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Genuine Issue Magnesium Survival Fire Starter | 
| Brand: 4 Star Military Surplus
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $7.00
You Save: $12.99 (65%)
New (3) from $7.00
Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 388
Media: Misc.
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
ASIN: B0002X1IOM
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Issued To US Military Pilots. Not A Copy | | • | Works When Wet. Even Lights Wet Kindling | | • | Genuine US Government Issue | | • | Use Over & Over. Last For Years | | • | Includes Instructions |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Government Issue Aviation Magnesium Fire Starter. Made of solid magnesium with striker. Creates hottest natural fire on the planet. Even lights wet materials. Will start 1000's of fires and only measures 1/4" x 1/4" x 3". Includes key chain.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 Great tool for camping and survival situations April 20, 2006
Jon M. Hager (Grand Prairie, Texas United States)
89 out of 91 found this review helpful
This is one of the best fire starters you can carry. Another reviewer indicated it wasn't much good unless you have a sharp knife. Not only is a sharp knife not required, it's a very bad idea to use one. Shaving the magnesium then scraping the metal match insert with your knife will certainly work, but it will also dull your knife in short order. It is a much better idea to attach a piece of a hacksaw blade to it for this purpose. It works as well and lets you save your knife for its intended purpose - cutting. Even if you have no or hacksaw blade (or knife), a sharp piece of broken glass will let you shower sparks from the insert. That alone will get your fire started (though if your tinder is damp it's easier when you can also use magnesium scrapings). A cotton ball smeared with petroleum jelly makes excellent tinder to use with this device. A dry cotton ball also works; it just doesn't burn as long. Put several into an old film container then drop in it your pack with the magnesium fire starter. The bottom line is this tool is small, light weight, inexpensive, reliable and easy to use. These attributes make it an excellent tool and an outstanding value.
When you're really buggered, this will work. December 27, 2006
John P. Thiel (Astoria, Queens, New York City)
59 out of 60 found this review helpful
Even mountain biking, where you plan to be in the woods for only a few hours, things happen. You break a leg or taco a wheel and you're stranded miles and miles from the closest food and shelter. Sometimes you just get spun around or bonk and the best thing to do is lay down, call for help if you can and weren't so dumb as to not bring a cell phone, and do your best to keep comfortable until help arrives. And of course, this is all more so the truth when you're hiking, camping, or even taking a little day trip in an national forest area.
If you have a knife, some kind of water container, and this fire starter, you're set to make it through all but an absolute catastrophe--and even then you're better off than you would be without it. Fire is the first and foremost feature of civilization, which is where you ultimately want to be.
Magnesium lights up at roughly 1000 F, so this will start a fire on the first attempt if you've got the shavings in a nice little pile amongst some kindling. If you mess it up, no problem; you've still got a few hundred chances worth more of magnesium to fumble with. This is also a product that's been on the market likely longer than you've been alive, so don't think you got the last one they'll ever make.
With this, you just take your knife (the back works as well as the blade really) scrap off some magnesium in a little pile, put your little wads of bark or other hairy kindling (or pine cones, bits of cloth, or whatever you can scrap up as you can anywhere) along with your regular kindling, strike the flint side of the fire starter with the back of your blade or anything made of steel, and make sure to look away when it starts because the light is bright white like a halogen lamp on full.
If I had to compare it to anything, it's like setting off a flare.
The sparks from the magenesium catching fire don't go flying, so no worries about one shooting up into your face, but also don't be under the impression that you or your friend can hold the magesium and kindling while shooting sparks at it so that you can immediately blow on it. When it lights, it lights instantly, and it's so hot that it will burn right through to the bone if you light it on skin. If you've ever seen sugar on fire, this is far more serious, but it's safe so long as you don't do anything stupid.
Bottom Line: It's so small it can go on your keychain or be thrown in your backpack as one of those things you always have just in case, but forget about until you really need it. Its of negligible weight for you weight weenies out there. And it's so just plain cool that you'll find yourself using it not just for that moment when you're in trouble and panicking about the fact that everything they taught you in Boy Scouts was entirely wrong, but when you're 'out there' and there's absolutely nothing wrong.
If nothing else, it's a neat bit of science (kids go crazy for this stuff) that just might end up saving your caboose some day. It's small, cheap, light, and effective--which is something we can rarely say about anything truly useful these days.
Excellent item for everyone!! July 12, 2006
Zeusmonstr (Fairfax, Va)
43 out of 44 found this review helpful
Previous reviewer mentioned the cotton balls. Try saving dryer lint and put it in egg cartons and then pour melted wax on it from candles that are burned down with no wick. When a fire is needed, break off a section of the egg carton to use as fire starters, regardless of whether your kindling is damp it will light. And there is no expiration date on these once made! It works well and it achieves the desired results of a fire when needed. Everyone should add these items to their survival kits for home and camping gear.
Works great, but like all tools can be misused. July 22, 2007
B. Beach (Telluride, CO United States)
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
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).
 Beats using a bow and spindle - I guess January 29, 2008
Saint Richard (Upstate NY)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
I wonder if the folks who gave this a positive review have tried using it in real life extreme conditions. I have done winter-time camping in the rugged Adirondak wilderness not far from the Canadian border and would NOT want this as my only fire-starting resource. The mag-block style starters do have a piece of "flint" attached to them (a thin, frail one). So you CAN start fires with them. But there are better and easier ways, believe me.
Why don't I like these?
First, the magnesium shavings tend to blow away, making that "dime sized pile" hard to come by if it is windy (which it usually is at the times you need fire most). Also, in a real survival situation, you may have cold, numb fingers and don't want to be playing time-consuming (and potentially dangerous) games with your sharp knife. Speaking of knives, few things will dull a them faster than shaving soft metal. If you do happen to get that "dime sized" pile of magnesium to stay in one place, it will burn up in about the same length of time as a good match head. Good luck.
The bottom line is if you have good tinder you don't need the magnesium. The sparks from a GOOD flint will do (though a wimpy little flint like this may not give ENOUGH sparks). And if your tinder is WET, the magnesium probably isn't going to light it anyway. If I ever feel that I need some magnesium to start a fire (unlikely) I can shave a gram or two off of my pack frame.
My advice:
If you are really going to be OUT THERE be prepared to start a fire in two or three ways . I carry waterproofed wooden matches (OK), a Brunton Helios windproof lighter (better, so long as the fuel lasts) and an Aviation Survival Spark-Lite kit (best - pilots get better stuff issued than the poor grunts do). The Sweedish Firesteels (with a heftier chunk of "flint") seem to be quite good also and I plan to get one.
But MOST IMPORTANT is real TINDER, stuff that lights easily and burns a while (not in a hot flash like magnesium). I always carry some cotton balls, which compact easily, and a dab of Neosporin ointment from the 1st Aid kit makes a good accelerant IF NEEDED. A small wad of steel wool will also take a spark and once it lights the blowing wind just makes it hotter. Pine needles & shredded birchbark are hard to beat as natural tinders. They can usually be ignited even if a little damp. Even in a 35 degree driving rainstorm (been there, done that) you can carve into the leeward side of standing deadwood and crumble up the dry-rotted wood, which will also light easily.
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