The ability to start fires is foundational to survival. Fire provides warmth, light, hot food, the ability to signal, and a host of other practical and psychological benefits in the field. As a result, I recommend that an individual carry at least three fire-starting tools in their bugout bag, survival kit, or on their person while out in the field. These fire-starting tools may consist of things like matches in a waterproof case, a lighter (butane, liquid fuel, or plasma), a permanent metal match, a magnifying glass, or a ferrocerium rod. Because of its durability, stability under storage, and reliability under various weather conditions, I recommend that one of these three fire-starting tools be a ferrocerium rod.
The Lightning Strike Fire Starter incorporates a ferrocerium rod, striker, and tinder storage container into an aluminum tube that directs the sparks from the ferrocerium rod onto the tinder while preventing the striker from accidentally scattering the tinder. The Lightning Strike can even be operated with just one hand.
The Lightning Strike cost $68 at the time of this writing at Lightningstrikefirestarter.com. It comes in red, blue, green, or black in either standard or mini sizes. It is made in the USA.
If you can possibly afford it, this is the best fire starter for field use that I am aware of today. I highly recommend it.
Background
I have been using ferro rods to start fires for many years. It began when a friend demonstrated how to use one at a church campout. I was hooked. I have since used a large ferro rod that is a half-inch thick and eight inches long and uses a .50 BMG case as a handle. I have also used a tiny ferro rod that fits inside the toothpick slot of a Swiss Army SD Classic Knife. I have used a variety of ferro rods in sizes that fall between those two extremes. About 99% of the time, I have had good success with ferro rods. But about 1% of the time, the klutz factor interferes with the process.
For example, at church camp this past summer, a young man asked me to show him how to use a ferro rod to start a fire. I readily agreed. I gathered the wood, prepared the kindling, and pulled apart a piece of homemade waterproof tinder. I then placed the end of the ferro rod on the tinder, and struck some sparks. Unfortunately, the striker carried beyond the end of the ferro rod and scattered the tinder, extinguishing it. In the process, I accidentally smeared the striker with some of the mixture of petroleum jelly and paraffin wax that impregnates the waterproof tinder. The mixture lubricated the striker, making it less effective at striking sparks. After several minutes of effort during which I periodically scattered the tinder without striking effective sparks, the young man suddenly remembered that he had urgent business elsewhere and excused himself.
At church camp, this experience just cost me some embarrassment. Under field conditions, I could be on the verge of hypothermia and desperately needed a fire. In those circumstances, this type of experience could cost me my life.
I was recently watching the American Gunsmithing Institutes Survival Gunsmithing course. One of the bonus lessons in that course highlighted the Lightning Strike Fire Starter. It looked much more klutz-proof than the standard ferrocerium rod. I wanted to give it a try.
I contacted Darrell Holland at BestRifles@gmail.com to see if he could provide me with a sample of the Lightning Strike Fire Starter for testing and evaluation. He was kind enough to agree. Not too long afterward, I received a USPS Priority Mail Padded Flat Rate Envelope from Holland’s Shooting Supply Inc., Darrell E Holland, PO Box 69, Powers, OR 97466-0069.
First Impressions
A 9.25 x 6.25 x 2.25 inch Priority Mail box was inside the padded envelope. The box contained the Lightning Strike Fire Starter in a plastic clamshell package, a plastic canister of Napalm Tinder (note: Napalm Tinder does not actually contain any napalm), a plastic canister of Lightning Strike Tinder Refill, a plastic bag of practice tinder, and a two-sided, letter-size brochure with information about the fire starter.
The Napalm Tinder is designed for extreme weather conditions. The canister contains nine wafers of the tinder. Each wafer is rated to burn for four minutes. A canister of the Napalm Tinder cost $17 at the time of this writing.
The tinder storage compartment in the standard-size fire starter holds 20 pieces of Lightning Strike Tinder. The compartment in the mini-size fire starter holds 10. The canister of refill tinder also cost $17 at the time of this writing.
The ferro rod in the fire starter is replaceable. The ferro rod replacement kit also cost $17 at the time of this writing.
In the unlikely event that the striker wears out or somehow becomes disconnected from the fire starter and is lost, it can also be replaced. The striker replacement cost $32 at the time of this writing.
The standard-size fire starter is 7.5 inches long. About 3.25 inches of the tube-shaped tool is dedicated to tinder storage. About 3.25 inches is dedicated to housing the ferro rod. The final 1 inch of the tube is dedicated to stopping the forward motion of the striker and directing the sparks onto the tinder.
