By Christopher Nyerges
Here is the story of the magnesium fire starter, and how to get an original.
BACKGROUND
In my early quest to learn, understand, and master the basic survival skills of all time, I knew that botany was right at the top of the list. The knowledge of local plants and their uses was a major key to food, medicine, shelter, cordage, and even fire.
And the second most important skill was fire. It was obviously so important that we used Larry Dean Olsen’s “Outdoor Survival Skills” book and tried and tried making fire with the bow and drill. We gradually moved on to other methods such as flint and steel, and the hand drill.
So just imagine my great elation sometime around 1978 when I first saw the Magnesium Fire Starter, invented by Sol Levenson of Doan manufacturing, in Cleveland, Ohio . It was revolutionary! I knew it would change the way we made fire, and it would be the new “must-have” tool. It would render us secure in our fire needs!
The tool is a slim block of magnesium, with a ferrocerium rod attached to one side. It fits onto your keychain with no moving parts and nothing to refill Simple! Elegant. You scrape any part of the silver magnesium and bunch the shavings into a pile. Then, with your knife, you scrape the ferrocerium to produce sparks, and you direct those sparks into the shavings. Presto! You have a fire.
In the late 1970s when this tool was released, we practiced all the time, and alongside the bow and drill when we taught, we showed the future of fire starting, the magnesium fire starter.
We found that we could get hundreds of fires from a single tool, and we imagine even more but we’ve never fully worn down a tool.
We recall someone once fearfully asking us if the tool could explode in your pocket. Impossible! We have tossed these tools into our fire just to see what might happen. It takes maybe 10 minutes and then you see a bright white light burning for a few minutes as the magnesium is consumed, but no explosion, and nothing unsafe.
We knew that this was a major turning point in humankind’s ability to make fire, and always have the ready-availability of fire. Sure, we carry Bic lighters, but they don’t last as long nor are they as durable as the magnesium fire starter.
Sol Levenson had been operating a metal shop in Cleveland and told me how he noticed he had to be very careful with magnesium shavings. “One spark, and they go off!” he said. He said he got to thinking, “maybe I can make a camping product from magnesium.” That was the birth of the magnesium fire starter.
I finally met Sol Levenson in the late 1990s at his home when I was in Ohio for a Y2K show. Sol was very upbeat, and talked about motorcycling to L.A., but his wife told me that his health had declined, and that motorcycling to L.A. was just wishful thinking.
Soon, there were other magnesium and ferrocerium devices available, nearly all bulkier and more expensive. And there were knock-offs from the original Doan fire-starter, but the knocks-offs never performed like the original.
After Sol died, we learned that his son-in-law was maintaining the company, and that the cheap knock-offs were taking its toll. Finally, by about 2021, the decision was made that the original magnesium fire starters would be no longer made, and the company would be closing its doors for good. I was very upset, but I knew that because of the work done by the Doan company, and all the imitators, we’re never have to worry about making fire again. Of course, there will always be Bic lighters too!
Sol’s son-in-law had been running the business after Sol died. Just before they shut down the company, the son-in-law sold me the last remaining stock of their fire-starters, packed as they were for military survival kits. So I have enough fire-starters to sell for a year or two. I use them, and I sell them to my students.
Cheap knock-offs are available, but they do not perform as well as the original. If you want an original, purchase from School of Self-Reliance,Box 41834, EagleRock,CA 90041. They are $15 each, or 3 for $40, 10 for $110… You can also go to the web site at www.SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com, or contact me directly at christopher_nyerges@yahoo.com
