So that would exclude the dining room table? I can hear it now...

Wife: "You did what to my table!!!
Me: "Well you have to understand, it was a mistake but it's not that bad."

Wife: "Not that bad!! It took three fire trucks to put out the fire!"

Me: "Look we'll just get that table cloth you were looking at in the catalog"

Wife: "The hole goes through the table and the floor into the basement"

Me: "So your saying you want a rug too?"

I'll give it a go ... Marc, where do I get me some ribbon?

Nah, it wasn't quite that bad, the table was sitting on bare concrete... just a large, nasty, black spot on the floor.

Troy

Sorry if my post was miss leading. I have no experience with such things. Google found this:

http://www.sciencelab.com/page/S/PVAR/20669/10-807

It seems to have zinc thrown in the mix. I am not qualified to determine if this is magnesium as we know it. I think some guidance from the chem experts would be appropriate before good money is spent.

I do however enjoy lighting things on fire (while following all safety procedures and the letter of all local and federal laws).

Marc

CYA message: I know nothing, endorse nothing, and all people should follow all laws everywhere at all times.

"The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas."
-Linus Pauling

My uncle being a chemistry teacher, I asked him some of these "ribbons".
Difficult to light (need a good BIC -or any other brand - lighter ; a match won't be enough), but when lighted.... woaah.... it burns fiercely and VERY bright.

Yeah I remember it from school. Burns with a bright white flame and burns quickly too. I cant remember how hard it was to light though.
I thought if I could put it in wax it would slow the burn time down a bit.

> I carry the Spark Lite kit, have used it many times, and it works just fine. The SparkLite
> "sparker" plus some of the SparkLite tinder balls is light, compact, effective, and cheap.
> Why bother with other stuff?

For that matter, why not stick with a cigarette lighter? It works one-handed, can be recognised and used without prior training, and will light paper, hex tab or other tinder directly. You can even use it to light a friend's cigarette without feeling like a survivalist nerd. Get one with a flint rather than peizo-electic ignition, so you still have a chance of lighting good tinder when the fuel runs out. (Running out of fuel is like running out of cotton balls.)

That said, I love the SparkLite tinder, and bought two big bags of it. I like the SparkLite, too, but it's something I keep in kits rather than carry every day. That's partly a matter of packaging, really. I EDC a ferro rod because mine has a nice keyring hole. I also EDC a lighter, most days.

I really wish someone would produce a proper survival lighter. Something like a SparkLite with a butane store, that produced good external sparks as well as an adjustable flame. Replacable flint. Lightweight, small enough to fit in an Altoids tin. Waterproof and tough enough to go on a keyring or neck chain. It should look good enough to use in social situations. Maybe space for emergency tinder, maybe not.

Maybe when Doug has finished working on his knives and Photons he could give it a try?

When I was a kid, my father worked for Aeroject General Corp in Azusa, CA. They worked on all kinds of government projects. The employees that I met seemed bright and creative. Maybe a little too creative...

One of the things they would do when things were dull was to send up "UFOs" to entertain the news media and hopefully scare a few people. They inflated weather balloons and attached what they referred to as a "magnesium flares" to them, and sent them across town (wind direction was always important). The things burned very brightly for quite a while.

Question: what is a magnesium flare, and what are they really used for?

Sue

Magnesium is used in Flares and fireworks to give a white coloured flame.
My guess is the white flares used for marine use etc is a Magnesium flare.

PS thanks for this years New Years celebration idea

The main virtue of the SparkLite is it is a one handed fire lighter. It does not work very well on anything other than cotton balls and TinderQuick. Butane lighters do not work in the wind or when it is cold.

The best combination for me is butane lighter, ferro rod, fat wood, and treated cotton balls. For one hand use stick a knife ¾ of the way in the ground and scrape the ferro rod against the blade.