Stupid question - what are blazes ?

magnesium block is on my key chain

I've been a fan of huge tarps for a few decades. If done right they can handle tropical storm winds, or if the peak is high enough you can have a dozen musicians a picnic table and a good sized fire under one.

Spare zippo flints?

Not as obsolete as this subject

Ha! All these Young'ns making me feel old. These were all you had to choose from back in the 60's-70's to build a 'survival kit'. That, and the old iodine tablets 🤢 for water purification. Point is, they worked. Like most here, I don't believe the quality of the mag bars today is something I'd want to bet my life on. I bought several, quality ½" thick Ferro rods for my packs now.

Still love it and have it! Started out with it and cotton swabs soaked in vaseline

I still have mine from the 1980's and it has a ton of holes drilled in it. I think I drilled it and bagged up the swarf for later use. The striker was a piece of hacksaw blade and completely useless. Yours looks sharper and more useful

I really don't understand how someone can accidentally get lost in the woods, unless dropping out of an airplane. I mean if you're not carrying a map and compass or maintaining situational awareness as you go, you're an idiot and should stay home. I'm sure the "follow the arrow on your phone" culture of the day doesn't help with these things.

In the 60s my next door neighbor never forgave me for what I did to the wheels on his Camero.

I have a waterproof bottle with wood and magnesium shavings. It Will start a fire

"...a bigger rod makes more sparks..." LOL You GO Dan!!! 😂

Not obsolete , like anything else , if a person doesnt really know how to use any device properly , it wont do them a lot of good . What looks self explanitory , if you havent practiced with it , isnt so self explanitory . One thing to be aware of . Only buy the US millitary versions of that . This is because , the Chinese knock offs sometimes use poor quality , or even a magnesium alloy in their products . It will still work , but its not nearly as good .

lol i love my mag block i drilled hole other end and a dip in the middle this gave me a bearing block for bow drill and with hole each end i can use as a hand drill bearing block.

How long would a whole block burn for? If it " fell" into a fire... 😅

Just remember and use PAUL. You might know where you are but you will never be lost.. look it up

It MUST MUST… be a DOAN brand! In order to function as advertised. 👍👍😁🇺🇸

Great concise video sir. Thank you, now I know… 👍

Anything besides a Bic in a firesleeve is technically obsolete.

I like to hide my cache in a tree. Para chord throw line, tie it off. I leave my contact info with a note that says congratulations on finding my gear. If you hiked far enough, and were observant enough to find this, help yourself to the contents. Just send me a text to let me know i need to find a new spot haha

Haha used these when I was a kid in the 90s. I remember the first time I ACTUALLY got the mag to take my spark and catch my tinder. I jumped up and hollered and danced around my fire that quickly burned out. As a child I always had a hard time scraping the mag off. As an adult I have a hard time holding these blocks because my hands are the size of catchers mits. Haven't played with one in 15+ years. I'll have to check this out and mess around with it again.

A candle as a flame extender is also helpful...

I got one from when I was working in a ASE shop in the Army.

Thanks for addressing this, Dan: a couple of years ago, a friend of mine, and I discovered how hard it is to shop for these old-fashioned magnesium blocks these days, despite how some reputable experts recommend them. It was something that even the staff at places like REI couldn’t explain. However, your information here about the nuances of the products use a long way towards explaining why they seem to have been superseded. P.S. I still have one.

Dan that drill bit idea for the EZ awl is brilliant but I want to add something: bows drill.

This is really good info. I have a magnesium block in my kit in my truck, and I’ve always hated it😂 But now I learned that I never scraped enough magnesium for it to work properly.

Could use a magnesium pencil sharpener, then with dry twigs you can make shavings. Not an everyday bushcraft thing.

the only good ones are DOANS. but he retired a few years ago and copies are just pure crap.

