CHEAP! Fire Steels

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Morning all,

There are LOTS of cheap fire steels on Amazon at the moment.

Has anyone been using them? How do they compare to the normal £10 - £15 steels?

Can there really be that much difference between them? We get through lots of steels a year and would like to make some savings.

Manufacturing costs must be negligible for even the most expensive steels, why the make up???

Charge on! :)
 

Hibrion

Maker
Jan 11, 2012
1,230
7
Ireland
I have a mid price range fero rod, and it works fine for me. However, I have had the opportunity to use a light my fire one, and there was a difference. It was easier to cast a spark from the LMF version and the shower of sparks was noticeably brighter.

Having said that, I can get a fire going with mine easily and I'm not about to rush out and buy a more expensive one. Hope that helps.
 

woodpoet

Full Member
Mar 16, 2012
1,419
2
Walthamstow
Have bought two lots of eight from e-bay. they seem to work fine for me. Don't compare them with others as long as they spark and start char cloth.
 

almac

Forager
Oct 13, 2010
157
0
Okanagan, BC CANADA
I have several ferro rods, from an exotac nanostriker, coglahn's, and a few cheap no name brands(like a cheap Chinese 'strikeforce' imitation.
they work well for me, never had an issue except with the cheap coglahn's magnesium bar/striker.
the cheap coglahn's magnesium bar is junk and doesn't work very well; the flint also fell out after a short time.
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
25
Cumbria
For me they all work the same but it is the strikers that they are supplied with that are rubbish. If used with the back of a knife with a 90 degree spine they all work great.
 

Shewie

Mod
Mod
Dec 15, 2005
24,259
24
48
Yorkshire
I've had a couple of ferro rods which have been garbage, one of them came with a top end knife too.

Being a smoker it's pretty rare I need one but I carry the mini LMF in my bag of many things
 

Druss

Forager
Jul 28, 2013
108
0
Leeds
I just ordered 2 of these for me and the mrs for £1.12 each, will let you know if they are any good when they arrive.
 

MartiniDave

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 29, 2003
2,355
130
62
Cambridgeshire
I picked a couple of cheap ones up from Mountain Warehouse and found you need a VERY good scraper to get a spark from them, and they don't seem to burn a well or cleanly as the LMF ones, of course, you mileage may vary, but I only use the LMF or Ray Mears ones "for real" & keep the cheapies for practicing with.

Dave
 

Clouston98

Woodsman & Beekeeper
Aug 19, 2013
4,364
2
25
Cumbria
How do the Ray Mears ones perform I've never used one? My personal favourite is the light my fire army oak because they work well and look nice :cool:.
 

MartiniDave

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 29, 2003
2,355
130
62
Cambridgeshire
I've got a couple of the Ray Mears one bought from Woodlore as blanks, they are a little softer than the Light My Fire ones, but throw really big, hot sparks very easily. I think they would be my first choice, followed by the LMF. I haven't yet tried the Primus ones, but they look pretty good.

Dave
 

copper_head

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 22, 2006
4,261
1
Hull
+1 for the RM ones (I think they may be made by Wildo, but its perfectly possible I dreamed that). I've tried various and they are my favourite, huge showers of sparks!
 

rancid badger

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
In my experience ( a fair bit, even if I do say so myself) over the last 30 years, in both "professional" and "leisure" pursuits, its the striker that makes the main difference.

I've used all sorts of ferro rod spark generators, including some "homemade" efforts, made from lighter flints, put together by an instructor on my first "E&E" course ( which actually worked well), through the daft little tin backed, keyring things:yuck:( as linked above somewhere) and on through the myriad of various sized offerings available today.

All of them worked, mostly quite well, as long you had a decent straight edged striker, rather than a bit of hacksaw blade, to strike the sparks.

The rods from Mr. Mears are a bit softer than most and I've found that they generate a better shower of sparks than any other rod I've tried but the LMF one is almost as good and to be absolutely truthful, all the rods I've tried with my own striker blades;
[video=youtube;bc2wQ9ryts0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bc2wQ9ryts0&list=TLjLB rMEIraxo[/video]
have produced a very good crop of workable sparks and I've tried over 20 different rods, some of them very cheap, others stupidly expensive.

This is partly down to method and practice but mostly using the correct tool for the job, rather than a bit of hacksaw blade or the back of a knife-(any knife, I really don't care how expensive it is or what Mr. Mears says or does!:naughty:)

Get a decent striker and save some cash by buying a cheap firesteel;)

Happy Days

Steve
 

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