How to Use a Firesteel

In my discussion of equipment for emergency wilderness survival, I mention that ferrocerium rods (A.K.A. "firesteels", "ferro rods", "metal matches", and "sparking rods") are "my first choice for lighting fires", "my favorite type of firestarting device", and [they] "are more reliable than anything else when conditions are less than ideal". Many others speak similar praise about them. Adrian and Kathie Kingsley-Hughes say, "This small, simple, waterproof, no expiry date piece of kit is probably the single, most well thought out and practical piece of outdoor survival kit you could possibly have," and, "Super bit on kit that means you should have no excuse not to be able to get a fire going under pretty much any circumstances with the minimal of kit." Bodo Hornberger says, "Forget matches and lighters––the Swedish Firesteel is a compact and unbreakable fire striker that you can depend on to work perfectly in any weather––rain and snow, high humidity or even strong winds!" Ferro rods are used by many survival experts, such as Ray Mears, Ron Hood, Greg Davenport, Christopher Nyerges, Chris Janowski, David Alloway, Lars Fält, and Doug Ritter. Futher, sparking rods, in various forms, are also standard survival kit for the U.S. Army, the British Royal Air Force and SAS, the Swedish Army, and many others.

They sound great... until you get one in your hand and give it a try. Upon giving it a try, many people experience disappointment. Spark-based firestarting isn't immediately easy, and many people find they can't light wood... they can't light anything, except, perhaps, cotton balls. For example, Seth Schultz's Swedish FireSteel review says: "While kind of fun to play with (it does make a lot of sparks per strike). I found this to be a rather lame fire starter tool. While it says the sparks are several thousand degrees, I found it rather difficult (but possible) to light ideal materials like a piece of klenex and my gas stove top. Both took many tries. Lighting a plain piece of paper? I can't even scorch it. Good luck starting a fire with this thing out in the open with damp materials."

Like Seth, many become convinced that the buzz about firesteels is hype, and deem them unworthy. Others become convinced that theirs must be defective or low quality; and they start searching for higher quality firesteels.

I, too, was perplexed. In a long-ago online discussion about firestarters and tinders, I once wrote, "I've heard of people lighting shavings of fatwood from a spark... However, I have never managed to do it, myself... If anyone can give me help starting a fire directly with fatwood, I'd be very appreciative". Fortunately, I asked for help, rather than give up, or waste time pursuing false leads.

My friend Carl graciously and patiently provided the introductory instruction I needed. Since then, I've learned more about firesteels, through practice, problem solving, observation and experimentation. The buzz about firesteels isn't hype. A ferrocerium rod is a credible means of reliably igniting most any tinder, once you learn its secrets.

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The Basics:

There are myriad variations to striking technique, striking angle, striker choice, chosen material for tinder, method of conversion of said material into tinder, and so forth. There's no single best way; there are many effective ways. However, all of the most effective ways have the same basics in common. All of them involve (A) transferring as much heat as possible, within the briefest duration possible, into the material to be ignited, in as concentrated of a spot as possible; and (B) preparation of the material to be ignited, so that any specific spot on the material can be rapidly heated to ignition temperatures from very small sources of heat. Keep (A) and (B) in mind, as you explore your possibilities, and you will be able to quickly develop the right ways for you.

1) striking technique

With firesteels, best technique can be misleading. The self-taught technique that I originally developed involved holding the striker steady, and pull-scraping the rod up the striker, toward me. I had developed this particular technique because it made precisely aiming sparks onto the tinder easy. Many firesteel users develop the same technique, for the same reason. For "easy" tinders (those with a fairly low ignition temperature), like cotton balls, dryer lint, steel wool, foxtail, cattail, and pampas grass, this method worked beautifully. In fact, this method worked so well on easy tinders, that I didn't realize it only works well on easy tinders. The problem is: This pull-scrape technique of casting sparks onto the fatwood shavings involves the ferro sparks traveling an inch or two before they hit the tinder. Thus, the sparks I was casting were "cool" by the time they contacted my tinder. These "cool" sparks were hot enough to easily ignite easy tinders, but were not hot enough to ignite tinders with a high ignition temperature. While flicking sparks is the right technique when igniting volatile chemicals (where you want some distance), methods involving casting the sparks will limit you to only the easiest tinders.

