This magnesium fire starter is a must have for me whenever I'm out and about for extended periods of time. I was surprised at how difficult it was to shave some magnesium off of it though. It is considerable harder than my old magnesium fire starter. I would definitely recommend carrying a knife as I do because the striker that is supplied is hard to get a good grip on or use to shave magnesium. Adding a knife just makes things easier. There is a bonus compass that is supplied, I would not depend on it to tell me which way is north though. For the price, this fire starter provides peace of mind that fits in your pocket.

I bought this item based on the price and the good reviews it received. However, it is simply not a good product. I have tried over and over and over to use it and to like it. Thought maybe I was doing something wrong. The striker makes sparks but not nearly enough to light anything. The little scraper hurts my hands when using it. It is so small and you have to hold it so tight just to even make a spark. The bar is ok I guess. Just not very satisfied. There must be a better and easier to use option as far as magnesium fire starters go.

I have limited mobility in my hands, and I was able to make the shavings and a spark.

It's inexpensive enough to have several, and I highly recommend keeping one in your home emergency kit and one in each of your car emergency kits, especially if you live somewhere cold and sparsely populated. I grew up in Minnesota, and every bad blizzard, someone went off the road and had to wait hours (or more) for help. This, some dry food and chocolate, mylar blankets, and some rolled up newspaper logs (do not burn things inside the car - you know this - I'm just mentioning it in case someone doesn't) in a dry bag will get you through.

Well, it's really hard to scrape. I watched some videos and they said that some knockoffs are really hard material mixed in. I was able to spark a fire, but it didn't flare up like the ones in videos, but it did flare and stay bright for many seconds. I'm sure if I'd had tinder underneath it would have caught. I'll have to test it a few more times. Since it did flake off and light, I'm not going to send it back, But it seems it's not the best of the quality magnesium starters, but it does seem to work. Plan to spend 3 minutes or longer to get enough scrapings to start. I couldn't get any scrapings with the green serrated blade they included.( ETA: I did just find a comment that suggested a perpendicular sawing motion. I'll try that next time) I had to use a camping knife blade to get any appreciable flakes off. I also could not get a spark with the little green blade. Again, I used the camping knife and it sparked quite well using that sharp blade. As an add on item, I think it might be worth it to have for emergencies, but I think I'll shop around and spend a bit more for one that has a softer bar that is easier to manipulate.

The SE FS374 Fire Starter works exactly as expected, I purchased this to keep in my vehicle as a way to always have a means of making fire. The magnesium rod is average size and is of good quality. The metal grab handle is light weight and easy to grip onto while striking the magnesium rod. By "striking" I mean quickly sliding the striker blade across the top of the magnesium rod. The stricter itself is quite thin and could easily be bent. However, it seems to do the job just fine and should hold up givin care.

Upon receiving the Fire starter I replaced the chain that connects the stricker and magnesium rod with a length of 550 para cord. This way I always have access to some sort of kindling by removing the inner strands of the para cord, while still being able to use the outer layer of para cord to keep the stricker and fire starter connected, It's important to scrap off the coating that is on the Fire starter before being able to produce a spark. When you scrap past the black coating the magnesium on the inside will look silver like the metal handle and will produce a large spark.
The key to making this fire starter start a quick fire is to scrap a small pile of magnesium off the rod into a pile on your kindling, roughly the size of a U.S quarter, or a 1 inch circle (25.4mm). Then quickly run the stricker down the length of the magnesium to create spark and ignite the pile of magnesium that is in your kindling.

The night I received this my family and I had a small campfire, I was quite impressed with how easy it was to create a fire with this fire starter. I would most definetly recommend this product and for the price you can't go wrong!