Heavy Duty Rod

The media could not be loaded. This thing is fantastic. In a nutshell :Very big, easy to hold easy to grip.Will last probably for tens of thousands of scrapes.Sparks extremely easily.Very durable.The spray of sparks is wider and much more dense than smaller steels.Basically it’s very easy to catch tinder on fireEven works sweat .The whole is big enough for a para cord lanyard .Can use as a self-defense tool in a pinch.Just too fun to use and unlike my smaller steals I don’t worry about using it all up .OK you may be wondering what’s the point of carrying something so big and heavy to start a fire waiting for the same weight and bulk you could have a 10 pack of lighters. And I would say that this is ultimately durable, waterproof , will never leak , Will never evaporate , will probably light fires for my great grandkids, Will never malfunction , works on cloudy days ( unlike a lens) and it’s just a way cooler way to start a fire than matches or a lighter.Fire steels are not equal. I’ve owned dozens of them from the quite expensive boutique camping outfits down to the one dollar Chinese clones, And I can tell you with all certainty that the formulation makes a tremendous difference. In the amount of sparks, the heat of sparks, the duration of the sparks, the ease at which it sparks, and ultimately how many strikes you get per volume of material.These guys are the real deal and yeah they cost more than the copies. I own many imitation are clones of fire steals but not of these giant rods. I can maybe assume they’re made from the same inferior formulation of ferrocerium as their smaller counterparts. From the reviews I’ve read there’s enough unsatisfied customers of the imitators I decided to go with the original name brand giant steel rod. And they’re only about 30% more cost wise. Although there’s a few really cheap ones that ship direct from China but I just wouldn’t trust my life to those. And if they stink you can’t return them because shipping cost 10 times as much as the original item.So I went ahead and bought these and I do not regret it one bit. I rarely regret buying quality and these are the very essence of quality. I bought some really good scrapers but just about any scraper will do for these. I’ve used a knife spine, some rocks, sandpaper, Emery cloth, and various sharpened and filed steel bits, and they all get really good sparks.I tried to measure with a micrometer an estimate how many fires I’d be able to start with this thing but man it’s just too big. I imagine it’s tens of thousands andif I have great grandkids, they can still be using this same firesteel when they go camping. I bought the two pack of the 5 inch rods and I suspect I will never have to buy another one as long as I don’t lose them.One thing I did now is that the other rods have too small a hole to fit 55 Paracord through and I wove a little lanyard with the scraper and it fit this one perfectly. I made the mistake of testing it in the living room and almost set the rug on fire. This thing makes huge sparks!I may go ahead and buy one of the cheaper imitations just to review it and compare. I’ll give an update here.And as usual always test your gear before you go out in the bush. And in this case you definitely want to sand off the coating on at least part of the rod, so you won’t have to do that in the field. Be careful when doing so because you can spark it with sandpaper. I used 500 grit in that small enough not to have to worry about it.You can see in the vid my scraper that I also bought on Amazon, and I made the lanyard out of Survivor Cord ( Paracord with extra goodies inside with the nylon braids) that has a wax tinder filament in the core. I’m pretty sure I can’t provide the link to the scraper because I don’t think we’re supposed to do that and every time I give you my reviews get deleted, But I got them from Steve Kaeser wilderness supply, And they are the best scrapers I’ve ever used. High-quality carbon steel and you can buy them one at a time, you don’t have to buy a 10 pack.When I head out into the wilderness, I always bring at least four ways to make a fire and that doesn’t include a magnifying glass which is in my first aid kit. I carry a couple of lighters, waterproof matches, and a good fire steel. I also carry some waxed or oiled cotton. Even when your lighter runs out you can use the flint wheel to still make sparks to ignite it, so I usually don’t toss my lighters. I cut the bottoms off and just keep the tops for emergencies sparkers.It may seem like overkill but I actually lost a large amount of my gear on a river trip once, but because I spread out my fire making stuff, I was able to make a fire ( it was a fire steel that I kept in my boot laces ) and was able to stay warm at night, until help came in the morning.You wont regret getting this one, and as always be safe and enjoy yourself.

These ferrocerium rods are perfect! The large diameter, and length make them easy to hold on to, and the lanyard hole is good for using with 550 or, as in my case, a great anchor for epoxy. I drilled a hole, just slightly larger than the diameter of the rod, into a piece of resin impregnated pine (fat wood). I then lightly scuffed the end of the ferro rod with very course sand paper, and set it in the “fat wood” with 5 minute epoxy. I now have a handle, and an emergency source of kindling. This rod throws absolute flames! It’s just soft enough to make curls or molten metal, but not soft enough to be used up in a short amount of time. It really is a bargain at this price!

This is an amazing brilliant product and great value for the price. You cannot go wrong buying this.-The shower of sparks is amazing and bountiful.-This is big enough for a male like me who has large size hands to grab comfortably and get a good strike on.-You can use this even in -10 C when your hands are pretty much immobilized from coldness or with gloves with ease (at least I was able to under both circumstances).Highly recommend this. Definitely buy this over the Light My Fire firesteels those are outrageously over priced and the cheap Chinese ones perform better than those. This preforms better and is more durable than both.

Inexpensive, not cheap. These ferro rods, like all other Bayite ferro rods that I use and have tried, work very well. Easy to strike, the spines of my knives shower sparks just as well as you see all of the YouTube bushcrafters do with their expensive rods. The holes are precision drilled, and have no gouges or chatter marks that you would expect for an inexpensive product. The Bayite label is a sticker, which makes me wonder if these are no different than the high dollar ones, with the sticker being the only difference. Hmmm... Either way, I will continue to buy and use these ferro rods, as they are very effective and with the cost savings I have been able to pair one with all of my knives, keychains, car safety/survival kits, and outdoor excursion bags.

This is one item I’ll never be without. As little no as you have one of these, you’ll always have an ability to make fire, even it it gets wet unlike a lighter or matches. Carry cotton balls dry and cotton balls with Vaseline added to them and carry them in a plastic medicine bottle. The sparks from this rod will ignite cotton balls easily and the cotton balls with Vaseline will burn for 3-5 minutes.Definitely a top 5 preparedness tool.These shower sparks once you scrap off the black coating that is there to keep rust away until you use Ferro rod. Important to practice starting fires before you find yourself in an emergency situation. Practice , practice, PRACTICE!! You’ll be glad you did and very relieved you own these. They’ll last for years and thousands of fires.I received mine the very next day after I placed my order.It’s important to use the right scraper with these. I go to Firesteel.com to get my scrapers for ferro rods because they are the best scrapers you’ll ever find. And if you haven’t owned a firesteel.com scraper, you can’t say you have a better scraper, no matter what you use.

These aren't like the cheap ones you find in the box stores. These are large heavy rods that throw a very good amount of spark.

Works great, I carry in my hiking/ backpacking kit. Excellent fire source.

These will last most people a lifetime. Good to have for emergencies.