Ferrocerium rod

How to make fire with a Ferrocerium rod

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Above, learn how to use a ferro rod to strike a fire.

#2: Prepare your ferro rod (scrape the coating).
Before you can spark a fire, you must remove the coating. Most
ferro rods come with a coating that prevents oxidation. To make a
ferro rod work efficiently, you need to scrape it aways so that it
ignites an efficient spark.

A ferro rod, such as the Friendly Swede Ferro Rod, pictured right,
comes covered in the familiar protective black coating. You can
scrape the coating off, using the striker, but it works best if you
use a sharp edge like the back of your knife or the blade if you
must. If you use a hacksaw blade you can really throw sparks! It's
okay to leave the black coating until you need it, but you may as
well learn how to use it now.

Get to know your striker. The striker is the most important part of
a ferro rod. While any sharp metal (even your knife) will work, the
striker is the part that scrapes to make a spark.

#3: Get your tinder ready.
Have tinder ready to go. Your spark can't catch a fire without it.
Tinder is the dry fluffy stuff like dryer lint or cotton, wood shavings,
inner bark of trees, an old bird's nest.

NOTE: Don't confuse tinder with an accelerant, such as a
Vaseline soaked cotton ball. An accelerant is something that
speeds up the firestarting process.

#4: Scrape and start your fire!
The most important thing to remember is to scrape at a 45 degree
angle and here's how... Place the rod's lower end next to the
tinder, then place the scraper on top of the rod, and drag the rod
back. Don't whittle with the scraper or you might bump the tinder
away from the sparks. Also, remember that the hotter the sparks,
the more efficient the ferrocerrium rod you have. Go back to step
#1 and start again if you have a low quality ferro rod.

To start a fire, follow the steps below:
Prepare kindling (whithered grass, leaves, paper, cotton). Slowly
scrape some magnesium from the lighter rod onto the kindling,
then quickly scrape the lighter rod to create a spark onto the
kindling. To make a spark, you must remove the white-hot pieces
of the ferro with the scraper. irtually any sharp object might work
for scraping the ferro rod. For consistency, though, get a hard steel
scraper with sharp, 90-degree angles. This will allow you to most
effectively scrape the rod.

Happy endings...
A ferro rod isn't that difficult to use, but you should first try to use
one under normal conditions (and not under wet conditions or a
frustrating survival situation). Learn now to use one, well before
you need it.

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Ferrocerium Rod
How to make fire with a Ferrocerium rod

How to use a ferro rod.
Every prepper, camper, hunter or scout master needs a quality
firestarter and should consider a ferrocerium rod in addition to a
BIC lighter. In fact, the material of a "ferro rod" is the ignition
source for lighters! Get schooled on this basic survival item,
which should be part of your everyday carry.

Affectionately called a "ferro rod" this amazing firestarter works
when wet. Think of them as waterproof matches, only better.
Learn how to use a ferro rod to make fire...

How to make fire with a Ferrocerium rod
Ferrocerium, also sometimes called a firesteel or a ferro rod, is a
man-made metallic material that's basically a combination of
cerium and iron. It's not the same as flint or magnesium, but we
won't bore you with the details to make your chemistry teacher's
eyes ignite. As a prepper you can admire the survival powers of
this awesome man-made tool because a ferro rod may some day
save your life.

You can spark a fire with a ferro rod even if you're not a Scout or
avid backpacker, but it requires technique and practice.

Here's how to use a ferro rod:

#1: Start with a quality ferro rod!
Since ferrocium is a man made device, not all ferro rods were
created equally. Get the best tool you can and here are two of
the most highly rated ones:

The Gerber Bear Grylls f erro rod, pictured top right, is a
premium ferro rod that fits neatly into your gear bag and is
only around $12. What makes it unique is that it has a
waterproof storage compartment to keep tinder dry. The
compact fire starter with ferrocerium rod and metal striker is
the collaborative effort of Gerber and survival expert Bear
Grylls. This popular tool comes with land to air rescue
instructions and Bear Grylls' informative "Priorities of
Survival" pocket guide, loaded with survival basics designed
to help keep you alive until you can be rescued or rescue
yourself. This firestarter produces very long, hot sparks to
get dry tinder to burning quickly and easily.

The überleben Zünden ferro rod, pictured immediate right,
comes with a lifetime guarantee and some extra goodies ~
a map scale, concave-serrated tinder scraper, straight-edge
spine, hex wrench, ruler & bottle opener). One of the big
differences between the Ferro Rod in the Überleben Zünden
is the composition of the alloy used, it contains an
exceptional mixture of materials that produce a higher
temperature spark: 5,500° F. It's about $16-22 depending on
the thickness of the rod you choose.

Friendly Swede

überleben Zünden ferro rod