Fire with the ferro rod

I would recommend looking into a Mora (Morakaniv) brand knife for a great starter Bushcraft knife. They’re affordable and have a great Scandinavian grind on the blade. Make sure to buy a high carbon blade variety and you may need to do a bit of file work to the spine to get that nice 90° you’ll want for striking your ferro rod. At least with the less expensive models.

That’s freaking excellent though that you’re picking up your fire making skills. On to the bow drill!! Jk

Ferro rods are incredibly reliable and the best backup fire making tool out there, many ways to use them depending on your tinder and local environment.
I would second Mora being very good knives for general outdoor use, striking off the back of the knife is a good technique to know but square edges can make the knife uncomfortable to carve with. For "extreme survival" backup it's good practice to keep a striker on the same cord as the rod just incase you loose your knife only a situation for very back woods trips. Does look really cool having a slot for a rod integrated in leather knife sheath.

i love starting fires with ferro rods,have never used the back of a knife blade tho,i like making my own strikers from sawzall blade remnants and the smaller pieces of files [leftovers] or any thin carbon steel thatwould ordinarily go in the "bin" as long as it will harden it will throw some wicked sparks,
also seconding the Mora choice