Frequently Asked Questions

You have questions on how to replace a ferro rod, how to care for your gear, or whatever. We have answers. Let us put your mind at ease and help you out. If you don't see what you want, just ask us. Outdoor Element gear is made by trusted partners and is top quality, but sometimes you just need an explanation.

Each ferro rod will last over 2,000 sparks. Unless you are a fidget monkey like me, you may never need to replace your ferro rod. However, extra ferro rods are included in the packaging and are easily available for a low cost on our website. Click here to check out a video showing how many sparks you can expect. 

These ferro rods are replaceable. You can purchase replacement ferro rods here or in our maintenance kit here. Click here to see a video how.  

Yes, the Firebiner and Fire Escape are TSA-friendly and have flown all over the US and the world. The only problem we know about is China – can’t take any "sparking device" on a plane in China. 

Unfortunately there is no official TSA approval process, but there are no requirements that would warrant these being confiscated. That said, if a TSA agent does keep your Firebiner or Fire Escape, take a picture, let us know, and we will send you a replacement.

If carrying on your person remember to take it off, or out of your pocket, and put it in a bin to go through the item screener.

Yes and no. I have worn mine for over a year in the rain and maybe I have jumped into a couple of bodies of water with it on with no problems. There is a touch of hygroscopy (ability for an object to absorb water) involved. If your braid is soaked day after day you can expect it to absorb some water…which means blood, sweat, and adventure may make it swell a little bit and feel a pinch tighter.

But what you really need to consider is the fishing hook. It’s the 21st Century and science has come a long way. Some of our animal loving friends decided that it was a bad idea for fish to swim around with hooks in their mouths (assuming the line broke). So it is pretty much mandated that fishing hooks are designed to dissolve/rust out after 2 weeks in submerged conditions.

We had a beta tester wear his in the shower everyday…in a few months’ time it literally fell apart.

Do your best to keep it dry but don’t make any great effort. Like I said, mine is completely fine and I don’t treat it so nicely (but I don’t shower with it on either). 

The Kodiak Survival Braid is a survival tool…if you are in a bind (think emergency) and need to catch food and create fire, it is there for you…to survive and live to talk about it. Once you use it, there is not too much you can do to put it back together other than brag about how you saved your own life or someone else’s life with the help of a small braid around your wrist.

But hopefully you are grateful that you survived…who knows, take some pics and give us your story, we may just send you a new one. 

We took the standard 550 Paracord and made it better…we gave you more features without sacrificing strength. We produce our custom survival cord here in the USA with a factory that makes Mil-Spec cord for our military. To prove it out, we had our vendor preform a Mil-Spec tensile test on it. It averaged about 586 pounds in tensile strength. So you can still call it “550 Cord” if you like when referring to strength. 

Depending on the size, you get 8 to 10 feet of custom survival cord or jute in each bracelet. The custom survival cord has 7 strands of nylon, 2 strands of fishing line and one strand of jute inside. So you get an average of 63 feet of nylon, 18 feet of fishing line and 9 feet of great fire tinder (give or take around 10% depending on size). 

If your item is unused and in resellable condition, then yes we are happy to help with your exchange. Contact us at info@outdoorelement.com. 

Mojica, OE's founder, is an engineer and outdoor enthusiast. Combining his passions with never-ending idea-generating mind, we get some really cool products as a result. We are constantly working on new products and look forward to bringing more and more unique, useful adventure/survival gear to market. 

We have awesome factories and vendors with whom we work in USA, Taiwan, China and other places. Kodiak and Woolly Mammoth are made in the USA with components from the US and other countries. Firebiners and Fire Escapes are made at our wonderful partner factory in China. You can find the country of origin on our packaging for each of our products or email info@outdoorelement.com for a list if you are a retailer. 

Please visit our Prop 65 page for more information regarding this warning.

Full URL: https://outdoorelement.com/pages/understanding-prop-65