Burn, baby, burn: Ignition Sources
All modern ignitor rods are pretty much the same. They are made from ferrocerium that is formed into a rod that is scraped with a piece of steel to create a spark. Long ago they were made of flint, but now metallurgy has given us a more reliable alloy that’s made up of iron, cerium and magnesium with a few other metals mixed in. Most ferrocerium rods are chemically identical, so we looked for physical properties to differentiate them. Longer and thicker rods provide more surface area and are easier to control during the scraping stroke. Technique is important, and long, forceful strokes are going to produce lots of sparks, and short, choppy scrapes are less effective.
We found the steel striker had a larger impact on the products performance than the ferrocerium rod. It was hard to tell if it’s the composition of the steel or the shape of the the contact edge, but we tested each of the strikers on different rods and found one striker in particular consistently made the most sparks no matter what rod we used it on. All new rods come from the factory with a coating to prevent oxidizing. The first time you use the rod, you’ll need to scrape through the protective coating to get it sparking.
PRO: reliable, inexpensive, easy to pack.
CON: takes forever to scrape enough magnesium, must have a separate knife, dulls your knife.
PRO: compact, ergonomic, inexpensive, can be used one-handed on a surface or in the air.
CON: plastic housing can break, small stroke length is a little awkward, need to squeeze hard with your thumb which could be tough with numb hands.
PRO: Long stroke surface, plenty of sparks.
CON:Carbide blade is embedded in plastic, can fall out, difficult to use without a firm base.
PRO: Great handles for controlling the tool, storage compartment for WetFire tinder.
CON: Short rod and scraper require a little practice to use, bulky for a survival tool.
Light My Fire Swedish FireSteel Scout $12 GearScout Approved
PRO: Best sparker of the bunch, the scraper made the most sparks when used on all every rod, easy to control.
CON: Scraper lanyard secured with a cordlock that popped off during use. Ditch the doohickey, tie a knot and be done with it.
PRO: A metal version of the venerable spark-Lite is the smallest and lightest of the group, brass construction is tough and won’t rust, very effective one hand operation when used with easily lit tinder. Comes with a handful of Tinder-Quik. High cool-guy factor.
CON: Small spark is very dependent on fine, dry tinder; uses a lighter style flint chip that will need replacement after a few hundred fires. It’s got moving parts that can fail.
ProForce Army and Scout Fire Flints $31/$20
PRO: Simple, rugged, effective. Comes in two sizes. Both have a handle that’s easy to grip. The scrapers are simple the rounded edges won’t cut or snag anything stored with them.
CON: Adequate performance and standard materials don’t justify the high price.
Brunton Striker fire starter $13 http://www.brunton.com/product.php?id=599
PRO: compact, reliable. Some thought went into the design of the scraper. Three angled cutouts have teeth to increase the number of sparks and account for wear of the rod.
CON: The scraper turned out to be the least effective of the group. No matter what edge we used, the resulting sparks were unimpressive.
SolKoa Faststrike kit $16 (w/4 Fastfire tabs)
PRO: Small size with excellent sparking performance and simple construction. Survival oriented design uses a hacksaw blade as a striker that can be used as a tool by itself. Comes with Fastfire tabs and makes it a decent value.
CON: None.
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