I have had a few ferrocerium rods turn to dust over time. I wasn't expecting that. Good to check everything before you need it.
I didnt know they would do that! I scraped the coating off of a couple so I wouldnt have to waste time in an emergency. What do you coat them with?
Also, I was packing my wifes BOB last sunday and found the 4 AAA batteries in her walky talky had started to leak! Jeesh, they've only been in there about 6 months and kept in the cool basement. Im finding out that creating a BOB is only half the job. You gotta constantly keep up on it.