I haven't done this personally, But my friends just put enough on to seal the bar. magnesium exposed to water will get a oxidized powdery surface eventualy.Nothing major,unless your in a wet environment like the northwest.<br><br>

First of I live in an area where the biggest wood is the half inch stalk of a dead tumble weed. However, I have kepr fairly warm with a tumble weed fire. They are small enough to cut and use for kindling and maybe tinder. For tinder I can usually crumble up some dry grass.<br><br>As far as the magnesium tool I can usually start a fire with just the flint. <br><br>The major problem I have seen is the flattening out of the flint. It only takes a few strikes to flatten out the flint flush with the magnesium. It still works, but it is something to keep in mind.

I am fond of traditonal flint and steel. A few months ago when I started looking into survival skills, I decided that learning fire first made sense. I ordered a couple strikers and some flint from www.trackofthewolf.com and set about making it work. I have since found that the small crystalline silica type rocks that you find in creeks will also spark when broken to a sharp edge, so that saves me money on buying real flint.
I have found that flint and steel with charcloth works well in wind. Actually, the wind sort of helps since you have to blow on it anyway.
Charcloth will work even better with a ferrochromium rod because it generates alot more sparks than flint and steel, but there are better things to use with a ferrochromium rod.
Still though, making charcloth and charred wood are good skills IMO. You may need them if you run out of cotton balls or whatever tinder you have. I would gladly sacrifice an inch of the bottom of my T-shirt if it meant getting me 20 more fires.
Charcloth is vulnerable to moisture though, so you have to keep it sealed in something more than less airtight.
I keep a striker and a couple peices of flint in a 4" round metal can with a tiny hole punched in the lid. I also keep some jute twine in there, and a brass snuffbox to keep my charcloth in. With those things, I always have dry tinder (twine) and a way to ignite it. I use the larger tin with the hole to cook the charcloth over my fire. You just put some cotton cloth pieces in the can, put the lid on, and cook it until it stops smoking. Let it cool, and check it. It should be evenly black with no brown and it should still have good strength. I have used T-shirt, denim, terrycloth, and cotton flannel to make charcloth and all have worked well. I have also used punk wood and moss to make char, and although they are harder to ignite they will light a fire.
I will admit that the stuff is a bit large to carry, that it is primitive, and that there are better ways. But I take comfort in knowing that I can make a fire from a chunk of steel and a piece of rock if I have to.

Also, waxpaper works very well with a magnesium firestarter. I take a small square of it ane make sort of a ball on one end, the scrape some shavings onto the still flattened other side. When you ignite the shavings, they light the ball of waxpaper, which burns for about 15 or so seconds once you get good with it. Not as good as cottonballs, or even charcloth and good tinder, but way better than trying to use a leaf and you can fold a 2x2 foot piece of waxpaper up pretty small.

I know I should just try it but I'll ask the question anyway. Does it necessarily take a carbon steel knife or a stainless steel will do? Same for hacksaw blades, do bi-metal blades will make enough sparks?
Thanks

When you're using a knife and a ferrocerium rod, the sparks come from the rod, which is softer. The energy from cutting a chip off the rod ignites the chip. You need a sharp tool to actually do the cutting. A hacksaw blade is great because it has multiple cutting surfaces, so you get multiple sources of sparks. And the tips of the hacksaw teeth are hardened.

The same thing happens in reverse with a flint and steel- the flint is harder, so it cuts chips off of the steel. The softer the steel, the easier this is to do.

Yep, but it has been my experience that the steel has to be just right. I have tried the back side of my case hunting knife (stainless blade) and a piece of flint will not generate sparks on it. The steel has to be hard because the harder the steel, the smaller and hotter the sparks. But I also have tried sparking on files, and they don't spark well either. So apparently it can't be too hard or too soft.
I have started a fire by striking the small sharpened back edge on my Ontario pilot survival knife with flint, but the Glock field knife I have won't spark as well.
A stainless blade does work just fine on a ferrochromium rod though.

I have had great success sparking ferrocerium rods with almost anything sharp like a knife or rough like a file. I have heard that even a sharp piece of glass works well although I have not tried it. With the natural flint, quartz-type rocks that are plentiful where I live I can get a spark with hard stainless steel but it is a very tiny spark.... nothing compared to a ferrocerium rod. I don't know about other steel with natural flint (all my knives are stainless and I never carry a dedicated striker) but I hear that CS works well.

Though it's been some time (er, decades), I've forged and tempered several fire steels, and it is quite tricky. My best efforts were ok, but they weren't as good as some antiques I have, and some new ones I've bought. A really good steel is a prize, as it takes much less effort to strike a light than with a mediocre one. Stainless does not work for real firesteels.

Anything hard and sharp works with ferrocerium rods- broken glass works just fine (wrap it so you don't cut yourself).

Now I understand, thank you. I was confused with what Chris told me about Mora Swedish knives:

"[...] Still, they are one of the few carbon steel knives with sufficient Rockwell to produce sparks with natural stones; a minor, but relevant skill and firemaking option. If you get one, lightly file the spine. As new, flints tend to skip along the slick surface."

"[...] The carbon Moras' high R enables natural flint sparking. The flint ignites the carbon molecules from the blade material. Anything softer than 58-60 and the flint merely gouges the material. Moras have this high R in the blade, and a relatively soft tang. You will eventually bend one, or even get one with a few degrees 'prebent.' They bend back easily."

If you get one of those, be sure and get the Doan Machinery one... Here is a good review and explanition of why you want a good one if you get one.
I got mine from Camping Survival