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Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 1:13 am
by Bypah
I recently got some US military fuel gel,diethylene glycol and is excellent....

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!!

With one packet of gel fuel I was able to make 2 canteen cups of hot water in 25 minutes and it kept going....

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!!!!
I guess in an emergency it will be a good fire starter....
I have done the fire bow method (sticks) and is funn just need to have is plenty of patience....
Peace!

- It comes in individual packest of 1-2 oz of guel gel.
- GEL-1.jpg (57.31 KiB) Viewed 9239 times
Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 2:53 am
by dirtbag
I did the primitive fire starting stuff in the Scouts, nothing beats waterproof matches and 'Scout Water' ( lighter fluid )
Works every time !

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 11:51 am
by Cracker
A friend of my always lit his campfires with a few splashes of petrol .. also worked great..
But not very .. ehh.. enviromental
The stick and bow trick doesn't take patience.. I had a fire going in about 30 seconds..

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:11 am
by spinhouse247
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.
Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 5:42 am
by Stef
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 ...)

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 7:20 am
by Stef
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...

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:36 am
by ak70g2
Try some cotton wool. If you can't ignite this, you're beyond any hope :p
Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:29 am
by Stef
ak70g2 wrote:Try some cotton wool. If you can't ignite this, you're beyond any hope :p
vă mulţumesc fratele meu!
Not for your (almost true) considerations on my ability but for the trick: it works great!
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...

Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:40 am
by Cracker
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..
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"
Re: Magnesium Fire Starter - Any Tips?
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:55 pm
by saladp
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...

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.
greetings to all