injuring a hand in the backcountry and realizing that I was then officially SOL with a LMF. I've since gone to a Spark-Lite. Lighter, easier to operate (one-handed). Same, if not better result IMHO.

    #1781263
    Mike M
    BPL Member

    @mtwarden

    Locale: Montana

    you can effectively spark a ferro rod one handed- little practice helps though :)

    #1781264
    Javan Dempsey
    Member

    @jdempsey

    Locale: The-Stateless-Society

    Yeah the Gobspark rods from firesteel.com are great.

    You need a really hard sharp piece of steel to get great strikes off them, or a piece of carbide (the best striker material ever), but they drop huge embers that burn forever.

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