These things just plain work! They don't come with a striker or a handle, but that's easily taken care of. On the one that I kept (the other was a gift), I used some fire-starting paracord and wrapped that into a handle with sort of a hangman's noose type of knot. Works well. The other one was put together with a carabiner and a round key ring. The striker is simply a reasonably sturdy utility knife, although many flat-edged metal objects could produce a spark that will help to light a fire. Do remember to rub off the black stuff (paint?) before striking so you'll get a spark. You'll expose a shiny surface which will produce sparks when struck properly.

I get sparks when i use my pocket knife. Some metal will not work well so look around.

To make the perfect cheap "fire balls" melt petroleum jelly on the stove, once liquid dip 85- 90% of a cotton ball in the liquid real quick and set out on a plate to dry. Then place in bag and your all set!
Next time you want a fire pill out a "fire ball" and shower sparks into the small area that was not dipped into the petroleum jelly. Will burn for 4+ mins and wind resistant.
I saw a video on YouTube close to this so look up cotton ball and Vaseline fire starter. Credit to him for the original idea I just modified it a bit.

Should last a life time being 6" long. As long as I don't loose it. Hahaha

I knew the dimensions of these before I bought them, but I didn't appreciate the size and heft until I got them. They are massive. If I was so inclined, I could start a fire every day for years and maybe wear out one in a decade.

As far as performance, they are on par with other ferro rods I have used. The first few strikes peeled off the protective coating and then I was treated with a shower of sparks. With such a long striking surface, it's easy to have a large continuous shower of sparks. With a few shavings of fatwood I was able to light some damp cedar bark after a few strikes. That's not a testament to my ability, but to the fatwood and ferro rod.

I highly recommend for anyone looking for something more substantial than the pinch between you finger fire starters.

Nice big beefy ferrocerium rods that'll probably last me the rest of my life! Since they're quite large, you'll have to expect that they're heaver than their little brothers. I fashioned wooden handles about 3 inches long, of which, about 2 inches of the rod is inserted into. This leaves plenty of rod for striking. Shown in the photos, I used my laser engraver to burn some images into the handle to make it look a little more interesting. Also fashioned a shock cord loop to keep it attached to my bag.

First thing you need to understand is this thing is massive. Make sure you actually have room in your kit for it. If you attach this to a keyring is about the size of a standard kubaton. The first thing I did just take a 3 inch wide piece of a gorilla tape rap about a foot of it around the rod just below the lanyard hole. The size of this thing you do not need a handle but doing this will present to you just over two and a half inches of the rod which is plenty to work with and you're not wasting anything. These rods are pretty standard if you can use one you can pretty much use any of them. But not wanting to write a review until I actually started the fire with this thing, I grabbed one of the fire starters out of my kit which I make out of the paper from the office Shredder and candle wax, it takes an actual flame to get this started so I also grabbed a piece of dryer lint about half the size of a cotton ball. Fluffed up the lint place the fire starter on top of it leaving about 3/4 of the lint exposed. Not one who likes to scuff up my knives so I grab the scissors out of my first aid kit using the back of the blade made three Strokes to get the paint off. Aimed at the lint ball three Strokes later there was fire. I do teach basic survival skills so I'm pretty good at this stuff. Even if you've never use this method before and you burn up a lot learning this rod will still last you pretty much forever. You will to lose it someday or pass it on to a young Adventurer. If you cannot start a fire with this it isn't a defective product, it's just God's way of culling The Herd.