One thing that often gets overlooked, and is definitely a more important emergency item that you should have for camping, is a Magnesium Fire Starter. Even if you never have to use yours, it will bring you peace of mind just having one.
It’s a good idea to practice using your fire starter at home so you are confident in yourself, it just might save your skin one day.
Details
I went with the SE FS374 All-Weather Emergency Fire Starter. It’s less than ten bucks and it includes a 90 day warranty. What you will get is a solid magnesium bar with a flint strip in addition to the single-sided serrated striker. It is 3” x ⅜” x 1” making it small enough to fit on your keychain.
To use your fire starter, take the serrated striker or a knife to shave some of the magnesium off of the bar into a pile. Then with your knife or the striker you can generate a spark using the flint. Spark the magnesium and use the flame to ignite your fire. If you use it quite a bit the magnesium will eventually run out so you may want to have an extra.
Tips for using a magnesium fire starter
Before you try to start your fire make sure that you gather enough tinder and kindling to get it going. Practice making a good spark using the flint before actually sparking the magnesium to make sure that it works smoothly. I always pack extra lighters and matches for simplicity when I go camping but I never forget my magnesium fire starter.
I want to hear from you
How do you start your fires? How do you like magnesium fire starters? Have you ever needed a magnesium fire starter in an emergency? I love hearing your feedback so feel free to comment!