I have 2 mini bics in a case Here attatched with a carbiner, one in my BOB and one in my FAK. Then I have several eyeglass repair kit magnifying glasses and in the hollow handle I have magnesium filings, in the little plastic pouch I have a small amount of dryer lint, taped to the plastic pouch I have a trick candle and several cigarette rolling papers in a small plastic bag. In my BOB I have a magnesium fire starter/small hack saw blade. In my BOB I also have a plastic cigar tube filled with dryer lint 3 trick candles and about a dozen matches with a striker. On the cigar tube I also have duct tape and electrical tape.

In pants pocket:
Mini Bic
1/2" x 2 1/4" ferro rod
2 Coghlan's Emergency Tinder

In Camelbak:
Magfire Pro
Coghlan's Emergency Tinder, in two ziploc bags - 15 each
6 small sticks of fatwood in small ziploc bag
2 Regular Bic lighters
Spark-Lite
4 Tinder-Quik in mini-ziploc bag
Cord and knowledge to make fire bow and tinder bundle

Hey Angel why do you have a hacksaw blade with your mag bar? A hacksaw is a good idea for a bob but they are nearly useless as a striker.

I have it for various uses, it just happens to have a hole in it and fits on the magnesium blocks chain. Also I don't want to dull the blade on my knife. It's not as useless as you might think.

Go to a local machinist and get some scrap carbon steel, say a strip of 1/16 and drill a hole in it. Or ask them if they could help you out but drilling steel that thin will be easy and you could do it with a hand drill on your own if you have to. If the steel is already heat treated you will now have a striker that will throw much better sparks and will do so longer than your hacksaw blade.

No using a knife as a striker is never recommended, a knife is quite possibly your most valueable survival tool in the wild so it is best not to abuse it. If you have no other choice use the very back of the blade (the section of the cutting edge closest to your hand) this area is used least frequently and will not be as missed as the middle of the blade or the tip. A better idea is to use the spine of the blade as you will not damage your cutting edge at all. Still, having some sort of striker is always best, in my experience having the right kind of striker makes a world of diference in using flint or magnesium and flint together. For more check out my thread on flint, steel and firestarting. Hope this helps

-Olaf

I've actually gotten my best strikes with the back of a bi-metal hacksaw blade, and the toothed side is just useful.

One thing to remember is that there are probably a number of different ferrocerium formulations. Saying "ferro rod" is probably like saying "steel"- that's nice, what's in it? I've had better performance with my Doans than with my Coglahn strikers.

Very true, I hear that comment about "steel" all the time, few people know there is a difference much less how much of a difference there is. Doan does make good firestarters, I didn't want to chop up my good one for the tests though. Your hacksaw blade was probably some good stuff then, if it works then don't change it.

I keep a vest in my truck that has lots of pockets. Looks like a safari vest. I still need to get a survival blanket to put in the back pocket, one of the ones that have mylar on one side and green canvas on the other. (those are good for warmth, as well as hiding from FLIR. I have 3 lighters in different pockets, a flint/steel in another pocket, and a small canister with vaseline soaked cotton balls. This is the total of the firemaking tools. The rest of the vest includes a MSR MIOX for water, signal mirror, whistle, about 20 feet of OD 550 cord, GMRS/FRS radio (will upgrade to better radio when I get the money), compass/LED combo, GPS, one of the Streamlight stylus, small CRKT knife, a different LED light that has no name, small pair of 8x21 binoculars, medium sized CRKT folder, and a bottle of purell. I still need a fishing kit, cable saw, and a geiger counter.