Hey guys, lurking here for some time, got sucked in by a post about ulus, I've learned a lot from all of your work, and not sure what I have to give back, but...

What's the matter with the DOAN magnesium block as a firestarter? Man I love the thing.

Benefits:

They are cheap. I'd rather throw 10 firestarters everywhere in my gear, than rely on one. Honestly? Mostly I start my fires with a lighter when I'm not in an emergency situation. And I have tinder and good wood and everything set.

Magnesium. With a knife you can do lots of things with a solid block of magnesium.
Detriments:

you need a knife, or a sharp key to make them work. Well... if we don't have a knife? I know some of you are flint knappers, but I seldom don't have a blade. They do let me take my doan on the plane, though, and not even my sak...

the magnesium shavings blow away in the wind. BS, not doing it right, collect them in some tinder. Or some fiber, or a bowl, or something. Having the magnesium block makes lots of things viable tinder that wouldn't be otherwise. Damp pine needles, damp bark, live grass. They'll all go up with contact to a magnesium flame.

You of course, have to be able to make a fire after that.

The true story is I was up on Lions Head Mt. Washington, and we badly misjudged our return time, and the weather turned nasty. It was getting cold, and windy, and dark, and we decided better to stay over than hike out. Did I mention cold windy dark? Both our bick lighters failed, and there was not much to make a fire with up there as far as tinder with the matches we had. I must have spent 20 minutes shaving magnesium into a coffee filter (see no wind problem!) to light up what wood we had (scraped up chopsticks and flotsam for tinder) and I'm convinced it saved our .

I really like the firestrike, but if you come hiking with me, know that there is a doan block in pretty much every piece of gear I have, I'd sew one into my socks if I could (hmmm... there's an idea)

best,

JB


Edited by Chris Kavanaugh (04/19/09 09:16 PM)