FerroMags and Fire Steels

James3

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Mar 6, 2013
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What do you guys think?
FerroMags are dual purpose FireSteels invented and made in the UK.
FerroMags are Ferrocerium Rods with Magnesium handles, using the back spine of a knife or a striker, bits of magnesium can be shaved off the handle into a small pile.
The pile can then be ignited using the Ferro rod.

The magnesium burns at approximately 3100C or 5610F Degrees!
The idea behind the FerroMag is to have tinder (magnesium shavings) and an ignition source (Ferrocerium rod) combined.
The FerroMag comes with a Firecord lanyard for when the magnesium just isn't enough!
Every FerroMag is unique in shape/style and no two are the same but some rough measurements are below:
Ferrocerium Rod … 7-8mm Wide 50-65mm Long
Magnesium handle … 12-18mm wide 90-100mm Long

A link below for photos and videos to show how they work

http://www.3tronics.co.uk/#!product-page/c1hs9/62b7bde4-f432-834c-1788-a9ba4deb8eb8

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Fire Steels
Custom Fire Steels, aluminium powder coated handles, 8mm ferrocerium rod, 550 firecord lanyard
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CanadianSurvivalCompany

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Re: FerroMags

This looks interesting, looks like the offer enough of a handle to made this a good tool to use in a pinch.

Two things for me personally:

1. I don't see having the handle quite that large convenient. if the handles to be used in a pinch, it could be smaller.
2. As long as the magnesium composition is good and consistent, it would be nice to try.
 

James3

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Re: FerroMags

This looks interesting, looks like the offer enough of a handle to made this a good tool to use in a pinch.

Two things for me personally:

1. I don't see having the handle quite that large convenient. if the handles to be used in a pinch, it could be smaller.
2. As long as the magnesium composition is good and consistent, it would be nice to try.


The handle can be made shorter. But the smaller it is the harder it is to get a good grip

i turn turn them myself on the lathe so I can do shorter handles if requested

the magnesium is solid and 99.99% pure
 

CanadianSurvivalCompany

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Re: FerroMags

The handle can be made shorter. But the smaller it is the harder it is to get a good grip

i turn turn them myself on the lathe so I can do shorter handles if requested

the magnesium is solid and 99.99% pure


That is great to hear then! its great to see new inventions such as this, though I'm not privy to everything going on throughout the survival community, this is a first for this style. The quality is the big thing. :twothumbs
 

James3

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Re: FerroMags

That is great to hear then! its great to see new inventions such as this, though I'm not privy to everything going on throughout the survival community, this is a first for this style. The quality is the big thing. :twothumbs


Yes it's a first!

ive seen the 'block' Type with the small rod on the side, but the handle made of magnesium is a first

quality is top notch! Each one is hand made and QC by me only.

Hopefully the style Will appeal to people, I have been testing my personal one and really like it
 

CanadianSurvivalCompany

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Re: FerroMags

Yes it's a first!

ive seen the 'block' Type with the small rod on the side, but the handle made of magnesium is a first

quality is top notch! Each one is hand made and QC by me only.

Hopefully the style Will appeal to people, I have been testing my personal one and really like it

For what its worth I taught Survival professionally with the Armed Forces for 6 years. That old style was not worth my time..

This however looks well thought out and executed. Good job, We will be in contact once things are fired up on our side.
 

Poppy

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Re: FerroMags

On this side of the pond, HarborFreight very often has these Magnesium Fire Starters on sale at give away prices.

I cut away about 80% of the magnesium block and put what remained with the Mesh Metal rod into an Survival altoids tin.

I found that the shavings were difficult to ignite. Perhaps they aren't of the same quality as your's. When the magnesium did ignite, it certainly burned brightly, and hotly. In that tin, I vaselinized some cotton balls, and mixed in some of the Mg dust, and sealed them into plastic straws. Vaselined cotton catches a spark much more easily than Mg, but it doesn't burn as hot.

