Today, with modern retail flooded by stock-designed products and endless choices, it's harder than ever to find gear that truly stands apart.
In the early days of Forest Fundamentals, we—like many competitors—sold stock fire starters sourced from larger suppliers. They worked, but "fine" wasn't enough.
We didn't want to claim to make the best fire starters; we wanted to create products that were genuinely superior, not just dressed up with clever branding.
The bulk of our design work focused on three key areas: the ferrocerium, the strikers, and practical design.
We first set about developing our own blend of ferrocerium. We tested numerous ferro rod compositions—continually tweaking the make-up of the pyrophoric alloy—until we perfected the optimal balance between softness and durability.
Our ferro rods are soft enough to produce large showers of molten sparks, while remaining hard enough to ensure longevity and reliability in the field.
All of our ferro rods are made using our signature Forest Fundamentals Ferrocerium™ blend.
The strikers are made from hardened steel — the same material used in machine cutting bits, where hardness and edge retention are essential.
We also added a long, raised striking edge on both sides of the striker (for left and right-handed users). This sharp edge removes more material with less effort and helps prevent ridges forming along your ferro rod.
The old serrated scraping edge was scrapped in favour of a straight, bevelled tinder scraper, which makes light work of processing natural tinders such as fatwood or birch bark.
The overall size of the striker was also increased to improve grip — especially when wearing gloves — and we added a bottle opener for the inevitable campfire beers.
When designing our fire-lighting range, we wanted to create something for every type of outdoors person — whether you're keeping weight to a minimum on a hike, heading into the woods for the weekend, or spending longer periods outdoors.
The size and weight of our ferro rods vary significantly. For effortless fire-starting, there are larger options such as the 8" Beast or 6" Hive Fire Starter. For more compact and lightweight setups, we offer smaller designs like the 3" Hive Fire Starter or the Sidekick Fire Starter Necklace.
Later in the range, we developed the Stealth — a fire starter that isn't overly large, yet capable of handling all tasks. The Stealth also includes a built-in wick and a fire bellows for added versatility.
More information on all of our fire starters is available here, and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email us at salessupport@forestfundamentals.com
