What's the point in Ferrocerium?

[Pappa]

My own interest in bushcraft comes from a fascination with our unknown ancestors and their apparent greater skill at doing just about anything except driving a car or using a computer. I'll admit, I'm biased, and yes, if I did have a one way ticket on a time machine, I would go back 12,000 years or more.

The one thing I can't fathom in Bushcraft is, what's the point in Ferrocerium? I understand the fascination of learning to light fire with Pyrite or a bow drill, etc., but why's Ferrocerium so great?

Why not just use a butane lighter, or even matches?

It's not even like Ferrocerium is indestructable (and thus a useful survival tool). Doesn't it disintegrate if it gets wet?

I'm not having a go at any Ferrocerium fans here, but does anyone else agree with me?

Pappa

 

[Eric_Methven]

Mine comes in the form of a Firesteel (Swedish military type). I suppose I could carry matches or a lighter, but I don't smoke so don't need them as a matter of course, so I am unlikely to have either on my person unless specifically going out to do bushcrafty stuff. The firesteel stays in my pocket all the time though along with my folding penknife which I use constantly. It serves two practical purposes in my day to day activities.

One, it gives me piece of mind that I can get a fire going with little effort should the need arise.
Two, it is a great conversation piece when I am talking to others about bushcraft skills. I can pull it from my pocket in an instant and show anyone a shower of sparks without pausing or having to set some display up. I couldn't manage that with a bow and drill or flint and steel. It's just handy to have around.

Like any other tool it depends on who's using it and their level of knowledge as to how useful it is, and while I think it is essential for any bushcrafter worth their salt to learn firemaking with both flint and steel and bow and drill, a firesteel can be a handy gizmo at last light, when the lighter has run out of gas and the safety matches won't strike because the box is damp.

So, asking what's the point is a bit like asking why use a tent and not a debris shelter, or why use a sleeping bag when there's plenty of dry grass or straw around to pile over you. It comes back to piece of mind and convenience I suppose.

Eric

 

[Pappa]

You're right of course, and to each his own. It does also look great when you create a huge shower of sparks from little more than a slow scrape, but to my mind, I just can shake of the feeling that it's sort of cheating. It's daft I know.

Pappa

 

[fa11en ange1]

As someone new to Bushcraft the way I look at it is this. Firesteel is a very simple way for someone who has yet to acquire the knowledge or skill of using a bow drill or steel and flint to practice the use of different tinder and what to actually do with an ember/flame once you have one.

I know that once I finally perfect the art of transferring spark to fire I will turn my attention to the more technical methods. That said though I imagine I will continue to carry a firesteel purely because of it is simple, quick and reliable if I need a fire ASAP. Also lighting a trangia via bow drill would be problematic I suspect

 

[Hoodoo]

Well, in the strictest sense, if bushcrafters limit themselves to only traditional materials, then you need to think about the knife you use, your shoes and clothes, the pack you carry, your cooking gear, the medicine you take, the car you drive to the meet, the computer you use to discuss this, etc. etc. There are those who only follow the primitive path but I think most bushcrafters including the famous Mr. Mears, blend in the new with the old. Life has always been filled with compromises. I think ferro rods are popular because they are a simple but highly functional piece of kit. I think those two elements appeal to a bushcraft state of mind.

 

[jamesdevine]

This thread is running along a similar vain to one Viking had earlier about using sleeping bag in the winter. He was it neccasary?

No it was if you have the known how and the means to create alternative shelthers, using clothing effectively. A sleeping bag is more convinent when your time is short.

Also I see the ferro rod as a natural progression from the flint and steel and man/woman have always used anything that made life easier. Hence the progression from using fire by friction to flint and steel in the first place.

James

 

[arctic hobo]

For me it's just a match that lasts a bit longer than 1 strike

 

[jamesdevine]

Arctic Hobo on the art of Zen. Very good.

James

 

[Pappa]

It's true that Ferrocerium is a natural progression from firesteel and the like, but personally, I just think that if I want an easy way to light a fire, I'd rather use a lighter.

The practice thing is really valid though. If I'd have had to try to light my first fire with pyrite without ever having loads of chances to use a army issue firesteel first, I probably never would have bothered.

Anyway, none of us need to justify our preference for different techniques. As were all doing it for enjoyment in the end, it just down to what floats your boat.

