A Magnesium fire starter is cheap, reliable, waterproof, and readily available at dozens of online retailers.
They are also lightweight, relatively safe, easy to use, highly transportable, and compact, which is why they are one of the most popular fire-starting tools among outdoor enthusiasts, survivalists, preppers, and even a simple camping trip.
A magnesium fire-starting tool usually includes a block of magnesium with a built-in ferro rod or flint and a scraping and striking tool.
Simply scrape off some magnesium shavings onto a dry leaf, pine needles, char cloth, cotton ball or other tinder and strike the built-in ferrocerium rod with the back of your knife or the included scraper to produce a shower of sparks, and the shavings will ignite (for more info see our How To Use A Magnesium Fire Starter article and our Magnesium Fire Starter FAQ post.).
Once ignited, the burning magnesium will very quickly produce flames that reach over 5,000 degrees so it’s very important that you have your fire bed and kindling prepared and ready to go.
If you’re planning on getting a magnesium fire starter tool but have never used one before, it’s a good idea to practice with it a few times before you find yourself in a situation where it’s your only option for fire or survival.
Table of Contents
Best Magnesium Fire Starters
Here are the 6 Best Magnesium Fire Starters (I may earn a commission from Amazon for qualified purchases)…
- Fire-Fast Trekker (best camping or survival fire starter)
- The Friendly Swede 3-pack
- SE FS374 Magnesium Firestarter Kit
- Tag-Z Magnesium Fire Starter
- Survival Spark
- Fire-Fast Fire Fly (best lightweight backpacking fire starter)
1. Fire-Fast Trekker
- Authentic Ferrocerium: Crafted with real Austrian ferrocerium, our ferro rod is a culmination of over 100 years of expertise and advanced technology. Comprising 76% Rare Earth Metal, 20% Iron, 2% Magnesium, and 2% Anti-corrosives, it’s a premium blend without any additional additives.
- Military-Grade Magnesium Rod: Designed to generate a high-intensity heat burst, this rod ignites fires under challenging conditions. It’s easy to scrape using the provided striker, creating flames quickly and efficiently with sparks from the flint.
- Ergonomic Hardwood Handle: The handle, made from durable hardwood, ensures a steady grip even in freezing temperatures. It doubles as an emergency tinder source when scraped, adding to its utility in survival scenarios.
- Multi-Functional Striker/Scraper: The included striker, forged from hardened steel, is designed to produce abundant sparks without risk of cutting skin. It efficiently scrapes both the magnesium rod and the hardwood handle, maximizing usability.
- Durable Paracord: Featuring a 550 lbs. tensile strength, our paracord is made in the USA by a certified government contractor. It’s built to resist breaking and rotting, ensuring reliability in various conditions.
The Fire-Fast Trekker is a combination Ferro Rod and Military Grade Magnesium Rod of massive proportions made in Austria for old-world reliability and craftsmanship.
The Trekker has a hardwood handle that provides for the surest of grips, even under the most extreme weather conditions, including freezing cold temperatures, snow flurries, and even pouring rain. An added bonus is that the hardwood handle can be shaved-off and used for tinder in an emergency situation.
The included striker/scraper is made from hardened steel and is sharp enough to create a shower of sparks to light your fire with ease but not sharp enough to cut your hand.
The paracord strap has a tensile strength rating of 550 lbs and is made in the United States by a certified U.S. government contractor, so it shouldn’t rot or break even under the most adverse conditions.
The Fire-First Trekker hardwood handle and the striker/scraper both come with pre-drilled holes that allow them to be attached to the paracord strap, so you’ll never have to worry about losing one of the most important pieces of your fire-starting kit (try that with those chintzy little steel-ball straps that other lower-quality fire starting tools come with).
The Fire-Fast Trekker only weighs a couple of ounces yet has everything you need to start a fire in the wilderness, which is why we consider it to be the best backpacking fire starter (as well as a perfect lightweight fire-starting tool to carry for camping and survival).
