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Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool

$7.95

(62)

Item # 407152

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Be sure to carry this magnesium fire-starting tool wherever you roam. It can can start hundreds of fires.

From the block, just scrape off magnesium shavings with a knife, then scrape the sparking insert rapidly next to the shavings to ignite
Works wet or dry, and can even ignite damp kindling
Magnesium fire-starting tool is fireproof in solid form

Made in USA.

Item 407152

with coupon code ANNV13
May 17-27 Details

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Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool Customer Reviews

REVIEW SNAPSHOT®

by PowerReviews

Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool

3.7

(based on 62 reviews)

84%

of respondents would recommend this to a friend.

Pros

Compact (56)
Lightweight (48)
Functional (42)
Easy to use (18)

Cons

Difficult to use (23)
Doesn't work (7)

Best Uses

Survival (45)
Backcountry camping (40)
Camping (26)
Winter (25)
Day trip (24)

- Reviewer Profile:
- Avid adventurer (32), Casual/ recreational (25), Casual adventurer (4), Outdoor professional (4)
- What Is Your Gear Style:
- Survivalist / minimalist (31), Comfort driven (20)
- Was this a gift?:
- No (11)

Reviewed by 62 customers

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Displaying reviews 1-10

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Feb

2013

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Good tool, requires practice to perfect

By Strahwk

from Connecticut

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Good Design
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

This tool works great if you practice. I learned, like many others, that a knife is not the most efficient way of creating a pile of magnesium. I solved the issue by carrying a 3 inch reciprocating saw blade with mine. (I found this a little wider and easier to handle than a small hacksaw blade.) I also split a piece of windshield washer hose to place over the teeth of the blade for storage, and then over the back of the blade for a thumb rest when using. I can now create a large pile of magnesium in 1 to 2 minutes, and get a fire going pretty rapidly. Although I now use a Swedish Firesteel most of the time, the magnesium bar is alway a dependable backup.
Doans brand, as sold by REI and some others is also U.S. made (used by the military according to their website), therefore the quality is probably consistent. If your going to use this as a survival tool you will find it dependable, but (I'll say it again) practice, practice, practice.

Comment on this review

Dec

2012

4.0

Almost perfect

By Matthew the camper

from Lexington, MA

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Easy To Set Up
Easy to Use
Lightweight

Cons

Bulky

Best Uses

Backcountry
Backyard
Day Trips

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

The flint on it runs down on it; but besides that it's an amazing product.

Comment on this review

Jul

2012

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

5.0

Mg and toilet paper

By DeltaGspot

from San Diego, CA

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Easy To Set Up
Easy to Use
Functional
Lightweight

Cons

Striker corrosion

Best Uses

Backcountry Camping
Campgrounds
Day Trips
River
Survival

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

Works great! With this little guy, I rarely use matches any more. The stiker flint lights the fuel when priming my MRS stove. I kayak so I keep a few sheets of toilet paper with my waterproof matches in a waterproof container. The magnesium shavings are rolled up in the toilet paper in advance. This prevents the shavings from blowing away in the wind. With some dry wood chips or pine needles, I can start a fire quickly using the striker to ingite the Mg and paper. I have had my striker for many years and the striker on one end had corroded a little; pitted.

Comment on this review

Mar

2012

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

A better way to us Magnesium

By Ben.Zef

from Big Bear City California

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Functional

Cons

Ineffective

Best Uses

Backcountry Camping
Campgrounds
Day Trips
River
Survival
Trips

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

I use swedish fire steel and an appended to striker to ignite the magnesium.

You can use the spine of your knife for scraping magnesium material off the formed block.

Magnesium is an additive to ensure positive ignition, essentially when building a fire in wet weather.

I really don't use the block anymore, although I have it still. What Ive purchased, is magnesium ribbon, which can be gotten on line through any
school scientific supplier.

It's actually more material at a comparable price.

The magnesium particles take too much preparation and especially so in wet and windy weather.

The purpose of magnesium is to overcome wet environs. Since magnesium is impervious to the debilitating effects of water, and since water cannot extinguish burning magnesium, a positive ignition experience will occur.

Dependent upon the amount of magnesium you introduce into the mixed media being used for fire starting, the potential for solid ignition and the spreading of the fire is increased.

So the material is a good one to have just as a backup.

But if you purchase the block as depicted herein, spend the time to scrape the block fully and store the magnesium particles in a container ready for immediate use.

Otherwise, you're making an easy job harder (fire starting).

Comment on this review

Jan

2012

3.0

Does it's job

By jwildman

from Milwaukee Wisconsin

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Functional
Lightweight

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry Camping
Campgrounds
Day Trips
River
Survival
Trips

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

This does take practice to be able to use it and you will fail several times before getting a decent spark. I don't use my knife because i am afraid of the dulling factor, so i just picked up a cheap multitool to use instead. the magnesium will burn very fast, so have tinder of some sort ready. I'm not really sure how to make it better, so i can't really complain about it. It does what it's supposed to do.

