Magnesium bars - old vs. new

D

DOC-CANADA

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Apr 14, 2006
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So, the beginning of the mag bar comparisons - Doc style. (comparative reports not my forté :( )

As some of you remember in the other thread about the mag bar, I posted a picture of a Coghlan's bar from the Mountain Equipment Co-Op web site. Looked the same as a few other mag bars I own, but identified as 'Made in China'.

Magnesiumfirestarter.jpg


I commented that this was probably the reason for any decrease in quality that had occurred with said mag bars. Thread can be seen here.

So on New Year's Eve, I managed to stop in at MEC and pick one up. This is the bar in question. Reasonably priced, and a good tool if my experience in the past was any indication, but that remained to be seen.

2M.jpg


A quick look on the back, and......wait, what's this?

3M.jpg


Must be some kind of mistake. Why would any company advertise an item made in the USA as being made in China? Some kind of reverse snobbery? So I removed the bar to check it out. Son of a gun! :eek:

4M.jpg


Obviously somebody made a mistake. I checked two other mag bars, while still in the store, and they all said the same thing.

No matter, in fact this might even work out better - a comparison between the new mag bar, made in the USA, and an old one, made in the USA, purchased a couple years before the invention of electricity. :( Hopefully, this will show whether the newer ones suffer from decreased performance.

5M.jpg


more to follow
 
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You notice how both bars identify themselves a being made in the USA? Quite awhile back, I believe it was Normark who confirmed that Coghlan's were made by Doan. Maybe he will make his bi-yearly appearance here and confirm it, or perhaps a paying member can do a search and find the thread. It also stands to reason, that Coghlan's made in the USA, would be so close in appearance to Doan that it would violate some kind of patent law.

Anyway, on to the test. I left the chain on the new bar to make it easier to differentiate. My old bar was pretty corroded, so I decided to be fair, I would scrape both bars down to fresh material, beneath the surface. Once done, I would make a 'quarter' size pile of scrapings.

6M.jpg


I was going to count how many strokes, each bar took to make the pile, but soon gave that up. As close as I can tell, both bars are equal in hardness and took the same time to make similar sized piles of scrapings, I'm guessing 30 - 40 seconds, using a knife blade.

I took a small strip of printer paper and folded it in half lengthwise, to raise the paper off the surface of the metal sheet (I got impatient to do this, so did it in my apartment, rather than waiting to the morning, to do it outside) and placed it half covering the magnesium piles.

Two strokes of the ferro rod of the new bar, resulted in ignition, which immediately set the paper on fire.

7M.jpg


9M.jpg


8M.jpg


I see no problem with this new bar, at all.

The old bar? Three strokes!

10M.jpg


11M.jpg


The results show me that there is virtually no difference between the old and new mag bars (at least the one I tested) and they both worked flawlessly.

My take is that the mag bar will successfully light less than optimal tinder, whether type of material or dampness, and will continue to be an important part of my kit.

Doc
 
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Mine has the maker stamp like the new one... but its right at 13 maybe 14 years old..? Has started untold numbers of fires, the flint side is pretty near flat with the bar now. It still throws off lots o sparks tho. No ideal how many blocks of fatwood have been put on the paracord loop.
 
Doc, I thank you for putting to rest a subject some of us had concerns about. I am surprised at some of the info. I found mine (new) to work well also. Thanks for taking the time to do this. You sir, are starting the decade off right.
 
Thanks for the comparison Doc, although I've yet to use a Coghlan's my Doans magnesium bar works flawlessly.
 
Thanks guys. I couldn't understand why so many people were having problems. Maybe there still is a difference in quality, and/or, maybe some are made in China???

Doc
 
I was just scanning through some old notes and thought you might be interested in this. Scan down a little ways and I'm sure you'll see something you recognize. :rolleyes:

Doc
 
thank you doc,

that comparison was great, i just checked my coghlan's bar and it also says made in the USA as well. i bought it about 2 years ago and it works fine.

interesting to see the light my fire brand of fire steels listed on that reference you made.
 
fasteer said:
Very interesting.
Do you have a Doan's to continue the comparison?
Click to expand...

No I don't, but is that necessary? It couldn't be any better, as both old and new blocks worked fine, and by all accounts, so does the Doan. I think the only question left, is if there are bars manufactured in China, or any other place that are inferior.

Looking forward to everybody's thoughts on this.

