Removing Flint from Manesium Fire Starter?

k_estela

k_estela

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If you are like me, you probably realize that the flint rod from a magnesium fire starter holds more importance in the rough than the magnesium. The magnesium dulls your blade and takes up space. I have numerous magnesium starters primarily for the flint striker. How would I go about removing one from the other? What is the best way to do so?
Keep the hairy side up!
Kev
 
Drop it on a hard surface! I did and the flint popped right off unfortunately!

If you can get a pick or nail under one end, it will pop right off. They are just glued on and not very well at that.



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Hey...

I removed the ferrocium rod from a magnesium fire starter just a couple of weeks ago. I found a small nail and hammered it between the rod and the magnesium bar and it kinda wedged the rod out. It chipped the corner of the rod just a little, but not bad.

--Matt
 
I would mill off the excess magnisium until there is just a little bit to support the flint rod, I think they tend to be somewhat brittle.
 
I guess I got one of the few MFS's that really had a good hold on the sparking rod; I had a devil of a time gettng mine to let loose. I used a punch, just a little smaller than the rod itself, and drove it out with a hammer. Use a flat punch and a moderate sized hammer, as the rods are a little delicate. I chipped mine just slightly, but it isn't enough to worry me; just a little off the "corner". Once the glue breaks its hold, the striker will slide right out.
 
Double post, somehow. Sorry 'bout that.

[This message has been edited by V Shrake (edited 03-05-2001).]
 
Here I've been testing how to glue the rods so that they stay in - in all temps - and you guys are busy removing them...
 
You might concider removing some of the magnesium, but not all of it. I just got done letting the Workshop Of Doom *tm* alter one of those 3"x1"x3/8" stock ones.

Oddly enough the cheap coghlan's has a larger flint than the mil spec one I have.

Anyway I wanted a small keychain flint, and around here the pickings are very slim for choices. So I bought one of those large magnesium ones and used a hacksaw to cut it in half both the width and height. What I ended up with was a 1.5" long by 1/2" by 3/8" square magnesium block with a 3/16" flint. This could be rounded off with a file if you prefer as well I just left it square and rounded the edges.

Now I know magnesium has a lot of drawbacks but there are a few reasons why I left it on the flint without removing all of it.

First the magnesium supports the rod, flint is brittle, and with only 1.5" long if it broke it would be hard to use the broken parts. On such a short peice it would probably be hard to break, but better safe than sorry
smile.gif


Also it provides something to drill through and attach to a keychain. Though drilling through flint could be fun
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And I look at it like this, sometimes for whatever reason some things work better under certain conditions and I'm convinced magnesium isn't the ideal tinder. It takes more time to get going than just using dry tinder the only real drawback to having it is the extra space. It doesn't hurt anything and sometimes it works very nicely to get tinder going (or maybe I'm just pyrotechnically challenged). It certainly can't be your only tinder, and the scrapings blow around in the wind. But maybe it gets that one fire started that the big ol' strike force just dosen't wanna.

And the best reason is the hacksaw makes really sweet sparks going through the flint
smile.gif
I also made sure to keep the left overs and saw leavings for other workshop of doom productions.

For a striker I took a 1.5" peice of hack saw blade, left the saw part (it really throws the sparks if you need it to). Then sharpened the spine and end as to have two good striking surfaces that unless you really beat down on the flint won't gouge it.

This I then electrical taped to the flint and put it with 3 tinders in my project I handle. The other half I will make a striker for and electical tape or duct tape it to the flint and put it on my keychain or maybe heat shrink together but that could be harder to get at in the time of need.

So for $6 I got two keychain sized 3/16" flints with magneisum, and a good hunk of magnesium left over and half a film canister of saw leavings.

I also plan on trying one a bit longer maybe 2.5" X .5" X 3/8" on the keychain, but trying even this 1.5" model with the sharpened saw blade you can really throw the sparks, even more so with the teeth side if you have to.
 
You're right about needing something to support the sparking rod. What I did was epoxy the rod to a half-round sharpening stone, the kind for fishing hooks and such. It has a groove in the round part that I enlarged just slightly to accomadate the rod. Then I used the key chain it came with to attach it to the lanyard of my SAK Rucksack. I keep a pellet tin of char cloth in my pocket, and can always find Juniper bark to make a tinder ball out of.

I just gave up on the magnesium altogther. Too hard to shave a sufficient amount, it blows away if you breathe on it, nevermind the wind, and you've got to have a piece of paper in order to gather the shavings and put them in a pile. But, in the one test I did do that worked, that stuff really blazes up nicely. But, all in all, not something that I want to be doing if I REALLY needed a fire.
 
You're right about needing something to support the sparking rod. What I did was epoxy the rod to a half-round sharpening stone, the kind for fishing hooks and such. It has a groove in the round part that I enlarged just slightly to accomadate the rod. Then I used the key chain it came with to attach it to the lanyard of my SAK Rucksack. I keep a pellet tin of char cloth in my pocket, and can always find Juniper bark to make a tinder ball out of.

I just gave up on the magnesium altogther. Too hard to shave a sufficient amount, it blows away if you breathe on it, nevermind the wind, and you've got to have a piece of paper in order to gather the shavings and put them in a pile. But, in the one test I did do that worked, that stuff really blazes up nicely. But, all in all, not something that I want to be doing if I REALLY needed a fire.
 

From reading this and other forums, it seems that the Coghlan MFS (magnesium fire starter) is not as sturdy as the old Doan tool, ie, the GI issue MFS. (Named for the military contractor, Doan Machine & Equipment Company). I’m speculating that the glue or whatever on the GI one is better quality.

Rather than buying an MFS just for the ferro rod on it you could simply buy a small ferro rod. Of course this doesn't apply if you already own the MFS and want to experiment. Some sources, in no particular order:

Greg Davenport:
http://secure.sawshop.net/ssurvival/products/index.htm

home page: http://www.simply-survival.com/WildLiving.htm

Ron Hood:
http://www.survival.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=HW&Category_Code=HBAFS

If that link doesn’t work, go to the homepage: http://www.survival.com/
and then click on online store, then hardware etc

Boy Scouts of America:
http://www.scoutstuff.org/
click on enter, then on scouting merchandise distributors to find a retailer in your area.

I did not find the Boy Scout ferro rod in their online catalog. I assume it is available from local stores. It is called the Hot Spark Fire Starter.

Another option is to use softer magnesium. I stress that the following is based on what I’ve read and NOT on personal experience. It seems that magnesium can be found in varying degress of hardness, depending on the alloy, I guess. The GI MFS made by Doan as well as the Coghlan MFS apparently use a hard alloy. I know that my GI Doan MFS is some hard stuff. I’ve read that water heaters contain a sacrificial anode, and some of these are made of soft magnesium. The minerals in the water attack it, and leave the lining of the water heater alone. I’ve meant to check with the local recycling center to try to find one haven’t gotten to it yet.

The following site sells magnesium firestarters that are cylinder shaped instead of a rectangle. They have an 800 number, so you could call and ask if the magnesium is hard or soft. Who knows, they might sell you some ferro rod by itself.

http://www.firestarters.com/

I personally am not a big fan of the MFS, although I’m a firm believer in the ferro rod.


 
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