Zünden Original Ferro Rod Fire Starter Survival Tool – Up to 15,000 Strikes, 3/8" Fire Steel with Wood Handle, Multi-Tool Striker & Lanyard – Waterproof Camping Essentials

People always debate on which survival skill is the most crucial to master. That conversation may go on forever as you can imagine. What we can all agree on is that being able to start a fire is a must-have skill in a survival situation. We see it's importance on TV shows & even the movie, Castaway with Tom Hanks, hammers that point across in a very dramatic way. Not only is knowing how to build and sustain a fire imperative but having various methods to achieve that job is also a must. For most of us, our go-to fire starting sources are matches and lighters. They are easy, convenient and usually in abundance when we are in our basecamps and homes. But what happens when you are in an emergency situation and your lighter is waterlogged & your matches are soaked? Luckily, there are other viable means of starting a fire. One of my favorite methods of starting a fire is with a ferro rod; aka flint. In the boy scouts, one of the kits that all of us had at camp was a flint & steel kit. We would use the piece of steel to scrape or scratch the flint causing it to ignite or spark. By projecting it onto a good piece of tinder, the spark will catch and you will have either an ember or a flame depending on your tinder source. You would then insert it into a nest or whatever your fire building method is. Recently I was sent the Überleben Zünden Traditional Bushcraft Fire Starter. There is a lot of bang for your buck here and it works really well. The cool thing about it is that it feels really good in the hand. The wooden handle gives it a natural feel that I never got from other ferro rods. It comes with a lanyard, a cool piece of steel with various, useful, features and some jute twine to get you started. It is a really well made ferro rod. If you want to add a great fire starting source to your survival kit, this Überleben Zünden Fire Starter may be a great choice for you. As always, perfect practice makes perfect. Be sure to practice with your various fire starting methods; Don't just collect the gear. When the time comes.. you want to have the confidence that you can start a fire in any situation; because you practiced for every situation. SPECS ON THE Überleben Zünden FIRE STARTER: Up to 12,000 strikes from thick 5/16" (8mm) ferrocerium rod. Sparks shower at 5,500º F (3,000º C) to ignite a fire in any weather (even wet), at any altitude. Premium 100% hardwood handle is handmade, and provides natural textured grip. Perfect for Bushcraft, Firecraft, Backpacking, Hiking, Camping, Hunting, Fishing, Bugout, EDC, Emergency, Survival, Campfire, BBQ, Gas Camp Stoves, etc. Dimensions: 0.95 x 0.66 x 4.8 inches Weight: 0.11lbs Steel Scrapper with ruler, map scale, and bottle opener 3-ply natural jute tinder to get you started Lanyard Watch My Video Review For More Detail.

Excellent firestarter. Much better than cheap (actually not cheap) firestarters like Fire Maple or Pinguin I used before. This one has a huge rod, and gives strong, robust spark. I`m very satisfied!

This starter is the real deal. Quality parts and assembly. It is larger than most competitors which works well if you have hand issues such as arthritis. The spark output is superior to any I have used before. I am looking forward to this being the last one I will need to buy.

UPDATE 4/28/2018: Upgraded to 4 stars. New one came in and the production seems perfect this time. Tested it out with some palm frons to light as tinder and everything worked great! Even sparks. Durable. Felt great in the hand. Thoroughly impressed. Paired it with Gerber LST Knife, Fine Edge [46009 ] for EDC wear around the neck. Would be 5 stars, but the unpredictability of their quality control is discerning. But their customer service is AMAZING and respond absolutely quickly. Even offered a replacement. Good job guys! This is the second time I have ordered this and I am still disappointed. The first one's handle was uneven and the glue was coming undone which lead to a loose handle. Now the second one showed up just now and guess what? The handle creaked at first, but then seemed sturdy and the glue seemed more uniform. HOWEVER, the "Sharp Spine Scraper" -- you know, the part that you actually need to make sparks -- was uneven and incomplete down the spine, making it aggravating to make continuous sparks. This wasn't an issue on the first one I ordered. I like this brand. Like a lot. So I am going to try a third order and will update my review if it actually works out.

By far the best striker set i've tried. and i've tried about 20 of them. i teach kids survival skills and they can get sparks with these ferro rods.

