Fire Critic An Unadulterated View of the Fire Service
This product review is part 2 of 3 for MN8 Products. The first one was a product review of the illuminating helmet band (view that review here).
This review will cover the Foxfire: Illuminating All-In-One Coating Kit for coating tool handles.
“Foxfire products increase firefighter safety by emitting a glow, which is brightly visible even in dark, smoke-filled rooms.” (from their web site)
MN8 Products web site – Facebook –Twitter – Youtube
The illuminating all-in-one coating kit shown here with my helmet and helmet bands as well.
The epoxy comes in a kit which includes: Two part epoxy mixture, primer paint, mixing wand for a drill, instructions, latex gloves, two paint brushes, two stirring sticks, an abrasive pad, crystals for adding grip, and alcohol prep pads.
The instructions are very straight forward. Prep the tool(s) you are planning on painting, paint them with primer, mix the epoxy, and apply the epoxy. If you would like to add the cyrstals for grip they are applied directly after the epoxy is applied.
Warning: this process is messy!
According to the crew at MN8 Products, the epoxy kit should be able to coat about 3 tools. In speaking to them prior to us using it, we were told that the epoxy might not be perfect the first time due to learning how to apply it.
An axe with the coating applied and drying.
I think we did a great job. Our problem was that we might have put it on too thick. We were able to coat a complete axe handle, the tip and handle of a hydrant wrench, and a door chock. We did have a good bit of loss of product due to drippage.
The cyrstals used for grip are sharp. We actually sanded them down a little after we were done. You would not want to swing this axe without gloves on. It would be a bloody mess! However, you really shouldn’t be swinging an axe without gloves anyways! You do not have to use the crystals though.
The epoxy kit retails for $99.95 and can be purchased through TheFireStore.com
All in all, I think this product is great! The application is not the easiest, but the end result is awesome. I have found this application to be the brightest of all of the products. The durablility of the product has been great. We did apply it to a hydrant wrench that sits on the tailboard of the engine. It wasn’t the best application and gets beat up a good bit. However, you won’t have to worry about not seeing it if it is sitting in tall grass next to the hydrant at night!
My next review of MN8 Products will be of the illuminating tape.
The axe on the left and the door chock on the floor have the illuminating coating on it. The axe and hook on the right have the illuminating tape (upcoming review), my helmet has the helmet band on it.
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