Best Fire steel/ferrocium rod?

Another user most pleased with LightMyFire ...Army model. I have replaced stock piece of steel with a piece of an old saw ...it works REALY GREAT.
firemaking_5.jpg


I also have a few smaller pieces that also work quite good
kresila_net_1.jpg
 
Alteran said:
I've usually seen them referred to as Swedish Firesteels. By the way, my Light My Fire one works very well. Tip: Wrap some kleenex or other tissue paper around the striker, and rip it a bit so the pointed part of the striker touches the firesteel. Then strike as normal, and slide the tissue paper off when it catches. I can often get a light on the first try with this.

I didn't discover this by myself, I saw a link to a youtube video of it on Britishblades.
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My Bold .
I just tried it, It took 3 strikes though because I didn't think to move the firesteel instead of the scraper :rolleyes:
Good idea , Thanks :thumbup:

Phil

Edit to add:

Well i'll be.. it works with cotton balls and some string from a straw bale I had laying around too !!!
I've allways had trouble with my tinder getting moved around when I was makeing the sparks.
 
I Carry A Magnesium Fire Starter And Its A Good Firestarter In My Opinion. Does Anyone Else Have Experience With Magnesium Fire Starters?
 
KnifeGuy07 said:
I Carry A Magnesium Fire Starter And Its A Good Firestarter In My Opinion. Does Anyone Else Have Experience With Magnesium Fire Starters?
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Yes. I carry a Doan 90% of the time. I used to be a bigger fan of the fire steels, but after I figured out how to properly use the mag block, I prefer the added advantage of the magnesium.
 
troutfisher13111 said:
Yes. I carry a Doan 90% of the time. I used to be a bigger fan of the fire steels, but after I figured out how to properly use the mag block, I prefer the added advantage of the magnesium.
Click to expand...

Exactly, the magnesium is just a bit of added insurance that might mean the difference between getting a fire started or not. Chris
 
I have a couple of Doan magnesium fire starters, and find that it is a pain the
butt to shave off the bits of magnesium. I was wondering if magnesium powder could be substituted. This would save a lot of time, and hassle getting a fire started. Also less wear on the knife.

Any comments ?
 
RONIN21 said:
I have a couple of Doan magnesium fire starters, and find that it is a pain the
butt to shave off the bits of magnesium. I was wondering if magnesium powder could be substituted. This would save a lot of time, and hassle getting a fire started. Also less wear on the knife.

Any comments ?
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Don't use your knife, I attach a piece of hacksaw blade to mine, works like a charm. Chris
 
RONIN21 said:
Good idea, but how about slicing the shavings off of the magnesium block ?

That can wreak havoc on the blade edge.
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Sharpen the edge of the broken hacksaw, when you break the hacksaw the 90 degree edge unsharpened works pretty good, or just use the teeth on the blade. There is no way I am going to use my primary knifes edge to saw on magnesium unless I am seriously about to freeze to death. Chris
 
runningboar said:
Sharpen the edge of the broken hacksaw, when you break the hacksaw the 90 degree edge unsharpened works pretty good, or just use the teeth on the blade. There is no way I am going to use my primary knifes edge to saw on magnesium unless I am seriously about to freeze to death. Chris
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Thanks. I will try out your suggestions.

Tony
 
I don't have a magnesium block fire starter any more...I think I gave it to my daughter. But I think that they are better than a plain ferro rod...you can really get some heat from that burning magnesium.

I didn't have a problem shaving the magnesium with my knife. By trade I am a fitter and turner...a metal worker. As a fitter I would sometimes use a cold chisel to cut metal. A cold chisel is generally a bit softer in temper than many knife blades. I know this because they can be sharpened quite easily with a file in most cases. If they were any harder there is a danger that the edge could shatter when cutting metal.

I reckon that magnesium is softer than steel, yet I would use a tool that was softer than my knife edge (a cold chisel) to cut relatively hard steel...and generally the cold chisel could be used for quite some time without being re-sharpened. So that is why shaving magnesium with my knife didn't upset me too much.

By pushing the knife into the edge of the magnesium block so that the edge pushes into the metal directly, I guess I'd be less likely to chip or bend the edge as compared to scraping the blade sideways across the magnesium. I reckon that it is best to use just the very bottom of the blade for cutting the fine 'ribbons' of magnesium...then the rest of the blade won't be affected.

Using a blade to scrape is a bit like the action used to knap brittle rocks. You push something relatively soft against the edge of the hard rock and you can make little flakes fly off.

In all fairness I have to say that the cutting angle of a cold chisel is way more 'blunt' than the average knife. So this could be a good argument for having a 'blunter' angle on the base of the blade that you might use for scraping your magnesium block. I think that a decent knife with an edge that isn't too fine should survive making the occasional shaving on a magnesium block.

Besides, sharpening a knife can be a satisfying activity.
 
I have always used a piece od carbon steel from an old saw for scraping and igniting the mag ...never used a knife for that. Your primary tool should look something like...
kresila2_1.jpg


Scraping magnesium from solid piece can cost you some time ...I was making myself a kit similar to those seen in stores(but with a little bigger rod) and collected so much shavings during cutting solid mag that I won't burn them for quite some time :thumbup:
Here is the product that was just used once
kresila2_mag1.jpg

..becouse for now I have a firesteel with a piece of steel and a small tin of shavings. I use them if it is harder to find enough(dry) tinder to burn it with spark only.
 
patsknives said:
I have always used a piece od carbon steel from an old saw for scraping and igniting the mag ...never used a knife for that. Your primary tool should look something like...
kresila2_1.jpg


Scraping magnesium from solid piece can cost you some time ...I was making myself a kit similar to those seen in stores(but with a little bigger rod) and collected so much shavings during cutting solid mag that I won't burn them for quite some time :thumbup:
Here is the product that was just used once
kresila2_mag1.jpg

..becouse for now I have a firesteel with a piece of steel and a small tin of shavings. I use them if it is harder to find enough(dry) tinder to burn it with spark only.
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I really Like your custom made Firesteel/Magnesium tool (Lower Pic).

Would you consider making one for sale and what would the cost be ?

Also, would you consider selling a quantity of the shavings. The thing I hate most about using a Mag firestarter is accumulating the shavings. I am surprised that no one has considered acquiring a coarse magnesium powder.
It would save a lot of time and effort.

Does anyone know where one could purchase some coarse magnesium
powder or magnesium shavings ?

Thanks in advance for any help.
 
I've never kept a store of magnesium shavings for fire starting, so I can't really speak from relevant experience. But I do seem to recall having some magnesium ribbon that formed a layer of some sort of corrosion on it fairly quickly.

I believe that it might be best to carry at least some of your magnesium as a block so you can shave it as required. By making small shavings or filings you are exposing a lot of surface area which may get covered by a form of corrosion which may not ignite as readily. Just a thought.
 
Coote - I believe your right. But I sure would like to give it a try and see if
the coating would prevent ignition from a shower of sparks from a Firesteel.
 
RONIN21 said:
I

Would you consider making one for sale and what would the cost be ?

Also, would you consider selling a quantity of the shavings. The thing I hate most about using a Mag firestarter is accumulating the shavings. I am surprised that no one has considered acquiring a coarse magnesium powder.
It would save a lot of time and effort.

Does anyone know where one could purchase some coarse magnesium
powder or magnesium shavings ?
.
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I will think about making onother kit ...not this week and no promisses ...I'll contact you via PM about that

You can buy some shavings/chips or rods on that auction site ...just do some search.
 
Patsknives -- Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for your PM. I will also check that auction site you mention.

Thank you
 
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