Doc
 
You made me get mine out and look at it. It is a Doan's. If I can, I will test it today and let you know what I find out.
Thanks Doc.
 
Great, Doc. I think you've put to rest a number of misconceptions and fears that people have had.

I do, however, notice a couple of rather distinct differences between your bars and mine:

1.) My old bar is far more corroded than either of the ones that you show.

2.) My old corroded bar is marked "Doans."

Other than that, there doesn't seem to be any discernible visual difference. Oh, and they seem to burn the same, too.

Just off the top of my head, I'd say either one could save someone's life... but that's the point of having one, isn't it?
 
When I looked at them at Meijer the other day, they each said Made in the USA. I was going to pick one up, but remembered reading that thread. I will pick on up now :thumbup:
 
protourist said:
You made me get mine out and look at it. It is a Doan's. If I can, I will test it today and let you know what I find out.
Thanks Doc.
Click to expand...

Looking forward to it.

dawsonbob said:
I do, however, notice a couple of rather distinct differences between your bars and mine:

1.) My old bar is far more corroded than either of the ones that you show.
Click to expand...

That could be because yours has been more exposed to dampness? The old one I used was bought quite a long time ago and has been sitting in a drawer, pretty well ever since. I have about 4 or 5 of them and the only one that gets around, every day, is the one I have with a cordage loop on my belt. If I'm wearing pants - I have my mag bar!

I have another one that I cut the magnesium in half, lengthwise and it would fit in a belt sheath with a Vic SAK - that was very handy.

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Looking forward to it.



That could be because yours has been more exposed to dampness? The old one I used was bought quite a long time ago and has been sitting in a drawer, pretty well ever since. I have about 4 or 5 of them and the only one that gets around, every day, is the one I have with a cordage loop on my belt. If I'm wearing pants - I have my mag bar!

I have another one that I cut the magnesium in half, lengthwise and it would fit in a belt sheath with a Vic SAK - that was very handy.

Doc
Click to expand...

I have three or four stuck in various place among my gear. The one I have sitting here next to me is probably 30 to 35 years old, a little worn down, and has a nice, uh, patina... yeah, that's what it is, a patina. It's just been sitting here for a long time. I expect to give it some use in the next little while, and I expect it'll work just fine, despite the, uh, patina.

One of the great things about mag bars is you can carry one for many years, but when you need it, it'll still work.
 
One thing to add, dawsonbob, to help the longevity, paint the ferro rod with clear nail polish (yes, you can use black, Siguy :D). Ferrocerium seems to break down when exposed to moisture for a time.

Doc
 
Hi Doc, Great pics and comentary. Unless some one gets a firesteel rod that is some how bad from the start. For those that have problems getting there mag and bar to work. is because of operator error. It is amazing to watch people scrape a firesteel and the mag. part to. some try to cut off mag. shaving:eek: and some do not scrape at the right angle.

John Wiseman the former Bristish SAS Soldier in his Survival skills video takes a doans or cologens mag and firesteel firestarter and grabs a dry leaf off the ground on a sunny day. and scrapes the mag. bar 7 times and then turns the firstarter around and then scrapes the firesteel into the mag scrapings and then lights it on fire by strikeing the firesteel on it. an lights up the shavings and then the leaf lon fire. Just as easy as you please.

After I seen that in the video I went and grabbed mine from my kit and we were having a sunny day that day. I grabbed a oak leaf like John did and scraped my mag bar 7 times and then scraped the firesteel and sure enough lit the mag shaving on fire which inturn lit the leaf on fire.

Up until seeing how John wise man did that I always made a quarter sized pile before scraping the firesteel part lol. NOT NOW though lol.

Now when use my mag bar for lighting any campfire fires ( just for fun a couple of times a year) I do just as John did and have fire every time.

I am really convinced that when people say they are having problems with these type of firestarters it is because they are not scraping at the right angle for the mag part and the firesteel part. I have seen this done time and time again. Or a person will to lightly scrape the firesteel part and then say see it does not work. I have found the BEST scraper is the back side of the SAK or my Leatherman waves SAW the sharp spined saw is the best scraper for scraping shavings of magnesieum and then even on the firesteel part too.

If you have never tried the back of a SAK or the leatherman waves sawI highly recomend it.

Bryan
 
Amen on what you said Doc. I have one that is al most 25 years old and still works just fine.

Bryan
 
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