Dewey's recent post brings up a real problem. I thought i'd share a few ideas and hopefully generate some more. White fungal growth on magnesium bars is usually just a hassle to clean up. But given the difficulties in making a fire with it, hassles are the last thing anyone wants. Clear fingernail polish has been an old standby, but it's a brittle seal and can fail as Dewey discovered. This trick will help preserve magnesium bars, lead fish wieghts etc. Clean the surface and then immerse in vinegar for 24 hours ( turn over for complete coverage.) This will 'pickle' the metal. By all means give it a coat of fingernail polish too. I learned this trick painting 54MM lead military figurines as a boy. If you think moldy white magnesium is bad, imagine finding a Highlander's kilt sporting polka dots after painting it for 2 months <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />. Moras and Opinel knives are popular, inexpensive camp knives. Again, we have rust as the constant enemy and not grizzly bears. Carbon kitchen knives will ( if allowed to) slowly develop a patina from cutting all the fruits and vegetables. This isn't a powder coat epoxy coating or parkerised finish, but unless horribly neglected provides a small margin of protection. I simply impale some unsuspecting potato with mine and allow to sit overnight. The patterns can be reminiscent of case colour hardening or damascene. The real potential failure in these two brands is actually the handles. A dismantled mora is enough to give a structural engineer nightmares. Sand the slippery red paint off the cheap ones and apply some tung or linseed oil. You might also apply some epoxy to the exposed tang in the but and at the hilt. This may require drilling a small hole. It seals everything up and strengthens the handle. Opinels can simply lock up if the wood swells. Later Opi's seem better sealed, but a little extra sealer won't hurt.

Some food for thought. I'm going to launch a few tests with Plasti-Dip over magnesium bars, see how that works.

I was recently on a SAR call (actually recovery, not rescue) and found myself with my oversized fanny pack full of emergency & survival supplies IN the water for about 3 hours. When I got home, it was a bit of a shock to see how much stuff I was "sure" was in a waterproof over-wrap got wet. My first aid gear bore the brunt of it, and has been relocated to a Small (but heavy!) Pelican case.
I've found that good old WD-40 just plain works to keep the wet off the metal.

Fungus on the Magnesium (and everything else) is solved with a solution of OxyClean. This stuff is amazing, it's the WD-40 of cleaners, and is fairly benign to most fabrics.

Alok-Sacks (think industrial grade ziplocks) may be a solution to part of the problem. I use them to waterproof various sections of my FAK for just this reason.