I like a bastard file to use to take material of a block. Lots of material fast

Well, i must disagree. These do have smaller ferro rods, but they are small units and carry in pocket easily. Also I seldom use the magnesium, more often i use birch bark, cedar bark, thistle fluff etc.everything has a learn curve. I also carried one in my pocket many, many years ago. All government issued. Its much like a violin,some musicians make music and some noise. Use what you like and train with. Do i carry a large ferro rod?? yes, but I always carry the mag and flint.

LL Bean is a great company to buy all sorts of gear for the outdoors...

I bought a 410 youth gun. I'm a 200 pound male. I traded it in after a few shots. It packed a dreadful punch and was just a 410. When I traded it in, like new, the man behind the counter asked why I traded it. I told him too much kick. He said he had grabbed that same gun off his shelf to give to his son for his first year of hunting. At the end of the first hunt and no shot made the salesman set up a target for his son to shoot. After firing at the target the son was almost in tears and dad took the gun away and said it's a 410, it can't hurt. He took a shot. The gun got put on the used rack when they got back to the gun store.

The strikers off of these are probably the best you are going to find. I take the steel striker and use it on the big Ferro rod.

They make great campfire spectacle.

Excellent video. What ferro rod would you recommend?

I've had my magnesium rod over 25 years.

I mixed some magnesium shavings with fatwood dust and store it in a tin.

When I got lost in Vegas I could not find one dam tree with moss on it to help me find my hotel room.

Don’t rush us in the military we are not hourly….besides everyone smoked back then they even came in the C Rations so you had matches or a lighter too. Have fun stay safe.

Not all magnesium fire starters are created equal

well to be fair Dan they're meant for emergency use not everyday use!!!

Thanks for the genuinely great advice !

One significant advantage DOAN's have is that they are easy to grip under adverse conditions. They are also much easier to use if injuries mean your one handed. Something I suspect was carefully considered when they were developed.

I got mine as a last ditch element in my kit. It´s a compact piece of equipment combining tinder and ignition source. It works. For other purposes I have different equipment. IMHO the magnesium fire starters are not obsolete, their niche just got smaler in last years. Some of the ferro rod do not allow for scraping without a spark. My ligh my fire rod seems to belong in this category. It might be wise to test the rod you actually carry.

Can you light the whole block ?

Doan's is the best magnesium/ferro rod fire starters.. Chinese made ones suck.

Cool stuff

I bought a 6”x3/4 “ magnesium rod, for very little money, it works great in conjunction with my ferro rod..

Dan , I don't usually comment on your excellent posts but feel well qualified to comment on this subject. As you said the magnesium blocks are old, a product of their time. All those years ago these bars were just that, "survival" items, usually for downed aircrew to utilise in dire circumstances. Most people around in those far off days of the 1960s and 70s used a Zippo type petrol lighter or matches to light their cigarettes, as almost everyone smoked in those far off times. Most folk would have scraped their bar to put magnesium filings into suboptimal tinder, wet or damp leaves,grass,twigs etc. Then, they would have ignited the now improved tinder with their Zippo or matches, saving the thin ferrocerium rod attached to the magnesium bar as a last resort (totally out of matches) ignition source. Times change, how many people smoke nowadays, for example. In those distant times the ferro rods on the mag bars were the only ones Joe Public could obtain. Things improve and now a fantastic variety of ferrocerium rods are available to everyone. These blocks still serve a useful purpose and I have a couple knocking around, scavenged from USMC Aviator Survival Kits. These fire lighting blocks have stood still in a time warp and haven't altered since they first came out. They could be radically improved by slightly increasing the size of the attached rod, attaching it to the magnesium block with a better quality super glue and drilling a small lanyard hole in the rod, horizontally as it sits on the mag bar,so it could be securely tied to something if it did separate from the magnesium. Was it you (or maybe Blackie Thomas , wishing him a speedy recovery from his recent stroke) who put out a post where you scraped magnesium into a duct tape "pocket" to prevent the scrapings blowing away ? Happy Trails, I always enjoy your presentations, but seldom make a comment.

Made a lot fires with one