Purefire Fire Starters use an integrated magnesium rod to provide a durable, compact, long-lasting, waterproof source of shavings for highly effective tinder for the ferrocerium rod with which it is mated.
The Survival Model has a hollow handle in which the striker, additional tinder, or other survival essentials can be stored. The Folding Model, as its name indicates, can be folded into the handle, making it more compact and thus easier to store and carry.
Both models are handmade in the USA and have a lifetime warranty. When the magnesium and ferrocerium are both fully exhausted, they are eligible for replacement with the buyer paying shipping only.
Each model costs $34.95 at PureFireTactical.com. I highly recommend them.
Background
Okay, I am a pyromaniac. I admit it. I love the science and art of starting fires. It is a challenge and a joy to take materials available in nature and turn them into a source of light and heat. So when I ran across Purefire Fire Starters online, they had my attention.
I contacted Purefire and asked if they could provide me with a sample of one of their fire starters for testing and evaluation. They did me one better. They provided two. Within a couple of weeks of my request, a 9.5 x 7.25 inch plastic padded envelope arrived in my mailbox via USPS Ground Advantage.
First Impressions
The envelope came from 18101 Tuckaway Ln., Umatilla, FL 32784. It contained the two fire starters and an 8.5 x 5.5 inch sheet of paper with instructions.
The two fire starters were bound together in plastic wrap. Both were made with the address “PureFireTactical.com” molded into the handle.
Each fire starter is built around a ferrocerium rod that is 0.31 inches in diameter and 3.13 inches long bonded to a magnesium rod that is 0.63 inches in diameter and 3.69 long. This spark-and-tinder-source assembly is attached to a handle.
The Survival Model has a hollow handle made of a PVC-like material that is closed with a removable end cap. Its overall length is 7.5 inches. The storage compartment comes with a striker and a piece of fatwood. The only design change that I might suggest would be a way of attaching the striker to the fire starter with a lanyard. To err is human. It is only a matter of time before someone drops the striker into leaf litter on the forest floor and loses it.
The Folding Model has a handle into which the spark-and-tinder-source assembly folds like the blade of a pocket knife into its handle. Its overall length is 4.25 inches folded and 7 inches extended. There is a magnet built into the sleeve that holds the striker in place when it is not in use. There are also holes in the striker and in the handle which would allow a lanyard to be installed to secure the striker to the unit.
The instructions explain how to use non-magnesium tinder with the ferro rod, magnesium as tinder, or both non-magnesium and magnesium tinder together. One interesting tip is shaving the magnesium onto the sticky side of a piece of duct tape to keep it from blowing away.
A Cheery Blaze
It was a beautiful evening in early spring. The temperature was 33 degrees Fahrenheit. It had been breezy earlier in the day, but with the coming of evening the wind had stilled. Shafts of golden light from the declining sun shot through the upper branches of the surrounding trees. The birds were singing joyfully, and the sky was blue. I made my way to the fire pit at the edge of the pond in front of our home. I went into the woods to the south of the fire pit, and broke the last six feet or so off from a dead branch that had fallen to the ground. I picked the part of the branch that had not been in contact with the ground so that it would be relatively dry. I say “relatively dry” because rain had fallen a couple of days earlier. There were some remaining traces of moisture in the leaf mold and undergrowth.
Back at the fire pit, I broke the branch into pieces about three to six inches long, and separated them into three piles: the smallest twigs thinner than the diameter of a pencil, medium sized pieces about one third inch thick, and larger pieces about one half inch thick.
Next, I took my EDC knife and the biggest piece of wood and began cutting shavings from the wood. When I had about a quarter cup of wood shavings, I used them to make a bed about 3 inches around and one half inch thick in the fire pit.
Then I took the Survival Model Fire Starter and began to scrape shavings from the magnesium rod onto the bed of wood shavings using the striker. When I had scraped about a half-teaspoon or so of magnesium shavings onto the bed of wood shavings, I used the striker to strike some sparks from the ferrocerium rod. The magnesium shavings quickly blazed to life, but just as quickly were consumed, leaving the wood chips charred and smoking but with no open flame.
I repeated the process of scraping magnesium shavings onto the bed of wood shavings, until I once again had about half of teaspoon of magnesium shavings. Once again I ignited the magnesium shavings with sparks from the ferro rod. This time the wood shavings started to burn.
I built a tiny log cabin around the burning wood shavings using the tiniest twigs. As that cabin began to burn, I built a slightly larger log cabin around it using the medium-sized twigs. As that medium-sized cabin began to burn, I built a slightly larger log cabin around it using the largest-sized twigs.
Soon I had a cheery little fire burning. I sat on an overturned bucket near the fire and enjoyed its heat in the coolness of the evening.
After a pleasant half hour or so of watching the changing patterns in the flickering flames, the wood was mostly consumed and the fire began to die down. I spread the remaining coals around the fire pit to allow them to cool down. I then took the bucket, filled it with water from the pond, and dumped it on the fading embers to make sure that they were thoroughly extinguished.
