Firestarter Shootout- $12 Doan USA Magnesium Bar vs $3 Harbor Freight Chinese Version 

When I go hunting I take my mother-in-law with me. She just has to stare at the kindling and it instantaneously ignites. Love you ma'

The lesson I learned here: both bars work, but I'd bring a decent ferro rod to work with either, since I couldn't operate the supplied ones with cold hands ...

A few years back, while hiking in the Cohutta Wilderness area with 2 other guys, wel all fell into the river and it was cold. We found that wet lighters wont light. I used my china made magnesium fire starter to get a fire going.I scraped the shavings onto a piece of cardboard. I sparked the shavings, when they lit I dropped hands full of pine needles and cones on it. Had a nice fire going in 5 minutes.

I use to work in a wastewater treatment plant for 23 years. Early on we were cleaning out the grit chamber and my shovel uncovered a Doan's fire starter marked Aviation. It was intact including the ferro rod. What struck me as phenomenal was that it was stamp dated 6/84 and here it was under water and in the grit 1994. Rod still sparked and edge shaved as it should. Today 8/2022 I still carry it in my pocket.

When I took wilderness survival classes in the early 80's, the Doan Magnesium Fire Starter was the standard for emergency fire starting. My instructor mentioned that women were often more successful when using them due to making more contained piles of finer magnesium dust, where men tended to be more aggressive and make scatterings of magnesium chips. I've never tested this, but it seems he may have been right. Doan Blocks were as common in gear as Ferrocerium Rods are today. Both offer the same bonuses of being resistant to moisture, temperature, altitude, and rough treatment while still being able to work. I see a lot of comments saying, "Just use a lighter", to which I say, "Go for it". Use whatever means fits your situation. The Magnesium block was doing just that. It was used as part of survival kits for pilots since the 70's. It is very light, unaffected by pressure changes at altitude, does not evaporate fuel like a Zippo, and I doubt that butane lighters of that era were considered safe for high altitude or mach capable military planes. Many Pilots Kits contained matches as well. While this can show the importance of the Magnesium Block Fire Starter in survival history, and demonstrate the thought process for choosing items based on the situations, it does not change the fact that nearly 50 years later there are much better options.

Your always fair and reasonable when testing. Thanks so much for sharing and blessings to you and your family 😇

I have only used Chinese-made mag bars for years, and I have made PLENTY of fires with them, and it never takes me that long, since I learned the best way to get it done. I make a lower-diameter, higher pile, more like a penny diameter and set it in contact with an available fuel in the wild, like pine sap, if available, and put them both on a leaf in the center of my "bird's nest." Further, with a ferro rod, you have to shave more carefully than with a mag bar when you need shavings. I can light up a magnesium pile with any kind of spark, low or high-temp. I can light a magnesium pile with a spark from an empty lighter, also; and with practice, a person can learn to get a pile lit in 1-4 strikes every time with the accompanying flint rod. I got past the struggle he had years ago! Mag bars last a very long time, and magnesium shavings are guaranteed to light, even when the bottom of the pile is wet. If you want finer shavings, I recommend the round-shaped magnesium and flint ones you can find on eBay for $5 or so. They used to be even cheaper. I have used 2 of them in the past, also, but I found the flint rod came off of those faster than they came off the mag bars, after lighting several fires. Then, I had to tape them together on the back end. I also used the flint rod to light other fuel, such as alcohol, when I would get to camp late at night or would be in a hurry to get lunch or dinner hot. I would often have to set up camp in the dark in my most active period of outdoor living, 5 years ago. A 900-degree ferro rod spark is overkill. Finally, a Bic or Scripto lighter is the last thing I would use in a survival scenario, because it is the easiest way, which I believe is better to save for the absolute worst and desperate situations and should be used after all other methods are exhausted or if seconds count.

The trick is to pile the shavings into a little cone shape instead of a flat circle.

