Topic: The Best Ferro Rods, Tested and Reviewed (Read 34 times)
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This beefy spark rod is a ½-inch thick piece of trademarked Sånft-korr ferrocerium with a natural hardwood handle. Its classic design will fit in perfectly with other traditional “bushcrafting” gear (like Scandi grind knives and woodworking tools). The scraper is a nice piece of kit too, with six features – a straight-edge ferro striker, a curved denticulate scraper, a hex wrench, millimeter ruler, map scale, and bottle opener.
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Rated for 20,000 strikes, I had high expectations for this thick ferrocerium rod, and it didn’t disappoint. Once I was through the shipping paint, the sparks matched the product name. Each separate one was a fatty. Typical of “fat sparking” ferrocerium, I didn’t get a wide spray of a hundred sparks as you’ll get with some alloys. On each strike, however, I got nearly a dozen large sparks with a lifespan of a second or two. Curious to see how far they would go, I actually threw sparks from an outdoor deck and had some reach the ground 8 feet away. This is definitely a quality product that is ideal for the discerning bushcrafter.
Best Construction: Exotac fireROD
Like so many of Exotac’s fire products, the fireROD handle is CNC machined from high-grade 6061 aluminum and made in the USA. It’s also anodized to protect the aluminum from the elements. This mid-sized ferrocerium rod also has a tinder storage capsule, made waterproof by internal threading and an O-ring seal. Rated for up to 5,000 strikes, it’s a beautifully engineered piece of gear that’s meant to last. The spark rod is even replaceable, just in case you end up using it a lot.
I’m not sure where Exotac is getting their ferrocerium alloy, but it’s high quality and the sparks are huge. In my “spark off the deck” tests, I had sparks dropping 8 feet and hitting the ground before they went out. This was an impressive surprise, when so many spark rods won’t spray their sparks more than a foot or two. But it doesn’t include a scraper. A nice square spine on a survival knife will scrape off these chubby sparks. I could even spark it with a sharp piece of granite (though the sparks were much smaller and short lived). This works ok, but would be much nicer if they included a scraper in the handle as they do with other products.
You get what you pay for on this one. The ferro rods are an inferior alloy, producing wimpy sparks. The striker is a direct knock-off from the überleben striker. That being said, these are perfectly functional and they present two opportunities. The first opportunity is redundancy. If you’re prone to losing your gear, you’ll have one to use and one to lose with this kit. The second opportunity is for practice. If you can light fires with these meager sparks, then you should have no problem lighting fires with a better quality ferrocerium rod. I’d reco*mend you use this kit as a training product for students, young and old. The short lived sparks will require good tinder selection and preparation skills to successfully make fires.
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The engineering on the Exotac nanoSPARK is truly superb. The spark tool body is CNC machined in America from high-grade 6061 aluminum and anodized. It uses o-rings on both of its removable sections. This tool is also designed for one handed operation, which could save the day if you sustain an injury to an arm or hand. It also has a tinder storage co*partment, and the flint is replaceable. The product co*es with five quickLIGHT tinder tabs (four in the package, one in the tinder co*partment). It even has an integrated attachment point for a lanyard or keyring. The designs employed in this product are impressive.
But no amount of engineering excellence can make up for a ferrocerium “flint” that is the size of a grain of rice. The tiny ferro rod makes tiny sparks, and you’ll need fluffy dry tinder of the highest quality to catch them. Will it start fires? Yes, it will. Is it a cool product that would make a great gift? Yes, it is. Would I personally prefer the smarter application of a rice-grain-sized bit of ferro rod (the Bic lighter)? Yes, I would. While this product technically is a ferrocerium fire starter, I’m not sure I’d even class it with traditional spark rods. And I’d still rather have a Bic (which uses a small piece of ferro to ignite the butane) or one of the smaller Exotac spark rods that is roughly this size.
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It’s important to understand that these tools aren’t the most versatile class of fire starters. Ferrocerium rods require some finesse to use, and more importantly, they require a dry fluffy tinder material to turn sparks into flames. Whichever ferro rod you choose to buy and carry, make sure you bring some top quality tinder from home (like cotton balls or dryer lint from a load of cotton fabrics).
You’ll also want to know how to find and process the fluffiest “wild sourced” tinder in your neck of the woods. Cattail fluff, pounded inner bark fibers, and even fine wood scrapings can provide the high fuel quality you need when you run out of the stuff from home. It’s also wise to consider bringing a backup ignition method (or two), just in case you lose your ferro rod or it cannot light the tinder you have available. A flame-based ignition source can be a back-up for those tinder materials that prove frustrating or even impossible to light with sparks. In closing, I’ll say that ferro rods are a lot of fun to use, so have fun practicing with them – and pray you are spared from the stress and challenges of using them in a real emergency.
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