Rat Cutlery: Fire Kit Review
By troutfisher13111 (on BladeForums)
The RAT fire kit is meant to be an “aww shoot I am in trouble now” fire starter. It is made of an aluminum capsule with a misch metal flint rod attached. The rod is not like your typical ferro rod in that it doesn’t shoot out just sparks, but small hot balls of fire that burn long enough to ignite pieces of tinder that a normal ferro rod could not. The aluminum capsule is pretty large for spy capsule standards and will easily hold a tiny survival kit or enough tinder to start a good number of fires. It is also large enough to insert a 20mm button compass into the cap.
There are a few things I really like about this piece of kit. First is the rod itself. The little balls of fire this thing produces will ignite any reasonable good piece of tinder without a problem. I have successfully ignited birch bark, dry leaves, cotton balls, pants, and my carpet. Not to mention I now have three little burn holes in the linoleum floor of my kitchen. This rod really puts out a hot spark that stays lit. You will find that its much more effective than a standard ferro rod. This could easily come in handy in a real survival situation when getting a fire going fast, in less than ideal conditions may be the difference between life and death. The rod is also replaceable via a small Phillips head screw at the bottom of the capsule. The downside to this rod is that it takes a sharper edge than a standard ferro rod to get a good strike. This would not be a problem in a real survival situation; I don’t think anyone would be worried about a small dull spot in his or her blade if they were sitting next to a warm fire while boiling some water. An easy solution is to attach a small knife to the kit.
The capsule is bigger than I thought it would be after looking at pictures on the web. I really like how much it fills your hand. It makes getting a good strike easy. I was able to fit a piece of tinder, fish hooks, split shot, fishing line, a compass, a small piece of paper, tiny pencil, and some folded brass wire into mine. Not a full sized kit, but it’s better than nothing. It is waterproof and includes a lanyard hole on the cap, which is a great spot to attach that small knife for a striker I was talking about. It comes in a cool green color and the finish seems to be pretty durable. After a few practice sessions there are no visible scratches or nicks.
Overall, the RAT fire kit is a well built, made in the U.S.A, piece of kit that could really help in a survival situation. This is not a crappy survival gimmick. I don’t think you will find a better, more reliable fire starter. Not to mention, it comes with the famous RAT lifetime, no hassle guarantee. I have two, one for practice, and one to carry with me while outdoors.