Being aware of your own biases is SOOOO important. You are admirable sir. It's a trait lost to too many of us these days.

Lighters and matches are so underrated

Striking almost straight down into the pile also helps considerably. The real nice thing about them is that you can actually light a piece of tire if you need a signal fire with smoke or if the wood is wet it will still light since the magnesium burns white hot.

I have had the same mag bar since I was 8. Used lots and lots and lots!!! It is still going strong. The striker is wore a lot, but it has survived 22 years of inexperienced and experienced use.

Although they both are disappointing; The one made in America, due to the price tag, is a total ripoff; Therefore,even more disappointing!😳

pretty easy decision, get the cheap magnesium bar and buy a separate ferro rod

Both are just magnesium. One is a little softer but I have used both and of course both work. I am all for buying USA but at what point are we being ripped off? And we all know about bloated pricing on products sold to the military.

I have bought nearly a dozen of the harbor freight magnesium blocks, just standing in line at harbor freight. Have started dozens of fires with them. Duct tape and a pile of shavings and the ferro on the other good to go. Not the easiest thing for those who dont know how but after a few dozen fires lite you tend to get the hang of it. Good enough rods for the price!

As so many other comments mention, not optimal for use when you are tired, wet, and cold. I bought a package of 6 bags of mag shavings from Amazon. I don't know how many fires you can get from all that, but I imagine quite a few. I tried it out just to see how well it works, and I can say it works pretty damn good. If you can't get a fire going with one bag, then you have a real problem, lol. I carry just one bag in my fire kit for emergencies only. I don't use it for normal fire starting, but if you really were in a jam, it would definitely work. The stuff burns like hell fire, and you don't have to mess around scraping. Just dump a pile out and light.

For $12 you would have a pile of bic lighters.

I only made it about 3 or 4 mins into the video before I gave up. I did learn, no less than 3 times, the cost of your items. Thanks for the video.

thank you for the effort!👏🏻💪

The difference is the packaging!

Buy the Chinese one and donate 10 bucks to war veterans for that warm feeling.

Thank you was a worthwhile watch !

Very informative video, thanks for sharing.

It's a technique thing. Try this: Use much less pressure when shaving the magnesium, producing finer shavings. Put the shavings in a creased piece of paper or a bottle cap (etc) that will hold the magnesium shavings and capture the sparks. Then SLOWLY scrape the ferro-rod producing a small (BB size or less) pile of ferro shavings on the edge of the magnesium pile. Then give it one quick spark and it's lit. The samll amount of ferro powder will easily light up the magnesium. Often you'll spark by accident while scraping the ferro-rod and you'l have a fire. Be ready with your tinder. In my experience, the cheap magnesium bars are the same as the expensive ones. the scrapers are usually just a piece of hacksaw blade, and work OK, but a somewhat used knife is better, producing more controlled fine shavings as opposed to a fresly sharp one. In a pinch magnesium tent stakes, pack or whatever will get you going if you have a ferro-rod. If you have a ferro-rod, you have fire. Experiment and practice.

The lesson I learned is magnesium bars suck Ferro rods with fatwood handles are a better option

good objectivity, well compared. thanks

Good demo thanks. Take care.

Magnesium shavings mixed with sulfur ahead of time in plastic straw tubes 1-1/2 to 2 inches long sealed at both end with hot pliers. Cut open pile it up, strike and add your tinder.

Thanks for a great compare video. I bought 3 of the HF ones, but have not tried the Doan one yet. With 3 I bought one worked real well, the other two were about like this one you had. I think the China one's lack consistency. The Doan should be consistent in every block.

Thank you Sir for your videos

Great work on video Brian

I have used several different Magnesium fire starters over the years. One thing I learned it is a combination of different things that makes one work well or not so much. The finer the shavings are the easier it is to spark to a flame. The tender also has a lot to do with whether you get a fire going or not. Put a small peace of a file in your kit to shave the magnesium which gives a very fine material to light. With the right tender a quarter size pile of shavings is over kill. Practice before it is needed and find what works best. Then when you do need to start a fire with one it will be much easier to get things going.

