The Bobcat is our best selling firesteel, and for good reason. Lightweight, compact, easy to use, and still enough size to make the shower of fire rain down.
Please note that the current version of the firesteels are not exactly the same as our original Youtube video. The composition is the same, but the manufacturer hardens the alloy for a longer period. This makes the rods significantly easier to use, but they will not throw as large of gobs of metal since less material is removed with each scrap. The performance is still excellent and they will still work very well for fire starting.
These firesteels are made out of ferrocerium, a combination of misch metal, iron, and magnesium. Misch metal is an alloy of rare earth metals that does more than just create sparks. What comes off these firesteels when you scrape them are more like molten globs of metal, burning much longer than a spark from a flint. They burn so long that you can stand up, scrape the firesteel, and watch the globs bounce on the ground.
Firesteels are the perfect tool for a lightweight, reliable fire starter. Water is no problem for firesteels. Get yours wet and just wipe it off before using. They can be scraped with almost any sharp edge to produce sparks, but the squared off spine (back) of a knife blade or the back of a hacksaw blade (not the teeth) both work particularly well. To use, just stick the firesteel down into the tinder and scrape along the firesteel with a quick motion and decent amount of pressure. The shavings will ignite and fly off of the firesteel into the tinder, and if you are using the right tinder, it will flame up or create an ember quickly and easily.
The firesteel blanks come with no handles or strikers, and are perfect for compact carry or your own firesteel project. If you are looking for ones with handles, check out our other firesteels for more options.
