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(April 2012)| Ferrocerium is a man-made metallic material that
gives off a large number of hot sparks at temperatures at 3,000
°F (1,650 °C) when scraped against a rough surface
(pyrophoricity), such as ridged steel. Because of this property
it is used in many applications, such as clockwork toys,
strikers for welding torches, so-called "flint-and-steel" or
"flint spark lighter" fire-starters in emergency survival kits,
and cigarette lighters, as the initial ignition source for the
primary fuel. It is also commonly called ferro rod and most
commonly of all, mistakenly, flint (particularly in cigarette
lighters). As tinder-igniting campfire starter rods it is sold
under such trade names as Blastmatch, Fire Steel, and Metal-
Match for survivalists and bushcraft hobbyists. Some
manufacturers and resellers mistakenly call them "magnesium"
rods. It is also known in Europe as Auermetall after its
inventor Baron Carl Auer von Welsbach. While ferrocerium-and-