Traditional flint and steel makes use of a piece of specially hardened carbon steel which gives off a spark when struck hard enough by a piece of flint, quartz or other rock. This method of fire-starting has been around for a long time, but does require some skill to master, as the steel must be struck at just the right angle.

Ferrocerium is a man-made mixture of several different metals, iron oxide, magnesium oxide and mischmetal, which contains nearly 50% cerium. Cerium is a metal whose ignition temperature is very low, somewhere in the range of 150-180 degrees C.

This special mixture of metals allows rods made from ferrocerium to throw off spectacular showers of sparks--bits of burning metal, really--when struck with hard objects such as steel, rock or even glass. These sparks can approach 5,500 degrees F in temperature, allowing them to easily ignite a wide variety of tinders. And, because ferrocerium is so ready to produce sparks, one need not have nearly so precise a technique to successfully use it as to use old-time flint and steel.

Another advantage these fire-starters is that they, unlike lighters, will work no matter how cold the weather, and unlike most matches, are not damaged by water.