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Mag shavings that won't burn
- Thread starter cjpgeyer
- Start date
Be advised that pure cotton balls work the best. Some materials used in clothing have some fire retardant properties, and depending on what was dried, that lint may not burn too well.
- Joined
- Jun 16, 2003
- Messages
- 20,207
If it finally lights -- but makes a little musroom cloud -- RUNPlutonium?
OK, so it burns? White hot?
It may be magnesium, just too chunky to take a flame right off.
When using magnesium, as tinder, you are looking for nearly dust.
I have seen these crinkles, shavings, and splinters of magn. for sale, but, I bought a pound of solid magnesium.
Hint: my shavings light very easily, but, it's due to the cutting oil I use on my metal cutting bandsaw.
So, besides the newsprint paper test, try adding some oil, vegetable, canola, or whatever. Even kerosene or lamp oil.
Don't use gasoline, safety issue.
If you don't have kerosene, try WD40.
Goodluck.
It may be magnesium, just too chunky to take a flame right off.
When using magnesium, as tinder, you are looking for nearly dust.
I have seen these crinkles, shavings, and splinters of magn. for sale, but, I bought a pound of solid magnesium.
Hint: my shavings light very easily, but, it's due to the cutting oil I use on my metal cutting bandsaw.
So, besides the newsprint paper test, try adding some oil, vegetable, canola, or whatever. Even kerosene or lamp oil.
Don't use gasoline, safety issue.
If you don't have kerosene, try WD40.
Goodluck.
I'll update then!
foxyrick
British Pork
- Joined
- Dec 26, 2006
- Messages
- 2,254
Magnesium (if reasonably pure) will slowly bubble in hot water. Aluminium (and alloy) won't. I have tubs of the stuff as I used to be a chemistry teacher! So, if it doesn't bubble in hot water, it probably won't light easily either.
BTW, the 'shavings' sold from chemical suppliers are often too thick to easily light from a spark; they absorb the heat and don't get a hot enough hot-spot. When making your own shavings off a block with a knife, they are much thinner and so can't carry the spark's energy away, causing a hot-spot. That's why they are easy to ignite.
Rick.
BTW, the 'shavings' sold from chemical suppliers are often too thick to easily light from a spark; they absorb the heat and don't get a hot enough hot-spot. When making your own shavings off a block with a knife, they are much thinner and so can't carry the spark's energy away, causing a hot-spot. That's why they are easy to ignite.
Rick.
Yep, agreed. I have seen chips, shaving, and "curls" of magnesium for sale.
the ones that come off of my metal cutting bandsaw (picture teeth slightly bigger than a hacksaw) are at the larger side of being able to combust.
If they didn't have any of the cutting oil on them, they may not take spark at all. Dust is the stuff that takes spark the best.
Try rubbing some "shavings" between two pieces of aluminum oxide wet-dry paper to make some finer stuff.
OH OH OH.... get a cotton ball.
Put some petroleum jelly on it. then sprinkle with the Mag shavings.
If they don't ignite/burn after lighting the cotton ball, under those conditions, then there is a problem.
- Joined
- May 3, 2006
- Messages
- 1,819
Guys, there is a difference between not being small enough to be lit by a spark and being nearly impervious to a steady flame!!! The shavings I made with a power drill did not have cutting oil on them and were substantially bigger than the little flakes I get by scraping a mag bar. Nonetheless, they readily took a spark from a ferro rod.
Assuming that the filings here are larger still does not explain why they did not light and sustain combustion from a direct flame. I still suspect they are not magnesium.
-- FLIX
Assuming that the filings here are larger still does not explain why they did not light and sustain combustion from a direct flame. I still suspect they are not magnesium.
-- FLIX
Codger_64
Moderator
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2004
- Messages
- 62,324
Many mag wheels and other items touted as "magnesium" are in fact an alloy with varying amounts of magnesium. Perhaps the metal in question was from such a source. Regardless, it should not take an acetelyne cutting torch to ignite it for it to be useful as a firestarter.
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2003
- Messages
- 2,315
If you try the vaseline trick with cotton balls or dryer lint, don't soak the fibers, just get a light coating. If it's soaked, they won't light very well. I dried a load of 100% cotton towels and used the lint from the trap to good effect. I mixed mine together inside a ziplock bag so I wouldn't have a lot of cleanup to do. I also learned a trick on here...
Take a drinking straw, cut it into 3" (or so) pieces.
Crimp one end with a pair of pliers, so a little bit (1/8" or so) is sticking out from the other side, then melt the protruding bit together with a lighter.
Use a wooden skewer or small stick to shove the cotton/vaseline mix down into the straw.
Seal open end as above.
You now have small waterproof, leakproof tubes full of fire starter. When you need to use one, just cut it open (scraping it repeatedly on a rock will work if you don't have a knife), then use your spark source to light it. You can pull some tinder out of the tube, or just light the whole thing. The plastic just adds to the flame. I imagine you could buy a jumbo-sized "Pixy Stick" candy tube and make bigger ones, but drinking straws are a good size for a small survival kit.
Also remember that many antibiotic ointments are basically vaseline with a little medicine added... they burn just as well.
Edited to add: There's someone selling an 87lb block of magnesium on eBay right now. FYI
Take a drinking straw, cut it into 3" (or so) pieces.
Crimp one end with a pair of pliers, so a little bit (1/8" or so) is sticking out from the other side, then melt the protruding bit together with a lighter.
Use a wooden skewer or small stick to shove the cotton/vaseline mix down into the straw.
Seal open end as above.
You now have small waterproof, leakproof tubes full of fire starter. When you need to use one, just cut it open (scraping it repeatedly on a rock will work if you don't have a knife), then use your spark source to light it. You can pull some tinder out of the tube, or just light the whole thing. The plastic just adds to the flame. I imagine you could buy a jumbo-sized "Pixy Stick" candy tube and make bigger ones, but drinking straws are a good size for a small survival kit.
Also remember that many antibiotic ointments are basically vaseline with a little medicine added... they burn just as well.
Edited to add: There's someone selling an 87lb block of magnesium on eBay right now. FYI