03-14-2007, 16:30
No Belay
Savoring Happy!
Magnesium Fire Maelstrom
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Was on Whee-bay a couple of weeks ago and saw a listing for magnesium shavings to use as fire starters. Thought "this has got to be cool" and bought a pound. I was expecting a sandwich bag full but when it got here, I was surprised to see it was a gallon zip-lock full of
saw shavings and little fuzzy balls coated in gun powder. Thought "this really is cool."
My girlfriend was using the stove so I couldn't try it under the exhaust fan where I usually do my Alky stove training. Instead I got a coffee can, bad choice, turned it over, and poured about a tablespoon of the shavings over one of the fuzzy balls that I set on the bottom of the inverted can. Expecting a nice subtle tinder drying type fire, I struck a match to the fuzzy ball. It initially just kind of smoldered but then a small shaving of the magnesium ignited and that's the last thing I remember seeing before the big flash. Have you ever heard 6 smoke alarms going off at the same time?
Anywho, as my vision began to come back, I was pleased to see there was very little flame left on the top of the coffee can, just allot of smoke. Then I realized the magnesium had burned through the can and was now devouring the top of my kitchen island cabinet. Being a cool headed experimenter, I grabbed an oven mitt and the turkey roaster pan. In total control, I knocked the can off onto the floor and as I wiped the burning magnesium off the counter and towards the roaster pan, there was another blinding flash. Kinda looked like the 4th of July, New Years Eve in New York, and Hiroshima all rolled into one. Thank God, somewhere between the counter top and the pan, the remaining metal from hell had ignited and disappeared. All that remained were little black shards stuck in my forehead, arms, and stomach. The underarmor T I was wearing had been reduced to a Richard Simons look alike. Didn't get lucky that night...in fact didn't even get dinner.
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