In the world of fire lighting equipment few tools are as rugged and reliable as the humble Ferrocerium rod. Also known as Ferro rods, Firesteels, Metal matches, Sparksticks or even Dragon Sneezes these are an essential part of a Bushcrafter’s kit. I always use mine to start a fire in camp as it doesn’t matter if it’s wet or dry, and there’s no batteries to wear out, it just works.
Whilst many consider these rods a modern invention they actually date back to the early part of the 20th Century. In 1903 an Austrian Chemist, Carl Auer von Welsbach, was working with the rare earths Neodymium and Cerium to try and improve gas light mantles to create more light. He noticed that one of his compounds produced sparks when scraped with a sharp steel which he originally named Auermetall or Ferrocerium. The lighter industry were the first to see the potential of this material and most ‘flints’ in lighters are actually small Ferrocerium rods. They gained popularity with the military during World War 1 in survival kits and like many military products eventually made their way into the outdoor leisure industry.
Ferrocerium is mix of Pyrophoric (combusts easily) rare earth elements primarily Cerium (ignites at only 150°C), Lanthanum, Neodymium and Praseodymium with Iron (for robustness) and Magnesium (for longer lasting sparks) mixed in smaller quantities. Together these generate sparks at up to 3,000°C.
The fuel is the rod, oxygen is in the air and heat from the friction of the steel as you strike makes the third side of the Fire Triangle hence we have combustion. However despite the heat, these sparks only exist for a short period of time and if we want an actual fire we need some suitable tinder.
In the woods we usually practice with Ferro rods on a tree stump but the stump doesn’t catch fire despite having all 3 elements of the fire triangle present. What you need is sufficient heat for sufficient time to ignite the fuel. With Ferro rod sparks you require the maximum surface area of the material but the smallest volume which is a scientific way of saying we need small fluffy/fibrous material to catch the sparks.
To use a Ferro rod hold it on a suitable base at 45° angle, hold the striker parallel with the base then push firmly down the rod into the tinder. Below I’ve fluffed up a piece of cotton wool ready to catch the sparks.
There are many more natural and manmade materials that can be used as Tinder which I’ve listed below. I also found a few mentioned online that I hadn’t tried before namely duct tape, steel wool and waxed paper. Spoiler alert they didn’t work for me and maybe that’s why I hadn’t heard of them!
Manmade
- Cotton wool, arguably the perfect tinder.
- Tumble dryer lint.
- Duct tape – Partially melted but didn’t ignite.
- Steel wool - Glowed briefly but not sustained, finer steel wool may be required.
- Paper dipped in wax and torn into pieces - Did not take a spark although shop bought versions exist and work well.
- BBQ firelighter, cut into small shavings
- Jute twine unwrapped
- High alcohol content hand sanitiser – it is burning but hard to see in daylight
Natural
- Fatwood shavings
- Dried Grass with ideally small parts such a seed heads
- Birch Bark, broken into small pieces or scraped with a knife to break up the surface
- Char cloth – Took a spark and glowed but still needed an ember extender such as dried thistle down to get a flame.
So despite a couple of failures I lit a number of types of tinder successfully showing that wherever you are if you have Ferro rod you’ll likely have something that can be used to catch the spark and make a fire. Drop a message on our facebook page if you’ve had success with something I haven’t tried here, it’s always good to hear what else can be used.