The Fire-Fast Trekker is durable, reliable, waterproof, and designed to light thousands of fires, even when wet. It’s one of the toughest fire-starting tools around, and it’s built to stand-up to years of use and abuse.
Click here for the best price for the Fire-Fast Trekker on Amazon, or check it out on eBay.
2. The Friendly Swede Magnesium Flint Fire Starter – 3 Pack
- Effortless Fire Ignition: Revolutionize your fire-starting experience with our magnesium fire starter kit. Engineered to produce sparks effortlessly, this Mag Bar is effective under all conditions – be it rain, snow, or high altitudes. Ideal for camping, survival tasks, bushcraft, and outdoor adventures.
- Integrated First-Stage Tinder: Our mag bar doubles as tinder, eliminating the need for separate materials. This feature sets it apart from traditional fire lighters, offering convenience and reliability when finding suitable tinder can be challenging.
- Ultra-Hot Sparks: The flint rod is designed to emit intensely hot sparks in all weather, especially effective in windy conditions. Accompanied by a versatile striker that also serves as a bottle opener, this tool is perfect for both seasoned enthusiasts and beginners in fire making.
- Durable and Compact Design: This kit includes three firesteel blocks, each capable of lighting thousands of fires. Compact and convenient, it comes with an attached chain, ensuring your flint and steel fire starter kit is always within reach and never lost.
- Secure Purchase Guarantee: Our flint fire starter survival lighter comes with The Friendly Swede’s Lifetime Warranty, ensuring a safe shopping experience. For any inquiries about our product, our customer service team is ready to assist.
If you prefer using smaller fire starters, then The Friendly Swede Magnesium Flint Fire Starter has you covered. It’s only 3 inches long, less than ¾ inches thick and less than 1 ¼ inches wide and only weighs a few ounces, which means it easily slips into your pocket, your EDC backpack, your get-home bag, or anywhere else where your gear needs to be compact and lightweight.
This handy 3-pack of The Friendly Swede means you’ll be able to keep one in your glove box (which is what I do), one in your bug-out bag or with your camping equipment, and one on your keychain or around your neck so you’ll always have quick access to a dependable waterproof fire-starting tool when you need one.
Each one can be used approximately 5,000 times and contain a solid block of magnesium, a steel scraper to shave off the magnesium, an embedded flint rod and steel striker to throw sparks hot enough to ignite the magnesium shavings, and a steel ball chain that helps prevent losing the individual tools. It even has a built-in bottle opener, so you can use it to enjoy your favorite cold beverage in front of a roaring fire!
The Friendly Swede is waterproof, lightweight, compact, and dependable, provides its own tinder and its own spark to light your fire, and it’s easy to use even under the most severe weather conditions, including extreme cold, snow, rain, high winds, and high altitudes. Try all that with a butane lighter!
Click here for the best price available for the Friendly Swede Fire on Amazon, or check it out on eBay.
3. SE FS374 2-in-1 All-Weather Magnesium Firestarter Kit
- Compact Pocket Size: This fire starter is designed to be compact and easily fits in your pocket, ensuring convenient portability.
- Waterproof and Weatherproof: Built to withstand the elements, this fire starter is both waterproof and weatherproof, providing reliable ignition even in challenging conditions.
- 3″ x 1″ Solid Magnesium Fuel Bar: The fire starter features a solid magnesium fuel bar with flint, offering a dependable and long-lasting source of ignition for starting fires.
- Single-Sided Serrated Striker: Equipped with a single-sided serrated striker, this fire starter enables easy and efficient spark generation for igniting the magnesium fuel bar.
- Includes Detachable Ball Chain: Each fire starter comes with a detachable ball chain, allowing you to conveniently attach it to your gear or keep it easily accessible for outdoor adventures.
If you’re looking for an inexpensive pocket-sized tool that you can toss in your fire-starting kit, then the SE FS374 Fire Starting Kit is worth checking out.
