'light my fire' firesteel or cheepo?

[Peter_t]

my cheep firesteel (i think it was called a fireball flint?) costing me about £5 is getting a bit slim and i think its time for a new one. question is is the light my fire any better? i could get two of the cheeper firesteels for around the same price.

or maby i should stop being so tight? lol

 

[Pantalaimon]

With important tools it is wise to buy not the cheapest ones.
On a bushcraft course I was told that the Primus was ****, and Light My Fire was far better. They last longer and give easier and better sparks.

A couple of weeks ago I went to a shop that had only Primus firesteels, so I bought none. Instead I bought some waterproof matches (4 boxes for 2.5 euro.)..... I could have better bought the more expensive ones (2 for 5 euro).

 

[Aragorn]

ive got both and do notice the differance, the dearer one is easier to use, while the cheepy ebay stick still works, it dosen't spark as good, this is usually the one i use for backup so it's good enought for that.

 

[Mike Ameling]

A ferro-cerrium fire steel is a "consumable" supply. The more you use it, the faster it is "used up".

Every time you scrape it to create sparks, the particles you scrape off ignite as the sparks you see. The more particles of ferro-cerrium you scrape off, the more sparks you get.

And different manufacturers of ferro-cerrium rods use slightly different formulas in their mixtures. So they can work differently.

I own one, but have almost no experience with the various brands.

Just my humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - yee ol' grumpy blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

 

[rik_uk3]

I've had a few firesteels, to be honest, the LMF is by far the best out of the bunch IMHO

 

[Martyn]

I've had a few firesteels, to be honest, the LMF is by far the best out of the bunch IMHO

Yep, no question. It's a noticeably better product. Is it worth 3x the money? Well, that's debatable, the cheap ones do work, but the LMF sticks are definitely the best I've tried.

 

[Peter_t]

thanks guys
sounds like light my fire is the way to go

 

[Tadpole]

I have to say I’m the opposite of most people, I guess.
I own two, one ‘a light my fire; and the other a £2 one from eBay. The one I use the most is the £2 one from eBay. I think of it like this, I know the ‘light my fire’ one will work 100% of the time, and that is the one I keep as back up. The consumable one takes a bit more effort to light a fire. Now most of the time I’m in no rush, and don’t mind a bit of fiddling about to get the fire going. It’s when it’s raining or blowing a gale, and I Need to get a brew on, that the ‘light my fire’ rod out.
At three times the price of the cheapie, I don’t want to have to replace it too often, so the cheap one get the day to day “all the time in the world” fire lighting jobs and the “light my fire one” come out in ‘emergency’.
It’s all pretty moot, as I am gravitating to using Mike A’s fantastic Viking firesteel for the everyday fires, and that will (hopefully) out last me

 

[rik_uk3]

For the few quid they cost, just carry two LNF's

 

[crazydave]

light my fire just rebrand stuff so they buy their steels in. most of the steels come out of the same swedish factory and are cheaper due to lack of packaging and middlemen

the first one I had 15 years ago was just a thick rod with no holes handles or striker.

I have two light my fires and I bought a simple bar for 4 quid, I cannot say I noticed any difference except I can rotate the simple bar around to even out wear

someof the american made ones are classed as metal matches, you are supposed to be able to scrape some steel off in the same way you would a magnesium bar and then strike it up.

 

[stevesteve]

For what it's worth, I bought the cheaper one from Millets (the one with the red handle) a while ago and it's still working fine.
I have both 'practised' in the garden (SWMBO "You smell of woodsmoke, have you been lighting fires again?") and used it in anger on canoeing trips etc. I use a small piece of cotton toweling char cloth, a handfull of dry bracken etc and away it goes.
Cheers,
Steve