A number of survival tips and instructional videos are available on the website.
Initial Testing
My first opportunity to test the Lightning Strike Fire Starter was during our church’s annual Mission Conference. I had invited the men and boys of our church to our place for a campfire around the fire pit. This would give the missionary men participating in the conference a chance to interact with the men and boys of the church in an informal setting.
Prior to the arrival of our guests, I gathered firewood and kindling by the fire pit. I then took a piece of the practice tinder that had come with the fire starter, ignited it with the fire starter, and then added gradually larger pieces of kindling until I had a cheery fire going. I was then ready to welcome my guests as they arrived.
Scary Missionary Stories
The topic that I had assigned our missionary speakers for the evening was “My Scariest Moment as a Missionary.” The two missionary men participating in the conference each shared several of their scarier experiences. The stories included things like lions, raging rivers, feces, and troubled children.
The story that most engaged me was told by a man who was a missionary to Mexico. He shared that the drug cartels had been quite active in the area of Mexico where he was working. Many of the people that he and his wife worked with had been impacted by cartel violence.
One day this missionary and a young Mexican man were riding in the missionary’s truck on their way to a village. The missionary had a friend in the village whose two adult sons had been killed by the cartels.
As they neared the village, the road passed near the edge of a canyon. A truck was parked near the edge of the road. Two men were removing a bloody grain sack from the back of the truck and carrying it to the edge of the canyon.
The missionary quickly looked the other way, knowing that interfering with the cartels was a death sentence. But after he dropped the young man off in the village, the missionary began to wonder if he should intervene in some way.
He thought of his friend whose sons had been killed. Certainly, it would help bring closure to a victim’s family if he could at least help to locate a body that cartel enforcers had dumped into the canyon. So on the way home, the missionary stopped at the place where he had witnessed the dumping and parked. He eventually found the head of a trail that wound down into the canyon. He began to make his way down the trail.
Several hundred feet down into the canyon, the missionary came upon the bloody grain sack at the edge of the trail. He gingerly opened the sack. And there, on top of various dismembered body parts, was a head. It was the head of a deer. The men had been poachers trying to dispose of the evidence of their poaching. They had not been cartel enforcers, after all.
Further Testing
I put a piece of standard Lightning Strike tinder and a piece of Napalm tinder on an old cookie sheet on the workbench in the pole barn.
I fluffed the piece of standard tinder to expose fine fibers. I then ignited it with the fire starter. The standard tinder burned for approximately two minutes.
Next, I peeled the layers of the Napalm tinder wafer to expose fine fibers. The substance with which the tinder was impregnated coated the tips of my fingers. I cleaned them carefully before proceeding to the next step. I then ignited the Napalm tinder with the fire starter. It burned much more vigorously than the standard tinder, and continued to burn for about five minutes.
Water Resistance
I removed all of the standard tinder from the storage compartment of the Lightning Strike unit. I then re-filled the storage compartment with practice tinder.
Next, I placed the unit in a bucket, and poured a quart of water over the unit. I then removed the unit from the bucket, shook off the excess water, and removed a piece of practice tinder from the storage compartment. I fluffed the tinder and ignited it with the fire starter. It burned perfectly. The unit is definitely splash-resistant. I then topped off the tinder storage compartment with another piece of practice tinder, replaced the lid, and placed the unit back into the bucket. I added another quart of water to the bucket. That was sufficient to fully immerse the unit. I then removed the unit from the bucket, shook off the excess water, removed a piece of practice tinder from the storage compartment, fluffed the tinder, and ignited it with the fire starter. Once again it burned perfectly.
I was impressed. I had expected the unit to be splash-resistant, but I did not expect it to withstand immersion.
I suspect that long-term immersion might result in damp tinder. But I felt that withstanding even short-term immersion was going above and beyond the call of duty.
Conclusions
The Lightning Strike Fire Starter is the Rolls Royce of fire starters. It is sturdy, effective, klutz resistant, and water-resistant. It has earned a place as one of my first-choice pieces of field gear. I highly recommend it.
Disclaimers
Holland’s Shooters Supply Inc. provided me with a sample of their Lightning Strike Fire Starter for testing and evaluation. Minuteman Provision Company provided me with a sample of their “Forever Fifty” Fire Starter for a previous review. Tortoise Gear provided me with a sample of their Firefly Fire Starter for a previous review. The American Gunsmithing Institute provided me with their Survival Gunsmithing DVD for a previous review. I tried not to allow the kindness of these vendors to interfere with my objectivity, and I believe that I have succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.