MagFire...

I recently received two MagFire ferrocerium rods for test and review from Martin Focazio of MagFire USA...



MagFire products are made and marketed by ProGear, Finland. The test model is their standard version, listed as capable of delivering 3,000 strikes. Overall length is approximately 3.25", with a 1/4" x 1 7/8" sparking rod. There is also a Pro model available, listed as capable of delivering 12,000 strikes.

Opening the package when they arrived, I was immediately impressed by the quality. The MagFire ferrocerium rod, which they refer to as a "magnesium firestarter", is firmly seated in a beautifully moulded bright red polymer handle. Attached via a piece of black nylon lanyard material is a striker, similar to the old style striker from another major European manufacturer.
Fit and finish spoke quality, so it added to the excitement to get a test underway. Enlisting both SBRaider and my very own Care as photographers, it was time to let the games begin.

First test was sparking ability with different strikers:

Fallkniven U2 Spine Performance:



Vic SAK Pioneer Awl Performance:



Other really notable performers included the spine of my AL Mar S2K, the spine of my Vic SAK Farmer's saw blade and the spine of a Craftsman jigsaw blade. I'm sad to say that while the issued striker produced a spark, the sparks were significantly less than depicted above. If purchasing a MagFire, or any other ferro rod for PSK or BOB use, I'd really recommend ditching the issued striker for a piece of broken hacksaw blade or other saw blade.

MagFire claims a unique blend of metals to include magnesium in the manufacture of their sparking rod. I noted that the MagFire sparking rod seems significantly harder than most ferro rods I currently own. The outer coating was definitely harder to strike and the performance improved as the coating was scraped away. I also noted that, in comparing the MagFire to several other manufacturer's products under a strong magnifying glass, the MagFire sparking rod appears less porous. Being less porous should provide more sparking material as well as a higher level of corrosion resistance. Construction aside, when properly struck the MagFires throw a huge shower of 5,500 degree sparks...

On birchbark -


Admittedly, my birch bark was a little moist and it took some work to get it going - but it took quickly when dry and broken down properly.

On fatwood shavings -


Fatwood shavings took a spark rapidly and burned long and hot.

On a vaseline impregnated cotton ball -


The vaseline impregnated cotton ball took off almost explosively when subjected to the sparks.
Here's a shot of what I mean - spark with simultaneous ignition -



Needless to say, I'm sufficiently impressed by MagFire products. I've been EDC'ing the test models and I've already ordered a Pro model.
To protect the sparking rod for EDC, I slipped the rod into a piece of 1/4" inside diameter x 3/8" outside diameter vinyl tubing from the hardware. Doing so not only provides protection for the rod, but it also allows me to insert the rod into ferro rod holders on some of my BRKT sheaths and into kydex ferro rod loops made by On/Scene Tactical and Allan Blade...





The MagFire currently costs around $14 USD plus an extremely reasonable shipping rate, while the Pro model costs $20 USD plus an extremely reasonable shipping rate. Magfire's and more info on MagFire's is available here: http://www.magfireusa.com/index.html

I highly recommend MagFire products and MagFire USA...

M

Thanks for the test info. Looks like a through test and great pics too. I appreciate you taking the time to put the test data together for us! Cheers!

Wow...
Nice thorough review, SgtMike!

Thanks for the info!

Is this better than the DOAN® MAGNESIUM FIRESTARTER BAR that many of us have had for years?
Do we need the magfire if we have this?

By far and away better than the Doan Tool...

M

Over at swampratknifeworks.com, there's a SAR guy who swears by the mag block / flint. His main point seems to be that the magnesium block (which is really acting as a tinder, not a spark source) will get a fire started with damp or wet fuel nothing else short of a match or lighter will ignite. If you can manage to get a big enough pile of Mg shavings together, you have a very hot fire for a few seconds.

