Review: SpifyLab - Sparky

FIRE FIRE FIRE. I do so like fire starters and other goodies, and I was intrigued when an electric firestarter came past my way. This was the next in the line from SpiffyLab, who were the minds behind the Tactical Sharpie Marker I covered a while back. This is certainly a design from the same lineage, and the two tools could certainly sit side by side and look like a set.

The Sparky by SpiffyLab is an electric firestarter, designed to ignite steel wool, and nothing else. The principle has been known for some time, with a small battery, anything from a AAA up to a D cell, or a 9V, and fine grade steel-wool, you can ignite the steel wool by running the charge through it, and the resistance to power ratio heats the wire up.

The Sparky uses two (2) AAA batteries to ignite steel wool. The 'Sparky' produces about 3.0-3.5 volts which is more than enough voltage to ignite steel wool or even a foil gum wrapper. It is designed with a twist cap, clip, knurled grips, and O-Rings to resist dirt and moisture in several spots. It is built with a tough, lightweight aluminium body, and a copper conductor tip.
It features a solid copper conductor tip, for optimal conductivity as next to silver, copper, is the most conductive metal. The aluminium body Sparky weighs in at just under 90g (3.1oz), with battery and the overall length is about 16cm (6.5") long and is 1.6cm (0.625") in diameter.

Interestingly, the Sparky is safe to touch and is vented. Even when exposed, the conductor tip and body can be touched without any harm coming to the user, due to the low power of the batteries, and the nature of skin conductivity. Just replace the cap when not in use to reduce accidental discharge.

So you might be continuing to ask "How can Sparky ignite steel?"

By touching the positive and negative "terminals" on the Sparky (the copper conductive tip, and the threaded aluminium body) to steel wool sends a current through the wool, and it heats up the fine "wires" because of resistance. The heated temperature causes the iron to react with the oxygen (O2) in the air and creates iron oxide (FeO2).


This reaction releases heat, heating up the next bit of iron and so on, causing a cascading reaction through the steel wool. It runs visibly through
the bundle of steel wool like a fuse, and as it burns through, you have your chance to use it to ignite your kindling, as you would with other firestarting methods.

As the makers point out, the science of this is pretty cool, even if a bit gimmicky. I managed to get the Sparkey to work easily enough, but getting it to catch on tinder was a little trickier, due to the nesting way the steel wool burns, keeping the burning steel away from tinder. However, it did work, after some fiddling. I expect it would work to ignite iron filings too, and probably work well to set thermite off as well (I didn't have any one hand to test ...).

Needing a very specific fuel to initiate the ignition, this is a pretty niche product, but, if you happened to want a low physical-effort firestarter, and have the capacity to store appropriately fine steel wool, this is an effective tool, especially if you had a surplus of AAA batteries not useful for anything else.

Review: SpiffyLab - Tactical Marker

I back a lot of Kickstarter projects, and sometimes they're just on a whim. I have plenty of tactical pens, I like the metal body construction, and the durability that comes with that, not to mention the ability to increase the tool-bearing nature of an every day item like the common pen, so when the chance to get a tactical pen that is built around a Sharpie permanent marker, I jumped at it.

The Tactical Marker upgrades the Sharpie refill from a simple writing implement into a rugged multi-function writing tool, making it a value-added item for camping, work or using as part of your EDC.

As well as the casing for the Sharpie Refill pen, the Tactical Marker includes 3 tool tips machined from  7075 alloy different to the more lightweight but durable 6061 alloy the barrel is made from. The cap and tip tools are made from super tough 7075 alloy (7075 is even used in the M16 series of rifles), which is useful, given the intended uses.

The smaller "Tapper" is fine great for little tasks such as dislodging items, or tack-driving and other small tasks. The "Hammer" is especially handy when you want to leave the house without dragging your tool box along. Neither are especially weighty, and won't effectively drive nails into timber, but for breaking small things, and dislodging items, defrosting a freezer or the like. If you need a proper hammer, get a proper hammer.

The “Spike" end works for punching leather, plastic and sheet metal or using as an awl, breaking hard ground, breaking and gripping ice, boating, prying, rope work and the like. Even being a hard-wearing alloy, the 7075 is still just aluminium however, and the end will bur and bend under hard use.  Again, if you intend to do hard punching work, get a hardened steel tool.

Without the cap, it measures about 145mm (5.75") in the standard configuration and about 165mm (6.5") with cap in the standard configuration. The "Spike" adds and is about 2.30" making the tool a fairly sizable 215mm (8.5") long. The “Hammer” end puts it at around 195mm (7.75") long. The TM weighs in at about  60g, for the "Tapper" 70g, for the "Spike" and 80g for the "Hammer". 80g isn't much for a hammer, but it's not bad for a tactical pen.
 
The Tactical Marker pen cap attaches with a screw cap requires two hands, but holds very tightly, with o-rings at both cap and tool ends, to ensure the ends stay snug, without putting undue strain on he threads. One problem I had with the tool is that the tool-ends and pen-cap ends are not interchangeable, and their threads are not compatible. It would have been nice if the cap and tool could have been combined into a smaller tool.

The Tactical Marker is also available in 'non-sparking’ Aluminum-Bronze, for use in high risk work environments, which is a nice thought, as well as a carbon-fiber barrel option, for extra fancy flair. I mostly got this tool to help with rope-work and rough and ready hole-punching in sacks and hags and the like when camping, but it's a well thought out tool for what it is. Good for hobby-use and workshop tasks when a light touch is needed.