Magnesium Blocks for Firestarter

Maybe I just don't have the patience to use Magnesium blocks for a fire starter. It seems like it takes forever to get enough shavings to do the job right. They dull a knife blade in no time and the wind tends to blow away most of the shavings anyway. The shavings do light in an instant, get hot in an instant and are gone in an instant.

Does anyone have successful experiences with these and would care to share? Got any tips?

They do work, in pretty much perfect circumstances. Number one, don't use your knife blade to scrape mag from the block, use something like a short section of hacksaw blade, pre-shortened and attacked to your mag block by the little chain it came with. If you must use your knife, hold the blade at a right angle to the mag bar, and scrape shavings off, don't try to cut them off. As far as the wind goes, block it the best way you can. If possible, catch the shavings in/on something like a plain ole cotton ball, then ingnite them from there. Again, the saw toothed edge of a hacksaw creates a huge shower of sparks. Really eats into the ferro strip too, so don't practice this toooo much. Have LOTS of small stuff, kindling for lack of a better word, handy, if possible position that cotton ball under a bunch of it before you light it off...

JHayes...

In the bush I almost exclusively use the a ferro rod (I have a few mag blocks and also a Strike force), But I Almost NEVER use the magnesium, just the ferro rod. There are a few techniques (primitive & prepared) that you can try...

#1 - Put a cotton ball under your tinder.. with or without vaseline doesn't matter, but if you impregnate it with vaseline it will burn longer. This is useful if your tinder is a bit damp.

#2 - Get a few cattail heads. Use a generous amount (remember that a little goes a long way here). They will burn almost as fast as the magnesium, so you have to impregnate the cattail into your tinder. Pine needles work best here.. or dry grasses.

#3 - Other good incendiaries would be Dandelion, Goatsbeard, or Milkweed pod fluff. Use them as the Cattail.

#4 Fine dry punkwood will also catch the spark and it will glow like a "bow drill "coal". Keep adding more punkwood dust, then small pieces and finally larger ones until it breaks into flame.

Others will probably have other great ideas.. Hope these help you for now.

- Soarn

I use homemade firestarter such as the vaseline impregnated cotton balls as well as a half candle wax impregnated cotton balls. They light easily and burn for a while. Triox will really go to town in a hurry.
I was trying to understand why the mag block was so commonly found and so popular. But given the idea of getting the shavings into a cotton ball makes good sense, as well as using a shortened hack saw blade. I wanted to keep the mag block in my BOB, but I just wasn't sure it was worth it. I'll give it another try.

Well. It was discussed many times on the forum...
But here is my tips collection in one place:

-Add a short piece of hacksaw blade (for steel work) to the magnesium bar to save your knife. Use the saw side to shave the magnesium (pulling is the best, so add a wide key ring to it);

-Keep everything in a ziplock (freezer) bag. But not only for water protection. Shave/saw the bar right inside the bag (no problems with rain, wind, or shaking hands).

-Be patient shaving. You need something like 1/2 of teaspoon of shavings (otherwise it wouldn't produce heat long enough for the job).

-Fill up some cavity (make it with your knife as necessary, it's a must if the wood surface is wet) in a piece of wood with the magnesium dust, put it under your pile of kindling, and spark on it.

-That first piece of wood must became a stable coal in an instant, so just treat it as such after that. The kindling will dry a bit as a bonus if not ignite instantly. The rest is a standard fire-starting procedure.

Wow, so many people don't sleep yet
I agree with SoarnEagle. If you have a piece of cotton or something like that, and the weather is dry - the magnesium is not necessary ingredient at all.

Instead of magnesium, I usually use a little fatwood when the wood is really wet. Of course, preparation is the key. On our last camping trip, I just made a bigger tinder bundle using eucalyptus bark. I love that stuff. I didn't use any fatwood despite the wet conditions. Eucalyptus bark ,feather sticks and split wood was enough to get the fire going great pretty fast.

When I see eucalyptus trees, I note the spot and gather some bark before heading out. But I always carry some fatwood in my fire starting kit.

I "pre-shave" mine. First I take a wood screw and run it through the lanyard hole and into a piece of wood with my drill. I put the wood/attached mag block into the upturned lid of a cardboard box. Then I take the drill and systematically reduce the block into curls and shavings (you have to experiment to see what size drill bit works best for you). When I'm finished I simply take the lid (now full of magnesium shavings and saw dust) and dump it into a plastic container.

I've carried these wood/magnesium shavings in a small ziplock and I've added them to my Vaseline cotton balls...both ways work great.

A variation I've wanted to do would be to cut the mag bar lengthwise, preserving the lanyard hole/striker bar side and then clamp and drill the other half. this would be the best of both worlds: mag shavings and a homemade mini mag bar.