For the fun of it, I brought about 5 of them on a couple of camping trips with scouts, and they, and their fathers had a lot of fun lighting cotton balls on fire.

The best striker, was a pair of hacksaw blades taped together, with a slight space between them. It really created a LOT of sparks. I experimented because my grandson, was selected to be the "firestarter" in a competition of cub scouts, where the boys were the dogs, pulling a sled, and challenged with completing different tasks.
 

James3

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Messages
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Re: FerroMags

For what its worth I taught Survival professionally with the Armed Forces for 6 years. That old style was not worth my time..

This however looks well thought out and executed. Good job, We will be in contact once things are fired up on our side.


Yep, the old style isn't great, so i had a lightbulb moment and designed these!
 

James3

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Re: FerroMags

As you can see in the video/gif the magnesium is really easy to ignite, it is nearly 100% pure so maybe that's the reason

The firecord lanyard is similar to the cotton balls, it is a waxy cord that catches a spark easily (included with the FerroMags)


On this side of the pond, HarborFreight very often has these Magnesium Fire Starters on sale at give away prices.

I cut away about 80% of the magnesium block and put what remained with the Mesh Metal rod into an Survival altoids tin.

I found that the shavings were difficult to ignite. Perhaps they aren't of the same quality as your's. When the magnesium did ignite, it certainly burned brightly, and hotly. In that tin, I vaselinized some cotton balls, and mixed in some of the Mg dust, and sealed them into plastic straws. Vaselined cotton catches a spark much more easily than Mg, but it doesn't burn as hot.

For the fun of it, I brought about 5 of them on a couple of camping trips with scouts, and they, and their fathers had a lot of fun lighting cotton balls on fire.

The best striker, was a pair of hacksaw blades taped together, with a slight space between them. It really created a LOT of sparks. I experimented because my grandson, was selected to be the "firestarter" in a competition of cub scouts, where the boys were the dogs, pulling a sled, and challenged with completing different tasks.
 

CanadianSurvivalCompany

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Re: FerroMags

On this side of the pond, HarborFreight very often has these Magnesium Fire Starters on sale at give away prices.


These are the style we've had mixed results with. And I found the same actions (cutting down) to be the best way to utilize them. The issue that came up with this style was the ferro rod would become detached. just too many things to go wrong to keep as a dependable option.

Using with kids in a controlled environment, much different story. its a great way to experiment with a low cost option.
 

Poppy

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Re: FerroMags

Yes, out of the five, one of them did have the ferro rod fall off.
I also bought one with a much larger diameter ferro rod from fasttech, that didn't have any Mg, but had a plastic fob for a handle, and it wasn't long before they separated. :rolleyes:
 

Omega73

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Re: FerroMags

That handle is large enough to be threaded and have a stryker built in. I personally think that would put this particular design in a league of its own. Right now everything is there except a means to strike the ferro rod.
Also is this a harder type ferro rod that throws sparks easily, meaning light strikes will cause sparks, or is this the type of rod that will require more force but make "gobs" of molten sparks?
 

James3

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Re: FerroMags

That handle is large enough to be threaded and have a stryker built in. I personally think that would put this particular design in a league of its own. Right now everything is there except a means to strike the ferro rod.
Also is this a harder type ferro rod that throws sparks easily, meaning light strikes will cause sparks, or is this the type of rod that will require more force but make "gobs" of molten sparks?

This design isn't about 'space saving' it's designed to be used with a survival knife, which, if you are carrying a firesteel you are most likely also carrying (or I hear HSS square tool steel is good). Compared to other firesteels this is larger. But that's the point, it's designed to be heavily used and not stowed in a bag 'just in case' it's a simplistic design and once bits keep getting added on I think it looks tacky.

Also. Although the magnesium will last for thousands and thousands of uses, adding a striker in would hollow it out and you would lose thousands of uses

With the ferro rod the amount of sparks depend on the striker used, I use the 90 degree spine of a survival knife and get good sparks (check out the video) thinner different angle metal not as many
 
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