Fire Steel

I have been a survivalist for years, on weekends, I go camping/offroading/etc. and train with my equipment as if I was in an emergency situation. In my kit, I carry multiple types of ways to start fires, from matches, flint and steel, magnesium fire starters, bic lighters, Zippo lighters, and even mini-torches. Today, I went to Dick's Sporting Goods to re-supply my water purification tablets, and I found a Fire Steel. I have been reading about these things for several months on different Survival Forums, and have had a few of my good friends try them with good results, and it was only $10.00.

I picked one up, brought it to my favorite campsite up here in Connecticut, and set up to start a fire like I would with any of my fire starters. I used some drier lint as kindling and on the first strike had it lit. This thing puts out so many sparks that even if you had never tried a flint and steel style method before, with good kindling you would be able to do this in first few tries. In the package you get a Fire Steel with a handle, a small bit of string (replaced with 5 feet of 550 cord) and a steel striker. I give this one an A+ because it claims to strike over ten thousand times, produces great sparks on the first strike, and is completely waterproof and windproof. I recommend this to anyone who wants a dependable source of fire, who doesn't know the first thing about primitive fire starting, or anyone who just wants another method of starting a fire in their kit/BOB/etc. Hope this helps someone out.