Even if you got the magnesium shavings to ignite, they are a flash tinder which means you need a secondary tinder that burns longer so that you can ignite your fuel. I gave up on the mag bars years ago; you are right most of them are no better than ferro rod holders and 1/2 the time they don't even do that properly. Its a small ferro rod that is glued into place and has been know to get lost -- one of my Coughlans mag bars did that.