Magnesium Bar Fire Starter Shoot Out Video

[Wingman]

I did a shoot out video with the Doan Fire Bar vs The Harbor Freight Fire Bar to show folks a few more dollars spent may save your life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_bfXcDCl8U

[Rick]

Good review. I've never seen a Doan lose the fero rod. I have seen the fero rod separate on a lot of cheaper models.

I loved one of the comments on your page where the guy said he never buys anything from China that his life depends on. Uh, yeah you do. You just don't know it.

[crashdive123]

Good review.

[hunter63]

Thanks for the effort......nice job.

[Wingman]

Good review. I've never seen a Doan lose the fero rod. I have seen the fero rod separate on a lot of cheaper models.

I loved one of the comments on your page where the guy said he never buys anything from China that his life depends on. Uh, yeah you do. You just don't know it.

Your correct about the China comment.. Most of the items we use are from China and most folks don't know it.. Not to say there isn't some great products coming from there if the company has good quality control but in this case the Harbor Freight just misses the mark..

[Rick]

There are companies that contract overseas for the work to be performed. They will generally set standards for the product since it bears their name. Other companies simply purchase what a given factory produces and the only standards set are those used by the manufacturer. Harbor Tool is probably one of the latter sellers.

[finallyME]

Wow, it did better than I thought. There are some that won't light at all....even if you put good magnesium in the middle and light that. But yes, not all mag bars are created equal. I should probably get a Doan's and test it against the one I got from Firesteel.com.

[MrFixIt]

I have 4 that I bought from Harbor Freight and have had no issues so far.
Maybe I got lucky.
I still have my old DOAN bar (diminished in size from use) and have it in my camping gear box.

[hunter63]

I have 4 that I bought from Harbor Freight and have had no issues so far.
Maybe I got lucky.
I still have my old DOAN bar (diminished in size from use) and have it in my camping gear box.

Maybe the Harbor Freight bars are different from batch to batch?
Ferro rods seem to spark pretty well?

There are several around, and I have tried a couple over the years.......have to say, I don't normally use the magnesium for fire starting mostly just use the bar...and a tinder....

Guess I have to try it?........just assumed that it was there to get something going if you didn't have a good dry tinder/spark catcher available?

[MrFixIt]

Maybe the Harbor Freight bars are different from batch to batch?
Ferro rods seem to spark pretty well?

There are several around, and I have tried a couple over the years.......have to say, I don't normally use the magnesium for fire starting mostly just use the bar...and a tinder....

Guess I have to try it?........just assumed that it was there to get something going if you didn't have a good dry tinder/spark catcher available?

The ferro rods work very well. One of the HF bars seems very hard, and took quite a bit of effort to scrape off the magnesium.
As far as using the magnesium, I only use it when it's wet and cold. Otherwise the ferro rod will ignite a well prepared, dry tinder bundle.