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.