Aurora Fire Starter 440C Black

To start with, I don't know very much about magnesium or other fire-starters, so my review here might be moot for those more experienced.But if you've never really owned one and are curious what a first timer's experience is, read on.I received these just a few days ago (I purchased two for bug out bags).In terms of a flint creating a spark, my only other reference are lighters and I can definitely see that compared to a lighter, this thing produces a lot more sparks. As a birthday gift, I receive the Zippo flint and tinder that is in an orange zippo case. That solution works just fine and I love the all in one solution it provides, but the Magnesium fire starter is much more effective at producing sparks.I've tested three methods for starting fires over the past few days, all using the aurora, and while some methods are more efficient than others, they all work, proving that these kinds of sparking tools are effective, and with 4K strikes, will last a long time and more importantly, have an indefinite shelf life as far as I can tell. Something that is of critical importance to me.For those experience with starting fires, my efforts may seem trivial, but such as they are:- cotton smeared with vaseline: 1-5 strike (less than 10 seconds to get a fire going, last about 4 minutes)- twine soaked and dried in parafin wax: 10-20 strikes (about a minute to get a fire going, last about 2 minutes)- super light hair-like dried weed tinder: 20-50 strikes (about 5 minutes to get a fire going, last about a minute)- thin branch tinder: 100+ strikes (about 15 minutes to get a fire going, last about 2 minutes)I'm sure with practice, I'll improve those times for naturally found tinder, but in either case, this magnesium starter does work effectively.Some descriptors:- The long cap holds the metal striker blade in an idiot proof bracket- There is an o-ring to protect the magnesium portion from getting wet....why I dunno, it works when wet- It's heavier than another magnesium starter i held in hand at a retail store- The metal cap is largely unnecessary, making me think this is stylistic more than functional- The price is expensive compared to others, but I think it's because of that metal cap.A cheaper one would do just fine.- I you don't mind a premium for that style, I have to admit, it does look good.- There is an initial coating that you have to get through before striking produces any sparks, but just a few strikes and you're through that layer.I really believe, though, that you need a lot of practice with this striker, setting up tinder, and building up fires to really make firestarting effective in a real world environment. So if you get one, try to practice building fires every once in a while. Like grilling great steaks, driving a manual shift, or doing basic tricks on a bicycle, no practice makes you rusty. And rusty in a real world mission critical scenario could get you into trouble.

I have used this ferrocerium rod to start about 10 fires or so since receiving it. This model throws sparks rather well when I use my carbon steel field knife to scrape it. The provided striker doesn't seem to be the easiest method, at least for me. I have had no problem with the ferro rod coming loose from the casing as I have seen with other types. It is a bit larger than other ferro rods but it is very light weight. Can ignite a bird nest of gathered dry materials easy enough but a bit of char cloth or a cotton ball added to the mix and you will have a flame within 1-2 strikes.

Workmanship is top notch, actual use not so much. Very hard to get the perfect angle while directing the sparks, short rod and handle along with the scraper location make this a very hard device to use with my wood burning stoves. Makes a nice back up to my back up fire steel, won’t get much use at all.

looks like one, gets put in the search for one, but not one, for someone who may accidentally think it's a fire piston it's not. for my lost, waste of time and money

I ordered this along with a few other items and chose the standard shipping method. It took over two weeks to arrive, It was the last to arrive, it came by US Postal service first class. Now I know it doesn't take two weeks for first class post. As for the product, The rod was 1/2 the diameter of one I purchased for $4.00 at wall mart and the striker is too small. The cheaper one threw better sparks and even with the cheep striker it worked better. The only plus is that it comes in a sealed aluminum rod that holds everything together. Your paying for the aluminum case and getting a cheap fero rod. There are much better products out there for less. Oh and they threw in two cotton balls in the package as well to "practice" with.

When I stumbled upon fire starters I just had to have one. Since they're relatively inexpensive and I couldn't narrow it down to one particular product, I got two of them. I figured if I didn't care for one of them I would give it away as a gift. As it turns out that's exactly what I'm going to do.Anyway, I got this one, the Black Aurora Magnesium Fire Starter 440C Blade. The other one I got is the Ultimate Survival Technologies StrikeForce Fire Started Orange. I'll call them "Black" and "Orange."The Orange appealed to me because of it's overall size and the diameter of it's flint (neither too small). It also has a little hollow portion inside the top to keep some flammable material. In addition the top is tethered to the bottom so they don't get separated. All excellent features.The advertising and description of the Black convinced me to give it a try. Maybe the word "Magnesium" or "440C" helped. Although there are far harder steels than 440C. The Black is also advertised with a 1/4" diameter flint, not all that wide. Overall a lot smaller than the Orange. In the case of fire starters, it's a matter of individual preference if size matters.Now for the most important part. How do they perform? I love Amazon. Price, service, shipping, guarantee, etc. Not necessarily in that order. I've bought a lot from Amazon including these two fire starters. More than I like to think about. Thousands! My purchases are heavily based upon reviews unless it's a relatively new product. Some reviews read like Consumers Report. That's fine. This isn't one of them.I tried starting a fire with something a little more challenging than a cotton ball. A tissue. I practiced with both fire starters so I knew what I was doing. Something I highly recommend. I first used the Orange. After about 10 or 12 healthy strokes on the flint producing good sparks the tissue would NOT ignite. I'm pretty sure if I continued it would have caught fire. I really wanted the Orange to work. I was routing for it. I decided to stop and go back inside the house and get the Black. On the second stroke the Black started the tissue burning. Not the results I was expecting. My own little insignificant test makes the Black Aurora Magnesium Fire Started the winner. There's a lot of other fire starters out there. Perhaps it's the Magnesium that makes the difference. Watching the sparks produced by both fire starters I would definitely say the Black produced a much more intense and hotter ignition. There you have it.