Ozark Trail Magnesium Fire Starter Bar with Striker and Flint Edge

I tried looking for a domestically produced version of this and came up short. I’m honestly not even sure that’s a thing anymore. So I went with these. The price was fair and they were available. To be fair Ozark Trail has been stepping up their game lately. It’s been noticed and appreciated by me.

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.

This compact magnesium bar and striker/shaver are well-designed for starting fires. We all know that trying to bring matches on camping, hiking and boating trips can be tricky – since they have to be kept dry and most types need a separate striking strip to light them. This magnesium bar and striker are not affected by water or weather, always ready to help you start a fire. The bar and striker are connected with a small (removable) chain to keep them together. You could even attach this chain to a keychain, carabiner, or backpack for easy access. The two together are compact, only 3”x1” in size. One side of the striker has a saw-tooth edge, not sharp to touch, but sharp enough to shave small pieces of magnesium from the bar. These shavings catch fire easily, to light tinder for a campfire. One long side of the magnesium bar has an integrated/embedded flint strike edge. You use the smooth side of the striker to strike the flint and create intensely hot sparks. The first few strikes may not work, but don’t despair: they remove the light coating on the striker and flint. After that, the sparks will fly reliably with each strike on the flint. It is not difficult to start a fire. With this one unit, you should be able to confidently start hundreds of campfires. I would recommend this unit for outdoor use or for an emergency kit.

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.

With all that is going on in the world today, I chose this specific item. I would have loved this as a kid on my camping trips with my dad. I am going to keep this for future emergencies (such as the apocalypse - hopefully not). I am going to keep this with my emergency food stash in my basement. First, if you need something to start a fire, matches is the best way to go. But, this tool will always be safe to keep on the side - or it just might be fun to use to start a campfire with. The only downside is the thin striker bar. It could be a little thicker and I'm not sure as of yet how much you can use it without wearing out the little teeth. Scaping the magnesium takes some effort as it does not come off in big chunks. You really have to work at it to get a good little pile of shavings. The flint edge was pretty cool to watch the sparks fly off and ignite the magnesium. It did not take that long. If it were a dire situation where you did not have matches (or have wet matches) this is the way to go. There are some good tutorial videos online on using this type of fire starter for those who are unsure. It really works and it works well. It is a good product and I might consider purchasing some to have extra. You never know.

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.

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.