Web-tex STEEL-OF-FIRE Review

This is the Web-Tex STEEL-OF-Fire set; essentially a matchless fire kit. Web-tex is a UK based military products supplier. Their product line includes everything from tactical gear, packs, survival gear, and much more.

The SOF is a complete matchless fire kit

The SOF kit is housed in an Olive Drab tin and includes a Ferro Rod/Striker, 2 Cotton balls, and 2 Hexamine fuel type tablets.

The Tin
All the components easily fit inside the tin and allow room to add more fire starting gear if needed such as matches, lighter, and more tinder. I like that the tin is OD green but can be hard to see if dropped on the forest floor. The tin can also be used to create char cloth to give even more versatility to you fire starting opportunities. Another benefiit of the tin is that it can be used in conjunction with the Hexamine tablets to boil water; for those of you that may want that option.

Ferro Rod/Striker
Web-tex offers a number of ferro rod's on their website. The Cadet model capable of up to 3,000 strikes and is the model included in the STEEL-OF-FIRE kit. The ferro rod showered sparks and worked quite well. The striker included is similar to many other strikers that come with ferro rods on the market. Military personnel usually carry knives that have a non-reflective coating on the blade--so including a striker was a good move on Web-tex's part. Because as most of you know its very difficult to use your knife blade that's been coated as a striker for a ferro rod.

Tinder
Included in the kit: cotton balls packed in a waterproof bag and two fuel tablets in a punch-out type waterproof package. I don't have to tell you the ease of lighting cotton balls. I do suggest kneading some petroleum jelly on them and placing the cotton balls back in the bag to make them waterproof and to burn longer. The fuel tablets burns smokelessly and doesn't leave ashes which are advantage's when trying to stay covert in a tactical environment. The fuel tablets are excellent waterproof tinder. During my test the fuel tabs lasted almost 10 minutes, and they burned very clean with no smoke whatsoever. I do suggest breaking them up to catch a spark from the ferro rod. But you can break a piece off and save the rest for another fire, the whole tab doesn't need to be used to start a fire. You can use it like an esbit stove tab with a canteen cup to boil water if need be.

Overall its a good kit. Like I said above the tin can be used to make char cloth as well as add more fire starting tinder to the kit. It comes in at $12 US Dollars.

Check it out at http://web-tex.co.uk/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1365