Coghlan's Magnesium Bar mini-review

[Mistwalker]

About the rods, I have to say that I really don't see any difference, in the one on my Doan and my LMF-steels.
They all give of the same amount of sparks with the same striker, pressure and speed.

Same here, I carry both a Doan and an LMF and use them both pretty regularly and I see little if any difference in the sparking characteristics.

 

[mcjhrobinson]

i have a magbar that i got years ago....never tried it....looks like i might bust it out now!

 

[Iboschi]

Bushman5, I hope someone posts the thread for us that details how to salvage the magnesium. It was up here recently and I'm hoping to be able to salvage some heaters this January. If I am able, I'll put some up for grabs here. Happy New Year folks!

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Lookee what I found.

Doc

 

[DOC-CANADA]

I'm sure your right. For me, you hit the nail on the head. If it wasn't for the other 50 options that worked better, quicker, and with less work I'd be all for the mag block.

I was looking back over this thread and wanted to address above. You have a point about the other 50 options - when I first started using the mag bar, there wasn't 50 other options, and so learned to use it and found it to be very useful.

You raise one other point, though I think inadvertently, where the mag bar's niche is. That would be with marginal tinder that normally wouldn't light with a ferro rod. I already considered this in thinking about the comparison I going to do tomorrow or Sunday. I'm thinking something like printer paper might be a good choice. I don't know if it will light with a ferro rod or not, I will try it.

If anybody else has a suggestion for a less-than-ideal, natural tinder that would benefit from the magnesium, please post and I will consider it for the test (depends on availability, for one thing). I picked printer paper because it's handy and I am trying to keep my poor, little sick body out of the cold, for the moment. (Sob )

Doc

 

[Shoki]

Same here, I carry both a Doan and an LMF and use them both pretty regularly and I see little if any difference in the sparking characteristics.

That only further convinces me that there is some sort of quality control issue or I just ended up with a bum rod. My LMF sprays hot showers of sparks every time but the Coghlan's simply does not do it's job. In order to get a modest spark, about half the spark of the LMF, I have to really force it. This results in a huge loss of control and it's impossible to get the sparks anywhere near my tinder without scattering it or busting my knuckles on the ground.

 

[Mistwalker]

That only further convinces me that there is some sort of quality control issue or I just ended up with a bum rod. My LMF sprays hot showers of sparks every time but the Coghlan's simply does not do it's job. In order to get a modest spark, about half the spark of the LMF, I have to really force it. This results in a huge loss of control and it's impossible to get the sparks anywhere near my tinder without scattering it or busting my knuckles on the ground.

Notice I was quoting the other fellow and also wrote Doan. I have zero confidence in the Coghlin mag bars. I had trouble getting the one I had to light too and in trying to spark the ferro rod it fell off. I have since then only bought the issue ones made by Doan and have always been happy with them...for what they are they behave exactly like they are supposed to and are always consistent in my experiences.

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Shuya, maybe you're being premature. I've used Coghlan's for years and never had any problem. However, I've seen too many negative comments about them in this forum. Everybody can't be wrong. I'm wondering if the quality, or composition varies considerably.

Maybe the newer ones are crap, so I'm going to buy a new one after the weekend and see what happens and I'll report back here.

In the meantime, Blais, do not throw that one out. If the new one works ok, I'll swap you, and we can try each others. That way, maybe we can put this to rest, once and for all.

Doc

As I mentioned, I'm not willing to rule out the possibility of my just ending up with a bad rod. I'm going to keep messing with it to see if I can get it to work reliably but I'm having my doubts.

Doc, that sounds like a great plan to me!

Hey Blais,

OK, the new one I bought worked fine (as seen here), so do you want to swap?

Doc

 

[upnorth]

I spent a couple hours one day scraping & sparking on a coghlans mag bar.
I tried the duct-tape trick & the hacksaw blade trick & even a file.
Then I tossed it in the trash.
Anything that difficult & complicated doesn't go in my kit.

Interesting. I have a couple of the exact same "made in U.S.A." Coughlans bars from several years back. The other night I used the saw on one of my multitools to chew off a dime sized pile of mag bits. I lit them up with one strong scrape from a ferro rod. I did this repeatedly. The piles lit right up and stayed glowing hot for quite a while, maybe 5-10 seconds. I was quite impressed actualy.