The title ties in strongly with the theme of the video and that is why I chose the title. The major theme of this video is to encourage people to get out and learn to use their local natural materials, learn which ones work and which ones do not work well. In other words, if you know your local options then a ferro rod is worth having. If you do not know your local natural material options then a ferro rod is probably not worth having. Only you can answer that question for yourself as it is an answer that is different for different people

Mabra Fule yes I agree.its still awesome though.

Tinder?? Grinder!!

Cinder doesn't need no ferro rod, that's for sure 😂

I some how missed this question. You can use the interior of many different trees the same way however there are many trees whose wood will not split as easy as this did.

that beard is far too glorious to cut

i was thinking just that if stuck in a pink the beard is a good source of for fast burning tinder

Worst case it burn

He should be careful when playing around lighting fires.

When you're trading clothing for fire you're in a bad situation.

Matt Smith. now l didn't know that. been using a rod for years and didn't know that. thanks. l'm going to have to try that. how did you come to figure that out?

@@jackiecampbell3401 I discovered it as a kid... trying to see if I could get a huge pile of ferro shaving to go up at once. It works.

Josh Clement. so farting around as a kid you discovered something very useful that will serve you well and the rest of us for our lifetimes. How many times will we be in need of a stronger spark? As a kid...ya did good!

Makes a world of difference! If my fire is being stubborn i shower it in flakes and then hit it with the Sparks. Also, I often scrap my flannel shirt or denim jeans with a knife to create a little cotton tinder ball, roll that up in some paper and you have a nice match to light your cigarette with! Love playing with my fire rod.

When you scrap is slow like that you cause these sort of ridges in the rod. Then when doing a hard strike it will typically rip the ridges off in bigger chunks also making a larger hotter spark. I also don't scrap my knife on my ferro rod for the lighting portion. What I do is hold my knife still and pull the rod away from my tinder scraping along the knife as I go. Seems to work for me

Wow! really any resin or sap is like gasoline when its ignited

@@hemidart7 most conifers most of the time and those are good odds.

My philosophy is, if you ain’t learning something new, you must be dead. Lol.

@@oddballdynamics.9658 If you do not learn, from experience, you might just be Communist Demo-crat. THEY are incendiary... eg Molotov Cocktail?

@@TrackerScout Masses watch TV. Why do THEY call it TV programming ??? Amuse means no thinking...

***** Lol

If you're Dad doesn't have a beard you've got two mom's!

you read my mind. dat beard is probably full of all kinds of combustible oils and what not........

If your*

+Mpowered Actually no, to get such result you have to wash it and brush it like hairs

Same here, lol

Lol same.

Hahaha I thought that was a bear behind him also! I was instantly scared for him

Bruh, I was looking at that thing and I was like, "Bruh, is that a f$@king bear behind that dude!?"

Is that a Bouvier?

Just know that dryer lint is mostly plastic fibers nowadays and is very toxic when burning

Even tree moss! Germans use it.

@@larryhawkes1347 true n most likely give a person away if trying to not be as spotted as smoke out of the trees.

I couldn't agree more with you. I too am always grabbing dry pieces to keep in a baggie in each of my bags - EDC bag, 3 day pack, and hunt pack, and my carry all ruck. Found much easier to always have access to dry tinder when in cold, frost, wet environment. However not always the case, or need light multiple fires. Every bit of knowledge is helpful in dire straights.

I certainly agree with preparation! I'm less enthusiastic about refined accelerants like petroleum jelly even though they work great. If I'm going take that route I'll tend to use a lighter too, which again is great, but not much fun / of a challenge.

Krestian Kvart True but only if his beard is gray

CroatiaSurvival very true, and he might be a wizard

I did have a magnificent beard until I was lighting the fire and blowing on it. Beard is an excellent tinder........................

#64dexta I had just got done blowing on the coals of a fire one time when after sitting back up again I could still see smoke drifting up past my eyes. I discovered that the smoke was being generated by my beard. I quickly whacked the fire out by beating my beard against my chest. We all had a real good laugh over that episode.

Far North Bushcraft And Survival Wait for real tho. Can you start a fire with beard hair in survival situation.

You've probably noticed that virtually every video on KZfaq has a certain number of down-thumbs. It's trolls. They have a belief that it's useful to crap on things. (Not making it up; trolls automatically down-thumb everything, regardless of content or quality, just to show the troll-flag. Because they believe the world doesn't suck enough. Again: seriously. It's their "public service".)

Justin Russell it’s probably from the other so called survivalists that do it to make money

I know this one is a save. Great advice and I will give it a try. Pretty much guaranteed he did better with the wet conditions than I will do with the dry materials I have access to 👍

People who are allergic to being outside.

