Thought the ergos looked interesting on this so bought one. It's a smart move for no extra cost by LMF as the design certainly stands out from the huge amount of clones out there, and it is nicely branded and offered in numerous colours in the scout sized version. The army is only available in black at the time of writing and is the version I bought.
The striker is a huge improvement, feels natural and grips better in the hand to give the rod a strong scrape which should reduce the need for repetitive strokes. This is due to a big depression for the thumb and comfortable rounded back. One really nifty feature is the built in high pitched whistle built into it. I thought that was a nice touch.
The firesteel itself is larger than the old one, and also larger than the Woodlore version. The thumb depression is present on this too, but due to the high ridge at the top near the lanyard hole, actually digs into the thumb and is not as comfortable or as easy to hold as the striker. It also doesn't allow easy strking at other sides of the rod as you wear it down, which I like to do. The Woodlore version handle is perfect for this. Saying that though, I usually choke up on the rod and scrape the last cm or so and was very easy to control in that way due to the larger rounded handle back. So for anyone else that uses that method, all is OK
One major flaw on this is for those of you with loops on your knife sheaths. It doesn't fit well made sheaths with tight tolerances that allow the handle to sit further down the sheath. This is the furthest I could get it into my loop.....
It does however fit well on other types..
It's a nice visual package, the striker is brilliant. In my opinion though, the firesteel itself was let down by the high ridge at the rear of the depression. This was the larger army version, so I'd be interested to test out the scout.
The striker is a huge improvement, feels natural and grips better in the hand to give the rod a strong scrape which should reduce the need for repetitive strokes. This is due to a big depression for the thumb and comfortable rounded back. One really nifty feature is the built in high pitched whistle built into it. I thought that was a nice touch.
The firesteel itself is larger than the old one, and also larger than the Woodlore version. The thumb depression is present on this too, but due to the high ridge at the top near the lanyard hole, actually digs into the thumb and is not as comfortable or as easy to hold as the striker. It also doesn't allow easy strking at other sides of the rod as you wear it down, which I like to do. The Woodlore version handle is perfect for this. Saying that though, I usually choke up on the rod and scrape the last cm or so and was very easy to control in that way due to the larger rounded handle back. So for anyone else that uses that method, all is OK
One major flaw on this is for those of you with loops on your knife sheaths. It doesn't fit well made sheaths with tight tolerances that allow the handle to sit further down the sheath. This is the furthest I could get it into my loop.....
It does however fit well on other types..
It's a nice visual package, the striker is brilliant. In my opinion though, the firesteel itself was let down by the high ridge at the rear of the depression. This was the larger army version, so I'd be interested to test out the scout.
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