We’re in the middle of camping season for many Toolmongers, and an inexpensive magnesium firestarter is always handy to have — especially for under $5. SE’s version comes with a magnesium rod and a striker that is flat on one side and serrated on the other. Most folks recommend using the flat side for shaving a small amount of magnesium into the pile of Stuff You Wish to Burn, then using the serrated edge to strike the rod.
It’s safe, lightweight (0.6 oz), and at 2.75″ fits easily into your pocket — so whether you’re celebrating the fourth, camping with the family, scouting — it’s not a bad idea to keep one of these around.
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8 Responses to Dealmonger: Emergency Fire Starter $3.89
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Nice find.
We used to include another style that sells for about double the price at Amazon in what we dubbed “Wilderness Survival Kits” that we made up with the Boy Scouts. We would include some waxed paper, along with the magnesium block in a sealed-up soup can as the fire-starting part of the kit.
I have one similar to this:
http://www.guntia-militaria-shop.de/catalog/images/ferzeugnzbehor3.JPG
Have not had opportunity to use it in real camping though, but the tests went ok
My striker is a custom-broken-off piece of hacksaw blade. I find I get much more spark by dragging it’s short end along the rod similarly to how you would strike a match.
The flat side produces fine shavings that catch easily and sawing into the bar with the teeth produces somewhat larger chunks of mag that burn a little longer.
I have a simular, but I use a cheap knife for shaving and striking. It works better with cotton balls soaked in Petroleum jelly.
The cotton balls and petroleum jelly trick is the best. I have a Swedish fire steel that lights a cotton ball with one strike and they burn forever. Make a bunch and stuff them in a medicine bottle and keep it near your fire steel.
Pro tip: melt the petroleum jelly before soaking the cotton balls. The absorb much more and burn much, much longer this way.
i’ve used the doan brand for years, but when i saw these i decided to try them.
they work. i don’t normally mess with the mag shavings. just use cotton balls or dryer lint (my favorite tinder).
I use a crazy space-age invention called a “disposable lighter”. I get them at a dollar store in packs of 5. Apparently, they can be used for setting things on fire. Did I mention they cost a dollar? For five?
rg: as someone pointed out last time there was a fire-starter post here:
http://toolmonger.com/2009/04/20/one-handed-fire-starter/
those disposable lighters have a tendency to break in accidents, which renders them fairly useless. A lighter with no fluid is just so much plastic with little use other than as fuel itself.
cl