Neat little fire starter

315

315

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Dec 2, 2017
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I’ll start by saying, I usually use matches or a small lighter to start fires or stoves but I do carry a small fire steel just in case. I saw a post recently in the Traditional sub forum where someone had a Firefly fire starter for their Victorinox SAK. I was intrigued so I picked some up. Have to say I was very impressed with the amount of spark that came off these little things. Since I almost always have an SAK in my pack and have one in all my vehicles and boat it seemed like a nice addition. I can survive with food stuck in my teeth until I can find a toothpick, or substitute, but if I ever need a fire this little gadget should work fine.

BE063449-6818-4732-9355-3301300946_A7.jpg
 
Yeah, they are a custom mix ferro-rod, so they are a bit more robust than standard ones. Not going to get as many fires out of one as a LMF, but if its what you have on you when its needed, that's all that counts.
 
315 said:
I can survive with food stuck in my teeth until I can find a toothpick, or substitute, but if I ever need a fire this little gadget should work fine.
Click to expand...

Priceless. Haha.

Seriously, though, that is an interesting replacement for the toothpick, which I admittedly never use despite carrying a SAK every time that I leave the house.
 
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i dont believe in having only one item with all my gear "on it" for several reasons. Such a tool is normally very poor at nearly all the jobs which you imagine you can use it for. If you somehow lose it or ruin it, all your gear is gone. When I'm backpacking, I have several means of starting a fire, and keep them in several different places. Around my neck, in my pocket, in the fannypack in the big pack. I have several cutting tools, same reason.
 
snaro said:
i dont believe in having only one item with all my gear "on it" for several reasons. Such a tool is normally very poor at nearly all the jobs which you imagine you can use it for. If you somehow lose it or ruin it, all your gear is gone. When I'm backpacking, I have several means of starting a fire, and keep them in several different places. Around my neck, in my pocket, in the fannypack in the big pack. I have several cutting tools, same reason.
Click to expand...
So, wouldn't this be a great addition to your kit? Nobody said anything about ONLY having a SAK. I like redundancy but within reason.
 
If you
don't have a SAK, then yes, you are adding an entire tool... but this is a replacement for the toothpick for those of us that already carry one. I think its a great swap out for the rather useless toothpick.
 
For those of us that carry a SAK it’s a virtually weightless replacement for something I never use. It can be used in a pinch if my lighter fails and my matches don’t work. (Something that hasn’t happened fortunately) I also have a regular fire starter in there too. The knife pictured usually is in my pack with a belt knife on my person while I’m hunting so I didn’t add anything to my regular carry. I also keep a SAK and a multi-tool in each vehicle and the boat. Since they were already there I threw one of the fire starters in each of those knives. Again, nothing new was added compared to what I was already carrying.

I just thought it was a neat little invention:)
 
My experience with FerroCerium rods is that they are quite prone to corrosion when exposed to moisture much like lighter flints. My NanoStryker seals the rod in a waterproof case. Has anyone notice some deterioration in their firefly?
 
I have seen this aswell. A firesteel that attatches to the spine or your SAK.

firesteelfarmer6.jpg


How do you use one of these “true” firesteels? Is it different from a ferro rod?
 
My understanding with the swiss-bianco one is that it is simply a hardened high carbon striker to strike a flint or chert with. So same effect, different method and usage.
tiguy7 said:
My experience with FerroCerium rods is that they are quite prone to corrosion when exposed to moisture much like lighter flints. My NanoStryker seals the rod in a waterproof case. Has anyone notice some deterioration in their firefly?
Click to expand...
I've not noticed any yet, but also have not really carried it that much. I will at some point, but given what it looks like at the moment, and how quickly some degrade here, it holds up better than most. I've got a gobspark that is just dissolving in the humidity here.
 
315 said:
I’ll start by saying, I usually use matches or a small lighter to start fires or stoves but I do carry a small fire steel just in case. I saw a post recently in the Traditional sub forum where someone had a Firefly fire starter for their Victorinox SAK. I was intrigued so I picked some up. Have to say I was very impressed with the amount of spark that came off these little things. Since I almost always have an SAK in my pack and have one in all my vehicles and boat it seemed like a nice addition. I can survive with food stuck in my teeth until I can find a toothpick, or substitute, but if I ever need a fire this little gadget should work fine.

BE063449-6818-4732-9355-3301300946_A7.jpg
Click to expand...
I have a NanoStriker and find it small and impractical in use (much prefer the bigger standard type firesteel).
Add to that the FireFlys much smaller size and you have your work cut out for you in a cold and wet enviroment, when/if something brown hits the fan.
But better have that than nothing of course.
 
I have acquired some of these tortoise fire steels. I had Swiss soldier knife 2008 but they don't have toothpick slot. So I got a couple one hand trekkers like the guy uses in the videos. Nice knives but a tad slippery. Somewhere in the WWW somebody posted a pic of the back side of a SAK 08 soldier,it showed an existing toothpick groove, just needed the end cut. Neat. Today I popped the scale off my Soldier, no groove. So does anyboby know the pic or link I am talking about can be found and maybe what the back side of a GAK looks like?
Thanks
 
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