Ozark Trail Magnesium Fire Starter Bar with Striker and Flint Edge

We took this camping and this really did the job ! My husband used this to get the camp fire going and it took him no time at all! We were really excited to go camping for the first time this year. I packed this fire starter with all our other camping gear and actually forgot we had it! I did not remember to bring a lighter and we were trying to figure out what to do and after thinking about it I realized I had pack this fire started! My husband was not really sure if it would do what it claimed to do but it did! I would definitely recommend this! I think this is something that should be a essential for the camping people. I would even be able to use this for home use for a backyard barbecue or fire. This definitely came in handy!

This is an excellent item to have for your emergency prep box. We live in Florida and keep a box of basic supplies in the garage for when the inevitable hurricane comes and the power goes after. After having been through this several times, we now keep a small cooker and make sure to have backup flint in case the lighter runs out of fuel or isn't working. This flint and striker kit is basic, like any Boy Scout would have used back in the day. You get a magnesium bar and a striker, attached together but with no storage bag, not that you necessarily need it. There is a bit of skill involved with this item. So you may wish to do some test runs before needing it in an emergency. The trick is to use the shaver side of the striker to shave off a bit of the magnesium bar onto something extremely flammable, like toilet tissue paper. Then use the other side to rub down the magnesium and create sparks. If you do it just right, the shavings will flare and ignite whatever's under them. It'd be difficult to get wood to ignite this way. Leaves, maybe. Toilet tissue or lightweight paper is your best chance of success. The bar is a little short but will do in a pinch or if you have limited room in your knapsack.

Shot out sparks but i couldn't ever get a goood flame going- granted I might have been doing it wrong.

Good to take camping for easy fire starter when the matches get wet!

I got this striker to add to my keychain, you can never be too careful. It is about the same size as the key to my Honda, It takes a few times to spark, but that's just the "newness", once that wears off, it strikes great. As the instructions say, shave some magnesium off into a little pile on your tinder, and give it a couple of strikes and you got a small starter fire. There's plenty of videos on ***Tube if you know what I mean. I have a couple of these in my car's as well as emergency "Lifeboat food" and water. I have emergency reflective tents for my family as well. Basically, this is a must for your bugout equipment.

The item is of cheap quality.

Who ever thought that PAINTING the striker was a good idea needs to depend on this set-up to save his life sometime. The mag bar and flint are very good, but the PAINTED striker is worthless. Back to using the ol' knife edge.

not sure if i got a defective block, but, it is really hard to get a spark. i will try to exchange it and update my review if the next one is any better.

Disliked striker is painted, this makes it hard to strike.

I’d give it a minus 5 stars if I could because I have yet to be able to make a spark with this darned thing! It’s not my first fire starter so I don’t know that it’s me. I should have sent it back when I first received it.