i personally prefer a swedish firesteel with fatwood as tinder over mine MFS everyday. Fatwood is much easyier to scrape and burns longer. I also got pertolium jely infused cotonbals, BIC lighter and matches in mine pack. And another fersoium rod on mine keychain. I agrea that you can't rely on things you do not have with you.

A matchsafe with SAW matches and a couple of trick birthday candles will be adequate for almost any situation provided you know how to find tinder, fuel and shelter. If there is a driving rain you will have to shelter your fire from the rain and wind and if you can do that you can shelter your matches and candle also. If you have flood conditions don't bother with the fire anyway. A little pile of magnesium shavings will be just about useless to me unless there is a dead calm conditions. Those suckers blow away with the slightest breeze. I am not looking to be prepared to make a new fire every day for several months. I am more concerned that I can light a couple of fires and keep them going until I am rescued. If I determine that I will have to walk out then I will carry an ember if I have run out of matches. I do carry a sparklite, a mini-bic, matchsafe as described above, sparklite tinders, pocket-lint, and often in the back-country I will have white-gas or alcohol but that would be considered lost with the pack and trioxane or esbit which would be in the belly pack and therefore perhaps retained. I also would usually have some ranger-bands and latex gloves. If you get either of those burning (perhaps over the trick birthday candle) you can burn just about any wood from there. A rangerband will burn hot and long and dry out your tinder and ignite it rather well. Stinks tho.

Hmmm - freeze to death, or smell bad? Now THERE's a difficult choice <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

hey you guys : thanks alot for all the tips and info...man alot of different views out their for sure...and its good to here them all , thanks . <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />...mind you the trioxane works good for me vince g. as i carry them in regular camp kit/rucksack and not part of my personal survival tin... it may not work well for someone else , everyone is different... vince g. 11b inf..

Someone must have a report on the lethal gases released from burning rubber bands.

I still stand by my opinion, that trioxane is superior to any other method of fire starting which is as portable.

When you have used these bars in the past, did you ever try breaking them up or shaving them a bit? I have not tried that myself, but seems that it might be a bit easier to light if the block was/could be shaved.
I need to open one up to see if this would make a difference.

Like the line John Candy used in the movie "Splash", "When I find something that works, I stick with it."

I'll worry about the fumes from my ranger bands right after I finish drinking the burbon from my nalgene and smoking my macanudo portofino which I lit from the burning ranger band. Then after I'm done worrying I will use the cigar to light my trioxane bar with another ranger band wrapped round it so that I can light a fire with the green ceder branches I sawed off the only tree left with my wire saw. Damn; there I go again wasting ranger bands when I should have just lit up the tree where it stood with the first ranger-band!

Blasphemy!
No one, but NO ONE lights a macanudo portofino from a burning ranger band.
Have you learned nothing in all these discussions?
I am sorry, but I only hope you will find forgiveness from a higher source, for you will not get it from me.
<img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

You're absolutely right it would be far better to light it from the fresh cedar. A much more aromatic light! And less wasted rangerbands that way. As I said better to have lit up the tree with the first ranger band!