OK, I admit this is dumb.

Going by the "several ways to start a fire" theory, I recently bought a "Light My Fire" firesteel. I have never used one, but it threw an impressive stream of sparks when I tried it, and it makes me feel better to have another method of firestarting.

Do I need to wrap or carry it in a certain way so normal movement in a pocket or pack won't allow the striker to rub against the steel and cause it to spark?

No, nothing special is required to prevent it sparking. Casual klinking about will not peel any of the material off to throw sparks. Try and keep it dry, water and especially salt water, can cause it to corrode to a grey dust.

Some folks recoat the steel with clear fingernail polish after use to prevent corrosion, but I have never done that.

Enjoy it.

I covered the sweet spot of my BSI Hotspark with heatshrink tubing. Since my main one resides on my keychain, that keeps it from getting abraded by the jillion keys, dog tags, P-38, etc, that I carry around. No worring about a spark, just general wear and tear on the thing...

An alternative to heat shrink tubing is plastic tubing used for aquarium air hoses.

Dumb are people who buy kit and never ask how to properly maintain or use it. The only dumb question is the one never asked. You have demonstrated the correct, smart mindset for survival.

Unless you are wearing VERY tight fitting pants, and carrying a file in the same pocket, I don't see how you'd get a spark.

Of course, now that I've said that, someone will light their pants on fire, and we'll get a whole raft of regulations.....

Have you tried to make fire with it yet? Throwing sparks is easy, but for the untrained it can be hard to turn those sparks in to a flame. Don't count on it as a secundary fire starter, if you haven't made any fires with it.

i usually just keep mine firesteel in mine little bag, with mine other tools. Haven't suffered any corrosion in the many years i had it. I do occasionally wipe it down with some oil.

Where d oyou get heat shrink tubing at? I really like that idea.

At your favorite hardware store.

+1

Practice practice practice...they last for quite a few strikes so get good with it so you're not wasting them when you really need them.