Well I have been lurking for a while and gained much good wisdom. So this last weekend I took my oldest daughter, 18, to the backyard, covered in about 3 inches of snow, to build a fire. She is starting to be an avid outdoors person etc... So I gave here a candle and book of matches and told her to make a fire. Well that flopped. So I decided to try with my magnesium block and flint, I had played with it before but never made a real fire just lit the Mg on fire. Well it was a suprise to find it wasn't as easy as I had thought. So what to do?? I ran in the house and got some drier lint and then we found how easily it would light. Tried to use melted candle wax on it but not quite right. Then used hust plain lint and the mag shaving and up it went. But for the sparker I had tired the back side of a hacksaw blade and it produce vary few sparks but what did work was an old knife blade out of a SAK I had savaged years ago. But what I did find out after thinking hum the hacksaw blade should work was if I used the toothed side it made a suprising amount of sparks, the amount your see with a Magfire advert. Have any of you had this experiance using the toothed side of a hacksaw blade?
So the moral of the story is is practice, as I have learned and have fun.
cheers

Most modern clothing has manmade (plastic) fibers in them and will put out toxic smoke when lit! The cotton ball (100% pure cotton) and Vaseline works better for me!

The "business-side" of the hacksaw blade does produce good sparks, but you'll notice that it chews up your rod. You might try sharpening the edges of the opposite side of the blade to improve scraping efficiency.

The toothy side of the hacksaw blade does two things - makes a monster-huge spark and really rips up your Magfire, cutting it's useful life in half. But then again, if you use a Magfire to light a fire in an emergency, maybe you don't care if it will last the rest of the decade.

One other thing that the toothy side of the hacksaw blade does besides make a huge spark is it makes a WIDE spray of sparks, which isn't always the best thing.

The best - by far - striker I'v ever used on a Magfire is the BACK of a utility knife blade. Makes a steady, controlled and effective spark.

The back of a lock blade knife will produce a good spark.

Need tender, try a tampon.

Really want to have a hot, hot, hot spark? Try the old stand by very fine steel wool and 9 volt battery. It is amazing that steel will burn using the 9 volt bat and a little blowing on it.