Seems to me, the Mg block and the Magfire firesteel are complimentary. The Magfire is a better firesteel for those times that a fire steel makes sense. View the Mg block as a special purpose tinder, maybe.

does material, i.e., magnesium, actually come off this firesteel, or does it just basically generate sparks to get a fire started?

As you can see from the pics above, the MagFire generates a huge shower of very hot sparks, sufficient to ignite most properly prepared man made and natural tinders.



The keyword in the aforementioned is, "If." Magnesium takes a lot of scraping to create even a quarter sized pile of shavings. If you're working in less than ideal conditions and you're cold and/or wet, preparing magnesium shavings may be nearly impossible. Add in any interference from wind and the problem is compounded many times over.

Yes; if you can get a sufficient pile of magnesium shavings, once ignited, they will burn very hot "for a few seconds" . The small piles of birchbark, fatwood shavings, and the vaseline impregnated cotton ball shown above burned hot for up to three and a half minutes .
"A few seconds" of very high heat may not be sufficient to ignite even slightly damp tinder, whereas several minutes of flame stands a much better chance of creating the desired effect...

M

I used the DOAN for a lone time and over time found this technique to work really well on damp wood, or any wood. Naturally, I would prepare a shaved bundle of the driest tinder I could find first, then I would use a dry cotton ball, shave some magnesium into the ball and use the strker to ignite the magnesium which in turn would instantly ignite the cotton ball. Which I then used to ignite a piece of wax paper, wadded into a ball and that usually will burn hot and long. I never had any trouble lighting a stubborn fire with the wax paper.
The story behind that technique, is that a friend and I decided to go up to the rim, to the forest and campout and brush up on our survival skills. We left the vehicle a ways off and set up a tarp shelter in a small meadow. It had been raining off and on all week and was drizzling while we were there most of the weekend. We hiked around some and just studied the area before returning to our tarp shellter. When dinnertime arrived, we planned to cook without a stove (left it in the car) and proceeded to gather materials. We had each brought all the magic "firestarters" and miracle "tinders" that we had gathered over the years. We had some of the old Tinder Dry, Trioxaine tablets, compressed wood shavings bonded in some miracle chemical and of course the original metal match, a DOAN, commercial type and matches which had been wax impregnated. Lucky for us, we had a BIC as well.
We tried each product on the damp wood, most would not light themselves, let alone ignite the natural tinder! We tried everything! The matches from my Boy Scout safe which had been coated in wax, would not light at all. The strikers would make sparks but nothing we had would ignite. All the commercial products which were supposed to be magical survival firestarters would not light, even with the BIC! They had dried out, or lost their chemical properties, or perhaps never worked to begin with. Even after we finally got a good fire going, some of the products would not even burn!
Anyway, I had brought a large bag of Starburst candies with me and we had both been eating them all day, each had a little waxed paper wrapper which went into our pockets. After looking for some pocket lint to try to ignite with the metal match, we piled up the wrappers on the ground. Well, after exhausting all means to start that fire, with no success, I took a Starburst wrapper, one mind you, lit it with the BIC and it burned really well! So, I took 3 or 4 of the wrappers and balled them together and lit that, put in into our semi-damp tinder and within a few minutes we had a nice fire to cook on! We were getting hungry by then.
So, after that trip I came home and tired various techniques and products until I found something reliable, that will not deteriorate over time in storage and will light a fire in dire conditions. Worked ever since. So in my kit I carry a 35mm film canister with about 5 dry cotton balls and 5 balls of plain old wax paper. The wax paper balls are made from a 6" x 12" piece wadded up and crammed into the cansiter, alternating with a cotton ball. I can ignite the cotton balls with a DOAN, Hot Spark, Metal Match or Firesteel, or MagFire (if I had one). I can then ignite the wax paper ball and I am on my way to a warm fire. I do unball the wax paper a bit to make it easier to ignite and to cover more area in the tinder bundle.
I also keep a roll of wax paper in my 4WD emergency kit along with some cotton balls and a spark source.

Agreed.