RobMacKendrick: no matter what, there will always be people that only see darkness. They want the world to suck.

Really cool grand pa.

Okay, now you made me feel like an idiot. I've built ferro rod handles for years, but didn't think to use pine fat wood for the handle. Makes sense, tender and fire steel all in one, and some of that aged pine heart has beautiful grain too. Thanks for the idea. Brum

TX Rider thats a cool idea fatwood handle kill 2 birds with one stone great idea on a chunky ferro rod!!

great idea

TX Rider The last gun&knife show that I went to they wanted 35 dollars for a piece that was 3 in ×1.5 in. × 1.5 in and that was without a ferro rod.

oh yeah got stumps upon stumps of fatlighter!

Yes.

Agreed!

I have used spruce pitch quite a few times on wound that I have had. It not only helps to heal but it helps considerable to reduce pain. It is effective on not only wounds but burns as well. Here in Alaska spruce pitch has been used traditionally for many many medicinal uses.

I wonder what it is inside spruce resin that does that. I'm gonna do a little looking today I never knew about the pain thing thank you :).

so then pine cones would be another source of that, i think, because they burn like they have sap in them.

@@andrelarocque5967 Wound infection triggers inflammation causing swelling as fluid & wbc enter wound tissue: Pain. Pine pitch disinfects the wound......

@Charles Larocque I have applied spruce pitch to very painful fresh wounds and burns before bacteria has had a chance to colonize and the pain was measurably substantially reduced within 5 to 10 minutes.

yep, George, I collected dryer lint, my wife saw me placing some of the dryer lint in a pint mason jar on a shelf over the clothes dryer one day. She asked what I was up to and I told her it was for fire tender on rainy camping trips. She has since then filled up 3 pint jars with tightly packed dryer lint for me. I told her that was probably enough for now. LOL I like to drip candle wax on a ball of dryer lint about an inch in diameter, and roll it like rolling up biscuit dough as it cools, then shove three or so of the wax/lint balls in an empty plastic 35mm film canister to carry as wet weather tender. I have also been known to add a squirt or two of Zippo lighter fluid to the lint/wax balls. The old type snap lid film canisters are water tight and the lighter fluid mixed with the candle wax last for months. Cotton balls can be done the same way. Brum

I am glad you found my channel here. Welcome to the channel.

@@williardbillmore5713 we had that where I grew up, but not where I live now. I should look into some better local species. That said, what I should go is put my firesteel on a lanyard that also has a little capsule with a few tinder tabs in it.

You said it better than I did in the video. lol

agree, the greatest tool we have is knowledge.

I usually have primitive fire methods or the ferro rod as primary to get training on it, while have gas lighters, matches and a spare ferro rod as back up.

thanks for great videos. I like your quiet, concise style.

Circumpolar Bear Cult

Good point Dani, ferro rods are much like shoes when you do a comparison with other ways to make fire. Some people like lace up shoes and some like slip on shoes but both types will offer protection for your feet when needed. Same with ferro rods vs. matches/lighters, ferro rods may outlast matches by maybe 1 rod to 500 matches but they both will give you fire if you know how to operate them. Ferro rods are like lace up shoes, you need to know how to operate the "laces" on each and both are a bit more complicated than striking a match or flicking a bic or simply pulling on a pair of slip on shoes.

Dani El buy yourself a portable bellows. Look at Canadian outdoor equipment for 'bellows' and you'll see what I mean. It's designed for use in damp conditions. While you are at it, get some of their 'fire fuses'.

+Austin0777 As I have explained many times in comments on this video, A lighter may fail and often has failed me. A ferro rod will never fail. I live in a cold environment (Alaska) and a butane lighter has to be kept warm here or it will not light. It does not matter how cold or how wet a ferro rod is, it will still throw sparks just the same.

+Austin0777 Well you go ahead and put your trust in your bic. I will continue to carry my bic as usual but I will also carry my ferro rod and other means of fire lighting as well. I know through multiple personal experiences that a bic can fail you but a ferro rod never will. I go prepared to survive because some of the places I go can very easily kill you if you are not prepared. Being prepared means not putting all my trust in that bic.

