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(More customer reviews)For me, the idea of this kind of a product is to give you fire in an emergency. You are out there on a fine Spring or Fall day, for example, and the weather takes a sudden bad turn on you. Or maybe YOU have taken a bad turn and have to spend the night instead of getting back home or into camp on schedule.
I have started fires at one time or another using most popular methods (including this one) - and in all kinds of weather conditions. When light and heat are fading fast there are better, faster ways to light a fire. Most obvious are matches or lighters - but matches get wet and strong winds can easily snatch a flame. So you want a good reliable backup. But in my opinion this is not it. A big fire-steel or Spark-lite Kit are much better backup options.
Though it sounds good in theory, using these mag-flint style starters is a lot more cumbersome than it needs to be.
The first problem - for me - is getting that dime sized pile of magnesium shavings to stay in one place. This can be a challenge, especially in strong winds (or even if you are just breathing heavy).
Second is that shaving it down takes extra time that is not needed using other methods. And in the same vein, cold numb fingers (common in the situations where you really NEED fire) and the extra knife work of shaving down the magnesium is an accident in embryo.
Last but not least - it is a misnomer to call the magnesium shavings "tinder" (as some manufacturers of these products do). It is more like a super-heated match head and burns out about that quickly. Try lighting your kindling off of that magnesium alone - particularly in bad weather conditions - and chances are you will have to try again. That could mean an extra 15 or 20 minutes before you have fire (5 or 10 minutes preparing some REAL tinder plus another 6 or 8 minutes shaving down your magnesium).
Apparently a lot of people really like these and you CAN start a fire with them. But the mag-flint fire starters present some problems that other methods do not. If this is your main back-up plan for fire-starting, practice a lot with it ahead of time. You might even want to shave down some of the magnesium ahead of time (enough for half a dozen fires maybe) and carry it with you in a small bottle or film cannister.
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Liberty Mountain Magnesium Fire StarterThis fire-starting tool from Liberty Mountain is a smart choice of fire-gear for campers, hikers, and mountaineers. Used by survival experts all over the world, it can start a fire with a flame source of 5400° F. Sturdy and durable with a built-in sparking insert, the starter is fireproof in solid form. Features: · Built-in sparking insert · Creates a 5400° F flame source
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