A good tinder is probably more important than a good source of sparks. A good source of sparks (magfire) will light marginal tinder.

Here's why I'm still not ready to give up on the mag block, though. And I admit this could just be my lack of outdoor experience. Dunno. It was surprising, and somewhat frustrating. Also, before I get into this, I want to make it clear this was NOT the fault of the Magfire. I couldn't get this to work with any of the three or four types of fire steels I have.

I get my magfire in the mail. I'm all excited. I grab some packing paper (light brown, about the weight of two sheets of news print. If you've ever moved, you know the stuff I'm talking about) and ran outside.

I tried every way I could think of to get the stuff to light. Flat. Wadded up. Shredded. Rubbed on the rough concrete to raise some fuzz. Ripped to (try to) create some fuzz. Nothing. One big problem was that the darn stuff refuses to fuzz. Just rips clean. Would not catch a spark. It's paper fer cryin' out loud. Dry too.

I go get the mag block. Use the file on the Leatherman to quickly pile up a nickel size pile of shavings (about a minute). Strike a spark from the magfire. WHOOSH. It's lit now. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

All I'm sayin' is, for the size and weight, why not throw a piece of magnesium in your kit. Sure, it's not the first choice, probably not even the second or third. But if you have to work with found materials for some reason, it might light stuff where fire steels (alone) won't. YMMV.

My favorite firestarter tinder for years has been 1/2" cubes of parafin wax wrapped in wax paper. Better than vasoline/cotton balls and some of the commercial stuff.

Their is nothing so frightening as ignorance in action.

Considering I'm on a different continent, I dont know the paper you are talking about, but I find it strange that it wont ignite. The alloys used the make these fire steels are designed to give off sparks greater than 3000 degrees C (Sorry dont do F) When Ive tryed using paper, it has never taken more than 2 scrapes to ignite, and the sparks have been hot enough to ignite paper laying flat on the ground with no other prep.
The packing paper you tried hasnt been treated with flame retardent has it?
I like Magnessium as a tinder too regardless of its problems. Its a Magnessium alloy because straight magnessium would be too explosive to use, but it burns with a temp at approx 5500 degrees C. Water will split back to hydrogen and oxygen at just over 5000 degrees, giving more fuel <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Hematite ground into a powder will burn at a similar temp, and one of its properties is that it provides its own oxygen when it burns, but again when used straight it can be explosive.

OK, so how about a small, AquaPur-sized vial of paint flake in your kit? It's aluminum, but shoudl light about as easily as magnesium.

Heck, why not premix some thermite (iron, aluminum). A little strip of Mg metal to light it with. Show me a tinder that won't light. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Shhh... the walls have ears.

I am planning on cutting down a magnesium firestarter so it is half the magnesium- it will fit int he kit better. I'm debating if I want to take a rough file to the remainder, and mix it into vaseline for dipping cotten balls into.

Of course, if you want a really interesting tinder, I've have very good luck over the years igniting super glue (!!!) with sparks. Have to catch it before it dries, but it burns hot and nice. Smear it on a little bit of plastic, like a dead phone card, give it a ten count to soften the material, and that will burn very nicely.

Can someone make comparisons between the MagFire and the BlastMatch?

Also, has anyone tried Survival Inc's WetFire tinder?

Thanks,

-john

Magfire seems to get more sparks but not with the included striker.
BlastMatch is easier to use if you want to use it one handed.
I think the MagFire give hotter sparks too.
Both work well.

I tried one of the WetFire Tinders when I first recieved my Ultimate Survival Deluxe Kit. Its the only time I tried it, but it was no trouble to light and burnt for a reasonable amount of time. The memory is a bit stretched to remember exact details, but I am going to get some more when I order another Deluxe Kit to throw in the car.
I always throw in a couple of different tinders into which ever pack/kit I'm using at the time just in case, and the Deluxe kit gets transferred to every pack I use because its convenient and all together.

