Fire Starter for Campfires - Thick Ferro Rod Waterproof Flint and Steel 6 in 1 Emergency Supplies for Camping, Hiking, Hunting, Backpacking Survival Tool Kit

I bought this for my son who is always outdoors kyaking, fishing, camping, etc. He really likes that it is very useful, mutli-functional, and portable. Mom scored!

I picked this up to put in my son's pack or to wear around his neck when we go out to the woods, he sometimes likes to explore and the whistle is great just in case he gets himself in a fix. It also has a little match compartment to keep matches, Always get "strike anywhere" matches when you are going to the woods. The compass is functional, as is the firestarter. But having a compass and a ferro rod firestarter is useless if you don't know how to properly use them. I highly recommend looking up some videos from Corporal's Corner or Coalcracker bushcraft to learn a few of these skills. The easiest to explain here is the firestarter. In order for this to work efficiently it is important to learn how to gather materials for a tinder bundle or find birch bark or fatwood. My preference is fatwood which can be found by harvesting the bottom (apparently dead) limbs from a pine tree, I prefer red pine. If you prepare your tinder bundle, fatwood, char, or birch bark ahead of time and are sure to have a collection of good small dry sticks ready to set on top of your fire lay once it ignites, you should be able to get a fire started with just a few strong slides of the metal scraper against the ferro rod. Keep your scraper stationary and pull the ferro rod back towards you for best results while applying strong pressure to the rod, this will give you the biggest, hottest sparks. Be sure to learn how to acquire fatwood and birch bark as well as tinder, Or how to produce char which also works great with a tinder bundle using the ember created. If you have a fire pit in the backyard it is a great place to practice using this and practice is key.Enjoy

This was our first time using a ferro rod so we made a lot of mistakes before looking up how to use it properly. Strike this thing to this thing right? How hard could it be?? Haha.The case containing the rod is very sturdy and closes and seals the rod conveniently and smoothly. There was no problem with the cap being loose or not connecting back together. Once it is on, there's no worrying about it coming apart in your bag.The striker is a bit small for someone who has carpal but is manageable once you learn how to strike it once vs multiple times as we did. I admit it was entertaining at first but loses its fun value when it starts to get cold and you just need the tinder to light!The rod is coated with a black protective paint which we didn't know we needed to scrape off.The easiest way for us to use this product is by scraping some pieces off the rod and striking a spark to catch on the magnesium scrapings. That worked perfectly! Rod was soft enough to scrape using the couple options on the striker tool.We have plenty for future use and it is definitely going to be part of our camping essentials when we don't want to pack any flammable liquids. I would like to purchase another one now for a bug out bag. Highly recommend once you do some research and figure out how to properly use it.

Like having some other features built into a mag rod. Rod gets covered and I think many people over look packing a whistle. Like the bit of storage space too. Be sure you practice and know how to use it before you need to use it.

The carrying case is great. One of the best cases I saw for storing a Ferro rod. The case also has a small compartment to store some dry materials such as cotton. The sample paracord that came with the rod has a red cord that can be used to start a fire. The fire starter had no issues with igniting the red cord.NOTE: When using the rod use the long side of the fire-starting striker. I tried to use the firestarter on some dry pine needles but the sparks would not ignite the needles. I even scaped some of the magnesium off, but still could not ignite the pine needles. I did the same test with my other fire-starting rod and that rod had no issue with igniting the pine needles.The fire-starting case comes with a built-in whistle which did not really work. I recommend when using this rod that you have access to cotton or some type of lint.

The media could not be loaded.  Pretty nice little fire kit, the kit comes with a ferro rod multi tool combo kit, the handle of the ferro rod is a whistle, you have to blow with a decent amount of force but it works pretty well, inside the unit next to the ferro rod is a rubber seal meant for small objects like medication, however I think you’d be better off putting a couple tinder quicks or some char cloth, or some waxed cotton compress inside the storage chamber, that way you’d always have some dry material to get your fire goin once you throw some good sparks with the ferro rod.The ferro rod is a little hard, softer material would throw better sparks but this one still does a pretty good job, the striker works ok as long as you can find a sharp edge, mine came with decent edges so I was able to get good sparks, the striker comes with ruler and map markings in case you need to take measurements. Comes with a built in bottle opener and a small hex wrench.On the outside of the kit Is a small compass attached to the body, it works pretty well as long as it’s level, good for a back up compass, I like that every snaps together into one unit nice and compact and it comes with an attached nylon lanyard necklace…Also in the box they give you a few feet on special 550 paracord, it’s bright orange and inside the paracord there is extra cordage, one that’s red coated and waxed to help you start a fire, the other is some fishing line, and the third is a 150D waxed coated nylon for repairing laces or tying something down, the paracord also comes with its standard 6 nylon strands so in total 9 strands.It’s only 3 feet worth so I don’t know how useful it is or how much you can do with it, but something is better than nothing. Overall this is a pretty nice kit and would be great in a bug out bag, an emergency kit, camping kit, your car, or a back up survival kit, I like it and I think it’s worth the price.