Thanks for taking the time to review! Great info!

Two comments to add:

1. The mag block seems easier for kids with small hands to hold.

2. I've found that the file from my Wave works best to produce shavings, or filings, in short order with minimal effort.

My (uneducated) understanding is that Magnesium oxidizes extremely quick when exposed to air, and this is why making "pre-shavings" does not work, or so folks (far wise than I) say. I guess this why my mag-blocks all have a weird dull-film on them after not using them for a while which takes a couple of strikes to get off.

But Iron, you bring up a interesting point, if you can make the shavings quickly and then get them in an low oxygen environment, e.g. dunking them in petroleum jelly (is that a low oxygen environment?), is it possible to reduce the oxidation to the point where the mag shavings remain easy to spark? I am guessing the bigger the shavings the better, but I will defer to the chemistry types which I am sure are nearby. I was Googling around and I found references to "magnesium ribbons", which sound like a great
gift for the upcoming holidays, does anyone know anything about these things?

Marc

"Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats."
-Howard Aiken

Ive found that the sparks from my firesteels are hot enough to burn through the paper where they land. If the paper is sitting in a good location it seems to light very quickly for me. With the papers Ive tried so far anyway.
This can be a problem with many tinders, I pick and choose what and how I use different tinders when I need them. Nearly every thing has draw backs, and you can learn to live with them. I like the extra heat that Magnessium gives, but it I mix it with something else, and keep it out of the wind. I'm not saying that I would use it to light every fire.

For starters Spark-Lites are hard to get down here. I've only had mine for 3 weeks. I have just found where I can get them, and even then they have to come from nearly 1500 km away.
It also doesnt hurt to have other types or items around, because you might find that some work better than others in different situations, and you might need some redundancy.

This would be the type of ribbon they use in chemistry lessons. I'm not sure how that would go, because the magnesium used in the tinder blocks is an alloy designed to burn longer but with the same heat. this makes it less explosive than straight magnesium.
I dont think the magnesium ribbon would work as well unless you slowed its burn time down.
It would be interesting to get some ribbon and try pouring wax (or similar) around it so you could have a magnesium wicked candle to try.

Next time, put the magnesium shavings at the bottom of the pile... and for what it's worth, a good many years ago ( about 20), I burned a hole through an aluminum ash-tray AND a 3/4 inch coffee table (quite unintentionally) with a quarter sized pile of scrapings from a Doan bar... even though they are slow and laborious, they DO work.

Troy

P.S. By the way, the shavings were on TOP of the ash-tray and table, and burned DOWN through them... so much for hanging it on physics <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Why carry more than one knife? Why own more than one gun??? Give me redundancy AND variety!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Troy

BINGO, Bill... a file is great, the saw on the edge of the file on an original leatherman makes the shavings drop like snow in a snow-globe... try what you've got and use what works <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy

That sounds like a recipe to burn the p--- out of something... be careful with the experiment, and let us know how it goes.

Troy