The technique Carl taught me involved propping the ferro rod directly in the tinder, and scraping the striker along the ferro rod, right down into the tinder. With this technique, the sparks do not travel at all before contacting the tinder. Thus, the sparks are still at their hottest, when they make contact. The difference within this mere inch or two is at least several hundred degrees.

Additionally, when I had been employing a pull-scrape technique, I made light, fast strikes of the striker across the firesteel. This was natural, since I was holding both the ferro rod and the striker in the air, and the only resistance was the the two items, scraping against each other. Light, fast strokes are enough to produce an impressive looking shower of sparks. I didn't even realize how much more was possible.

Carl taught me to make smooth, consistent, "slow", high pressure strikes. Since the tip of the rod is anchored down firmly against the tinder (and whatever the tinder is resting upon), it offers much greater resistance, allowing for one to bear down upon the rod with a lot of one's body weight going into the strike. Whereas my previous technique cast a shower of sparks, the technique I learned from Carl casts a veritable flood of sparks. This technique puts out both more sparks and larger sparks. A much larger quantity of sparks equals a much greater total heat output per strike. Also, larger sparks burn longer, again, creating a greater total heat output per strike.

Imagine that you held a pot of water over a single candle's flame for half an hour. While a candle's flame is much hotter than 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the water wouldn't come to a boil, because a single candle's heat output isn't enough raise the water's temperature to the boiling point faster than the pot of water will dissipate most of the heat. Now imagine that you held the pot of water over a few dozen candles's flames for half an hour. While each individual candle's flame is the same temperature as the single candle which couldn't boil the water, the total heat output of all the candles will eventually bring the water to a boil, because their combined heat output is enough to raise the water's temperature to the boiling point faster than the pot of water can dissipate the heat. The same principle applies to sparks heating tinder. More sparks per strike, with their greater combined heat output, will heat the tinder hotter than fewer sparks per strike would, even if the sparks are the same temperature in both cases. Thereby, more sparks per strike helps make it possible to bring more challenging tinders to their higher ignition temperatures.

You will know you're generating a good flood of sparks when striking the firesteel almost burns your fingertips. You'll know that you're generating good, large sparks when some of your sparks bounce, and momentarily make soft popping and sizzling noises. With a little practice, scraping the sparks directly down into the tinder, and using slow, high pressure strokes, will open up the the possibilities of igniting most combustible materials.

2) firesteel size

Ferrocerium rods of different sizes.

Longer ferro rods work better than shorter ones, and larger diameter ferro rods work better than smaller diameter ferro rods. Larger firesteels allow you to strike a larger surface area, and thereby create more sparks per strike. Larger firesteels also allow for a better grip, which lets you strike the ferrocerium rod both harder and more adeptly.

3) striker quality

Some strikers work better than others. The sharper the striker's edge, the more sparks it generates. (To be clear, by sharp edge, I do not mean "acute angled edge". Even a 90 degree angled edge will work very well, if the edge is sharp. By "sharp", I'm referring to how much the planes meet at an abrupt angle, on a microscopic level, without being rounded.) The harder the striker, the more sparks it generates. Jagged strikers (like the saw edge of a hacksaw blade) generate more sparks than smooth strikers. (However, jagged strikers quickly tear up the firesteel, and are not really necessary.) Larger strikers, where you can get a better grip and scrape more forcefully, work better than smaller strikers which are hard to grip. Overall, the quality of the striker can make an enormous difference to your success with a ferro rod. Don't settle for a low quality striker. Try several hacksaw blades, different knife spines, nail files... whatever you can. Then go with the one that works best.

An inferior striker which came with one of my ferrocerium rods

A better striker, made from a piece of hacksaw blade

While on the subject of the importance of the quality of the striker, please note that the strikers which come with most sparking rods are awful. Puzzling but true, Swedish Firesteel (and Kershaw, and Light My Fire) provide branded, dedicated strikers which barely work, when they could've provided far superior strikers for less (such as pieces of broken hacksaw blade). Many people are vexed by their firesteels, simply because they naturally assume that they ought to use the dedicated strikers which come with their firesteels. These provided strikers can be improved by sharply squaring their edges, though they will still be somewhat sub-optimal, because the steel should be harder.

