Grim Workshop is one of the most innovative companies operating in the outdoors arena today. Their products are unique and original, and sometimes a whole lot of fun. The Firefly series is their latest debut, and it ticks all of those boxes.
The Grim Workshop Firefly
One of the hallmarks of Grim Workshop is tools that are designed to fit in your wallet. The idea is that you’ll be able to keep them with you everywhere you go, so you’ll have them if you need them. Make no mistake, though. These aren’t gimmicky quasi-tools that will fall apart the first time you try using them. The quality of everything from Grim Workshop is exceptional.
The Firefly series consists of three tools, all of which are geared toward helping you get a fire going quickly.
Firefly Heat
The Firefly Heat is the smallest of the bunch. Rather than wallet-sized, it’s intended for a keychain. It consists of a small ferrocerium (a.k.a. ferro) rod that is stored inside a striker. This is then covered by a glow-in-the-dark silicone retention band.
To use, you slide the band off and pop out the ferro rod from the middle of the striker. To generate sparks, I found it easiest to hold the striker in place over the tinder and pull the ferro rod against it. This is a good quality ferro rod, and the shower of sparks it generates is impressive. Once the fire is going, you push the ferro rod back into place inside the striker and replace the silicone band.
Firefly Blade
The Firefly Blade adds a handle to the Heat that then curves around into a sharp knife blade. The edge has a chisel grind, which would be easy enough to maintain in the field. It arrives very sharp right out of the package.
While it works well enough to scrape bark or shavings from a stick, I have to confess that I found it a little awkward and uncomfortable to use. It does the job, don’t get me wrong, and it’ll be fine in a pinch. But wearing a glove would reduce the discomfort considerably, I think. My fingers didn’t feel great after pushing hard against the inner part of the handle. Still, the idea is sound, and if you’re stranded without a knife, you’ll appreciate having this in your wallet.
Firefly Saw
The Firefly Saw is identical to the Blade, but with a sawtooth edge instead of a knife blade. I’ll admit that I gave it some side eye as I took it from the package. I had a flashback to the sawtooth spines of so many “survival knives” back in the 1980s that were just garbage.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Firefly Saw cuts through branches quite well. The product copy online indicates it also works on bone, but I didn’t have anything handy to test that claim. On wood, though? Aces all around. As with the Blade, gloves would make the endeavor slightly more comfortable. All in all, though, it worked great.
Both the Blade and Saw are about the size of a credit card or gift card. If you don’t want them in a wallet, I’m sure you can find a pocket or pouch to store them in. I recommend checking out Tuff Possum Gear for such products.
Grim Workshop is currently offering the Firefly series via Kickstarter, with delivery expected in July. The Firefly Heat is just $9 and the Blade and Saw are each $19.
