Magnesium Fire starters - thought this was interesting

[aspangler]

Most people I know carry hand sanitizer when in the feild. It starts with a spark and burns hot. And it is CHEAP!

[GhostHawk]

Cotton ball + vasoline blended together, inserted into 1/2 of a MacDonalds drink straw. Leave 1/4 to 1/2 inch on each end, and pack full.
Grab end of straw with needle nose pliers letting a little plastic straw stick out. Melt this with lighter, repeat other end.

You now have a seamless, leak proof sealed package of a very good firestarter.
for this I prefer a good firesteel but whatever floats your boat that will light it works.

I have seen winds that you could not keep a bic or zippo lit in, even shielding with your body.
I have seen lighters quit because they were too cold, out of fuel, or just don't feel like lighting.

I have never seen the time when I could not get enough hot sparks from a firesteel to light the cotton ball.
Inside a single stroke will do it most times.

Firesteel does not care if it is cold, wet, windy, requires no fuel. So used as primary or as backup, it is a handy tool IMO. YMMV

Another handy tool is a chunk of fatwood.

[NoAngel]

I bought a bunch of pitch wood from a guy a while back. Vacuum sealed small allotments and it works great. Burns like a match, very easy to light.

I realize a man should know how to start a fire in MANY different ways under the worst possible circumstances but lighters are cheap. I buy the good Bic lighters, pull that child proof **** off of them and stick them EVERYWHERE. Every drawer, glove box, tackle box, tool box, range bag, ......EVERYWHERE.

[leeggen]

One thing you can put in your car em. pack is to use a newspaper and make a roll out of it then soak in candlewax. You don't have to drench it just so it sticks to itself. Then slice off or wait til needed and cut into 3/4 in rings. these light easly and doesn't kill its power to burn. Of course you will need away to light them, and they burn for a long time. I have em. pack that I vac. seal several of these in and a book of matches in with each roll. I don't hike anymore and if I need to use one of these it will be cause I am standed on the highway in a snow storm.
CD

[Omega]

In my time in the military I have been fortunate enough to attend a few schools which had survival skills within the course. And of course been to the field often, too often, and deployed a handful of times to some austere locations which turned out to be great for trying out some of these skills. Here are a few things I have used in no certain order, which ever you chose, practice before you need it.

Fuel: yea, fuel, be it white gas, mogas (unleaded etc) or diesel, vaseline, wax, some types of grease or oil. Many will overlook the obvious, it all lights, use it. Tinder; Punky wood, soft dry rotted logs etc ,fat wood, basically wood full of resin/sap. Cattails, lichen, pine needles, pine bark, dry grass, leaves, candles, specially those small food warmer kinds in a metal cap (make your own in beer caps) , and as a last resort, gun powder.

Fire starters: bics, boat matches, calcium carbide (great when raining/wet) magnesium bar, steel wool and a 9v battery, and the multitude of firestarters available with tinder and some sort of spark method.

I have used all of these, and while some are better than others, the choice is yours and depending on where you are packing it will help decide on which item to chose. But practicing is key, even the old dreaded bow and drill method should be mastered, because you may end up without your pack so you should be able to make a fire without anything you brought with you.

[Bzcraig]

I found that being an 'old Fart' full of 'hot air' really helps too…that 'tender' needs a little 'breeze' to get it up to temp. quickly! Ha!

can you sat 'blue dart?' lol

[tomme boy]

I love me some birch bark and fat wood and a fero rod. I also like to use a piece of chert to strike the fero rod. Some rods are better then others. The China ones are SOFT. The Euro ones are hard.

[GhostHawk]

I have been playing around with flint knapping the last year. You should see what a curved obsidian blade does with a firesteel. Went to see if it would work one day, almost set the living room carpet on fire.

Not a shower, more like a downpour of sparks.

There are many ways. For friction fire I prefer the fire roll to the bow or hand drill set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YP8LGyIkXI

[DerekP Houston]

Some things to think about:
Cold (extreme) - does affect both matches and the Bic.
Wet - affects all if your start is not protected.

The most inexpensive and perhaps the most effective short of a liquid accelerant is the cotton ball Vaseline combo. The creation of fire does depend on heat, oxygen and fuel. Often it is the heat that is the most difficult to provide. Multiple sources (backups) are essential in the outdoors. If you spend time in the outdoors, practice fire starting in all conditions to find what works for your environment. Me, I like Coleman fuel and the Bic lighter (done carefully)!

I like the cotton ball and Vaseline as well. Seems pretty invulnerable to getting wet and lights up just fine from even just the flint on a bic, no need for the flame. Always wanted to try fatwood but haven't found any locally yet and I don't want to pay for it off amazon.

[olafhardt]

Just plain wax paper or waxed drinking cups and a match have started fires for me. If you manage to catch the magnesium bar on fire, it will burn under water and give off hydrogen gas which can collect and explode.

