Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

For non-MRE, non-ration topics
User avatar
Bypah
Posts: 1641
Joined: Mon May 26, 2008 8:44 pm
Location: Somewhere in the Peach State of Ga.

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by Bypah » Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:13 am

I recently got some US military fuel gel,diethylene glycol and is excellent.... :D better than the old trionxane bars/cubes.

I tried it in my crusader cooking unit I got and worked perfect.... I used one full canteen cup of water.In 2 minutes the water was hot enough....10 minutes was in a rolling boil!! :shock: With one packet of gel fuel I was able to make 2 canteen cups of hot water in 25 minutes and it kept going.... :lol: It lasted a total of 30 minutes.
No odor, no smoke,no mess just a little of white residue that was easy cleaned from the cooking unit and the cup with a wash rag.....
Overall is excellent!!!! :mrgreen:
I guess in an emergency it will be a good fire starter.... :wink:

I have done the fire bow method (sticks) and is funn just need to have is plenty of patience.... :roll: :lol:
Peace!
8)
GEL-1.jpg
It comes in individual packest of 1-2 oz of guel gel.
GEL-1.jpg (57.31 KiB) Viewed 8604 times
gel 2.jpg
"Live long and prosper..."

User avatar
dirtbag
Posts: 1367
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:56 pm
Location: central coast,california

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by dirtbag » Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:53 am

I did the primitive fire starting stuff in the Scouts, nothing beats waterproof matches and 'Scout Water' ( lighter fluid )
Works every time ! :mrgreen:
Avid practitioner of the martial art: KLIK-PAO

Cracker
Posts: 849
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:56 pm
eBay name: tedtielemans
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by Cracker » Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:51 am

A friend of my always lit his campfires with a few splashes of petrol .. also worked great..

But not very .. ehh.. enviromental :mrgreen:

The stick and bow trick doesn't take patience.. I had a fire going in about 30 seconds.. :mrgreen:
Sure, someone may one day kill me with my own gun.
But they'll have to beat me to death with it because it's empty.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

User avatar
spinhouse247
Posts: 117
Joined: Mon Jun 08, 2009 1:53 am
eBay name: dinan3series
Location: Florida

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by spinhouse247 » Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:11 am

P1010004 (Large).JPG
Two essentials to any kit. I'm sure some of you recognize the P51 can opener. I collect lint from the dryer and keep it in a zip-lock bag in my BOB, the sparks ignite it like black powder. As I stated earlier, County Comm has a ton of useful stuff on the cheap.

User avatar
Stef
Posts: 1029
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:42 am
Location: Brittany, Europe

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by Stef » Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:42 am

spinhouse247 wrote: I collect lint from the dryer and keep it in a zip-lock bag in my BOB, the sparks ignite it like black powder.
good idea, navel lint should work ok too if you don't have a shower too often (once a year ...) :mrgreen:
In principio erat spamum

User avatar
Stef
Posts: 1029
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:42 am
Location: Brittany, Europe

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by Stef » Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:20 am

Hi
I've received my fire starter yesterday, the big one 7 x .8cm (approx. 2.7 x .3").
First I've found it was easier to manipulate if I replaced the short, thick piece of rope attaching the scraper with a longer piece of nylon string. After a few strikes, I've added a small notch to the scraper (saw blade style) using a Dremel tool and a .4" sand paper cylinder. Now the sparks are much stronger than before.
I couldn't start any fire yet. I've tried some paper, threads from a cotton rag, some lint, a VERY small amount of black powder (ant size), the same cotton with WD40 on it: nothing worked yet. The only thing that started to burn was a steel wool pad in my workshop!
I must be really BAAAD ...or maybe I just have to practise a little bit... :wink:
In principio erat spamum

User avatar
ak70g2
Posts: 1001
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:53 am
Location: Romania, Wild East of Europe
Contact:

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by ak70g2 » Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:36 am

Try some cotton wool. If you can't ignite this, you're beyond any hope :p
'cuz hunting ain't catch and release...

User avatar
Stef
Posts: 1029
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:42 am
Location: Brittany, Europe

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by Stef » Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:29 am

ak70g2 wrote:Try some cotton wool. If you can't ignite this, you're beyond any hope :p
vă mulţumesc fratele meu! :D
Not for your (almost true) considerations on my ability but for the trick: it works great! 8)
I've tried with one of my wife's cleansing pads: it burns like flash powder, very fast with a "POF!" sound.
Maybay a tampax will burn for a longer time... :|
In principio erat spamum

Cracker
Posts: 849
Joined: Sun Jul 12, 2009 7:56 pm
eBay name: tedtielemans
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Contact:

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by Cracker » Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:40 am

steelwhool is a good firestarter but a bit dangerous (tends to spark) and it burns very hot..
But when using steelwhool, I prefer to use a simple 9 volt battery.. it starts to burn instantly..

:mrgreen:

PS: magnesium tends to "jump" or "roll" of when you spark at something.. make sure you make somesort of a cup with some easily to burn fuel.. like cottonwhool (parafined cottonwhool works great), steelwhool, dust from your clothing "centrefuge"
Sure, someone may one day kill me with my own gun.
But they'll have to beat me to death with it because it's empty.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

User avatar
saladp
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Dec 29, 2009 4:00 pm
Location: barcelona, españa

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?

Post by saladp » Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:55 pm

Stef wrote:Hi
I've received my fire starter yesterday, the big one 7 x .8cm (approx. 2.7 x .3").
First I've found it was easier to manipulate if I replaced the short, thick piece of rope attaching the scraper with a longer piece of nylon string. After a few strikes, I've added a small notch to the scraper (saw blade style) using a Dremel tool and a .4" sand paper cylinder. Now the sparks are much stronger than before.
I couldn't start any fire yet. I've tried some paper, threads from a cotton rag, some lint, a VERY small amount of black powder (ant size), the same cotton with WD40 on it: nothing worked yet. The only thing that started to burn was a steel wool pad in my workshop!
I must be really BAAAD ...or maybe I just have to practise a little bit... :wink:

I bought a few months ago one of the selling in China for 3.77 € with shipping included. is the same as I buy and a specialty shop for three times its value.

at first it is hard to produce good sparks for the paint that has the bar and steel sheet. steel sheet that I changed it saw an old piece. disappears after the thin layer of paint on the bar sparks escape easily and abundant. one or two sparks and a small piece of cotton, and the fire that resulted in at moments

I have had for many years a lighter magnesium with a small bar and lots of dust from scraping never got magnesium fire

conclusion: fantastic product and a very attractive price.

Image


greetings to all

Post Reply