Using a magnesium firestarter

This seems pretty basic to me and I am not trying to insult anyones intelligence with this so I will give a little background. A few months ago I took a hunter's safety course with my two boys. One of the requirements is to build a survival kit so I put together about the same gear that I really carry when I go out. I packed a small amount of first aid items, a spare compass, some paracord, a signal mirror, an emergency blanket and the firestarter. I was told by the "survival" instructor that the magnesium firestarters are a bad idea. He said they dont work well and would recommend just using a firesteel with cottonballs. I am all for that as well but during hunting season, I only carry one backup to my Bic and it is this. I do it for weight, room and convenience..I only need this one piece of equipment (plus the knife a hunter will always carry) to get a fire going.

Anyways, I showed both my boys how to use it and they did just fine but thought I would add a show and tell here. I dont expect this to be news to about 99.9% of you but at least my boys can look it up if they need to.:innocent:

I look for a piece of birch bark still on the branch. This one is perfect, about 10" long and 1-1/2 to 2" around.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0123.jpg

I use my knife to remove the bark. I will keep about 1/3 of the bark together but tear the rest into small shreds.

I use my knife next to make some magnesium filings. The instructions say to use the blade and flake the stuff off but I use the back of the blade and get some small curly shavings. I use the piece of birch bark that I left intect as a catch basin for the metal shavings.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0126.jpg

These are all the shavings I need for a fire. After I took this picture, I moved the loose pieces into the center of the piece of bark and piled the rest of the shredded bark onto it leaving a hole in the center of the pile to access the shavings with the sparks.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0127.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0128.jpg

All that is left to do is use the ferro rod side to strike a spark onto the shavings and starting the fire.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0129.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0130.jpg

It took 3 strikes to get the sparks where I needed them to fall but as soon as they got into the shavings, I had fire.

BTW, I used my new stainless steel Mora from Safe Zone and it made plenty of sparks.

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/100_0131.jpg

Well posted! I carry a small magnesium rod and striker, Though, I do prefer using natural tinder, magnesium works well wet and is easy enough to pack.

Nothing wrong with carrying some mag and a striker as one of your methods to start a fire. I'll bet your kids had fun learning.

I am surprised that the stainless blade worked well! I can see the flashburns on the blade! I have tried some stainless that didn't work at all. Wonder what the difference is?

CS - Someone talked about that very issue not long ago. It might have been Rebel or Pancho or one of the other knife guys. Hopefully, they will see this and chime in. All stainless steel contains some carbon. In this case, the Mora Sandvik 12C27 Stainless is around 0.6% Carbon.

Camp - I gave you some rep for that. Nice job. Don't be surprised if a bunch of folks on here have never used it. My youngest (32) and I were out last summer and I pulled one out. This is a guy that has hiked all over the world and he had never used one. It was really wet after having rained most of the day and we were pretty soaked ourselves. I trudged off and gathered some shredded cedar strips while he shaved some of the mag. When I got back he had about 4lbs. shaved. Well, maybe not that much but he had a bunch. I laughed and told him to stand back when he laid a spark to it. We had a hot fire pronto!

Give this message to your instructor: (you'll have to "decode" it 1st.) "Itebay emay!" The United States Air Force adds one of these to every Pilot's Survival kit.

Since we don't seem to have much Birch trees here I used one with some dryer lint. I scraped off some shavings and it took right off after only about 3 or 4 strokes! :cool2:

Good post. I don't get it how people can recommend a firesteel over the mag block. They are a firesteel. Anything you can light with a scout model firesteel you can light with a mag block.

Good post.
Some people are afraid of the mag block but don't like to admit it, even if it is unwarranted fear.
Watching those shavings ignite with a single spark does give one pause.
I still have one in the truck B.O.B. though.
:)

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Originally Posted by Pict

Good post. I don't get it how people can recommend a firesteel over the mag block. They are a firesteel. Anything you can light with a scout model firesteel you can light with a mag block.

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I think you'll get more fires from the mag block. But, easier fire from the ferro and PJ balls. Though neither is vary difficult. But, how about your only able to use one hand?

I think the ferro rod and BJ balls definitely are easier then. Though still either one will work.
I carry two ferro rods in my wallet and one in every kit or bag. The reason is that they are cheap and I give then to people who go camping or even when we are just talking about fire building. It puts a grin on peoples face when I show them how to use one and then they start a fire. Then another grin when I tell them to keep the rod.

Quite a few folks I know now carry a ferro rod with them when ever they leave the house.

I couldn't do that with mag blocks...

Actually....The one handed thing is taken care of. PJ balls and a lighter.

Actually a lighter covers it for me with out the PJ balls.

I guess this is semantics. Those of us that study this won't go primitive if we don't need to.

Great post camp10, thanks.

However, one or two well placed strikes of a well controlled ferro rod will ignite that birch or dryer lint to flame without the use of any mag shavings. You could skip the shaving part altogether and save some effort.

Also, if your rod on that mag bar is misch metal, judging by the marks left on your knife it is, you can shave the misch and get better results than the magnesium, a slower burn.

That is a great write up though and it's best to go with what you feel most comfortable with regardless what other people think or say.

I hope that didn't sound like I was knocking you, after re-reading my post it sounds that way to me. But, I'm not! It's a great write up/ pictorial.

I should have added that those were just my observations and I am quite new to these man-made firestarters. My views of the mag bar may change in time.

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Originally Posted by rwc1969

I hope that didn't sound like I was knocking you, after re-reading my post it sounds that way to me. But, I'm not! It's a great write up/ pictorial.

I should have added that those were just my observations and I am quite new to these man-made firestarters. My views of the mag bar may change in time.

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No worries! I'm not thin skinned or all ego, I'll do it my way until I am shown a better way. I like the added insurance of the mangesium shavings when it is cold and I really need the fire. Like I said, I use these during hunting season.

Cool! I haven't given up on the mag bar yet, but I have given up on "my" mag bar. LOL!

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Originally Posted by Batch

Well posted! I carry a small magnesium rod and striker, Though, I do prefer using natural tinder, magnesium works well wet and is easy enough to pack.

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I carry this small magnesium/flint "Sparky K1" fire starter on me at all times, on the key ring of my Victorinox SAK. It even has a small carbon steel striker in the keyring case, and is very compact

I have both of these systems. I saw a demo at a hunting expo on the mag rods and bought one from my knife supplier. The one thing I would like to know since I ain't the brightest star is what stops the whole rod from igniting when striking the ferro rod. I have the one that has the big magnesium rod with the ferro rod glued or attached to it like the pic above. Thanks.!

The friction caused by striking the metal against the rod is enough to ignite the metal shards that are removed by striking the rod. The reason the entire rod doesn't ignite is because it's large enough to dissipate the heat and the shards aren't.

Thanks for the explanation Rick! I was worried about it igniting in my pocket if rubbed against something metal like keys or a knife. That wouldn't be good. Hehehe...