[dtknowles]

Just plain wax paper or waxed drinking cups and a match have started fires for me. If you manage to catch the magnesium bar on fire, it will burn under water and give off hydrogen gas which can collect and explode.

Why did you mention the burn under water and explode thing? Are you recommending we don't carry magnesium? Have you ever used one? How easy is it to get the bar to burn? Maybe it was just for the trivia.

Tim

[Outpost75]

As FYI the saw teeth on the spine of the military aircrew survival knife quickly produces piles of Mg fuzz from the back of the Doan machinery tool or the tail end of your GI snowshoes in the arctic survival kits in larger aircraft. Yes, bigger ferro rods are better and last longer, but if all you have is the spark wheel in the military sparklite kit packed in the parachute harness it will work.

A field stripped Zippo will hold a bunch of compressed Vaseline infused cotton balls in the case, as well as a spare flint under the wadding. Its wheeled striker is used easily with cold, frozen hands. We are talking gross motor skills here. The PJCB fuel is waterproof, does not evaporate like lighter fuel and has almost infinite shelf life. Coupled with Vaseline gauze in your IFK, and short strips of field-stripped 550# paracord, you have material for dozens of fires.

Vaseline cotton balls are the preferred method taught by NASAR.

[olafhardt]

Dtknowles. There is or use to be an ordinance plant that, among other things, made magnesium flares for military use. One day it caught on fire and was evacuated without incident to the evacuation area. The automatic sprinkler system came on and the whole mess blew up due to released hydrogen from the Mg +2H2O= Mg(OH)2+H2 reaction. I had worked there. A few years later at a Tulane University Safety training class a fire captian from the New Orleans fire department told me that their SOP was to not use water to fight foriegn car fires after a hydrogen explosion. I have never used a magnesium fire starter probably never will. I personally think that they are kind of a joke but it is a free country. I don't know how you would catch one on fire but you need to be careful if you do. Burning magnesium is used as a high temperature igniter.

[dtknowles]

Dtknowles. There is or use to be an ordinance plant that, among other things, made magnesium flares for military use. One day it caught on fire and was evacuated without incident to the evacuation area. The automatic sprinkler system came on and the whole mess blew up due to released hydrogen from the Mg +2H2O= Mg(OH)2+H2 reaction. I had worked there. A few years later at a Tulane University Safety training class a fire captian from the New Orleans fire department told me that their SOP was to not use water to fight foriegn car fires after a hydrogen explosion. I have never used a magnesium fire starter probably never will. I personally think that they are kind of a joke but it is a free country. I don't know how you would catch one on fire but you need to be careful if you do. Burning magnesium is used as a high temperature igniter.

I understand the chemistry, I just don't see how it applies to the magnesium fire starters. Yeah, don't throw them on to the bonfire and if the catch fire don't use water on them. If you use them as intended they will not catch fire.

Tim

[Steve77]

For convenient tinder for campfires etc, I use a paper egg carton. Fill all 12 cavities about halfway with chainsaw woodchips/pinecone or dryer lint. Pour just enough molten wax over each pile of tinder to saturate it. Don't do this on your kitchen counter as some of the molten wax will seep through the carton and anger SWMBO.

I kept these trays of instant fire in my camper. I would just tear one off anytime I wanted to start a fire. I no longer have a camper but I still use them for backyard bonfires.

[anothernewb]

This thread reminded me of a test I did myself awhile back. Like many others, I've acquired a plethora of "fire starters" from cheap to stupidly expensive. One day I sat down to see just how to make a fire in as primitive conditions as I could recreate.

All I can say is that I'm glad it was in my backyard and not the wild in an emergency. Need a weight loss program? try starting fires. If i'd been on my own - I bet I burned a thousand calories chopping up kindling, making tinder, and scrounging the host of things the "survival books" say to gather to start fired. I'd have starved and frozen to death long before I had anything cooked, lol. That day I learned that I sucked at it. And that survival manuals are better served as fuel than reading material.

I bet I spent a total of 6 hours screwing with things before I got anything I could call fires going in a reasonable amount of time. And that was on a nice, clear summer day, with a variety of materials from dried seasoned wood, to pine pitch, to cotton to well dried grass and even mature cattail tops.
What I learned is - screw it. modern tools and chemicals are far superior.

not that some of the things I had didn't work, but some work far, far better than others. However, While I'd still never be a superior post apocalyptic voyageur, I'm much quicker at starting a fire now, and I do keep a few primitive tools on hand. just in case.

[Artful]

Yep, fire starting is a skill - best learned before it's needed in bad conditions.
For that matter cooking over camp fire/coals is another skill.

[sfcairborne]

You can't beat the old standby Flint & Steel, with some good char cloth. Catches spark every time.

[The_Hammer]

I've always wondered if there was a difference between the cheap Coleman fire starter I've been using and some of the more expensive ones out there. Looks like I'm sticking with whatever is cheapest.

[TCLouis]

One thing I learned back in the late 60's about BIC lighters in cold weather . . .

They spit and sputter liquid butane(?), but may not light at all.