We stock two main types of ferrocerium rod the Standard and the Durable; both are extremely good at producing an amazing shower of sparks that will easily ignite almost any kind of tinder. The main difference between them lies with the iron content that each type contains, each having advantages over the other because of iron variation.
Briefly, the Standard ferrocerium rods contain lower percentage of iron than the Durable ferrocerium rods, this allows the Standard ferrocerium rod to produce a larger shower of sparks with less striking effort, however, it is more prone to the effects of corrosion and snapping.
The ferrocerium rod with the higher percentage of iron is the Durable. The 'Durable' was designed to be more...well, durable than the Standard, it being better able to resist the effects of corrosion and accidental damage. In addition to this, the Durable produces bigger and longer lasting sparks than the Standard that have the advantage of increasing the likelihood of producing an ember when a spark reaches the tinder. However, the Durable does not generate as many sparks, and requires a little more pressure and striking speed to produce the ones that it does.
An unexpected benefit of using the lower sparking Durable, over the higher sparking Standard, is that small shavings can be scraped from the surface of the ferrocerium rod in a similar manner to using a Magnesium Fire Starter without them igniting, assuming less pressure and striking speed is applied that is. This is virtually impossible to do with the Standard type of ferrocerium rod, since the Standard sparks too easily. The small shavings from a 'Durable' can be collected together as a small pile of ferrocerium, which can easily be ignited when a spark is intentionally directed at the small mound. The resulting high intensity, high heat output of the resulting flash should easily ignite damp or harder to light tinder.
