Those fire starters....

S

SGerman

Joined
Oct 27, 2007
Messages
55
There was a maker who posted about a special feature on a knife here a while back and to save my life I can't remember who it was.

Anyway, this maker had incorporated magnesium and a flint of some kind into the handle of a survival knife for the purpose of starting emergency fires. I'd like to do something along the same theme myself if I can. I have the magnesium but I have no clue as to what the material is that creates the spark to ignite the mag shavings. What is this stuff exactly and where can a fellow get it?

tia,....
 
If its one of those sticks that you scrape shavings off and then spark to ignite, then any piece of steel will suffice. If it's a knife then that's all the better. If it is just plain magnesium then you won't be igniting it with anything remotely available in an emergency.
 
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It was my understanding that the shavings were ignited by some kind of flint that was struck/scraped by the steel of the knife blade?
 
Thanks Stacy, that was exactly the knife I was thinking about, but I couldn't remember it's name or it's maker. That kind of knife is way out of my skill level so I just wanted to make a little kit that could slide into a hollow handle instead.

Awesome, awesome knife Eric!
 
Now that's a worthwhile knife feature. :thumbup:
A night comes to mind where that would have really come in handy.
 
Thank you all for the kind comments and support! They're actually 1/4" x 2 1/2" ferrocerium sticks. When you strike them with the spine of blade, they produce a shower white hot material onto your tinder. You can, if you're brave and careful, shave some of the material off slowly into your tinder, then strike it in. Really flares up!
 
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