bayite 1/2 Inch X 6 Inch Large Ferro Rods Ferrocerium Rod Drilled Survival Fire Starter Flint Steel with Toggle Lanyard Hole for Camping Emergency

It's a basic ferro rod, so it might not be the sexyest item on Amazon, but this is the King of All Ferro Rods! It is far longer (6"), and larger in diameter (1/2"), than other sellers on Amazon, and it's about half the price. Why? Because it doesn't come with a useless custom handle, flymsy case, or some fancy striking gizmo that you can hang around your neck - forget all that nonsense, this is what you need to start a fire when your camping, or if you just want a awesome ferro rod for your Get Home Bag or SHTF Bag. You don't need a designated striker, just use the back of your knife (I love my Mora Garberg Knife for this application - for my money it's the best bushcraft/outdoor camping knife sold on Amazon).Additionally, there is a hole on one end that is perfect for threading paracord through and making a secure wrist lanyard, and in a pinch paracord can be used as an accelerant to start a fire if you have nothing else.Hot Tip: take a one to two inch piece of 1/2" shrink tube, slide it on, heat it up, and you have a great non-slip handle. If you cover the hole with the shrink tube, just poke through it with a awl or drill bit after it cools and then string your lanyard cord through it. That's what I did and it works great.I don't use a ferro rod as my primary fire lighting device, I carry a Bic lighter which is faster and easier, but I do recommend carrying a ferro rod as a back-up if you run out of fuel or your lighter breaks. It is very primitive and satisfying way to start a campfire, and when it comes to survival and warmth redundant systems are a good thing.One caveat, if you are a backpacker and weight is a big deal to you, this rod is somewhat heavy (it says 0.8 oz, it feels like more than that to me), you might be better off with their smaller 4" x 3/8" ferro rod.

The media could not be loaded. This Ferro Rod is big, easy to hold, and strikes REALLY easily. I use my knives (Mora, Condor, Ontario RAT) with spines I ground to 90 degrees and they work great, but... if you can get one of those actual scrapers that come with some rods, or even better the saw from a multi tool, you’ll be blown away.I typically use FireSteel dot com, and of course they’re superb. However this enormous Ferro Rod with a lanyard is honestly unbeatable. It works great. I’m going to buy at least five more.My video sucks and doesnt begin to demonstrate the spark shower, but then tinder goes right up. You can see the ember where I’d struck it already but you get the point. It’s definitely worth it. I trust my life to this thing and that was a surprise.UPDATE:First I am not sponsored or being given anything for my review (although I wish I was)! Also, I just wanted to add a couple newer photos. I started to make a handle for one, but didn’t cut the stick so ended up with a gigantic, super stable (and absurdly silly yet effective) FireSteel using a (4”?) sawzall blade with the paint sanded off.

Arrived fast. Works as intended. No corrosion. Will throw a ton of sparks

This ferrocerium rod is great! The length and thickness is perfect. I am able to get a nice long stroke on the rod which in turn gives me nice big sparks. The thickness of the rod ensures that I'll be able to use it for a long time. It comes with a pre-drilled hole in it for a lanyard or a keyring. The only thing the company could do to improve this product would be to ship it with a paracord or leather lanyard already ran through the pre-drilled hole. It's not a big deal really, I have plenty of paracord sitting around so I was able to make one for myself, but it did take a little time braiding the cordage. Having leather or paracord on the rod is great if you want to wear it around your neck while camping, hiking, bushcrafting, or in a survival situation. If they shipped it with one of these two options I think it would be a great selling point for the company. They could then advertise it as including x amount of paracord. Paracord is cheap and wouldn't cost much to add to the rod and is one of those things that a wilderness guy can never have enough of and a lot of people would jump at the chance to have a rod with a little extra paracord included. That being said, it is not really a reason not to buy this rod since you can add whatever amount of cordage you want to it, which may be a better option for some folks. For those folks that have never used a ferro rod before, don't think that it doesn't work on your first two or three strokes. The first few strokes will remove the paint or black coating off of the rod, once that has been done every stroke produces great sparks that will start a fire with ease. The big sparks also seems to impress young kids.Pros: Thickness, length, nice big sparks, pre-drilled holeCons: Doesn't include paracord or leather lanyard

I like it the rod works very well. Throw out a lot of spark to help start a fire and you not screw around with a little dinky thing in that the 3/8 and the quarter inch ones break and being a survivalist it works very well.