Honestly I think the Spark-Lite is a better one handed starter than the BlastMatch. (at last, I found the Spark-Lites in Australia) I seem to be able to manage that better. If I was hurt, the BlastMatch might be a little bit clumsy.
But the blastMatch is part of the deluxe kit, and it does work well.
I have no problem buying it as part of the Deluxe kit, but I wouldnt buy it by itself. I did buy the MagFire by itself and I would buy another. I dont like the plastic end though, a little bulky. I would preffer to have a hole so I could use a key ring instead. That way it would be part of my EDC.

I've never had any success getting paper to light from a spark unless I've been able to make a fuzz. Some materials don't fuzz well - eg paper money is quite poor in my experience. It's certainly a good idea to carry known-good tinder rather than relying on improvising with what you find in the field.

I don't think much of the magnesium as tinder, though. The wind blows the scrapings away, or I knock it when I am trying to scrap, or something. It takes time and effort to make the scrapings, which I wouldn't want to try with cold hands.

And I found I didn't always get stuff to burn with it. For example, I once made a proud little pile of magnesium scrapings on a hex fuel tablet, and managed to get a spark to it without knocking it over - and it burned hot for a few seconds but not long enough to light the hex. All the heat went up instead of down (damn that physics). Maybe there is a way to do it, but it seemed to me I needed to use a secondary tinder - eg paper. Get the magnesium to light the paper, then use the paper to light the hex tab. So now I prefer TinderCard or the Sparklite tinder or cotton-wool based.

I don't doubt that the MagFire makes lots of hot sparks. But I feel that, given other products available, it is a solution in search of a problem.

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?

and you can use the spark lite one-handed, unlike the magfire. I think I will stay with the spark lite, and I have redundancy with the blast match and Doan magnesium along with those trick birthday candles

Thanks for taking the time to review! Great info!

Two comments to add:

1. The mag block seems easier for kids with small hands to hold.

2. I've found that the file from my Wave works best to produce shavings, or filings, in short order with minimal effort.

My (uneducated) understanding is that Magnesium oxidizes extremely quick when exposed to air, and this is why making "pre-shavings" does not work, or so folks (far wise than I) say. I guess this why my mag-blocks all have a weird dull-film on them after not using them for a while which takes a couple of strikes to get off.

But Iron, you bring up a interesting point, if you can make the shavings quickly and then get them in an low oxygen environment, e.g. dunking them in petroleum jelly (is that a low oxygen environment?), is it possible to reduce the oxidation to the point where the mag shavings remain easy to spark? I am guessing the bigger the shavings the better, but I will defer to the chemistry types which I am sure are nearby. I was Googling around and I found references to "magnesium ribbons", which sound like a great
gift for the upcoming holidays, does anyone know anything about these things?

Marc

"Don't worry about people stealing an idea. If it's original, you will have to ram it down their throats."
-Howard Aiken

Ive found that the sparks from my firesteels are hot enough to burn through the paper where they land. If the paper is sitting in a good location it seems to light very quickly for me. With the papers Ive tried so far anyway.
This can be a problem with many tinders, I pick and choose what and how I use different tinders when I need them. Nearly every thing has draw backs, and you can learn to live with them. I like the extra heat that Magnessium gives, but it I mix it with something else, and keep it out of the wind. I'm not saying that I would use it to light every fire.

For starters Spark-Lites are hard to get down here. I've only had mine for 3 weeks. I have just found where I can get them, and even then they have to come from nearly 1500 km away.
It also doesnt hurt to have other types or items around, because you might find that some work better than others in different situations, and you might need some redundancy.

This would be the type of ribbon they use in chemistry lessons. I'm not sure how that would go, because the magnesium used in the tinder blocks is an alloy designed to burn longer but with the same heat. this makes it less explosive than straight magnesium.
I dont think the magnesium ribbon would work as well unless you slowed its burn time down.
It would be interesting to get some ribbon and try pouring wax (or similar) around it so you could have a magnesium wicked candle to try.