Comment on this review

Dec

2011

4.0

Simple, effective

By OutInIt

from Birmingham, Alabama

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Functional

Cons

Best Uses

Backcountry Camping

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

After reading the negative reviews I decided to add my opinion - this thing works! No it won't light the fire for you but in a pinch it can make a huge difference. I usually go to the see-through butane lighter but on several occasions I've had to scrape a little magnesium to get the fire going (lost, forgot the lighter, etc). I don't use my knife, I use the end of an old hacksaw blade to scrape the magnesium off into a piece of paper (map, notebook) then transfer to my preferred tinder - vaseline soaked cotton balls. I strike the sparks by pulling the flint away from the hack saw blade and presto - fire. It aint sexy but it works. This thing is a permanent part of my emergency kit.

Comment on this review

Nov

2011

(3 of 3 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Great Tool - Requires practice

By Little Behr

from Pleasanton, CA

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Functional
Lightweight
Waterproof

Cons

Skill req'd

Best Uses

Backcountry Camping
Campgrounds
Day Trips
Lighting stoves
River
Survival
Trips
Winter Camping

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

This is a great fire starting tool. However I can see why folks may get frustrated. Break off the end of a hacksaw blade the same length as the Mg block (or a bit shorter) I keep this together with the block by wrapping a rubber band around the two items. Then I use the old hacksaw blade to create the Magnesium chip pile and strike the flint. The hardened steel hacksaw blade works much better than the blade of you knife and it doesn't sacrifice the edge. It does require a little skill, practice and patience. These are properties not usually abundant when novices try to start a fire for the first time in wet conditions. I recommend trying this out a home with cotton from a pill bottle as tinder, then tissue, leaves etc. When you think you have enough tinder in the pile to start ... double it! Same goes for kindling. My most frequent use is to start the stove. Since I have gotten this starter my match consumption has been minimal.

Comment on this review

Nov

2011

(2 of 5 customers found this review helpful)

1.0

No emergency Tool

By RM Hiker

from Colorado Springs, CO

About Me Avid Adventurer

See all my reviews

Pros

Compact
Lightweight

Cons

Difficult to Use
Ineffective

Best Uses

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

Fortunately I tried this product in a comfortable outdoor environment before I needed it for its intended use as an emergency fire starter. This experiment taught me that relying on it in an emergency, under adverse conditions, would be very dangerous. To start with scraping the shavings is slow, difficult and tedious. This coupled with the fact that even a slight breeze will blow them away makes getting a quarter size pile, even on a nice day, a real problem and now I have a dull knife. Next is to set a spark to ignite the pile. This task must be accomplished in close proximity to the fragile pile of shavings. Finding this target without upsetting the tinder on a sunny afternoon with no stress of an emergency situation was difficult. Finally the white hot flame. White hot it was for approximately 3 seconds. This was long enough for the bone dry paper I first tried to light to catch fire but would not allow the small bone dry twigs I used on the second experiment (the kind you might use in an actual emergency) to ignite. In the end I returned this product because I would not want to bet my life on my ability to make this product work in adverse conditions. It can be done but I think a faster more efficient method would be safer.

Comment on this review

Sep

2011

(2 of 6 customers found this review helpful)

1.0

Bad, Really Pathetically Bad

By knowWhentoFold

from Western Washington

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Cons

Heavy
Weight vs effectiveness

Best Uses

Absolutely none

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

How do I give NEGATIVE STARS?

Magnesium is not soft enough to really be able to shave off enough in an acceptable time to start a fire. It just didn't work for me--I was more likely to cut my finger while shaving off magnesium. You want to get a fire started within 30 minutes, not days--one shouldn't have to work that hard. You're much better off with many many other alternatives. This could be dangerous if you bought it without first trying it at home.

In the lab Mg burns hot and bright after you've lit it over a Bunsen burner, so the concept is ok, but the real life the product's execution falls flat.

Melt some wax onto dryer lint, stuff into two ziploc bags with a box of waterproof matches. Save your $ for good beer.

For the record, I apologize to the manufacturer for my harshness in response to such a poor product. Please return the time I'd invested trying out this widget.

Comment on this review

Sep

2011

(0 of 4 customers found this review helpful)

1.0

A waste of money. Zero stars.

By Coosawfisher

from Beaufort, SC

About Me Casual/ Recreational

See all my reviews

Pros

Waterproof

Cons

Does not work
Ineffective

Best Uses

Comments about Magnesium Fire-Starting Tool:

Product is not useable. Could not scrape shavings off of the block without a huge amount of work. Dulled several knives to produce a minute pile of shavings in about 20 minutes. Lighting the pile with a sparker of any type did not happen. You would be better served if you could just have the magnesium block ground up into powder at a machine shop. Then you could carry a small amount of the powder.