When you scraped the shavings together I could see many of them flying away. If you shaved into a cup you wouldn't have to keep scraping them together, just pour them out when you have enough.

Good show. Thank you.

Thanks for great video. Subscribed

Small drop of dollar store hand sanitizer and a ferro rod works for me every time.

I had the same issue from the HF bar. Bought 2. The first one when I struck the ferro a few times, it swiped the ferro right off the bar and gone, lost it. 2nd I ate through the rod before I could get it to light. I use a ferro I had and it still took forever to light. I think the mag is weak on the HF version as well.

Great video!

thanks for the video see you on the next one

I have used both no real difference. Regardless of which you choose I would suggest using a separate faro rod for ease and more control over where you throw your spark.

I bought the Harbor Freight one a couple years ago for practice. I had better luck just using it as a ferro rod, but it worked just fine. Only thing is the rod is a softer material so it doesn’t last very long. I had no trouble getting fatwood shavings, fine feather sticks, or even dried crumbling leaves to ignite. Either way, a similar pile of fatwood fluff will win compared to the quick burn time of the magnesium shavings.

nice video,thanks!

It seemed like the included ferro rods might have been the main issue. It might be interesting to try this again but use a different ferro rod.

Way more magnesium than I've ever used, in fact I mostly just use the fero rod and good tender.

Thanks!

Great stuff Brian! Thanks!

I feel the same about "Made in the UK" I am British, Stay safe, Dave

Just nitpicking, but when scraping the HF you ONLY scraped one edge. On the Doans you scraped an edge and A LOT on the side, thus making different types of scrapings! Also, I would have taken the scraper off that ridiculously short chain on the HB. You could use it much more effectively that way. Still, good idea for a comparison. Also, if you have the Doans and a knife without a sharp spine you are SOL unless you use your blade which you should NEVER do. That's a big plus for the HB! ALSO, you could say that all that excess glue on the HB would actually hold it in BETTER!! Whew! And furthermore, you could buy FIVE HBs for the price of ONE Doans. AND, you would have FIVE scrapers and none with the Doans! Whew again! LOL!

When my Dad worked for Boeing he was a machinist and collected shavings from the milling machine he ran and put them in a bag later he bought me 1 of the magnesium fire starter blocks like what you just demonstrated mine carved like a piece of wood like the 1 made in the USA Thank you

A couple days ago I went to use my Harbor Freight block and the magnesium would get small sparks on it but wouldn't flame on. When I got it a year ago it seemed to work fine. Now I am going to give it another try.

I seems to me that the Chines on actually had a longer burn time.

I gave up on mag bars.pj cotton balls and wax jute with fero rod works and light way eaiser. I have a small mint tin with small ferro rod ,pj straws and wax jute sticks . That take up the same space as a mag bar . I use it only for wet or humid tinder and it always works.

I use a speedy sharp on my mag bar and ferro rod. The mag pile ignites easily with little effort using that vs knife that is a bit cumbersome to use on a small pieces such as mag bars or short ferro rods. I also hold around a 70 degree angle over the mag pile when striking, that seems to work for me. The harbor freight mag bar I have is several years old, still functions the same as it did when it was new, as in the obnoxiously fast burn rate. Then again I've never scraped the reccomended size pile off it, usually can ignite wood curls with a dime sized pile.

Good video Brother 👍🏻👍🏻

Brian, I used the magnesium bars in the Army on our campouts (reforeger , and maneuvers) and found that if I pressed the point of my KBAR against the wood holding the shavings, and drew up on the ferro rod, the sparks go to the same place all the time. It will take some getting used to, I'm right handed and kept the ferro rod in my left. pull the left hand up, and viola, works rain , snow, fog, cold, hot. Never could find PERFECT conditions! :-)

I have tested both of them myself. For me, they worked both the same. You really need to have the right technique for these. But like others said, these are so last century. The Ferrocerium rods are definitely the way to go. I carry a rod, and a BIC lighter in my EDC and a Fresnel lens in my wallet.

