Fire steel's

[suspectmonkey]

I've heard there can be differences in the rods used for firesteels.  Some of them seem to be softer and literally drop peels of red hot metal onto your tinder, whereas others seem harder and just create a spark.  I definitely find my Light My Fire Scout firesteel seems hard and just sparks, which is fine for lighting a gas stove but hard to get a good spark that will get some tinder to take.  That said, my technique could be called into question!  Hoping to find out more when I go to the bushcraft skills day in July

[simon]

Yup, it's true, not all "fire steels" are made equal.

Ferrocerium rods are a mix of metals that when scraped start to burn up. The exact mix of metals varies but should be optimised to give a harder rod that produces smaller shavings. Smaller shavings make better, more numerous sparks. However, technique does matter too. Try holding the striking surface still at the point where you want the sparks to land and then pull the rod backwards.