Difficulty with ferro rod.

[pheniox17]

Humidity is a strange thing to fire lighting.... It makes it harder... Only because of the moisture....

Also your ferro rod might have been a little damp from body sweat, that sounds like a issue since you weren't getting much of a spark... My thoughts on it anyways... (it might also be a dodgy rod)

[shoot2live]

Pictures from our camping trip.

[James m]

Your dog? Everything looks so small. Especially the trees and the deer, Bambi baby deer? I need a ferro rod I only have magnesium.

[Medic33]

get a blast match it has never failed me even in the sub artic during a blizzard.

[Jakthesoldier]

get a blast match it has never failed me even in the sub artic during a blizzard.

Any good links?

Also yes, it's one of our dogs, and the deer were all young and super skinny, ribs were clearly visible

[Medic33]

sportsman's guide, cabalas, bass pro shop, cheaper than dirt, 100's of others I was introduced to it in the military used to be an issue item in the SRU-21/P and alse vests
it can be used with one hand
here is a link I just googled for blast match don't know much about the store it was the first that came up.
http://www.basegear.com/blastmatch.html

[SOCOM42]

Normally I am without issue on this, but I do practice under "controlled" circumstances.

Shoots and I went camping Thursday night.
We set up a campfire. I harvested a dead standing mesquite tree and oak log. We made a tinder bundle out of mesquite bark, rolled into fibers and powder. It wouldn't light, even with some magnesium shavings. So, we got out one of our tinder creations (toilet paper tube lined with petroleum jelly, stuffed with dryer lint, and wrapped in duct tape. At home we can light these fairly quickly, especially with magnesium shavings. No joy.
half a ferro rod later, we had tried a striker, knife, and finally scissors, before Shoots finally caught a small flame which I fanned I to a decent cooking fire.

We don't know what we did wrong. Sparks just wouldn't catch. There was a steady breeze, and the fire pit had a gap under the ring to let air in. It was humid, but probably about 40% or so. It has been raining, lady at the campground said the lake was still 19 feet above flood level, but the wood was dry, and the bark was very dry.
Shoots "winning" spark was produced by a pair of fiskars scissors at a very shallow angle.
Any ideas?

Try adding a wick about three inches long inserted into the tube mix.
Form it into a circle with most attache to the face of the end with enough protruding to lght.
Make it out of paracord and wax it, burns real good.
Sounds like the thing was acting like a heat sink.

[Jakthesoldier]

sportsman's guide, cabalas, bass pro shop, cheaper than dirt, 100's of others I was introduced to it in the military used to be an issue item in the SRU-21/P and alse vests
it can be used with one hand
here is a link I just googled for blast match don't know much about the store it was the first that came up.
Ultimate Survival Blast Match - On Sale

Ah, we have one. It didn't work.

[Jakthesoldier]

This thing.
Academy - Ultimate Survival Tech Sparkie™ Firestarter