Nicely done

Nice work. I appreciate thorough tests like these. Personally, I've found that the best ferro rod scrapers are the backs of the saws found on Leatherman's higher end multitools (Surge, Wave, etc...). They have been unbeatable IMHO. The smaller carbide blades are my favs as well, but unfortunately, the plastic they come wrapped up in will fail and break. Another alternative is a Hyde Insulation knife (square) for about $4. Outstanding scraping performance with a good sizable handle and they are as easy to buy as walking on down to a local hardware store. The absolute best unorthodox scraper that I've found has been a pair of Home Depot Utility Shears that I got for a buck. I took them apart and used the back side (not the cutting side) of the blade and they not only will shower sparks from any rod be it a cheapie no name brand all the way up to one of my 1/2" behemoths, they also will remove any ridges left off by inferior tools For the record, I've come to the conclusion that knives will eave ridges on ferro rods because of the following reasons; They are tempered at around 1800°. Ferro rods easily shoot out between 3500-5000°. What happens to the back of a knife when you expose it to at least twice the temperatures it was hardened at? It begins to wear prematurely. This causes it to round out more and this rounding will cause uneven wear and pressure on the rod causing the ridges. When I stopped using my knives to scrape my ferro rods, the ridges went away. I'm a firm believer in dedicated ferro rod scrapers. Using a knife to scrape your rod now and then isn't going to kill either your rod or knife, but for someone who uses their rod on a regular basis (let's face, not the overwhelming majority of users) like instructors or nuts like me who make hundreds of fires a year just for fun, the results are undeniable. One can pick up a vintage pairing knife in a thrift store for 25¢ and have a wonderful scraper for occasional use and never really have an issue. But I've learned after literally thousands of scrapes that ideally, something like steel like scissors for example will put up with the abuse much more and if someone is using their rod a lot, a longer handle will be a welcomed feature to keep your hands from cramping up. In an emergency survival situation, I'd much prefer a longer handle to a shorter handle as well when loss of dexterity might be an issue to contend with. Of course, I'm talking about extreme use for ferro rods as in testing different tinder combinations under adverse conditions (snow, rain, storm, high winds, etc...) where it's not ideal-weather-one-scrape fire easy, but one has to scrape their rod over and over and over again. I once when halfway through a 1/2" rod in just one afternoon testing tinders. In most cases, for the average user however who work with prepared tinders in ideal conditions, they will usually get first flame within the first 1/2 a dozen scrapes. They'll never get to the point where their hands cramp up after a few hundred scrapes. Of your choices, I'd go with the carbide tool sharpener as well because I know that the plastic handled carbide scrapers will fatigue and fail. But, being that I always have a Leatherman Surge on me, it's my go-to scraper. :)

I've been using a bunch of scissors that I had taken apart to use as the fire strikers which they in my opinion they work the best at least for me.

Nice Demo. Thanks for sharing.

My boyfriend has that UST one on his keys in his pack he has the strike force by UST it's basically a bigger version of the orange box but has a 3/8 rod and in the back of the striker piece has a place to put tinder he keeps a couple wetfire cubes in the back because they light easily and he doesn't use them unless it's raining or he is too tired to work for a fire or too cold and needs emergency heat source, great review my boyfriend has a cheap DeWalt knife nothing fancy he uses as a work tool and filed a groove into the back of the knife to strike rods with it works great but it's not carbide steel good video

Really good.

The carbide one can also be used to sharpen your knives.

Will the small carbide tool sharpen like the larger one? It would help if it was as compact as it is and have multiple uses.

IMHO what really matters is 2 factors, how sharp the striker material is and it has to be harder than the rod. You can use glass (broken bottle), flint, chert, HSS, SS, CS, whatever. For me, a metal saw made of HSS works perfect (you can make a wood handle for it or wrap it with tape...or just leave it like it is), you can sharpen the side without teeth and on the other side you have the sharp teeth that you can sharpen even more if you like, very cheap if you use an already broken one.

I got the corona carbide sharpener and it left deep ridges on my rods to the point of leaving the rod unusable unless it was sanded down. I tried different pressures with the carbide but always the ridges. Creates a massive spark shower though before the rods get bunged up.

looks like they all do the job....

What is the "big monster" ferro rod it looks awesome!

Hi, could you give us a link to where to buy those carbide (china) strikers with the black handle made our of plastic? Maybe Ebay? THX!

I love those generic Ferro rods!

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