Start a fire standing up, start rubber on fire, start a fire one handed, see how to use our Fire Starting Kit, etc. link FSK wildernessinnovation.com/?p=147 Doan wildernessinnovation.com/survi...
I have carried a Doan Magnesium Block Fire Starter lashed together with a Swiss Army Knife in my pocket since probably the mid- to late-1970s. That includes throughout my time in the service (aka "the military" for those unfamiliar with the standalone meaning of "service"). Later I sold survival and outdoor supplies, and Doan was the only magnesium-ferro rod combo I carried. The cheap Chinese knockoffs have given mag blocks with embedded ferro rods a bad name, and I have tested many of those. A few work, but far too many scrapings from those will not ignite even under a butane torch flame! They ain't magnesium! The Doan Machine Company fire block NEVER let me down, and the rod NEVER fell out no matter how many times it was dropped or stepped on. It was US military issue for years and still carries the stock number. Doan will always be the gold standard. I also carry oversized ferrocerium and magnesium rods (6"L x 1/2"D) lashed together (they are drilled for that) for "extended" circumstances. These have a carbide knife sharpener on the lanyard as a multifunction striker and each rod has a thick "handle" of 1/2 inch wide Gorilla Tape that can be partly unrolled for repairs or wound closures. Those live in my various bags and in my vehicle, but the Doan is still in my EDC (belt bag or pocket).
Thank you for this video. The one-handed technique alone is worth the time it took to watch the whole video. Again, thank you for this video. Subscribed.
I first used the Doan's Mag fire starters when I was a pilot in the USAF, they were included in our survival kits. I have used them since that time. They work great and are FAR SUPERIOR to cheap imitation units that are too hard to scrape and lack enough magnesium to even work. Fire is so very important to survival I always have at least three techniques in my emergency kit and a Doan's mag bar is one of them. Nice video and presentation.
+James Carmean I've used Doan since the early 1980's and never been let down by them, reliability is so much more important than price. Thanks for your comments.
That bar is over 30 years old, I have literally started more than a thousand fires with it, never had a minutes trouble. With it's longevity it's the cheapest fire starter I have ever owned.
The Doan I was issued in the Army back in 71 was hard as heck and like shaving a rock . Innertube is awesome for starting fires in a monsoon rain or snow and it works for a tourniquet . This is a great video and your one hand fire starting is appreciated . Happy New Year and many more . Lefty
I found a Doan's in the grit chamber of my wastewater plant when we were cleaning them out. Stamped 6/84. Works fine even after all these years and being underwater
When i was a kid my uncle was in the marines and me and my bro got his magnesium block. Much bigger and harder than the doan bars but we had a lot of fun. The bright flash had us hooked. Lol............ I'm now over 40 and just bought some to use. Happy days.............
+funkyprepper I like all kinds of fire starters, modern and primative, but I like these especially as a back up, depending on how much shavings I pile up I can have a small hot spot or a massive one, I can tailor it to my needs. Thanks for your comment
The trick is getting a good quality magnesium bar. There's plenty of cheap ones on the market, that are worthless. Magnesium is almost unique among firestarters, in that, a real magnesium fire will burn when damp. In fact, water is an accelerant to a magnesium fire.
is the bar made entirely out of magnesium, or is the magnesium just a thick coating around another metal? for example a quarter has the silver coating, but it has another alloy in it as well.
The Doan bars are a solid magnesium alloy no coatings, they always work well. Many of the others, who knows what they are made of, most have some magnesium in them, some may not have any. I've seen some brands that the outside is dark and the inside is silver.
i can't remember what video i was watching, but someone pointed out that a non-branded magnesium fire-starter wouldn't light because the magnesium was of no good quality. when i look for a fire starter i will keep this brand in mind. thank you for your reply.
Great Video! Forgive me for the intrusion, I would love your opinion. Have you tried - Proutklarton Helping Firestarter Plan (search on google)? It is a smashing one off product for getting a $15 optic fire starter for free without the normal expense. Ive heard some awesome things about it and my close friend Aubrey at very last got amazing success with it.
We discontinued the kits a couple years ago. Doan was in the process of attempting to be sold or to go out of business as they could not continue to compete with Chinese versions and little by little their large customers were converting to Chinese. We were contacted at one point to see if we wanted to purchase the company since for years we had been strong proponents for them. However their viability was highly in doubt, they are at this point just hanging on, I suspect it won't be long before they are done.
I wanted to see how hard it would be to use magnesium bar with only one hand, and I found it wasn't all that hard to do. Thanks for watching and for your comments.
Yes I think they did go out of business. They were trying to hang on and when they lost the Boy Scouts account, it was downhill from there. They contacted me to see if we would be interested in acquiring them, but it didn’t make sense, since the Chinese companies had bought up most of the mining and manufacturing of magnesium, it would be nearly impossible to compete.
Crap quality magnesium in these bars. A little pile like that should ignite and be spent in seconds, and I see no black magnesium oxide ash floating around in the air. The fact you have to poke around at the magnesium to get it all to burn says all that needs to be said.
You very obviously have never used a Doan's Magnesium Fire Starter, which are among the easiest to use and most effective mag-bars on the market. The reason that you don't see huge amounts of magnesium oxide ash floating around in the air is simply because of the relatively small piles of magnesium that he is employing.
Interestingly enough, I just so happen to have a degree in Environmental Chemistry. Care to discuss reaction thermodynamics or kinetics? For instance, when is it appropriate to simplify second order reactions by relying on pseudo first order assumptions?
How about we discuss the specified system suitability parameters for the validation and calibration of reverse phase HPLC instrumentation as required under GMP protocols?
