Does anyone know where you can score the Swedish firesteel for international folks? Keep trying to find the army sized one without any success. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

ColdOne,
There's a guy that sells the Army sized ones on ebay, both with the plastic handle and without. Don't know if he ships to great frozen north.

The Mack Daddy of firesteels is this one:

Exploration Products 4" Firesteel

This is the same firesteel in Evolute's (Mike's) PSK post.

Cool, thanks for the link. Looks like they ship north. Gonna bug some other people around here to see if anybody else wants one.

hey dude

if you have a problem scoring the army firesteel please lmk . i can buy some over here and ship them out to you

cheers

ug <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Ug, makes a change we can easily get something our friends over the pond can't!

yeah dude ... i almost have a power rush...<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

i will put together a little tutorial on how to make a firesteel ..its really easy .. simply put .. if you mess up a heat treat the grain increases in size.. voila spark producing capability <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/loopy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbup.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the offer Ug! Only issue is the shipping cost, so if I can get a couple of people on board, then the average shipping cost goes down!

Broke down and got a couple from ebay today. Looking forward to receiving them and stashing them in the bail out bags!

I always pack a couple of cheap butane lighters.. Cheap, disposable and reliable man's best friend after his S6!

I don't want to trust my life to a cheap anything! The only disposible lighters I use are Bics. I’ve had several cheap lights fly apart on me the first time I tried to use them! The springs flew out, along with the flint, making them worthless.

Imagine something like that happening after you fall through some ice in the winter in the middle of nowhere while trying to start a fire to stay alive. Emergency Bics I put a small plastic wire/zip tie around it under the button to ensure the button doesn’t get depressed and leak out all the fuel. Then, I put it in a small ziplock bag, so if it gets wet somehow the flint will still spark on the first try without having to wait for it to dry out.

Andy, I always try lighters a few times before I trust them.. Like you I also immobilise the gas button! Great minds think alike..

I should add I have two processed flint sticks, which also go in my kit, it's just the butane lighters will light a gas stove in the wind unlike a flint stick! I added the lighters to my kit after failing to start a fire when some squaddies were nearby to chuck me a lighter! (Doh!!)

Given the weight of a decent firestarter vs. how valuable it is, I always carry several sources. Plain old wooden matches stashed here and there (both normal and weatherproof), a lighter or two and a magnesium starter.

I also put them in different layers of my clothing, just in case! You never know what might happen to a pocket or even a jacket out in the bush. Hypothermia is a horrible thing and the first item to normally go is the jacket.