fireRod™ V2

The fireROD V2 was designed to be the ideal fire tool for carry in a ferro loop on a knife sheath. It is simple, tough, and built around one idea that most ferrocerium fire starters get wrong: when the rod wears down, you should replace the rod, not the whole tool. The 5/16-inch ferrocerium rod is fully user-replaceable with a Standard (2.4-inch) or XL (3.0-inch) refill, and it is rated for up to 10,000 strikes before that becomes necessary.

A ferrocerium rod is a blend of rare-earth metals that throws a shower of sparks burning at roughly 5,500 degrees Fahrenheit when scraped with a hard, sharp edge. It works soaking wet, it works in any weather, and it has no fuel to run out and no mechanism to fail. The fireROD V2 pairs that rod with a striking method built into gear you already carry: use the sharp spine of a bushcraft knife, held at an angle with firm, quick pressure, to direct sparks exactly where you want them. Many bushcraft knives leave the spine edges square for precisely this reason.

The anodized aluminum body is CNC-machined in-house in the USA from high-grade 6061 aluminum, then finished in one of four signature Exotac colors: Black, Gunmetal, Blaze Orange, or Olive Drab. It is waterproof, and the capsule holds enough tinder or water-purification tablets to matter. A 550 FIRECORD lanyard is included, and its inner red strand can be pulled and burned as emergency tinder.

For the easiest possible fire, keep petroleum-jelly cotton balls or quickLIGHT tabs in the capsule and lay one over fatwood shavings before you strike. The fireROD V2 sits in the middle of Exotac's firestarter line: more capable than the pocketable nanoSTRIKER XL, more packable than the oversized fireROD XL, and covered by the same lifetime warranty.