I carry one in my camping box but I've only ever been able to get the shavings to ignite in the controlled environment of my kitchen. The bummer is that you need a HOT spark to light them...the flame from a lighter won't cut it.

i carry that block also,but i see it as a last ditch method
when everthing else is wet or gone..and i think thats what
they were made for in the first place and not routine fire
lighting...i have tryed mine just too see what it took to
work and with all the hassle and time it took i would use it
to just light one big fire while i was waiting for rescue.
if you are going to carry all the gear it takes to catch the
spark and get a flame you may as well carry a Bic and heat
tabs...a fellow i worked with at a Veterans hospital told
me that they would light the entire block to signal
aircraft--he called it "lighting the candle"..anyone ever
tryed that????????

A small square of toilet paper (or other paper) folded into a funnel shape to catch the shavings helps. I use pine pitch
to keep the flame after the paper ignites. There is lots on the
trees here due to the bark beatles.

I have also lit a wax candle by putting the shavings on a pre-
chard candle wick.

My mag block is a mini one I carry on my key chain. First I cut
it in half with a hacksaw, then cut half the mag off the long
way. Very compact and you then have two blocks.

A small square of toilet paper (or other paper) folded into a funnel shape to catch the shavings helps. I use pine pitch
to keep the flame after the paper ignites. There is lots on the
trees here due to the bark beatles.

I have also lit a wax candle by putting the shavings on a pre-
chard candle wick.

My mag block is a mini one I carry on my key chain. First I cut
it in half with a hacksaw, then cut half the mag off the long
way. Very compact and you then have two blocks.

The magnesium is just a little extra bonus to help make the transition from ferro rod spark to flaming tinder.

Ferinstance, if you have nice tinder like a cotton ball or some well prepared cedar bark you don't need the magnesium. However, if your bark is a bit damp and doesn't quite catch the spark, a few flakes of magnesium can help.

Forget about making a pile of shavings - its a lot of work and a frustrating waste of time. Just make your usual tinder "nest" with a thumb sized hollow. Scrape some Mg into the hole and hit it with a spark.

How do you hit 'a few flakes' of magnesium with a spark? Sounds like a really lucky strike to me. I know I've never been able to light less than a sizable pile of shavings without help.

Perhaps, "a few flakes" was an understatement. But you don't need a big pile.

Put the base of the rod against the opening of the hollow and scrape the spark right in.

I think one of the things that aren't being discussed here is how to get "good" sparks. Many use their knives (something that I would NEVER do unless it was absolutely necessary). Others have spoken about a hacksaw blade... which I would consider a step up from the knife.

I have tried many methods of striking the ferro bar for the maximum spark output. This is critical in what you are trying to light. My "Strike Force" will actually throw enough (and hot enough) sparks to light a newspaper with no other tinder. A standard Ferro bar isn't quite as productive however. Why is that? Well the "Strike Force" has a built in striker.. a 1/4" X 2" Iron bar. I am convinced the striker is the key.

So I did some testing many years back with hacksaws, old knives, etc... My final "resting place" in regards to the matter was an old file that I also use when I do flint and steel. I cut a 2" piece off of an old iron file that I got for $.05 at a flea market.I hold it vertically in my hand.. and strike with the cut edge down the length of the ferro bar. Wanna talk about sparks? I can get a fire EVERY time with one strike on the standard ferro bar (not the "Strike Force") with cattail, or other similar fluff. 2 strikes will light dried grass.

Perhaps it's more the striker than the other things. At least that's my experience. Try an old file.. see how it works for you. By the way, if you deem it better to not carry the extra little weight of the file, and want to use your knife or hacksaw... then carry a bit of charcloth wrapped in some old denim (That way you can make more when you need it). This will take any spark and immediately blow into flame in most tinders.

Hope this Helps...

- Soarn

Good point about the striker. I tried a 1/4" square x 2.5" long HSS tool steel blank once and BOY did it work well. It had very sharp 90 degree edges. It sort of ploughed a big blob of burning metal down the rod.

I always carry a bar of trioxane. I can start a dozen fires with one bar.

Yep.

First, don't scrape with the edge of your knife blade. Bad hiker. *wags finger* Use the spine of your blade if you don't have something like the piece of hacksaw blade that was mentioned. Personally, I like a file.

Don't strike with the edge of your knife blade. The spine of a bi-metal hacksaw blade, or an unknurled (I think that is the word I want) part of the edge of edge of the file.

Have the filings go into another, beefier tinder as others have mentioned. Think of the magnesium not so much as tinder as a solid accelerant. I find the biggest edge it gives you is that if you tinder is less than perfectly dry, the heat of the magnesium is still enough to get it going, while the spark alone requires tinder that is pretty much bone dry or has something like petroleum jelly in it.

