Emergency Fire Starter
by SE
|
List Price: Our Price: $0.49 You Save: $6.51 (87%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Tools See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Emergency Fire Starter
Customer Review: Make sure you try it before relying on it. Takes effort and practice.
Summary: 3 Stars
Lets start off with saying the ingredients are there, using magnesium and flint is a great way to get a hot start, but shaving the magnesium bar takes more effort than its worth. I ended up grinding my bar with a file until it was gone and saved the filings into a cigar tube, this took nearly four hours!
If you were hypothermic this would make fire starting very difficult. I try to plan for several scenarios while building a fire kit, I want at least three methods for fire and an emergency quick fire, this won't work for that. Try to plan for wind, weather, and outside temperature. It's the hypothermia that scares me, as strength and dexterity are severely compromised in this situation.
Get a couple of water proof tins and build firekits so you can save yourself! It's cheap and simple, use your head! Plan ahead! Practice!
Customer Review: Practice with it before you need it
Summary: 3 Stars
I'd never used one of these fire starters before, but I ordered 2 to supplement my survival gear. The directions are pretty straight forward. It took me about 10 minuets to start a fire with this the first time. The magnesium is a little harder to shave off than I anticipated. Also I found that the striker was hard to grip tightly without the teeth tearing up my finger. I finally ended up wrapping duct tape around one end of the striker to protect my fingers. This worked well, and I was then able to start a fire fairly quickly. I wanted to see if it would work when it was wet, so I dunked the whole thing under water & gave it a try. Will not spark when wet, but dried fairly quickly just by blowing on the flint strip. Then worked fine again. Overall I'd say this is a decent addition to your survival gear, maybe with the duct tape modification.Customer Review: Worth its weight in gold
Summary: 5 Stars
When all else fails, this little tool will not let you down. But you need to practice and learn to use it effectively before relying on it to save your behind. First you need to detach the saw blade on the lanyard from the magnesium block. Use the broken off edge of the saw blade to scrape the magnesium off the block, no need to shave it with a knife. You only need a pile big enough to cover a dime. Then using the same edge of the blade, use it like a spring to apply ample pressure to the flint until it slips and throws off a shower of sparks. Hold the flint pointing at the magnesium shavings, but not touching them. It helps to wrap one end of the saw blade with duct tape to make it more comfortable to hold, and it will allow you to apply the required pressure when using the blade.Customer Review: Great, but provided hacksaw blade could be better.
Summary: 4 Stars
The magnesium bar itself is great, just take a piece of steel and scrape the side opposite of the striker. If your confused like I was, watch this: [...]. Don't be put off by the fact that he is a kid; he knows what he is talking about, at least as far as this goes.
My only problem with this product is the included Hacksaw blade. You want to use a a straight edge to scrape off the magnesium, however in doing so with the included blade, it is very easy to cut yourself on the serrated edge; at the very least it is extremely uncomfortable. I personally would have preferred a simple piece of metal with a hole in it. I took an old dull kitchen knife, cut off the blade and drilled a hole in it, works great. You could also just carry an old kitchen knife with you.
Customer Review: it works
Summary: 4 Stars
it works like it supposed to. but i still would rather have a lighter in hand b/c that's just much easier. But would'nt mind having this for emergency situation. if there's no protection from the wind this thing isn't as effective being you can't utilize the magnesium. i rather have this than a fire steel in an emergency situation b/c i feel it would be able to ignite more things b/c of the magnesium. i lit up a piece of computer paper and dried leaf with magnesium fire bar, but could not with a small firesteel.
it sucks when your out in the cold sawing the magnesium bar and its windy outside. The saw that came with it worked for me. good for emergency situations b/c of durability and can be used when wet, but rather use a zippo, lighter, or match.