Ferro, hard or soft?

[midas]

We used to ignite little sticks of magnesium in high school for a chemistry class

I used to take pictures with it Before flashguns.....

[DuxDawg]

I got curious and put it to the test myself. I had no problem creating sparks with my no-brand el-cheapo firesteels starting just 1 cm from the tip. However, the force I had to use doing the same with the LMF, was slightly less.

Would you say your no-brand are a hard ferro like the LMF or a soft like a Coghlans, UST StrikeForce, etc? I can get sparks from the tip of soft ferros but it is like 1 in 10 (with the USTSparkForce it is 1 in 6) whereas with the LMF it is 1 for 1.

So I will keep using the ones I am using, and probably replace them with more of the same.

Same here. However I *am* enjoying experimenting with the LMF. So far there are no tinders or methods I cannot make the LMF work with. It is only with the tip push scraping method that the soft do not work well for me.

Since I can get three 1/2" x 5" (1,27cm x 13cm) ferros for the same price as one 3/8" x 4" ( 0,95cm x 10cm) LMF Army 2.0 the value is just not there with the LMF. Other than for testing or demonstration purposes I see no reason to buy another LMF. Still glad I got the one though.

Have often found that price has got nothing to do with quallity...

I have found that to be mostly true. Seems like we get ripped off at the high and low ends of the price scale. Somewhere in the middle is where I usually find the true value of low price and high performance.

My Army LMF however, do reside in my "The manure has levitated and is flying at warp speed towards the fan" bag of dirty tricks to get a fire going, should I ever need it. But then I'll probably just use the Bic lighter resideing the the same bag, hehe

ROFLMAO!! Very well put. Absolutely. Always carry a Bic whether EDC, hunting, dayhikes, through hiking, etc. Wet or dry, hot or cold, buried in mud for a year... Bics are hands down the best. Plenty of ways to dry the mischmetal rod in them if we are in a hurry (will usually dry in your pocket within a half hour) and to start a fire when they are out of fuel.

Another benefit of being skilled with F&S is every NUT (Natural Uncharred Tinder that will catch a spark with flint the rock struck against steel - there are at least two dozen around the world and several are abundant) and every char will ignite with an empty Bic or any ferro.

Anyway, I have practiced with other tinders, but birch bark, which exist in such abundance that there are hardly any other trees here, works so well, that this is the only tinder I use.

The outer barks of the several types of birches around here are in the Top Five tinders for sure. Unfortunately there are several pests, such as birch leaf miners and bronze birch borers, that are decimating our beloved birches.

Always lit at first or second spark...well tenth if if it is raining...well...uh....50th some times...but by then the BIC ligher is out...allong with the ranger bands...lol

LOL! Yeah, I quit talking about "One Scrape" fires with a ferro and "One Strike" fires with F&S after one sarcastic noob too many obnoxiously "busted" me for needing two. Of course it was perfectly ok that it took them more than 50. And was completely forgotten that I achieved One Strikes a dozen times in front of them before the single two strike. Now I try to remember to give a range like "less than five" or "less than twenty".

Anyway, see no reason to change my way for now :-)

Me neither. Only change for me is that for noobs and kids I will recommend a LMF as the way to start.

[DuxDawg]

Been teaching the boy how to use a good old fashioned flint and steel this evening. We both have them, mine being a more recent purchase so I don't have to pinch his Dave Budd forged one. He decided that this was going to be his method of fire lighting when the rest of the Scouts are using ferro rods. He just has to be different!

Good on him! (and you!) Can't be ahead of the pack until you separate yourself from the herd.

I have learned the most about the outdoors primarily from three hobbies: Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, F&S and Tracking. One could substitute, or better yet add, Friction Fire for F&S. Get good at those and everything else will follow.

[DuxDawg]

We used to ignite little sticks of magnesium in high school for a chemistry class

I used to take pictures with it Before flashguns.....

Hmmm... getting the impression you two fine gentlemen perhaps might be pyros...

As if the rest of us aren't!

[DuxDawg]

After several hours of playing with a FireSteel.com ferro this week I can confidently put FS.com ferros in the "hard" ferro category along with the Light My Fire, aka LMF. Thought I had used one before and that it was more like the LMF but I wanted to make sure before I posted.

IMHO that makes the FS.com ferros a good bargain (for us here in the States) for those who desire a hard ferro. Typically the FS.com are half the price of LMFs and just as good if not a skosh better. Of course, soft ferros can be had for even less.