The Überleben Hexå ferro rod has been absolutely awesome. I’ve used it dozens of times (much to my wife’s annoyance) just to practice and see how well it holds up and it’s never let me down. Since neither my wife nor I smoke, our lighters always seem to get wet and stop working on camping trips. This solved that problem completely. It’s started fires for us in every condition imaginable, including a heavy, wet snowstorm on Afognak Island during a winter hunt with cold, numb hands. No issues at all just huge, hot sparks every time. After 100+ fires across hunting, fishing, and camping trips, it still performs like new. It’s affordable, reliable, well built, and absolutely worth carrying. It’s earned a permanent spot in our packs. Yes I purchased both the this one and the Pro model they both work amazingly.

With fire being the 2nd most important need to maintain life, right behind shelter which is the most important need to maintain life, being able to start a fire is of primary importance. Almost every method typically used to ignite tinder to start and slowly build to a campfire, to warm a person, cook a meal, provide signaling smoke during the day or signaling light in the dark, provide some light and create a deterrent to keep wild animals a safe distance away, has an inherently fatal flaw that must be recognized. Wood or Paper Stick Matches can be lost, get wet or be completely used (leaving an empty storage container), the special striker strips needed to ignite Waterproof Matches can be lost or completely scratched out, fluid or gas-fueled Lighters can blow out in gusty or high winds, run out of lighter or butane fuel, flints and piezo-electric igniters can break, wear down, or wear out, 9-volt Batteries (used to ignite 0000 steel wool) can become completely discharged or corroded over time, and a Bow Drill requires skill, patience, practice, two hands (more than two hands it seems, sometimes!), and a good bit of time, dry weather and not too much wind. The one fire-starting tool that won't fall victim to these previously noted failures (it has a 550-paracord neck lanyard you can slip over your head to avoid losing it!) is the best Ferrocerium Rod and Steel Striker Fire Steel I've ever used. That fire steel is the Uberleben Zunden Bushcraft Fire Steel with Wood Handle and Neck Lanyard, which is sold in three different sizes. with ferrocerium rod diameters of 5/16" (The Traditional), 3/8" (The Pro), and 1/2" (The Fatty). At a length of nearly 5" (including the ferrocerium rod and tapered wooden handle flattened on two opposing sides to make it easy to hold), the Uberleben Zunden Bushcraft Fire Steel and it's 6-in-1 mult-tool (map scale, concave-serrated tinder scraper, straight-edge spine, hex wrench, ruler & bottle opener) steel scraper will provide an impressive shower of sparks that ignited every type of tinder material or fire starter tab I tested with it. The seller/manufacturer says each Uberleben Zunden Fire Steel will provide 12,000 - 20,000 strikes. ( I will take their word for that performance number. I doubt that my old wrists, forearms and shoulders still have 12,000 - 20,000 strikes left in them in this lifetime. I'll leave that testing to you younger, lower mileage guys!) The tapered wooden handle, with a 550-paracord neck lanyard keeping the 6-in-1 steel striker attached to it, permits the user to have a comfortable, stable and secure grip on the fire steel, allowing the user to hold the steel striker steady and control its position, just above the tinder nest / bundle, and quickly pull the fire steel upward to put the highest number of sparks directly onto the tinder nest / bundle, getting the tinder nest / bundle to catch fire and start burning well, ready to accept small kindling materials, which when that begins to burn well and build some heat, allow slightly larger kindling to be slowly added, followed by small firewood after it is burning well, and finally, adding large firewood over a good base of hot, red coals and a good, warming campfire. You now have the 2nd most important need to maintaining life in the wilderness taken care of quite nicely! I own five Uberleben Zunden Bushcraft Fire Steels with Wooden Handles, keeping one on the leather sheath of each of my small, large, and Mongo-size bushcraft / survival knives because one or two of them will ALWAYS be hung on the back and side of my belt before I head out into the wilderness (or just go to my campsite). Each of them are made from top quality materials, assembled with excellent craftsmanship, and provide me with a survival tool I can depend on to preserve my life, and the lives of the people accompanying me. As I mentioned previously, the wooden handle is very comfortable for me to hold, gives me a secure hold on the ferrocerium rod, and, being sanded smoothly, but not finished, its handle permits me to apply a wipe-on wood stain to it in a shade that nicely complements the color of the leather knife sheath and the handle scales of the knife in the sheath. (Nothing says you can't look good while using your bushcraft skills, according to my wife. And we all know a happy wife makes for a happy life!)) It is important to note that the black coating material found on ALL ferrocerium rods MUST be scraped off COMPLETELY to obtain the maximum spark-generating performance of ALL these rods. (Otherwise, you'll have as much luck getting the rod to spark as you would have trying to start a lawnmower engine with an empty, dry, gas tank.)

Have to strike it a few times at first. Throws a good amount of sparks. Small version, but fits in pocket. Highly recommend as a backup for starting a campfire.