User Review: Light My Fire Swedish FireSteel Mini

Summary

An excellent, simple-to-use, never-can-go-wrong piece of gear. Use as your primary ignition source or as a back-up.

I bought mine back when they used wood for the handle instead of plastic...doesn't make a difference in the performance, it just looks less industrial, like it's something from your old scout days.

If you use a canister stove, then this is all you need to light it. I don't even bother with a lighter anymore. And forget the piezos...the don't work very well in the humidity I've found. This always does the trick with one spark...hey, isobutane is really flammable!

And once you got your stove going, you can light anything else with the stove. I still carry some matches in my first aid kit, cause you never know.

I learned a new trick this week...you can use a tampon (unused of course!) as kindling to get a fire started! The cotton burns VERY well. And the video showed a guy using one of these flint strikers to get the tampon burning. Pretty awesome, especially for us women adventurers.