I was at REI today picking up some gadgets on the last day of their 20% off sale, and I bought the smaller Swedish Firesteel because I have heard good things about them. I saw Bear Grylls using one on his show, but I am not so sure that is a ringing endorsement because he also squeezes water out of an elephant turd to get a drink. In other words that boy is out there, way out there in more ways than one. I've already tried it out at home on top of my stove and it seems to work after scratching the steel about 5 times. But at home on top of your stove is different than in the field--funny how that works out. Anyone use a Firesteel in the field to light their alcohol stove?

All the time. A Bic lighter is my backup. I find that shower of sparks to be easier than a flame from a lighter.

Just make sure you hold the steel stationary near the stove and pull the rod away from it.

i do too, i use essee knives fire kit. even my modified bic lighter(longer flame) wont light it.

Just like TR said. Hold the steel and pull the rod away.

When I bought my first firesteel, I pretty much wrote it off as inferior to a match or lighter. However, it's back in my pack. It all depends on what you are lighting as to where it earns its keep. I've found it useless for lighting alcohol on a cold windy day. A match worked better. Firesteels work best for me when lighting cotton balls as tender, lighting fuel/propane stoves, igniting wood tender and paper. I just came back from a weekend trip where I use the firesteel for lighting my Nova stove. It stayed out all night in the rain...they are waterproof...and it worked great. I just don't have much luck lighting alcohol with one. They are wonderful for camp gas/propane though...they shoot the spark well away from the stove, and wind is no problem.

I always figured that the old-fashioned match or mini-Bic lighter would do the job without having to go to something pricier and more primitive. However, I just realized that I was lighting my Primus Micron stove with a similar gadget (piezo lighter) until it gave out last summer. (The stove still works just fine but I now have to use an external means of lighting it.)

Yep, you definitely don't want to be pushing anything that makes a shower of sparks quickly toward an open container of flammable liquid.

Don't ask me how I know this

Good idea to pull the steel away from the stove. When I tested it at home and moved the striker towards the stove, sometimes it actually hit the stove. That could damage the stove and start a fire. I'm going to take both matches and the Firesteel next time I go backpacking and see which one I like the best in the field.