Can Magnesium Fire Starters Be Dangerous?

[tribdog]

Okay, so I'm standing in the store minding my own business when I see a keychain that is really a Magnesium fire starter. Hey I thought that's cool, I think I'll buy that. so I shelled out the eight bucks and brought it home. The instructions on the back say that you are supposed to use a knife to shave a pile of magnesium off of the block, then turn the block around and run the knife along a striker imbedded there. Sparks hit the pile and poof, super hot fire. The magnesium block won't burn, but the pile does, says the instructions on the back.
I shaved and shaved and shaved the block and got a nice little pile of magnesium and then I sparked the sparker and poof fire. Cool.
That's when I started looking for something cool to burn. I didn't see anything, then I looked at the block of magnesium. Maybe the people who wrote the instructions couldn't light the block on fire, they weren't as resourceful as I was. They didn't think about shaving a nice size pile, then prying the striker off the block, then placing the pile on top of the block and sparking it.
I sparked the pile and poof, it started burning, and burning and then it went out. The block didn't catch on fire, then the piece of wood I had used to shield the carpet from the fire (I learned my lesson) started smoking. I picked it up to take it outside. I pulled the door, and the corner hit the piece of wood and the hot block of magnesium slid onto my thumb.
I made that magnesium burn...me.

 

[franznietzsche]

There you go again tribdog, bravely going where no product safety consultant would have ever thought anyone would be dumb enough to go before.

I don't suppose you stopped to think that had you lit the whole block, you would have been blinded?

 

[Astronuc]

Cold water (or cold compress) on the burned area for up to an hour.

Alovera ointment or cream. A friend also breaks Vitamin E capsules and rubs it into the skin.

If you got blisters, use a topical antibiotic.

 

[tribdog]

There you go again tribdog, bravely going where no product safety consultant would have ever thought anyone would be dumb enough to go before.

I don't suppose you stopped to think that had you lit the whole block, you would have been blinded?

Does it sound like I was thinking? do people who think do the crap I do?

 

[BoulderHead]

Tribdog, have you ever filled a 55-Gal. drum full of gasoline, placed it over by the old G.M. proving grounds S. of Gilbert, then fired at it from a distance with a high-powered, scoped rifle? (me neither, I know nothing about the matter)

 

[Evo]

Men.

 

[tribdog]

Tribdog, have you ever filled a 55-Gal. drum full of gasoline, placed it over by the old G.M. proving grounds S. of Gilbert, then fired at it from a distance with a high-powered, scoped rifle? (me neither, I know nothing about the matter)

as a matter of fact I was over there about a week ago, no gas or gun however.

 

[Moonbear]

It's not as bad as I expected. When you started the story with a block of magnesium fire starter, I was wondering if you'd burned down your building and were posting from some public library or homeless shelter tonight.

Don't you know yet not to play with fire?

(Please, server gods, let me post this! I haven't been able to post all night. )

 

[Moonbear]

Woo hoo! Never underestimate the power of prayer. I'm so addicted to PF and it's been driving me crazy that I haven't been able to get a single message to post all night! Greg must have finally found a gremlin exterminator for me. Yay!

 

[Gokul43201]

I too was having trouble with PF last night.

 

[tribdog]

It always scares me when people I'm not expecting to say anything suddenly pop up and comment on something in one of my threads. I don't really believe that that many people read what I write. I'm sort of background noise. I voted for Gokul in like 5 out of the 9 categories, so I see him in here commenting in my thread and I don't know if I'm honored that he stopped by, or saddened that a genius has lowered himself to wallow through my mouth poo.

 

[tribdog]

lol, what does that tell you about how I feel about the regulars in my threads?

 

[Moonbear]

I too was having trouble with PF last night.

Must have been some relay between OH and wherever PF lives that was screwed up then. I don't know if relay is the right term, but something where the signal from my computer gets directed out in the direction of the PF server. Wish I had known it was an OH problem, I wouldn't have needed to bug Greg panicking that something got screwed up in my user settings and having him call out the gremlin exterminators. But I was starting to get the DTs from PF withdrawal!

tribdog, are you saying the rest of us who reply to your threads are doo doo? More like easily amused. I think I better get back to building that shrine.

 

[Gokul43201]

Nah Moonbear, trib just likes to pull my leg every so often

The unexpected is what propels the mysterious tribdog aura. "How is it", you may have asked yourself "that on the one hand, he can be clever and witty, while on the other, use a piece of wood as a flame retardant ?" It's all a part of the tribdog mystique.