It comes with a solid magnesium bar that should last for a few hundred uses, a built-in flint striking rod, a metal striker with a serrated edge, a ball chain link, and a bonus mini-compass (I wouldn’t bet my life on the accuracy of any compass included as a bonus at this low of a price, but it’s nice to have around for a quick bearings check).
The SE FS374 may not be the sexiest option, but it is a reliable option that gets the job done.
Click here to check-out the best price for the SE FS374 on Amazon, or check it out on eBay..
4. Tag-Z Magnesium Fire Starter Kit
- Magnesium Block Fire Starter: This Tag-Z fire starter features a magnesium block with a sparking insert on the side, providing a reliable ignition source.
- Compact and Versatile Design: The magnesium block measures 3″ x 1″ x 3/8″ and comes with a steel scraper that also doubles as a bottle opener.
- All-Weather Performance: With the ability to start fires in any weather conditions, whether wet or dry, this fire starter ensures consistent functionality when you need it most.
- High Heat Output: The magnesium block burns at temperatures up to 5,400°F (2,982°C), providing intense heat to quickly get your fire going.
They manufacture the Tag-Z to be durable, reliable, and dead simple to use. They even clearly mark the Magnesium block side with big, bold letters that read “Shaving Edge” and the flint rod side with the words “Sparking Insert”, so there’s no confusion about which side to use during even the most stressful emergency situations.
All you have to to do is shave the magnesium into a pile the size of a quarter, sprinkle the shavings on a small mound of kinder, flip the tool over, and strike the built-in flint rod with the edge of your knife to create sparks and a shower of red-hot sparks will ignite the magnesium to start your fire.
The Tag-Z Magnesium Magnesium Fire Starter Kit is designed to be one of the most reliable and dead-simple fire starter tools you’ll ever use.
Click here to get the best price on a Tag-Z Magnesium Fire Starter on Amazon, or check it out on eBay.
5. Survival Spark Magnesium Fire Starter
- Never Be Caught in the Cold: This high-quality all-weather fire starter is designed to be windproof and weather-resistant, ensuring reliable fire ignition in any conditions.
- Lights Up Time & Time Again: With the ability to strike up to 15,000 times, this fire starter provides repeated fire-making capability when you need it most.
- All-in-One Emergency Tools: This product includes essential emergency tools, including a magnesium fire starter stick, a large scraper, a compass, a whistle, and a lanyard, offering multiple functionalities in one convenient package.
- Compact & Convenient: The fire starter rod measures 5.5″ in length, making it compact enough to easily fit in cars, survival kits, and camping gear, ensuring it’s always within reach when needed.
- Customers Say: Campers and hikers consider this a must-have emergency tool, as it combines three essentials in one purchase, providing peace of mind during outdoor adventures.
The Survival Spark Magnesium Fire Starter is wind-resistant, waterproof, lightweight, easy to use, and consistently provides a huge shower of fire-starting sparks up to 15,000 times.
It includes an extra-long striker/scraper that is easy to grip (even when you’re wearing gloves). Use the serrated edge as a scraper to create a small pile of Magnesium Shavings from the included rod, and then use the flat side as a striker to create a cascading shower of sparks to ignite the Magnesium and start a fire. You could also use a permanent match to ignite the shavings.
The Survival Spark also includes an integrated emergency whistle that has been tested at 150 DB and a small compass to help you find your general bearings in the wilderness.
The Survival Spark is a 3-in-1 survival tool that makes a great addition to any fire-starting or survival kit.
Check out the lowest prices on Amazon for the Survival Spark, or check it out on eBay.
6. Fire-Fast Fire Fly
- Made in America: This product is proudly manufactured in the United States.
- Austrian (Euro) Ferro Rod: Our fire starter utilizes a high-quality ferro rod sourced from Austria, known for being the world’s best flint, ensuring reliable and efficient fire starting.
- Extreme Lightweight: Weighing only 1.5 ounces, this fire starter is designed to be lightweight and highly portable. It measures 5 inches in length, 5/8ths inch deep, and 7/8ths inch wide.
