Kodiak Fire Starter

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I asked Mike From Skills and Gear if he would mind doing a guest article this week while I am on vacation and he banged out an awesome one! Enjoy.

 

Kodiak Fire Starter

James asked me to do a guest article while he was on vacation so I thought long and hard on what I wanted to talk about with you guys. I happened to be watching a show that reminded me of how much useless garbage there is on the market I and I just wanted to introduce you to one such piece of crap. I thought I might take a shot as a pitch man for this product and give them a new sales line while I’m at it so here goes. Now introducing the Kodiak Fire Starter, It’s not that it doesn’t work, it just doesn’t work well. Now that I have summed up the product let’s get into specifics.

I acquired this product at a local gun show. It was being sold in one of those booths that sort of reminds me of a traveling snake oil salesman. I watched the end of his sideshow and decided that I would pick one up to review. I bought the model which is supposed to be good for 6,000 strikes (which in my experience with it is approximately 3 fires). It was a wood handled model, but they also offer products with no handles and also a folding steel handle model. I paid 15 dollars for the Kodiak and was hoping to get at least that much use out of it. Unfortunately I got about 50 dollars of frustration rather than 15 worth of usage.

I have seen these things on Youtube, and in almost every instance (much like at the snake oil booth) they were used in an indoor environment with no complicating issues. One of the only videos that I found of someone using it outside actually used it for a digging stick. They also suggest such nonsense as using it for shooting a flare, which is actually just throwing some sparks randomly into the air. All in all, I can assure you that (controlled environments aside) you are much better off carrying some cotton balls and Vaseline.

The Kodiak Firestarter is essentially a large rod of Magnesium with a tiny ferro strip attached to the outside. The tableside shuckster that sold it to me insisted that the Magnesium in the Kodiak not only burned hotter than other Magnesium sticks it was also easier to carve into flakes to allow for easy ignition. I can say that this is undeniably false, for comparison I used the Kodiak alongside of the Coleman variety Magnesium starter and I can say that using both a carbon and a stainless steel blade the Coleman performed just as well as the Kodiak. There was also almost no difference in the size of shavings which the fire starters made. By this time I was fairly sure that all of the claims for the Kodiak were greatly exaggerated.

I want to talk about ignition next. To me this is probably the most important issue which goes along with using a firestarter. In my first attempt to use the Kodiak I shaved a relatively large pile of Magnesium onto a square of aluminum foil and attempted to get it lit for around ten minutes. I actually gave up and used a petroleum jelly cottonball and immediately lit the fire. I can say that the ferro rod on the Kodiak did do a fine job of igniting the cotton, its just too bad that the Magnesium wouldn’t go up, considering that’s what 95 percent of this thing is made of. Anyway on attempt number two I used duct tape to stick the Magnesium to and lit it in a low wind environment. The Magnesium burned up extremely quickly and did manage to start a small ember on some cedar which I nursed into a small flame to start the fire. I have to say after my second attempt I have decided to retire all Magnesium starters, unless I just happen to leave one in the truck.

Anyway I could continue to drone on about the failures of this particular product but I won’t bore you with that. What I do want to end with is just a caution to everybody to make sure you personally try out your gear before you throw it in your bug out bags. The B.O.B. should be loaded with ONLY tested products that you are familiar with, and comfortable using. These should be multi-situational, if not multi-function, and most importantly make sure you check them regularly. If you have a car/truck bag check it more often due to deterioration caused by temperature change. Take the products out and use one, if you have one ESBIT tab that doesn’t work, replace the whole pack. This goes for everything in your pack. The one thing that is worse than a product (like the Kodiak firestarter) that doesn’t work is having something in your pack that you know should work but has gone bad, especially when you need it most.

In conclusion I just want to say thanks to James Burnette for letting me write this article for you guys and I hope you all enjoy it.

 

 



     
           

18 thoughts to “Kodiak Fire Starter”

  1. Could not disagree with your assessment more. Kodiak is perhaps the finest mag bar available. I don’t know anything about your skill set, so I’ll take the high road and say you must have bought a knock-off. You gotta buy from the Manufacturer before doing a review. You probably did buy from a snake oil salesman.

  2. My mom placed an order with them on 18 February 2014. She never received an order confirmation, statement, invoice nor the products. On 15 March 2014 she received her Visa bill and the payment had cleared. She immediately sent e-mail messages to Kodiak Firestarters and as of this date 23 March 2014 she has not gotten any response from the company nor has she received the products.

    1. I also have placed an order in February On the 24 2014 From the website and I yet to receive my order I have sent emails and I haven’t received anything from them back and they took payment from my pay pal

  3. 03/25/2014 – I am pleased to say that Joel Johnson, an authorized distributor of the firestarters through kodiaksurvivalgear.com (now located at nciti.org) just sent me an e-mail explaining what the problem was and that he shipped my mothers order along with the tracking number.

  4. I’m still waiting on my product that was ordered in Feb. 2014! I have called and emailed but still no one has responded! So my girlfriend wasted her money because this company has very poor costumer service and I’m highly disappointed!

  5. I havn’t received my kodiak so far. I have been waiting 2 months already.
    The service is hopeless. They take $$$ and don’t send it out.
    Anyway I purchased something similar from All Weather Firestarter.
    I must agree that these kind of product are basically just gadgets.
    It is burning way too fast and doesn’t set anything wet on fire.
    Magnesium is burning in few second and this is not enough to burn anything wet, even thick birch bark.
    The flint is poor. i took it outdoor once and 20% of flint is gone……
    I was very positive to magnesium fire starters but I don’t think I am going to take it outdoor any more

  6. Just to let you know
    Kodiak firestarter was ordered in February, we have June already and …….I don’t think they will ever send it to me.
    I sent few emails which were ignored.
    Amazing…….they are not selling anything, just take the money !

  7. No product, no money back, no answer from Kodiak, nothing at all.
    This is company should change name to THIEVES FIRESTARTER.

  8. I ordered mine and I have not got it yet and same phone called multiple emailed No responded. How can it be a lifetime guarantee when I can’t even get the thing and no respond from this company.

  9. I found this page after I placed the order and I regret it already. I have been having the same experience; I sent emails, Facebook messages, called and left a message and nothing. they just charged my credit card and sent me a PayPal invoice. I am going to wait for another week and if nothing is received I am going to file complaint with the police department as well as dispute the transaction as fraud!

  10. Well I guess my story is no different than any other. I also have been waiting on my product now going on 3 months with no reply … I bet if we could find enough people that have placed and order and never received their product a Class Action Lawsuite will wake them up.. My money or my product .. I have family attorneys that would love a case such as this. I don’t have time to have time to harrass anyone plus I’m a bit better than that. I work in lawenforcement and know my way around the books quite well.. Maybe the owner of the company should brighten up and figure out his nex move . Please if you have made orders and keep track of this site shoot me an e-mail . We can end the crime before it gets any further.

    1. Hi David

      Well, I was also tricked by this shitty company
      p
      Please let me know how is it going
      I live in Norway, so I am not going to chase them with lawyers but I would like to see this firm shut………..and my money back as well

      regards

  11. Well I WAS considering purchasing one of these Kodiak Fire Starters but after reading all the shitty reviews I think I will have better luck rubbing two sticks together.

  12. THIS FUCKING THING SUCKS BIG DONKEY DICK! PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT… NOR SUPPORT THIS COMPANY! THE END.

    GEORGE

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