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Stoves and water

Ferro rod

Also called ferrocerium rod, fire steel, firesteel, flint and steel

What is a ferro rod?

A ferro rod is a stick of ferrocerium, a soft alloy of iron and rare earth metals that throws very hot sparks when you scrape it with a steel striker. Hikers carry one as a backup way to light a stove or a fire when a lighter is wet, cold or empty.

Ferro rod at a glance

Made of
Ferrocerium, rare earth metals and iron
Works when wet
Yes, once wiped
Needs
A steel striker and dry tinder
Lasts
Thousands of strikes

How does a ferro rod make sparks?

Scraping the rod with a hard edge shaves off tiny flakes of ferrocerium, and the friction heats them enough to ignite in the air. Those burning flakes are the sparks. Ferrocerium is mostly cerium and other rare earth metals blended with iron, the same material as the flint in a lighter, only much bigger.

Because the spark comes from the metal itself rather than from a fuel, there is nothing to run dry and nothing to freeze. A wet rod works again as soon as you wipe it, and cold or altitude does not change how it sparks.

Can a ferro rod light a backpacking stove?

Yes, and that is the most common reason a backpacker carries one. Open the valve a little, hold the rod close to the burner head and strike down toward it. The gas catches on the first or second good shower of sparks. It takes a bit of practice to do it without knocking the stove over, which is one more reason to set the canister in a stand.

What does it need to start a fire?

Sparks alone will not light a stick. A ferro rod needs tinder that catches from a spark: dry grass, birch bark, cotton balls with petroleum jelly, or a commercial tinder cube. Build the tinder first, then strike into it from close range.

What this means when you're choosing

  • A rod thick and long enough to grip with cold hands
  • A striker attached by a lanyard so the two don't get separated
  • A few tinder cubes or cotton balls stored with it

The common mistake

Carrying one you have never struck

Most people's first try is a weak scrape that throws almost nothing. Practice at home until you can light a stove in two or three strikes, because the night you need the rod is usually cold, dark and windy.

Common questions

Is a ferro rod the same as flint and steel?

Not quite. Traditional flint and steel strikes sparks off a steel striker with a piece of hard rock. A ferro rod reverses it: the rod is the part that burns, and its sparks are much hotter, which makes it far easier to use.

Do I need a ferro rod if I carry a lighter?

It is a backup, not a replacement. Lighters fail when they are wet or very cold, and they run out. A small ferro rod weighs very little and keeps working when the lighter doesn't.

Where this is defined

Where this comes up

Guides on Tom's Hiking where ferro rod changes which product is right for you.

More in stoves and water

Canister stove

A canister stove screws directly onto a sealed cartridge of pressurised isobutane-propane. It lights instantly, simmers well and needs no priming, which is why it's the default backpacking stove almost everywhere fuel canisters are sold.

Integrated stove system

An integrated stove system pairs a burner with a matched pot that locks on, usually with a heat exchanger ring on the base. It boils water faster and uses less fuel than a separate stove and pot, at the cost of versatility.

Regulated valve

A regulated valve holds a stove's fuel pressure steady as the canister empties or cools. Without one, output drops off through the canister's life and falls sharply in the cold; with one, the flame stays consistent much further down.

Isobutane-propane blend

Isobutane-propane is the fuel blend inside standard threaded backpacking canisters, usually around 80 percent isobutane and 20 percent propane. Propane provides cold-weather pressure, isobutane provides most of the burn time.

Hollow fiber filter

A hollow fiber filter passes water through a bundle of tiny straw-like tubes whose walls are perforated with pores around 0.1 to 0.2 microns. It's the technology in almost every modern backpacking filter, and a single freeze can destroy it invisibly.

Micron rating

A micron rating states the largest particle a filter lets through, in microns. Backpacking filters are typically rated 0.1 or 0.2 microns, which stops bacteria and protozoa. Viruses are around 0.02 microns and pass straight through.

Flow rate

Flow rate is how fast a filter delivers clean water, usually quoted in liters per minute. The advertised figure is measured on a brand-new filter with clean water, and real flow drops as the element clogs with sediment.

Backflushing

Backflushing pushes clean water backwards through a filter to dislodge the sediment clogging its pores. It's routine maintenance on a hollow fiber filter, and it's the difference between one that lasts a season and one that lasts years.

Purifier vs filter

A filter physically strains out bacteria and protozoa. A purifier also deals with viruses, which are too small to strain, using chemistry, UV light or a much finer element. Most backcountry hiking needs a filter; international travel often needs a purifier.

Soft flask

A soft flask is a collapsible bottle, usually 250 to 750 ml, carried in the front pockets of a hydration vest. It shrinks as you drink so it doesn't slosh, and you can see exactly how much water you have left.

Hydration bladder

A hydration bladder is a flat water reservoir carried inside a pack with a drinking hose routed over the shoulder. It holds 1.5 to 3 liters, packs flat against your back and lets you drink without stopping or taking the pack off.

Bite valve

A bite valve is the silicone mouthpiece on the end of a hydration reservoir's drink tube. It stays shut until your teeth compress a slit in it, then self-seals when you let go, so water only flows while you are drinking.

Quick disconnect

A quick disconnect is the two-part coupling in a hydration hose that lets you unclip the tube from the reservoir without threading it back through your pack. Both halves usually self-seal, so you can pull the bag out to refill and neither end drips.

Hard-anodized aluminum

Hard-anodized aluminum is aluminum whose surface has been grown into a thick, very hard oxide layer by an electrochemical bath. In cookware it gives a pot that spreads heat far more evenly than titanium and resists scratching far better than bare aluminum.

Vacuum insulation

Vacuum insulation is two stainless steel walls with the air pumped out of the gap between them. With no air to carry heat, cold water stays cold and hot water stays hot for most of a day, and the outside of the bottle never sweats.

Tritan

Tritan is a clear, tough copolyester plastic made by Eastman without BPA. It is what most modern hard plastic water bottles, including the Nalgene and the CamelBak Chute, are made from, because it resists cracking and staining and survives the dishwasher.

Chlorine dioxide

Chlorine dioxide is the chemical released by backcountry purification tablets and two-part drops. It kills bacteria, viruses and Giardia, and is the only tablet chemistry the CDC calls somewhat effective against Cryptosporidium, which takes up to four hours.

By Tom · Last reviewed . Back to the glossary