Pappa

 

[Graham_S]

what i use depends on what i'm doing. for my candle, i'll either use a lighter or a match. for my stove i generally use a firesteel. and for a full blown fire, either a flint and steel striker or a bow-drill depending on the circumstances.

 

[Wayne]

i think using a firesteel teaches people the basic principals of fire. To be successful you have to get a decent amount of tinder and kindling etc. A lighter allows you to cut corners. i carry a lighter a fire steel a maginifying glass and matches. I generally use the fire steel.

It's terribly hard to live a truely primitive lifestyle in our modern thermoplastic existance.

 

[leon-1]

Wayne is correct "what is the point of a firesteel?". Simply put it teaches people the basics.

How many times have you tried other firelighting methods and failed, firesteels are a pretty good means of proving that fire is within everyones grasp.

On top of that if you have nothing to fall back on you may be looking at a very cold night and you will not survive many of those

 

[match]

The reason I like firesteels (well, in fact any tinder and ember/spark-based lighting method) is that it is windproof - in fact windyness helps you a lot by keeping the ember burning brightly.

You could go through an entire box of matches before you managed to get anything alight in a 70mph wind... And often a lighter won't light in windy conditions as the gas disperses too quickly.

Maybe that just comes from living in Scotland for too long

If you want to object to ferrocium on the grounds that its not good for purists (i.e its not flint/steel, or pyrite and flint, or other combination) thats a different debate

 

[R-J]

i'll go with the each to thier own theory, so here's my 2p's worth...

i've always got a lighter in my brew-kit because its so easy to use (depending on the conditions), but i alaso have on me a magblock with striker. the block is there as a back up i guess, peace of mind/just in case... i've not got a fire steel yet, but its on my to get list (along with a flint & steel)!

 

[Hoodoo]

i'll go with the each to thier own theory, so here's my 2p's worth...

i've always got a lighter in my brew-kit because its so easy to use (depending on the conditions), but i alaso have on me a magblock with striker. the block is there as a back up i guess, peace of mind/just in case... i've not got a fire steel yet, but its on my to get list (along with a flint & steel)!

R-J, when you say you have a "magblock with striker" what do you mean? Are you talking about a magblock with a ferro rod glued to it. If so, then you do have a fire steel.

 

[Stuart]

this is an example of the scope of bushcraft

bushcraft is a scale with 'survival' on one end and 'true primitve' on the other



SURVIAL <--------------------------------------------------> TRUE PRIMITVE


the fire steel was designed as a survival tool for the military, to a trained person its is a more reliable means of creating fire than matches or a lighter.

it is far more compact for the number of fires that it produces than a lighter or matches, is not effected by wind and it works even after submersion in water and cannot be broken. (you can snap one but it still works)

they do corrode if left in extremely damp conditions for long periods of time but they still work, just scrape away the corroded area (if matches or lighters were left in the same conditions for the same period of time they would be useless)

survival is often the starting point for people who get involved in bushcraft, and they then progress towards the true primitive end of the scale as there skills increase.

bushcraft is about combining new knowledge with the old, this allows us to use the most effective tool for a situation and then if that tool is lost or broken we have the knowledge to make do with other techniques

when I go on expedition I carry a lighter and a ferrocium rod in my backup equipment because lighters can be unreliable.

if should I lose my equipment however I can make fire by friction, I dont aim to know just a few ways of making fire, I aim to know and be practiced in them all.

if I am on expedition or out camping do I always go true primitive? No, I do very occasionally for fun but not always, because that would mean finding myself a piece of flint and knapping it into an edged tool, then locating suitable woods from which I could carve a bowdrill set and then comes the hard bit, I have to find a make nettle cordage strong enough to be used on the bow.

before anyone points out that I could use a hand drill to make fire remember that the hand drill is not a native technique in the UK and even a very experienced person would have difficulty making a handrill set work unless they had wood which was extremely dry, not a reliable means in the UK

Some may ask why I don’t just take a flint knife and bowdrill set with me all the time when I go out, as I did with Marcja last weekend.

the answer is simple a fire steel is smaller, lighter and more effective, carry less by knowing more that’s Bushcraft and with the time saved I can learn and practice new techniques

 

[Pappa]

OK, OK, you've all won me over. I see now that ferro does have certain important advantages over a lighter. It's not a redundant bit of kit at all.

And all this being aside from them just being fun to use too.



Pappa