Very useful video...carried one of these for years in the woods as a backup...gonna just bring another match case with wax dipped strike anywhere’s instead. You could die of exposure struggling with these things!

Same result for both. I will go with the $3 version. Good video!

I have had good luck with the Hobo Freight model as a back up to my 6" ferro rod, but at least there is a U.S. made option. Props to Hobo Freight for including a tool to strike and scrape it with. You'd think the $12 Doan's would have one.

Provided it was a sunny day, I could have started a fire with a 6" magnifying glass in 45 seconds and in less than 5 seconds with a bic lighter.

I purchased a HF fire starter and scrape off a small amount of material held the striker directly down onto the pile, two strikes with spark and it fired immediately. I wonder if the log was wet or something like that. It worked well! Thank you for your effort.

itìs a very nice video, I like that you admit which you'd prefer to be better. You gain my trust, sir

It would have been interesting to weigh them and take an equal weight of pure magnesium and compared the specific gravities of each a magnesium bar against the pure metal.

Doane or freindly swede for reliability in my experience. The cheaper ones work Best wishes

I keep donz in canteen pocket. And ground down 2 of har freight for ready ground great video

Thanks for the demo. Saved me time. Saved me money. Also Hreat Demo. Thank you Sir...

Harbor freight was running a special on those. I got 20 of them, they were a $1.50 each.. They work REALLY WELL..👍😎👍

I found myself in a so-called emergency need for a campfire once. I was 12 years old and in the Boy Scouts on a camping trip. We were supposed to make a campfire using the techniques from our manual that we had been talking about in our meetings leading up to the trip. After about 2 hours of everyone including the Scout Master and the other grownups trying I was getting hungry and broke out my Zippo and started a fire. I didn't smoke, of course, I just had a fascination with the Zippo lighters from the WWII movies I used to watch. My Scout Master was upset that we couldn't get a fire going with the traditional methods but was glad I had a lighter that I wasn't supposed to have even though my mom and dad knew about it and purchased the lighter and lighter fluid for me. Well, we all had hotdogs and hamburgers that night and didn't have to worry about a campfire for the rest of the trip. I just wish I had known we could bring our own fishing tackle and rod and reel because I was bored to death sitting around a lake without it.

I'm with you on this. Visible differences, spark production was similar, where they land is random. Hood to know.

Great video and information... both will do for me however for $3 I go with the HF (who’s rod wear out quick) ... I would have gathered some of that dry grass behind you and lit that instead of shaving mag trimming

They seemed the same”I don’t like them mag bars enyways rather scrape little of my fero Rod if needed seems to be easy&works better

There's nothing like a lighter. It doesn't seem to matter how much you pay for them. Dollar Tree lighters are just as good as name brand ones.

They seem to work about the same. Both have similarities in functionality and reliability to me. TY😎👍🇺🇸

good comparison

This sparked my attention.........😬✌️

Conclusion: Split the difference in price and buy 25 disposable lighters for under $10.

Good video man

I've tried a few different ones. I will stick with my ferro rod. Thanks Brian

The $3 works just fine. You need to work on your ability to throw sparks off a rod better. You just went to town on it with no finesse. Dig in with moderate pressure, scrape it down and out with controlled intent. Not this "herky jerky wam bam thank you mam was it good for you as it was for me" type of motion. You were throwing more sparks backward at you then you were out toward the mag pile.

Looks like the scraping was a bit awkward, with bits and pieces that weren't so easy to collect back into one pile. Would it be a good idea to use something like a handkerchief or other cloth to collect the scrapings and shavings?

