When it comes to bug-out bags, survival kits, and even first aid kits, I’m not very keen on premade, store-bought options. Most of them are filled with junk. By and large, they qualify as talismans of safety.
However, fire kits are a little different. A premade fire kit can be a handy addition to your pack, provided you’ve checked it out and determined the quality of the components.
Enter The Prep Bible’s Bushcraft All-Weather Fire Starting Kit. They sent me a sample kit a few months ago to review.
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The Prep Bible’s Bushcraft Fire Starting Kit
Kit Contents
Here’s what you’ll find in this fire-starting kit.
- Weatherproof matches: 20 of them inside a hard case with a strike strip along the side
- Ferrocerium rod and striker: a 5-inch rod that’s 0.5-inch thick, with a striker attached via cord
- Magnesium rod: a 3.5-inch x 0.62-inch rod of solid magnesium
- Emergency candle: 12-hour candle
- Fire plugs: 10 plugs that are used for tinder
- Fatwood: two sticks, each 4 inches long and about a half-inch thick
- Fire bellows: extendable hollow rod for blowing a weak coal into flame
- MOLLE pouch: made of 600D nylon, it measures 4.72” x 2.36” x 6.88”
Using the Kit
I took the fire-starting kit out to the backyard and tested several of the components. None of the items were branded, so I can’t say for certain where they’re being sourced from.
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The ferro rod was great. It easily showered a ton of sparks with every scrape. I used the included scraper as well as the spine of a knife. At five inches long, it’s easy to hold and manipulate. I like that the scraper is already attached to the rod via cordage.
Next, I grabbed a couple of the weatherproof matches. They each lit instantly with the slightest pressure against the striker strip on the side of the container. The matches burned for a few seconds, but not quite as long as I’d have liked to see. That said, they burned fierce and hot.
The fatwood sticks are definitely a nice addition to the kit. Scraping a small pile of shavings, they lit right up with the ferro rod. Each of the sticks has a drilled hole, and I recommend adding a lanyard. This will give you a bit more purchase for your grip as you scrape the wood.
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We’ve talked before about the importance of including a fire bellows in your kit. I love that The Prep Bible included one here. It works well and operates exactly as it should.
I’ve used several different types of fire plugs over the years. The ones in this kit are very hard, and I had some difficulty working with them. The way they work is you twist them around to expose and loosen the cotton fibers so they’re easy to light.
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These particular plugs were very stiff, and it took a fair bit of work to get them ready to take a spark. However, once lit, they burned for several minutes. Tossing it onto the snow didn’t put it out, either.
The MOLLE pouch is good quality and has an internal pocket to help keep things organized. Mine is black, but red might be easier to spot in a backpack.
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Recommendation
Overall, The Prep Bible’s Bushcraft All-Weather Fire Starting Kit is pretty decent. I’d only make a couple of changes. I’d add a lighter, either a Bic or an Exotac titanLIGHT. And I’d swap out the fire plugs for something a little easier to use. There are a ton of different ones on the market.
The Prep Bible’s Bushcraft All-Weather Fire Starting Kit goes for $45, which is a pretty fair price for all you’re getting in the kit.
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[Special thanks to The Prep Bible for providing the kit for review.]