Next time, put the magnesium shavings at the bottom of the pile... and for what it's worth, a good many years ago ( about 20), I burned a hole through an aluminum ash-tray AND a 3/4 inch coffee table (quite unintentionally) with a quarter sized pile of scrapings from a Doan bar... even though they are slow and laborious, they DO work.

Troy

P.S. By the way, the shavings were on TOP of the ash-tray and table, and burned DOWN through them... so much for hanging it on physics <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Why carry more than one knife? Why own more than one gun??? Give me redundancy AND variety!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Troy

BINGO, Bill... a file is great, the saw on the edge of the file on an original leatherman makes the shavings drop like snow in a snow-globe... try what you've got and use what works <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Troy

That sounds like a recipe to burn the p--- out of something... be careful with the experiment, and let us know how it goes.

Troy

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.

Here's a non-traditional use of magnesium... Mg at Burning Man

One of the stunts... a trench full of old engine cases (magnesium, or course) set on fire. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

A fact that hasn't come up yet... not only is burning magnesium bright, but, IIRC, there's quite a bit of UV in the emitted light. Do not stare at burning magnesium.

Craig - Well put. Not only is the SparkLight poor at igniting natural tinders, it is also susceptible to failure from exposure to water - as is the butane lighter.

The MagFire, Doan, FireSteels, BSA HotSparks etc will at least remain effective regardless of temperature, humidity, or exposure to water.

Why do I prefer the MagFire? Simple.

1. It has a great, easy to manipulate handle.
2. It's thick enough to provide lots of sparking material without too much risk of breaking during use.
3. It's thin enough to be easy to carry and lightweight in the kit or pack.
4. It seems harder than the rest of the genre, giving equal or far greater amounts of sparks per strike.

While the Doan tool is okay in my book, I do not like giving up half of the sparking (ferrocerium) rod in order to connect it to what I consider to be a minimally useful tinder source. In as far as the magnesium bar goes, I'd rather have that space taken up by an equal volume of vaseline impregnated cotton balls, fatwood, or TinderQuik...

M

groo,

What would happen if someone added some water to your magnesium fire? I've heard it is explosive. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Not really.

Manesium + Water != explosive

several thousand degrees + water = water turning into steam almost instantly.

As steam has a lower density than liquid water, the volume it occupies is greater for the same mass. I suppose it could be considered an explosive reaction, but it isn't inherently explosive the way gun powder or explosives are.

Caution- tossing water into magnesium may scatter debris, including burning magnesium flakes. You can make a nifty fireball by tossing a few ounces of water into a pot of molton wax that has ignited. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Some of the firemen on here can correct me, but IIRC, Mg fires can get hot enough to actually split water back into hydrogen and oxygen. I'd imagine once that happens, all sorts of badness occurs (more free oxygen to feed the Mg fire, hydrogen and oxygen burning to recombine, etc).

Didn't someone post pics here relatively recently about a fire at a factory that used magnesium?

Yes the flames are hot enough to split the oxygen and hydrogen in water making an explosive mix.

This animation is from Mag Flint Firestarters, its not very clear, but it shows somebody scraping the megnesium, lighting with the fire steel and scrape the pile together then drop a drop of water from the end of their finger onto the flames.
www.magflintfirestarter.com/magburn.html

Its not very clear, but I remenbered it because I have a couple of these firestarters.

Take a look at pipe lighters. The flame comes out in a little jet and will work fine upside down. Until it's out of fuel. Then you can start rubbing sticks together again.

Can you recommend a good one? I remember looking into this a year or so ago, and almost every one I found had bad reviews from a survival standpoint. (Fragile, not water proof, altitude sensitive, etc.)

I'm not saying they don't exist, and Doug even has a few recommendation, I just never heard a very _positive_ review of any.

