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.

This Ozark Trail Magnesium Bar with Striker Fire Starter works great! My husband and I were really impressed with this kit. Now we do not get out in nature too much with busy work schedules, but personally we haven't seen a starter flint ever included such a generous magnesium block. You will be able to start many many fires with this kit. I like how it has a chain you can clip to a backpack, belt or key chain. You take the striker tool and scrape the magnesium block making a little pile. Then scrape the tool across the flint aiming at the magnesium powder. It will start to burn the magnesium powder. At that time ypu will add your tinder and you will have a fire. We are picking some up for our nephews next week as they are Eagle Scouts. As much camping as they camp, this tool will come in really handy. (This review was collected as part of a promotion.)

I am trying to put together an emergency kit for my truck as we never know when we will have a need to build a fire. What if you don't have a lighter or matches with you? Now i do this starter is what i need in my emergency kit. It's easy to use and now i know i will be able to build a fire if i need one. I do need to practice more but that i will do.

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.

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.

There is no way to survive without fire! Can be used for cooking, heating, sanitation, you name it! But if you don’t have a lighter or a match, what could you do? This product is amazing to instantly create fire even in windy conditions. Magnesium is a highly flammable material in its powder form. Simply use the saw edge of the striker bar to shave off about a penny sized amount of magnesium and then use the flat edge against the flint to create a spark that falls on your pile. Instantly creating a flame for you to get your kindling going. Soon you will have a nice blazing fire for all sorts of uses and overall safety. The compact design and include chain allow you to keep everything together even on your keychain! Or attach it to your zipper on your bag. Can always get a fire going without too much elbow grease. Can be used many many times until magnesium is fully gone. Very inexpensive yet can use for a long time! Absolute must have!

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!

I got this fire starter to try for free. I have to say that I have wanted one of these for a while so I have never actually owned or used one so take my review how you will. I will get straight to the point and say I would recommend this item. I shaved some pieces and started the fire but I did watch some instructional YouTube videos that showed using a knife instead of the included striker. I used a knife and yes the included striker was harder but if you are out in the wilderness with nothing else I’m sure that piece will be an actual life saver. I think it’s a really good idea to practice with whatever and however you need to and have extras of these in your car, purse, man bag, diaper bag, whatever you carry when not at home or even at home too actually. That may sound overboard but 2020 has shown that nothing is out of play at this point so I guess it’s better to be safe than sorry, am I right? Apparently this works because the spark is so hot it can dry out twigs and stuff that isn’t fully dry but that does take more strikes so keep that in mind. If the wood or clippings are fully dry then the strike will start fast because the spark is so hot, it will cause the fire to start immediately. So just know those things for use if this is like a first time item because I might have been skeptical if I was there having to strike multiple times in a scary situation. I guess just try and be as prepared as possible for the worst case scenarios, that’s why simmering would look into this product, correct?

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.