4) tinder preparation

Fatwood shavings, next to a quarter, for size reference. These fatwood shavings show how tinder should ideally be prepared: very thin, low mass per volume, fluffy, with a lot of surface area.

This pile of shavings was made by scraping my firesteel striker against a stick of fatwood 10 times, which took well under 10 seconds. This is more than enough first stage tinder to catch a spark and start a fire, in most circumstances. Wood tinder can be prepared very rapidly, with a minimum of fuss.

Close-up of a single, continuous fatwood shaving

While a ferrocerium rod can ignite nearly any flammable substance, most need to be properly prepared, first. Except for a few special cases, such as trioxane, firesteels (and matches, lighters and other firestarters) can't ignite solid blocks of combustible material. Just as you can't light a log with a single match, you similarly cannot ignite it with a metal match. The material must be rendered into tinder. In order for for a metal match's spark to ignite material, the spark must heat the localized spot it lands on to its combustion point before the spark dies. Thus, an ideal tinder will be very low mass per volume, like cattail fluff, and will be composed of very thin filaments, like hair, or shavings, like sawdust. Additionally, an ideal tinder has a lot of surface area (to maximize the chance that a spark lands true), and is fluffy, so that the fire gets plenty of oxygen.

The degree to which you prepare your tinder... shred/tear/unravel/shave/scrape/etc. your solid combustible materials into low density, fuzzy filaments and/or shavings ...will be directly proportional to the ease of igniting that material as tinder, from a spark.

[While one could reasonably argue that picking a good tinder is germane to this topic, I am purposely excluding in-depth discussion of which tinders are "easier" and which are "harder". I'm excluding this topic to emphasize the point that, when skillfully handled, it generally doesn't matter much. Done poorly, you may experience that some tinders, such as cotton balls, require just a few tries to successfully achieve ignition, while others, such as fatwood, require many tries, if ignition can be achieved at all. Done well, you'll be able to ignite wood (most wood, not just fatwood) within a couple tries. Once your technique consistently generates enough heat to ignite "harder" tinders, their difficulty becomes moot.]

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Tips and Tricks:

A) Scrape through the layer of corrosion.

Firesteels develop a thin layer of corrosion, when not used for a while. It takes a few strikes to wear through the corrosion layer, and ferrocerium rods don't work really well until you do.

B) Well used firesteels work better than new ones.

A heavily used ferrocerium rod, with flat planes worn into the cylindrical surface

This isn't just due to being more practiced, it's the result of what use does to your firesteel. When a firesteel is new, its shape is a circular cylinder. The contact point that a striker makes with this circular cylinder, and the surface area of a strike against this circular cylinder, is small, and thus, comparatively few sparks are generated. After a firesteel is well worn from hundreds or thousands of uses, one or more flat planes will be worn into the circular cylinder. The contact point that a striker makes with these flat planes, and the surface area of a strike against these flat planes, is many times larger, and thus, many times more sparks are generated. This makes well used ones work many times better than new ones.

C) In difficult circumstances, strike the firesteel multiple times in rapid succession.

If the weather is exceedingly cold and the tinder is damp, it may not be possible to ignite the tinder in a single strike; instead, conditions may call for striking the firesteel multiple times in rapid succession. By doing this, you can pre-heat the tinder, cumulatively more with each strike, raising its temperature until a strike can bring it to igntion. Also, by keeping the tinder very hot for several seconds through multiple strikes, you can dry the damp tinder, so that it can be ignited.

D) When it's windy, stick your tinder on duct tape.

Light, fluffy filaments or shavings of tinder can easily get blown about in strong winds, while one is trying to ignite them. (This is more of a problem with some tinders than others. It can especially be an issue with magnesium shavings, because they are so small and light. It's a little less of an issue with fatwood shavings, because they are longer and heavier, because they can tangle into a larger mass [see picture of fatwood shavings, above], and because fatwood is a little bit sticky.) Besides, of course, doing what you can to get yourself out of the wind and block the wind from your tinder, you can catch your tinder onto duct tape, and hold it in place. (As an added bonus, duct tape makes a great second stage tinder.)