I liked the music you played while you were scraping off the magnesium

In survival school in the Philippines (J.E.S.T.) we were taught many ways to get fire. But the use of magnesium fillings work even better if there fine shavings, we were taught to use pine wood and other woods that have the pine sap in the wood, it makes a fire quicker. And you are supposed to pile the shavings in a hill or ball. Thats the method we were taught at jungle environment survival training. Good video sir! I would buy the Harbor Freight stick. And a small magnifying glass at the dollar store.

My take on the comparison, the $12 probably had a slightly higher grade of magnesium with finer grain structure. This appeared to make it slightly easier to scrape. The rod on the $3 option seemed to be partially covered by glue and other residue from manufacturing, that required a few seconds of scraping to remove. The USA model caught a spark a couple of seconds faster, with a little bit less effort. In short $10 more for getting a fire a few seconds sooner, but not the difference between freezing vs being warm and dry. Of course the $12 model has a much higher grade of marketing and probably a better profit margin.

Either way, it's quite a lot of effort to produce a very short period of combustion ... Plus, in wet and windy conditions without a stump, it'd be a bit of a nightmare.

A suggestion - after you make your pile of scrapings, do the same thing with the ferro-striker since it burns faster and hotter. You'd have to scrape slower so you don't throw sparks before you have enough ferro scrapings. Also I don't think you'll need nearly as much ferro scrapings as the other scrapings.

I’ve watched similar videos and I like the advice one guy had which was to use the magnesium scrapings and his own fero rod instead of the supplied one. He seemed to get a much better spark.

Imagine trying to do this when it is cold and wet with gloves on. Waterproof matches or a Bic lighter seem to be better alternatives.

There's always a smoker nearby with a lighter.

I broke the supplied Harbor Freight striker in half and used the rough edge to obtain a much better spark from the ferro rod. This can be done in an emergency out in nature. I practiced a lot with the HF Mag starter, and wore the ferro rod very flat and a lot of the magnesium away. Regardless, I will always keep whatever remains of the magnesium block as a good wet condition ignition source to use with my larger, separate keychain ferro rod. Thank you for this helpful video.

I have Harbor Freight ones but what I end up going is like take a file a fine one and file the Magnesium down head of time and then I bottle it and the finer the powder you make out of it the easier it does light

The problem I have noticed with the Chinese gear is the lack of consistency.

Starts at 3:00

I carry a full size fero rod in my pack so the little fero rod in the magnesium block is just a backup. I have used the Walmart magnesium blocks and the military issue ones. In my experience the magnesium is the same quality. It's the striker and tiny fero rod that are different. Both of them are more than capable of starting a fire and making thermite.

I've found the serrated scraper work best flat across the face opposite the ferro rod rather than on a corner, and it produces piles pretty quickly. After awhile you end up with deep furrows and the serrated edge doesn't work as well, but then the smooth edge takes down the furrows really well and makes piles of them well. The really attractive part of these is the magnesium will burn in wet conditions, and if you make a larger pile can even help with less than dry tinder. The ferros on those wear out really quick though.

Having been in circumstances where I needed a fire, (and by the way, in my experience, at 12k ft a Bic lighter is a joke) I added up the strike times taking out all the pauses. The Chinese took 42 seconds of striking and burned for 9 seconds Dones took 18 seconds of striking but only burned for 7 seconds. I like the idea of the Ferro rod, but the finer shavings from the American made might make it worth it to spend the extra $10. My worst experience was building a fire after a rain in the Rockies at 12,000 feet. I was alone but had the paraffin boy scout fire starters, otherwise, I couldn't have done it. Having the magnesium in addition to the Ferro rod, in my experience can be necessary. Thanks for the vid

As often found when comparing HF stuff to Name Brand stuff, the name brand is superior. But is it 5X the price superior? That is the real question.

I used both and the Coleman model which is halfway between the 2 price wise. The cheapest one's ferro rod fell out after a year or so.

Such scientific! So precision!

You can 4 of the Chinese for the price of one USA....The very small difference, if there really is one, isn't worth it...thanks for video