Put the forward edge of the mag block down level with the tinder, on the firelay, with the ferro rod pointing just "below" the magnesium. With a solid, brisk stroke, scrape down on the ferro rod, holding the scraper at about a 90 degree angle. Have tinder and small kindling at hand.

Test your striker before you put it in your kit. It needs to have a good edge on the corner you'll be striking with, not something rounded over. I've always had better luck with carbon rather than stainless steel, as well.

And practice.

And another tip. The search function here is a little quirky, but it will find most of threads we've discussed this on in the past.

Somebody in another forum mentioned not to scrape the Magnesium from the long side of the bar....but to use the corners of the short end. Supposedly this will give longer, heavier chunks and curls that won;t blow away so easily. I haven't tried this yet but if you're out there doing it, try it.

I stole the striker from a Firesteel I bought. The teeth on the striker really cut into the magnesium and make a lot of shavings. I'm thinking about switching to a hacksaw blade though I haven't tested it yet.

Thanks to everyone who have responded. All are great tips.
thanks muchly.

Magnesium bars are common for two reasons. First, I think the same armchair researcher who came up with the solar still got the military all excited over cheap, long lasting, small and lightwieght magnesiuum bars for survival kit. Of course, now we have SPARKLITES and poor Oak had to switch from beautifull brass units with replaceable flints to plastic- to save wieght and lower unit costs. The second reason Magnesium bars are so common is companies can sell a VERY inexpensive item for a rediculously expensive price.Do they work? Yes, if you practise all the information posted here. Are they worth it? That will be your final decision.

I just made a discovery on mine that has made it a million times easier to use. I've replaced the firesteel striker I was using with a fine toothed jig saw blade. Sturdier than a hacksaw blade and smaller.

The saw blade can create a pile of shavings in just seconds and generates an incredible amount of spark compared to what I was using before.

Best of all they came ready to go 2 to a package. I didn't have to buy a hacksaw blade only to use an inch of it.

Thanks for the "short hacksaw" comment. I'm going to add that to my magnesium blocks in the different BoB's that I maintain!!

The saber saw idea posted by someone above sounds like as good a deal as a chunk of hacksaw blade, probably even better...

I find the mag bars are cheaper than the rods without the mag
attached. I think you are full of it on this one.

I have dozens of those in the case with my jigsaw... I can't seem to throw them out...they just pile up in there. I'm going to try that!

I have used the magnesium blocks since I was about 12 (50+now). I found them relatively easy to use and virtually indistructable aside from a little corrosion.

Here might be a solution, Magnesium Ribbon 75 ft for 13 bucks plus shipping, I'm going to buy some and I'll let everyone know how it works. Here is the link.

http://www.everythingpyrotechnic.com/miscelaneous.htm

i bought some magnesium ribbon a few years ago from a
seller on Ebay who carryed a lot of science type gear..
the ribbon would not light--after no luck with a match i
tryed a propane torch--no go--maybe i just got a junky
coil..i get the impression this ribbon was made from scrap
bits---the ribbons we lite in science class--1960's would
light with a match and burn line a huge 4th of july sparkler,

"...the ribbons we lite in science class--1960's..."

You too huh? I used mine to ignite my teacher approved black powder bomb. Boy, how the times have changed!!!

More likely it had developed a protective layer of magnesium oxide on its surface. Rub the first 1/2" with some emery cloth to get it shiney then try lighting it again with the butane lighter. A match usually isn't hot enough.

-Blast

Bill Mead,

Welcome the fire newguy!

You are right about the corrosion, both on the sparking flint and the magnesium block itself. I love these blocks, but I need to keep a careful eye on them in Houston's high humidity.

-Blast

You need to get magnesium HOT before it will burn. Remember two things. With a block you're trying to light shavings...these have a surface area WAY higher than a ribbon. Also, the sparks from a zirconium striker/firesteel are crazy hot...like up to 3000 degrees C hot. As far as I know a Bic flame is like 700 degrees and the combustion temperature of most Mg alloys is over 850. I can get it to burn with my Ronson jet lighter (about 1300 degrees) but it just sort of fizzles, never bursting into that bright white fire Mg is known for...I've only ever had it do that with a firesteel...and even then I've had poor luck with it.

Well then I guess I won't waste my money, thanks for the advice.

How about going this route?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Magnesium-metal-SAW-...1QQcmdZViewItem

I don't know much about the corrosion of magnesium but if it's an issue I wouldn't buy the flakes lest they just turn into another substance over time (like buying a pile of iron filings...would be rust in no time). If that's not a concern then I'd say go for it...saves you the work of having to shave the block.

I rather like them myself, though the wind can be a problem. Some of the ideas on how to best use them are excellent