***** Seems like the "generation gap" is more dangerous than I thought, I have been to your world and know that one slip, one careless gesture or glance in the wrong direction, will change a hunt for food into a challenge for basic survival. "Survival" to some flat landers means finding a Wal-Mart that stays open 24/7 in some areas of this fine country. This young man apparently has not tried to light any type of tinder with the flint and spark wheel in a bic after the butane has run dry, otherwise he wouldn't talk in terms that do not make a bit of sense in a real world survival situation. There isn't a bic alive today which can send just one spark into a pile of tinder and fat wood hot enough and long lasting enough to get a wisp of smoke going in that tinder. Flint and steel will do that in the right hands but not THAT flint and steel. But he will learn, I only hope that he finds out the real truth BEFORE it means the difference between life and death in the wilderness. Out there is REAL living ...... and real survival to test one's mettle. Had I not had an accident that took my health and made it nigh impossible to sustain myself where I was, I would NOT be where I am today, down at the opposite end of the USA from you! Stay safe and watch your back.

Yeah that's there in emergency situations and if all else fails

Alex V , haha. Hear that !

Allee Allegorie you had to, it's happening

Thats how bush people shave themself

Hahaha

it's a good back up to have outside of your regular starting methods. grandpa always taught me "the right tool, for the right job." fire starting is no different. for ease, there are bic lighters, matches, and fire paste. for not so ease, there are storm matches and mag blocks (and fire paste). and for impossible mission where the weather absolutely loathes you... there are flint and steel, ferro rods, and fire paste. back up, on my back ups, on my back ups....and all still EDC.

@@nickiewhittakerii1432 Exactly!!

pentecostalangel1 West Virginia for the win brother

A 2x maginifer sheet from dollar tree works well even in slight shade or light cloud cover. Use a frame or case to keep it straight and unbent tho

Clear plastic bag with water in too...

I'm from Missouri too up in Putman county ATB bob

if youve got a car, use your jump leads, to create a spark, you attach them to the battery terminals, preferably with the engine running, and slide the ends across each other, you will definitely get sparks

Then use fluid based lighter that can survive any condition (except it get wet)

Keep your bic in the inside pocket of your jacket, like grandpa kept his hunting sandwitch.

Use an expensive lighter. Still more convenient.

possibly some people surrounded by paper and petroleum products deluding themselves into thinking of themselves as environmentalist warriors by thumbs-downing a video where some guy scraped some bark off a tree. that or some people upset with the amount of dry grass leaves he gathered because with a good grapefruit sized bundle he'd have no trouble starting a fire with them. just shootin in the dark here

Far North Bushcraft And Survival Well said sir.

Same here !!! It was scary for sec

Ferdynand Wspanialy he looks like a black bear wouldn’t bother him much lol

Brett Tietema just for the sake of argument,, you get stranded out in the wild due to some unexpected circumstances, you run out of dryer lint ( which truly is a good tinder ). Then this where the knowledge of primitive ways comes into play ,, I merely suggest you practice using natural materials only and more primitive methods to start fires after a good rain or snow ,, always relying on synthetic fire starter materials or fuels ,, will get you nowhere when your life depends on that next fire ! And you need it right now !!

Where I live and go my entire region is absolutely abundant with tulip poplar.., cedar and fat wood ,, and maple for some hot long lasting coals .. I know not everywhere has those resources available. Pretty much everywhere but the desert has an equivalent to them .. just figure out your equivalent and practice until you don't fail to make a sustainable fire .. best of luck to you, and enjoy the outdoors every chance you get !

T.W. Milburn

Hey Terry, there you are! Just picked up a Zippo from Cabelas, reminds me of my father's, always carried one around in the "ol' days" (now I'm old!?). They still work far better than a Bic and there's just something about that piece of nostalgia and a tried and true method. Blessings from Manitoba.

Canesser Also when out & about I have Pop's Haversack that saw the WWII Campaign. Man oh Man The Stories It Could Tell ! Never without either item when Woods-Tramp'n. Thanks for the Kind Comment, Brother. Stay-Frosty

So your Dad is another reason why we're still free! A moving Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa yesterday as usual. Not sure if the young 'uns really appreciate the enormity of what that generation accomplished. Nice to carry such powerful sentimental value on your back. Mostly they're just back packs. You too brother!!

Never had a bic let me down. zippos are great if they have fuel most new ones leak like crazy. Bic just last longer used to love zippo till one leaked in my pocket leaving a chemical burn on my leg for about 3 months.

Pine as well as spruce also make a great tasty tea as well. The tea is great at fighting off a cold before it can really get started if you catch it soon enough. Yes that was a White Spruce with the blisters.

***** The jack pine and lodgepole we have here taste terrible and the spruce arent much better honestly.

Well here locally we have the White Spruce and Black Spruce. The black spruce definitely smells much better. The Sitka spruce in southeast Alaska also smells much better but I do enjoy the tea from all three varieties. The white spruce though smells kind of bad.