Although not a “survival lighter” per se, I would like to see someone make a friction-fit, glow-in-the-dark cap that would slide over the end of a BIC lighter—both regular and the mini BICs. Such would not add much to the overall size of the lighter and would keep water, dirt, and pocket lint out the business end of the lighter. It would also protect the gas-release thumb lever from being accidentally depressed. A lanyard hole could be molded into this cap. The friction fit should be loose enough to conveniently remove the cap but tight enough that the lighter does not fall out of the cap when carrying the lighter by a lanyard or on a key chain. When using the lighter, the cap could be pressed onto the other end of the lighter so it does not get lost.

While we're waiting for that great idea to come to market: My gear has waterproof BIC lighters in it. Go to a bike shop and ask for used inner tubes - offer to cut them so they know you're not mooching some freebies. Select a tube that is a close (but not tight) fit over the BIC - usually a road bike tube. Cut a section that is 3 x the length of the BIC, then cut 2 ranger bands from the same tube. Put BIC in the center of the piece of inner tube, fold the ends over, and secure with the ranger bands. It survives dry in the notorious swimming pool pocket test...

The tube serves as expedient fire starter, being easily ignited by the BIC - one can slice off some tube several times without hurting the seal. I also stuff 3-4 petro jelly cotton wool balls into the tube at the butt end of the lighter; sparklight tinder would be peachy if one prefers that.

It's deep black and doesn't glow in the dark, but this has worked exceptionally well for me.

No pics right now, but I can post some tonight if anyone wants.

Tom

Tom--

Great idea; I'm going to use it. As for pictures, if it is not too much trouble, they always help to make a lesson come together.

Pete

The Magfire, like other similar fire starters, will start a fire if you use it correctly. BUT the main issue with spark-oriented starters is Tinder, Tinder, Tinder and Tinder.

The reason that vaseline and the so-called "cotton" balls (they are actually a synthetic usually - especially if they are called "cosmetic puffs" are such great tinder is that they are solidified oil - petroleum. They are a hydrocarbon burn, with horrid black stringy smoke, and they work great.

My magfires light them in an instant, as will just about any other sparker. They burn ultra-hot, will dry other stuff that then can be fed on the fire.

I carry a Bic lighter too - while I practice with the Magfire all the time, the reality is that it's easier to produce fire from a liquid or gas-fueled appliance in most cases. This is why there are so many billions of Bic Lighters out there. That said, a Magfire is a metal stick, with no moving parts. 100% of the useable part of the tool is availible - unlike a Doan block, which hides 50% of the striker in the block. A lighter with a wheel and valve of any kind can fail at any time. Wind and all that is an issue no matter what you're using to start a fire, but cold is NOT an issue. As I'd like to point out, the last thing you need when you slip and fall into a hidden stream while out hunting on a 10 degree morning is a lighter that won't light because it's too cold.

My Hunting PSK - the only "real" PSK I actually need - has a Magfire, Two film canisters of vaseline soaked cosmetic puffs, a Space Blanket Bivvy Bag, some trail tape, a whistle, six large hand-warmers (the type that heat when exposed to air) a magellan GPS 100, four lithium batteries and a roll of flat duct tape (which is my fuirst aid kit). I have a knife on my belt, and of course, a gun (M6 Scout, if anyone cares). I'm dressed for the weather when I go out, and as I've learned over the years, I wear waterpoof boots and gore-text rain pants UNDER my regular pants. the point is to stay as DRY AS POSSIBLE. The denim acts as a physical barrier to brush and bramble, is quieter than the gore-tex and the gore-tex keeps me dry under my layers.
The one time I NEEDED a fire when off in the woods, I had stepped into a hidden stream, hooked my foot on the ice, and fell, face first, into the snow over the thin ice and got good and wet. I needed a fire, big, and fast. Anyway, back to the point. I like Magfires so much I sell them (special sale coming next week!) because I don't like machines that fail when you need them.

Careful shopping (reading the fine print) will net you some good, 100% cotton balls. I found mine at WalMart, in two sizes - regular and large. I typically use the regulars and they provide around 3.5 minutes of decent flame...

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