Ok, first off, the guy who gave this a 1 star review, probably didn't know how to use it. I started a fire with this baby that turned into a raging 6' x 6' inferno, it took me all of 13 seconds. First off, you don't want CHUNKS of magnesium... you want to scrape it off into a fine powder, which is easier to ignite with the spark thrower on the reverse side. The spark thrower works flawlessly. This little tool easily lights kindling if you actually KNOW what you are doing. I even lit a friend's cigarette with it, just for kicks (and to see if I could do it).

The chain it comes on is crap, your typical ball chain that they put dollar store "dog tags" on. It is long enough that you do not have to take it apart to use both pieces though. I simply added a small extension from another ball chain I had, and now it is on a necklace length chain, easy fix. If it really bothers you, para cord is 5$ for 500 ft at my local hardware store, go get it.

I bought this along with the Swedish Firesteel to test them out. I like this product due to the fact that you can shave the magnesium off and use it to start the tender, however I found that the flint was difficult to use and did not put off much spark. It did spark, though. The swedish firesteel throws of a much bigger and hotter spark and was much easier to use, however if you do not have good tender it doesn't matter much. I think that having both of them together is good and they are both are a relatively inexpensive purchase if you consider how valuable they are when needed.

I don't understand all the glowing reviews. The little "saw" you get with this product can't produce anything more than tiny specks of magnesium. I was expecting easily-cut flakes. It's also small and pretty flimsy, and is attached by a tiny chain which means you have to separate the saw from the other piece to use the thing. It took me about fifty strikes to ignite a piece of tissue, and the saw blade cut into my forefinger in the process. There has to be something better out there.

takes some trial and error but once i figured it out it stays in my camping backpack

does its job... try it out once when you get it so you know how to use it in the backcountry