Firesteel Blanks

[richgg]

Hello everyone, I buy and use around twenty fire-steel blanks a month either through my courses or my knife sales, I used to buy from jx metals in china but the rods were so hard you just ended up with ridges all down the steel and had to throw them away, I now normally buy them from www.firesteel.co.uk and have never had a problem with there rods, although a few of the students have found them hard to use and unless you have a hard sharp striking surface they can be a bit tricky and end up with ridges down too, but they produce nice hot sparks.
I have been trying different rods and all of them seem to be the same until I tried one of my rods that I had from Ray Mears, There is a huge noticeable difference in his rods and they are far easier to strike with any striker compared to most the others on the market, Rays flints seem to be allot softer and produce a different type of spark more similar to a spark from say a lighter flint.
Although other rods produce a hotter bigger bunch of sparks when you can strike them Rays seem to be the best for people to learn and also children can use them with ease family courses.
My question is A has anyone ells noticed this difference and B is there any other make of rod that is as soft and easy to strike as the woodloor ones but with a reasonable price tag as rays are £6.00 for 1 rod and I usually pay £2.72 per rod from firesteel.co.uk.

Rich.

 

[rancid badger]

Absolutely, totally and utterly agree; that the Woodlore steels' are different.

In my experience; very much superior to any others I have tried.

Woodlore blanks are a bit pricey at £6-that said; have you approached them about a discount?

The next best, after Woodlores steel, is the light my fire 'Army'

For personal use I'd not go past the Woodlore version but I issue LMF steels to our students and have no trouble with them at all.

cheers

R.B.

 

[richgg]

Excellent I will give them a try thanks for your reply!

Rich.

 

[helixpteron]

Storl from Going Gear.com (in the Traders section) is famous for his excellent firesteels.

I've only ever seen very positive feedback on BF W&SS for his gear, especially his firesteels.

 

[FGYT]

yep ive a batch from going gear they are the softer mishmash metal and strike diffent than the LMF ones etc but very good

also teh new super striker thay use is the best striker for any ferro rod ive ever used

if you want to try one im happy to send you one at cost ive also got a few diffent sizes etc

ATB

Duncan