Heavy Duty Rod

This thing is fantastic. In a nutshell : Very big, easy to hold easy to grip. Will last probably for tens of thousands of scrapes. Sparks extremely easily. Very durable. The spray of sparks is wider and much more dense than smaller steels. Basically it’s very easy to catch tinder on fire Even works sweat . The whole is big enough for a para cord lanyard . Can use as a self-defense tool in a pinch. Just too fun to use and unlike my smaller steals I don’t worry about using it all up . OK you may be wondering what’s the point of carrying something so big and heavy to start a fire waiting for the same weight and bulk you could have a 10 pack of lighters. And I would say that this is ultimately durable, waterproof , will never leak , Will never evaporate , will probably light fires for my great grandkids, Will never malfunction , works on cloudy days ( unlike a lens) and it’s just a way cooler way to start a fire than matches or a lighter. Fire steels are not equal. I’ve owned dozens of them from the quite expensive boutique camping outfits down to the one dollar Chinese clones, And I can tell you with all certainty that the formulation makes a tremendous difference. In the amount of sparks, the heat of sparks, the duration of the sparks, the ease at which it sparks, and ultimately how many strikes you get per volume of material. These guys are the real deal and yeah they cost more than the copies. I own many imitation are clones of fire steals but not of these giant rods. I can maybe assume they’re made from the same inferior formulation of ferrocerium as their smaller counterparts. From the reviews I’ve read there’s enough unsatisfied customers of the imitators I decided to go with the original name brand giant steel rod. And they’re only about 30% more cost wise. Although there’s a few really cheap ones that ship direct from China but I just wouldn’t trust my life to those. And if they stink you can’t return them because shipping cost 10 times as much as the original item. So I went ahead and bought these and I do not regret it one bit. I rarely regret buying quality and these are the very essence of quality. I bought some really good scrapers but just about any scraper will do for these. I’ve used a knife spine, some rocks, sandpaper, Emery cloth, and various sharpened and filed steel bits, and they all get really good sparks. I tried to measure with a micrometer an estimate how many fires I’d be able to start with this thing but man it’s just too big. I imagine it’s tens of thousands andif I have great grandkids, they can still be using this same firesteel when they go camping. I bought the two pack of the 5 inch rods and I suspect I will never have to buy another one as long as I don’t lose them. One thing I did now is that the other rods have too small a hole to fit 55 Paracord through and I wove a little lanyard with the scraper and it fit this one perfectly. I made the mistake of testing it in the living room and almost set the rug on fire. This thing makes huge sparks! I may go ahead and buy one of the cheaper imitations just to review it and compare. I’ll give an update here. And as usual always test your gear before you go out in the bush. And in this case you definitely want to sand off the coating on at least part of the rod, so you won’t have to do that in the field. Be careful when doing so because you can spark it with sandpaper. I used 500 grit in that small enough not to have to worry about it. You can see in the vid my scraper that I also bought on Amazon, and I made the lanyard out of Survivor Cord ( Paracord with extra goodies inside with the nylon braids) that has a wax tinder filament in the core. I’m pretty sure I can’t provide the link to the scraper because I don’t think we’re supposed to do that and every time I give you my reviews get deleted, But I got them from Steve Kaeser wilderness supply, And they are the best scrapers I’ve ever used. High-quality carbon steel and you can buy them one at a time, you don’t have to buy a 10 pack. When I head out into the wilderness, I always bring at least four ways to make a fire and that doesn’t include a magnifying glass which is in my first aid kit. I carry a couple of lighters, waterproof matches, and a good fire steel. I also carry some waxed or oiled cotton. Even when your lighter runs out you can use the flint wheel to still make sparks to ignite it, so I usually don’t toss my lighters. I cut the bottoms off and just keep the tops for emergencies sparkers. It may seem like overkill but I actually lost a large amount of my gear on a river trip once, but because I spread out my fire making stuff, I was able to make a fire ( it was a fire steel that I kept in my boot laces ) and was able to stay warm at night, until help came in the morning. You wont regret getting this one, and as always be safe and enjoy yourself.

Pretty much like any other ferro rod except it's nice and large so you can make big swipes and still be able to hold on to it comfortably. Your results will largely depend on your striker, your skill, and your tinder. I use broken pieces of old hacksaw blades and use the back where I can find a sharp corner. After a few swipes you scrape off the black coating and develop a flat spot. Then they work fine and produce enough sparks to get the right tinder going pretty quickly. Use fuzzy tinder, the finer and fuzzier the better. I like the commercial cotton pieces infused with fuel that I can shred and fluff up or fire cord (amazing stuff) where I can do the same. Lots of similar options are available right here on Amazon. With the right tinder it will only take a few strokes. With the wrong tinder you can be there for 20+ minutes and get "upsetty spaghetti". My daughters and I always use this to start campfires and we have started them the easy way and the hard way. I recommend the easy way... get good tinder and a sharp striker!

I bought these for my get-home bags as backup for matches and lighters. They arrived in good time, in adequate packaging, and undamaged. My EDC knife works well as a striker - plenty of sparks. Perfect for my needs.

These ferrocerium rods are perfect! The large diameter, and length make them easy to hold on to, and the lanyard hole is good for using with 550 or, as in my case, a great anchor for epoxy. I drilled a hole, just slightly larger than the diameter of the rod, into a piece of resin impregnated pine (fat wood). I then lightly scuffed the end of the ferro rod with very course sand paper, and set it in the “fat wood” with 5 minute epoxy. I now have a handle, and an emergency source of kindling. This rod throws absolute flames! It’s just soft enough to make curls or molten metal, but not soft enough to be used up in a short amount of time. It really is a bargain at this price!

Great product

May be a bit to overkill to take camping with you, but it is a LOT of ferrocerium for the money. I bought it to keep in my "hunker down" supplies - I lived through Hurricane Ike and was unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it) stuck at girl's house whom I had just met and due to her ill-preparedness, we had to make do with what we had. FIRE and sustainable heat for cooking was a major problem. We had a grill but no charcoal or lighter fluid. I DID have a ferrocerium rod in my pack, with it, I was able to improvise fires to cook and make coffee with. Every serious prepper should have one of these (or the 6" version) stashed away in their home. It throws fantastic sparks and so huge that it should last a few years of daily years at least. I am definitely satisfied with my purchase and will probably be picking up a 6" "Just in case"... Tinder and fuel can be abundant, however, the ignition source can be difficult to procure in times of emergency. For the price, you absolutely can't go wrong.

Nice size and works as intended, would buy again

they work well and spark very strong, small enough to store in bag or pocket but just big enough to still get a good grip to use