***** i always thought the black spruce was pretty nasty, but it was a long time ago that I tryed it. Do you just use the needles like other conifers? I think this gives me an excuse to wander off into the skag for a bit and revisit the concept.

I use just the tips of the branches needles as well as the branch tips. I usually do it in the Spring with the fresh new growth but have done it also all year anytime of the year.

You can use any sharp enough object as a striker on your ferro rod. If you can find any rock you are in business. just bust that rock and use a sharp edge of the rock as a striker. In this video I was using the back of a saw as the striker. I always carry a fingernail clipper in my pocket. It has a file on it and would work well. a shovel, ax, machete, screw driver, knife, metal pocket clip on an ink pin, belt buckle as you said, ear band on metal frame eye glasses, brass eyelet ripped out of a boot cooking spatula, metal fork, metal spoon, cooking pot lid, cooking pot etc.... Some of these things would need a sharp edge and that could be accomplished by rubbing the object on rocks. In other words, when in a tough situation one must not think in terms of "I lost my X so now I'm in deep doo doo. How will I ever survive?" But rather take the mental perspective of "now that I know that X is lost, how can I make do or substitute". There is that famous old saying "where there is a will there is a way" and that applies to wilderness survival as well.

If you are a smart woodsman, you won't venture out into any dense forest where you run the risk of being stranded with only one knife on your person. I always carry a belt knife even when I take the dog to one of the state parks here in the Southeast USA for a couple of hours of running. In addition, I always have a folding knife of one kind or another in a pocket or I have one of the hardened scrapers that come with many of these wannabe ferro rods that I tie on a small carabiner and snap on my belt loop out of the way. the ferro rods that I use are all 1/2" X 6" rods bought on eBay a few years ago before they became the rage to own and brag about. They were cheap back in that time and they are easy to drill for a lanyard or small type I or II paracord loop with which to carry it on your person. They are long enough that you don't need an auxiliary handle to hold them tightly in one hand as you smartly drag the spine of your knife down the ferro rod and they are quite easy to manage with gloves in colder weather. Technically, there is only one or two "ways" to use a ferro rod, either holding the ferro rod still on top of your tinder and swiping the "striker" down on the rod or bracing the held knife or other type of "striker" in one hand against your leg or a rock or other solid object and pulling the ferro rod back over the edge of the knife spine or other "striker" to generate sparks. What this man showed isn't about the rods use but of the different kinds of natural tinder that can be found in the woods and when to use one kind over another. In my opinion, a ferro rod is ALWAYS "worth having" as the title of the video asks. But just as important is knowing what kind of tinder to use under different conditions and THAT was the focus of this video in my opinion. The title was a bit misleading in that it placed the importance of "using" the ferro rod on making of the video instead of the importance of which kind of material to look for in wet vs. dry weather when a fire is needed.

One thing I have learned over the years is to be resourceful in the bush and would now find that rock you mention. But when beginning outdoor adventures that sort of thing would not have been something I thought of (looking back, yah, bear fodder comes to mind.) Anyhow, using a rock to sharpen edges is a good idea and one I have now tried to make it sink in, thanks! You mention thinking in terms of "if I lost m X.....how can I make do?" That sounds like something to add to my hikes around the place here. Usually I head out to try one of your video methods but will also challenge myself on outings, this will ad some adventure for sure. All the best.

#Tall_Cedars After re-reading my reply above, the last part was worded so that it sounded like I was giving you advice which was not my intention. I meant that yes I was agreeing with you. A person does need to use the patterns of thought like you were saying above. It can be very beneficial to think along the lines of "what if?"

#Framer_Guy The point for the video title was not addressed directly but rather indirectly. I was trying to get across the point that a ferro rod is *NOT* worth having if one does not practice with it enough to know how to use it. It is only worth having if a person *DOES* know how to use it. So in reality, the question that the title asks can be answered either way depending on the person answering the question.

In beards we trust. The pain and patience needed to endure to grow a beard like that is experience personified.

338 MRAD yep! Keep growing Lonnie!

I have not been able to answer each and every comment for quiet a while now. I now typically answer pretty much only the questions for the most part now. I really appreciate all the new viewers as well as the "old timers".

Sid Viscous showing alternative sources

Leaves suck as tinder. Hard to get going. Once you have tiny flame or bunch of embers you can add leaves but leaves by themselves are hard to get lit.

Well I live a long long ways from Indian Mountain but believe it or not, I worked there for a few months as a civilian while the military still operated the site. That was back in 1975 I think when I was there. I spent a bit of time on both Utopia creek and Indian river if I remember right. Got a lot of pictures of wolves and bear while there.

