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November 1, 2005

Portable ignition source roundup

Whether you're camping, hiking, adventuring, trekking, or just plain lost in the woods you're going to need a fire at some point. Fire is a wonderful, life-saving tool with many uses--cooking, sterilization--and, if you're in a Hollywood movie, scaring off man-eating wolves and bears late at night. That's why I've taken the time to highlight some of the better tools on the market. I'll emphasize small, lightweight, and durable (or indestructable) options.

Solid Magnesium Survival Striker
Pros: Indestructible, waterproof, lights wet material, very hot flame, unaffected by altitude or cold
Cons: Requires a sharp knife and some setup time

A magnesium striker is a great survival tool to have with you. I use one in my survival pack because it's simple, doesn't break, is reliable, and is small and light. You use it by shaving pieces of magnesium off of the solid bar with your knife onto the materials to burn and then striking your knife on the opposite side to ignite the magnesium shavings. It burns very hot, and as most of you know from chemistry water doesn't put out magnesium fires.

Wind/Waterproof Strike Anywhere Matches
Pros: Small, very light weight, easy to use
Cons: Only slightly waterproof, not a fail-safe alternative, doesn't burn as hot as other material

Survival matches appear in dozens of forms. I recommend avoiding any paper matches and sticking only with those that come in their own waterproof sealed container (and their own striking surface). These are great for an economical backup, though I just don't feel safe carrying these. Additionally if the striking surface gets wet, or worse, you don't have a surface to strike on and must use a wet rock or other material, they are very unreliable. If you've had better luck with these we'd like to hear about it.

GSI Survival Blast Match Fire Starter
Pros: Durable, lasts forever, very hot, unaffected by altitude
Cons: Takes some practice, not always a fail-safe instant light

Great matchless ignition system. Uses a spring-loaded, high performance flint with a tungsten carbide striker and a flint bar that rotates 360 degrees to prevent uneven wear. It comes with a manufacturer's lifetime warranty and they'll replace it if you ever wear it out. The shower of sparks is three times hotter than a typical match; however the thing to remember is that it is after all, just a shower of sparks. While it's hot and easy to use, it won't be as troublefree to use in wet, cold environments compared to something like magnesium shavings.

Butane Torch / Lighter system
Pros: Durable, simple to use; windproof
Cons: Requires fuel, breakable, affected by altitude, very little light when lit

There are some decent butane ignition systems out there, though most of them suffer from all of above problems. It's best to have a backup if you carry one of these as your primary source of ignition. The hot flame a butane lighter/torch puts out is a good tool to have in general. Many are capable of reaching a temperature high enough to do welding or other small repairs in the field. A good tool to have with you but carry a backup ignition source to be safe.

Fire Paste
Pros: Small, Light, exceptionally easy to use
Cons: Won't start fires by itself, requires ignition source

Fire Paste isn't an ignition source itself but using any ignition methods in conjunction with the paste will start a fire on wet ground/material, snow or ice. It burns for a couple of minutes and burns very hot. If you can spare the room in your pack or survival bag it may be worth it to throw a tube in. It's cheap and makes starting fires with frozen fingers much less painful.

Conclusion
Of the methods covered, what you'll find in my personal survival bag is always a butane lighter with a backup magnesium striker. Obviously the survival striker is complemented by my Rambo knife. A close second are the Survival Blast Matches. You'd be hard pressed to find another survival tool that can be used thousands of times with no wear.

Posted by Beau Gunderson at November 1, 2005 4:08 PM

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