Agreed. The casing is slick.

Thank you for the correction. Confused between C an F on their site. Most likely the temperature is the same By the way, according to Wiki, there is only 4% of magnesium in modern firesteel. Hopefuly in this one they have significantly more.

Any ideas what tests should I (and ToddW) perform to compare its firemaking performance to the regular ferrocerium one?

Get both, get tinder of different kinds and in different states, use each one to see if you can ignite the tinder, make sure each one gets a chance at each type of tinder under the same conditions, reports your results.

For examples: use wood shavings or saw dust made weeks ago and made an hour ago; use some dead grass and straw; use drier lint; use cotton balls with and without petroleum jelly. Tell us how each does with each type of tinder.

Also, I think to do it fairly you need someplace where it will not be windy at all. The wind changes from moment to moment, so wind will make it difficult to keep conditions the same. But in the end, try it in windy conditions too, and let us know of any changes.

A controlled area with a fan may help normalize the wind results.

The reports I’ve read on other forums is that it works pretty well. It will ignite tinder that a regular fire steel won’t, since the magnesium keeps burning (unlike a firesteel that just makes sparks) it will light paper. Seems like the downsides are the striker is a bit awkward to use and the case is not to everyone’s liking.

I read that they plan on selling the rods only.

But it would be nice to get some other opinions.

Adam

All types of tinder, controlled wind conditions... Sounds like too much fun for me I'm sure it will work on usual tinder with no problems. My idea was to prove the concept. Like try to ignite a sheet of plain paper. I know for sure a regular firesteel can't do that. But I'll try some damp natural tinder also. And maybe will check how it behaves in windy conditions compared to regular one.

adam. Could you provide some links to the abovementioned forums?

I have a bunch of tender I`ll try it out on and get video so all can see.

I have my tender tests from 3 years ago I still need to write online and publish.

-Todd

I like the case.

My EDC Firesteel has a layer of corrosion on it. I just tested it, and it took a couple of swipes before it would spark.

ive lit paper with a firesteal, I jsut wrap the paper around the striker...

nicodemus
Coat the firesteel with some nail polist to stop the corrosion.

Lee