I was really impressed with how easily the sparks from the ferrocerium ignited the magnesium shavings. I was also impressed with how well the magnesium shavings had ignited the wood shavings in turn. Imperfectly dry wood shavings can be somewhat difficult to ignite.
Impatience and Damp Wood
Two of the biggest obstacles to successfully kindling a fire are impatience and damp wood.
Recently, I wanted to kindle a fire in the fire pit out by our pole barn. I was using the folding model fire starter.
A certain someone was standing behind me, providing critical commentary. They were sighing and making comments like, “This is taking forever” and “Can’t you just use a match?” Eventually, I became impatient with the impatience. I went into the barn and came back with a box of Diamond Strike-a-Fire fire starters. I struck one of the Diamond fire starters on the box, placed it in the midst of the kindling, and we soon had a blazing fire burning in the pit. But an overgrown match like the Diamond Strike-a-Fire is not as portable, versatile, nor aesthetically pleasing as a Purfire Fire Starter. I still wanted to play some more with the folding model.
Later that day, I went to the pole barn. I set an old cookie sheet on the workbench there. I decided to do bench-top testing because it is easier on my old bones after a busy day of chores than kneeling on the ground by a fire pit. It usually works best to put a board under each end of the cookie sheet to keep the heat from the bottom of the sheet from charring the top of the workbench.
I grabbed a stick out of the woods near the pole barn, broke off small twigs, and cut some wood shavings from the larger pieces.
The problem was that it had rained steadily for most of the day, and the stick had absorbed some moisture. I could get the wood shavings to catch, but I could not get the fire to spread from the wood shavings to the twigs.
Next, I tried putting a cotton ball into my little log cabin of twigs. The cotton burned well, but the fire still would not spread to the twigs.
Finally, I put a piece of homemade waterproof tinder in the middle of the twig log cabin. I wrote about this tinder back in June of 2021. I ignited the tinder with the ferro rod on the folding model fire starter. The tinder started right up, ignited the twigs, and for the next 20 minutes I enjoyed my little test fire. When it burned out, I dumped the embers in the ash can where I put the ashes from the outside wood boiler when I clean it.
Using Fatwood
The next day, I decided to start a fire using the fatwood tinder that came in the storage compartment of the survival model fire starter. I made my way to the pole barn and set up the cookie sheet. I had done some wood cutting in a swampy area in our woods that morning, and decided that bench testing would be easier on my joints. I grabbed a broken branch from a wild cherry tree from the ground in the woods and broke some small twigs from it into four-inch lengths. I then cut some shavings from the fatwood using my EDC knife and arranged them into a pile in the center of the cookie sheet.
I love fatwood. It is relatively light, water-resistant, and you don’t need a lot to get a good fire started.
I built a log cabin of twigs around the fatwood shavings, added a few magnesium shavings, and struck a spark with the ferro rod. The magnesium ignited the fatwood, which ignited the twigs in turn. Soon, I had a nice little fire going.
It is possible to ignite fatwood directly with a ferro rod, but it is much easier with the addition of a few magnesium shavings. It is possible to ignite regular wood shavings from burning magnesium shavings, but it is much easier with the addition of a few fatwood shavings. So, a little magnesium and a little fatwood can greatly enhance the effectiveness and ease of use of a ferro rod.
Water Testing
I wanted to see how watertight the storage compartment of the survival model fire starter is. I removed the fatwood from the compartment and filled it with cotton balls instead. Then I replaced the lid, put the unit in a bucket, and poured a quart of water over the unit. Next, I removed the unit from the bucket, shook off the excess water, and removed the lid. The cotton was still dry. I took a cotton ball and the striker from the compartment, fluffed the cotton ball to better expose its fibers, put it on the cookie sheet, and struck a spark with the ferro rod. The cotton ball burned well.
Then I replaced the lid, returned the unit to the bucket, and added two more quarts of water. The top of the unit wanted to float, so I pushed it under the water using a metal rod. The water was not deep enough to test whether the unit would float without one end being partially supported on the bottom of the bucket.
Next, I removed the unit from the water, shook off the excess water, and opened the lid. I took out the top cotton ball. It was slightly damp. I was still able to ignite it with the ferro rod, but it did not burn as well as a dry ball.
So, as a result of my testing, I would rate the storage compartment of the survival model as “splash-resistant” but not waterproof.
Conclusions
The Purefire Fire Starters are well designed, well constructed, and work effectively in practical use. I am very happy to add them to my collection of fire starting tools. If you are looking for a durable, compact, long lasting, water resistant fire starter, you may want to give this one serious consideration.
Disclaimer
Purfire Tactical provided me with samples of their Survival and Folding Fire Starters for testing and evaluation. I tried not to allow their kindness to interfere with the objectivity of my review, 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.
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