FERROFIRE® Survival Firestarter XXL is an innovative firestarter, one reason comes from its huge diameter up to 2/5″, We must find a durable striker for it, and the material should be harder to strike sparks and stronger for long-lasting use.
From the harness table below it can be seen that industrial ceramic is exactly the proper one, we believed its hardness can match FERROFIRE® Survival Firestarter XXL, besides, bending strength is 900-1000, fracture toughness is 12, all parameters are so matchable! We decided to make prototype regardless of its higher cost.
Hardness Table for main materials
| Material | Rockwellhardness |
| Industrial Ceramic (Zirconia, ZrO2) | 86 – 89 HRC |
| Carbide Alloyed Steel after heating treatment | ≥68-73 HRC |
| High-speed Steel after heating treatment | ≥60 HRC |
After stroke the ceramic prototype over 200,000 times we concluded that it was sharp enough to make spark rain by striking ferro rods, not blunt after the tests. Comparing with it some of steel strikers we tested before happened to be blunt after about 8,000 strikes.
The surface of ceramic striker will have black melt powder after many strikes, from the user’s view we prefer to function rather than looking.
We hope outdoor men enjoy the striking and the campfire, we always do for the work of craftsman!