Genuine Issue Magnesium Survival Fire Starter

For the weight, there is no reason not to carry this. It is effective and it does work. It also takes more magnesium scrapings than the unitiated will expect and the flint can and does break. Proper use is the key. I agree that I do not want to buy a tool and then add another piece to get it to work (hacksaw, router blade, etc). The back of a pocket knife works to scrape the magesium (so will your car keys) AND to use as a "striker" for the flint. Keys to success: SCRAPE the magnesium, do not cut into the magnesium. The smaller the scrapings the easier to light with the sparks. "Striker" is a bad term to use with this flint. It is small and can be broken. Hold the back of your knife blade (keep it closed) at an angle that puts the corner of the metal against the flint and press down while scraping toward the magnesium scrapings. It will take a little practice to get striking down, but it will work. After one or two uses you will be proficient in using this tool and more confident in yourself.

I was frustrated trying to get a spark using the back side of a fixed blade knife. I tried rubbing, scraping, even whacking the flint with only a few feeble sparks. But when I grabbed a pair of regular scissors, the sparks came easily with just a quick hard scrape, as if lighting a match. I'm not sure what made the difference, the material or the shape of the scissors, but from now on, I'll use my scissors for striking.

It's not as easy as others make it out to be, but once you figure it out, it works very well. You have to understand that one side (the top side in the picture - black color) is the flint, and the whole silver looking thing is magnesium. You have to shave off a good amount of magnesium onto your target (a piece of towl or tissue works awesome), and then you strike the flint side (which makes the sparks) onto the magnesium, which is on the twigs or tissue which catches the fire. To strike the flint, I've tried rocks and some back sides of knives with little success. I've noticed that if you use the back of a knife, it has to be a somewhat sharp corned dull side. What I end up using is the descaler on a pocket knife. This item would be nice if they sold it with a striker, like the swedish models do.

I bought both this and the Swedish Firesteel (Army model) because I like to compare inexpensive tools I will depend on to save my life. I prefer this tool to the Firesteel because it will ignite tinder easier due to the magnesium shavings (but the Firesteel would be a rugged alternative in areas where you could easily get tinder - see my review on that tool). Regardless, I had immediate success with both tools.

I believe other reviewers that gave this less than five stars were using this tool incorrectly. These are points of use I believe important:
1. You do not need (or want to use) a sharp knife. I use a basic metal jigsaw blade attached to a cord I put on this starter instead of the little chain. A short or broken hacksaw blade may be even better because it has a hole you can thread a cord through.
2. SCRAPE the magnesium into a pile, don't CARVE it. I bet the people who try to carve the magnesium (to make the pile of shavings) were butchering their knives.
3. You do NOT need to scrape it for ten minutes to make a pile (unless you are using a wet sponge for tinder :(). With good tinder and a piece of paper I made a pile smaller than a dime and got a fire going in under a minute. In fact, I bet with really good tinder you could just use the flint and start a fire. Experiment at home to see how little a pile you can make of magnesium and still start a fire. The key is to keep the pile together so you must obviously have some shelter from the wind. I do not reccomend making a fire in very high wind unless you have the means to put out a forest fire (dig a pit or camp dark or FIND SHELTER!!!). It really helps to have something to collect the shavings on like a piece of plastic or paper, then you can funnel them into a little pile on a piece of bark or rock. If you keep scattering the shavings try not to rest the end of the magnesium bar on the paper/plastic/coat/whatever or get a bigger piece and let them scatter then funnel them into a pile. EXPERIMENT!
4. SCRAPE the flint rod, don't WHACK it like they do in the movies with older means (like in Jeremiah Johnson). It's a little rod and if you give it to kids without instruction they will probably whack it and break the rod.
5. As per the instructions given with the tool hold it steady and scrape shavings of magnesium or sparks from flint. You could probably hold the scraper still and move the magnesium, but this seems silly (although I will try it). Slow steady pressure scraping the flint seems to work well. Note that when you are trying to ignite the magnesium shavings you shouldn't place the end of magnesium bar on the surface holding the shavings as the vibrations will scatter them. You must hold it firm and steady and near the shavings. Practice a little, it shouldn't be too tough.

I wrote this long thing because I was confused by all the negative reviews before I bought and tried this. It seems for evey product there is at least one bad review. Remember there are also bad reviewers. This is a very good basic tool that is easy to use if you take the short time to learn how to use it correctly. It is meant as a backup survival option to matches/lighter (which are your normal means for firestarting). Also carry good tinder (I like cotton mushed with vaseline - cheap and effective).

Used this fire starter on several occasions. The ease of use and effectiveness of this tool made the butane lighter redundant for fire starting. You can trust this tool to light the fire the first time.