M14 Forum

dwight55

Just out of curiosity, . . . did anyone here ever "use up" one of those "magnesium / flint" fire starters?

I'm just wondering how long one would last if matches and the rest of the known world went south.

Thanks,

May God bless,
Dwight

tmcfalls

The one I have says it is good for 12,000 strikes on the package.

cachunk

Mine says it is good for 12K as well, ive used about 500 of those id say lighting small fires and putting them out, just to check that it worked, mighty fun :)

Sweets

I've used them in practice, never in anger.

The larger ones I have would last nearly forever unless I was to be really careless with fires, the keychain one I EDC only 1/4 that long. But you wouldn't want to need one on a windy day- the magnesium shavings blow away with a brisk thought, never mind any kind of a breeze.

sac troop

I like the spark strikers and don't find much use for the magnesium in practice. While magnesium shavings will produce an incredibly hot fire. In the field shaving them off and actually collecting them is problematic and unnecessarily time consuming. The smallest amount of wind will send these shaving off and away so you better take that into account when collecting them to strike a fire.
I've found that the easiest and most reliable tinder for me to have is 100% cotton balls that I've packed with good old Vaseline. You'd be surprised how much you can pack into an old 35mm film can or similar sized container. Pull out a small amount of the cotton and add it to your tinder base. It catches the sparks from the striker and burns quite well. Oh yea it's also water proof.
I recommend trying out your survival skills around home under controlled circumstances. Once you think you've got something that will work test it out on a camping or fishing trip to see how it performs in the field. Familiarity is a big plus under actual emergency conditions.

Sweets

I became pretty casual about other types of fire starters once I got used to the fact that brand name disposable butane lighters are so dependable. Altho I once found out that they don't work when wet- won't spark. If it hadn't been for my good old GI match container with wooden matches inside, I would have been embarrassed.

Speaking of wooden strike-anywhere matches, usable ones are no longer available here in Canadastan- now they are hard to strike even when new and quickly kill themselves just sitting on the shelf or in a match safe- I assume this is either a ridiculous safety feature or the makers just don't care anymore- and if I'd been relying on them recently, I'd be back banging rocks together. Another reason to try everything and to keep doing so.

dprice3844444

with the demize of 355 film to digital,gettem while ya can.they also make the same type of starter at stores that sell bbq stuff to light the coals.

BUDS13

I always carrry a couple of small 9 volt battery's and some 0000 steelwool. It doesn't matter if you get them wet, all you have to do is touch the end of a 9 volt battery to the steelwool and it will instantly blaze up, then add your shavings,cotton or dried weed or whatever. These battery's will last a long time and you can use the steel wool over and over again, and you don't have to keep them dry.Just make sure you store them separately in your alice pack or you could have a fire.

Palladin

Believe it or not, we can still get Blue Diamond Strike Anywhere matches here in the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia. I bought 12 boxes last time I found them at Orchard Supply Hardware (local hardware store).

If I remember correctly, a new company was formed to make the strike anywhere matches after the first company folded.

Powder Burn

Potassium Permangenate and glycerin combined make a great fire in almost any circumstance; add a little sugar to it and it works even better; P&P can be bought at most water softner stores and the glycerin can be bought at walmart. P&P can also be used to purify water and glycerin can be used on chapped skin.

Powder Burn

CAVman

Uh, Powder Burn....

With YOUR Avatar...

I Would Have Thought You Would Say: FLINT AND STEEL !!!



CAVman in WYoming

Powder Burn

Amazing how education can expand your options...as I get older I have to work smarter not harder. I learned alot from John Wisemans SAS Survival book; by the way this technique is on page 31 and 281 of his book. I keep both chemicals in my BOB; definately in different compartments :-)

Powder Burn

Delta

Exactly!!!!!!

Palladin

Just an FYI.

0000 (four zero) untreated steel wool is also a very good tinder. The stuff lights right up with a spark.

oldflyboy

I keep sandwich-size baggies of steel wool and dryer lint in my BOB. They work and are cheap/free.