- All-Weather Performance: Built to withstand all weather conditions, this fire starter is both waterproof and weatherproof. It features a hardwood handle for durability and enhanced grip. The fire starter consists of a ferro rod, magnesium rod, hardwood handle, paracord, and a hardened steel striker/scraper.
The Firefly is a combination Ferro Rod and Magnesium Rod, so you’ll have quick access to two must-have fire starters in one extremely small and lightweight package that’s the perfect size for carrying in your backpack, bugout bag, or fire-starting kit.
The Fire-Fast Firefly is Made in America from both domestic and imported materials.
Austrian-made Ferro Rod/Flint is made from the finest European Ferrocerium rich in rare earth metals and tested to provide 2,500 strikes that produce a shower of white-hot fire-starting sparks.
Military-Grade Magnesium Rod is 95% pure.
The African Hardwood handle is designed to withstand all weather conditions and is virtually waterproof.
Hardened Steel Striker and Scraper is Made in the U.S.A. and is attached to the handle with American Made 7 strand high-tensile strength 550 paracord that resists rotting, even in the wettest of conditions (try that with a leather strap).
Weight: approximately 1.5 ounces. Dimensions: Approximately 5 inches Long by 5/8″ deep by 7/8″ wide.
Click here for the best price available on Amazon for the Fire-Fast Fire Fly combination Ferro Rod and Magnesium Rod, or check it out on eBay.
- Country Of Origin : China
- The Package Height Of The Product Is 6.5 Inches
- The Package Length Of The Product Is 0.75 Inches
- The Package Width Of The Package Is 3.75 Inches
- Sport type: Camping & Hiking
- 👍Magnesium rod is easily scraped off with striker,and is ignited by sparks from the flint,start fires in any weather conditions.
- 👍FIRE STARTERS : Each box includes 2 Magnesium Fire Starters can be used thousands of times.
- 👍Waterproof Fire Steel:Solid magnesium fuel bar with flint 3” x1”,steel scraper3”,Fire Paracord Outdoor Survival Ropes.
- 👍The red waxed flax in Paracord waterproof fire tinder can make instant fire even in heavy rain.
- 👍100% Satisfaction Promise: AOFAR provide 2 years limited warranty and lifetime customer support.
- Safe: The fire starter survival tool wills not self-ignition. Only the scraping friction flint rod will produce sparks, may ignition magnesium debris.
- Easy to Use: Scrape off some magnesium chips, then scrape the flint rods rapidly, will generate sparks, Ignition successful.
- Easy to Save: The size (3″ x 1.2″ x 3/8″ magnesium fire starter with attached ball chain) is small, easy to keep in your bag.
- Long Lasting: You can get many (thousands) of fires started with the flint striker.
- Multi-Function: The blade of permanent match striker can be used as bottle opener and ruler.
- WE USE REAL FERROCERIUM (FERRO ROD). Austrian ferrocerium combines over a century of craftsmanship and superior technology to produce the finest ferro rod in the world. Our ferrocerium is 76% Rare Earth Metal, 20% Iron, 2% Magnesium and 2% Anti-corrosives. There are no other additives.
- MILITARY GRADE MAGNESIUM ROD used to create a burst of intense heat and flame kickstarting a fire even in the worst of conditions. The magnesium is easily scraped off with the striker and is ignited by sparks from the flint.
- HARDWOOD HANDLE crafted for sure grip even in the dead of winter. The handle can be scraped to produce dry tinder – essential in an emergency situation.
- STRIKER/SCRAPER made of hardened steel is sharpened to create large showers of sparks and won’t cut your skin. It also scrapes the magnesium rod and hardwood handle with ease.
- PARACHORD rated at 550 lbs. tensile strength made in the US by certified US govt contractor. Won’t break or rot.
[…] that you should have no issues with it. Of course, you will need to know how to set up your fire. Starting a fire with magnesium is one of the best options if you have the right […]