There is something about sitting around a camp fire while you are in the midst of an overland adventure. The dancing of the yellow and orange flames against a dark sky brings out something primordial in all of us. Back when starting a fire to cook food, to be warm, to sustain life itself was critical in anyone’s skill sets. If you could not start a fire, you would not exist.
How hard can it be in today’s world to start a fire?
Well, I didn’t feel ready to rub two sticks together, or go out and find natural flint to strike with my Bowie knife, so I opted for something that was in the bottom of my tool bag. It was a magnesium block with a striking rod glued down the edge. The block has a hole drilled through it for a dog chain and attached to the chain is what appears to be part of a hack saw blade and a little sticker that indicated that it was made in China.
How many times have you gone down the camping isle and seen these things hanging on wall, looked at the low price and convinced yourself you just might need one of these fire starters on that day zombies overrun your home town.
Well, I found my fire starter in the bottom of my tool bag when I was looking for a flash light. My first thought was to throw it away and not waste my time,(mistake) but then it struck me, practice before the Zombies come.
Looking at the packaging, it was clear that the process must be easy, so very easy that they did not include instructions. Magnesium burns hot and anything around burning magnesium will catch on fire (if you can get the magnesium to burn).
After detaching the metal striker off the dog tag chain, I scratched the gray matted bar with the serrated teeth of the metal striker. My initial impression was that the bar was hard and was resistant to sloughing off any magnesium, but that would not stop me. I pulled out an old correan block and I started to scape the bar in efforts to build a pile of magnesium shavings that I could use to start my first primitive fire. Well, it did not take long before the frustration built faster than the magnesium dust. Weather I used the smooth edge or the serrated teeth my efforts offered less dust than you find on a normal corner coffee table. In fact, with all my efforts the block was not yielding much, but it was developing a nice shine as if I were polishing the darn thing.
After about 30 minutes, there was a fine dust on my little work board, and I was going to attempt to start a fire. Leaving the garage I went out to the yard and found some very dry grass and twigs as kindling. This was going to happen! After making what looked a little a birds nest of kindling I sprinkled the limited amount of magnesium dust on top.
Here we go, block in hand striker bar up, I took my first forward stroke and a spark flicked off the bar onto the board near the kindling. It was going to happen…… Well after about 15 minutes my enthusiasm went out faster than the sparks that I was generating. But I would not be deterred. If the natural tinder would not work, I would use dryer lint. Yes dryer lint.. I knew this was just another step to just keeping a BIC in my pocket but I had to try, if not for my own experience.
After generating more dust, then using the lint like a mop and mopping and mixing the magnesium with the fibers, I tried again. After 10 minutes with beads of sweat building on my forehead, a single spark found the right conditions and a flame started. After blowing on it the entire wad was on fire and I had proven that I could start a fire with this product, in a confined environment with no wind or rain. It felt like a small step was made to getting back to my primordial roots (well maybe a tiny little step almost forward).
Avoid this product. Un-branded, generic magnesium fire starting block from China…I know it is cheap and it’s hard to turn away, BUT! I am not convinced it’s worth the few ounces of weight you would be caring around, even in your expedition vehicle.
Tortuga will keep looking.
Pros
- Inexpensive
Cons
- Ineffective
- hard to use outside