It was an early warning site and the mail plane would fly in and land and the site wouldn't even be aware that the plane was there. lol He would approach the site flying real low over the hills and the radar or other instruments would not detect him.

+Far North Bushcraft and Survival Really like your channel! A lot of what you demonstrate and teach is applicable where I live today as well as in Alaska: Kentucky. Sorry for the long reminiscences, Brother, but people who have been to Indian are a rare bunch, whether civilian or military. Do any panning while you were there? Utopia had gold in it still; also, the old commercial mining camp was another place to look. Some of the guys found gold-mercury aggregate, burned off the mercury (idiots!--but it worked!), and got nuggets that way. You already know how good the hunting is there Ahh, yes, the Wienie Bird! Wien (?) Air Alaska. I'll never forget my flight in to Indian--few people do, I think! ;o) On Nov 23, 1973, I flew from Elmandorf AFB to Campion on a DC-8 (maybe?) for a two-hour layover and transfer. Less than an hour before we were due to leave on the Wienie Bird (Don't remember the type, but it was the only one of its kind still flying anywhere in the world--spooky!), a little bit of fog rolled in. As I and a number of other people watched, another aircraft, *not* piloted by an Alaska bush pilot (in fact, the pilot had only just gotten his instrument rating,) w/four souls on board, took off. The inexperienced pilot barely got off the ground, went into the fog at about 200 ft, instantly became disoriented, and pitched his nose straight up. The airplane stalled and fell back onto the runway, tail first, killing all four people. Within an hour, I was on that same runway in an airplane that looked like a brick with wings, not feeling real confident about this whole flying thing ;o) . Landing at Indian was a trip in itself: coming in at full power, reaching the top end of the runway and turning sideways onto the turnaround so that when the engines were cut we wouldn't roll back down the runway--it was an adventure that day! We got there at @:30 PM and it was already dark. We were met by the station commander himself, who decided to drive us straight up the 10 1/2-mile switchback road to Top Camp himself, a decision he made *only after* discovering that I had Marlboro cigarettes--they hadn't had a supply plane in several weeks, and the only cigarettes left were Lucky Strikes and Bel Aire. That major bummed half a pack from me during that hour-long ride!--and me a mere two-striper. I wouldn't take a million dollars to repeat that year, and I wouldn't take a million not to have gone through it! Good times.... Take care, be safe.

Yes I did do some panning. I came back with about an ounce if I remember correctly. I had cleaned out the cracks of the hopper on the gold washing plant and other nooks and crannies on the plant. Of course there was a lot of mercury on the gold. I put it in my gold pan (metal) and roasted it over a fire and I made sure I was upwind and away from the fire. There was a rumor while I was there that someone from upper camp had accumulated a pound of gold. There was also magnetite rocks there that would stick to a magnet. I had collect a few but we had a house fire and I lost everything I owned including that gold. I still have some of the memories however and it will be a while before i loose them I hope.

***** I should've known, Brother! ;o) I wonder if you were there was the following happened, or whether you knew if it was true: In '73/'74, a litter of wolf-dog pups was born at Top Camp. One of 'em, a big Malamute-wolf cross we named Indian, was given the run of dorm at night, taking turns sleeping with different guys. He was just a big baby. I heard that in '75, one of the cooks, drunk, went out by the Scuzz Dump. He had a box of cookies with him, and a black bear that was scrounging the dump somehow got wind of the cookies. The cook stupidly, drunkenly, tried to make "friends" with the bear by feeding it cookies. Bad idea. When the cookies ran out, it marked the end of a beautiful friendship; the bear "treed" the cook on top of a fuel tank. He started yelling for help, and at some point Indian heard him. The bear, already enraged, kept trying to get at the cook. Indian charged the bear, trying to get it to turn on him. Eventually it worked, and the cook was able to escape into the building. Apparently, Indian and the bear finally got into it proper, but unfortunately, the bear managed to give Indian a good shot to the head and killed him. You know, living at Top Camp for a year was like living in a fish bowl: everything takes on a significance far beyond its relative importance in the wider world. Somehow, in that short space I ended up with a lifetime of stories and observations, while other times in my life, when more was happening around me had much less importance. I'll tell you what: despite the inconveniences, occasional hardships, periodic boredom, and all the rest, I've often found myself wondering what it would have been like to go back. Take care,Lonnie. I'll keep watching your videos!

ps .. I enjoyed your video . we all need to learn a little survival techniques , these are strange times .. Keep them coming ..

Also, it helps to blow on the tinder. I don't feel like he was giving 110%.

Wow. Advice taken.