Here's the "flint and steel" kit (http://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Issue-Magnesium-Survival-Starter/dp/B0002X1IOM/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-3953221-1622349?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1178109512&sr=8-3) I and a million other campers have. I can't imagine Harry having any other kind.
It's a bar of magnesium with a strip of "flint" along one slide. You use a pocketknife to shave bits of magnesium off the bar onto the top of some kindling. Then you strike your (ragged edge of) keys or the saw blade of a swiss army knife rapidly against the "flint" or spaking side of the block. This puts sparks onto the magnesium shavings wich burn hot enough to catch the kindling on fire.
I have some old broken flint arrowheads and have made sparks with them and my keys before, but I've never started a fire that way. Every hiker I've ever known used one of these magnesium bars. Sometimes when they are sold they are called Fire Flint sets.
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It's a bar of magnesium with a strip of "flint" along one slide. You use a pocketknife to shave bits of magnesium off the bar onto the top of some kindling. Then you strike your (ragged edge of) keys or the saw blade of a swiss army knife rapidly against the "flint" or spaking side of the block. This puts sparks onto the magnesium shavings wich burn hot enough to catch the kindling on fire.
I have some old broken flint arrowheads and have made sparks with them and my keys before, but I've never started a fire that way. Every hiker I've ever known used one of these magnesium bars. Sometimes when they are sold they are called Fire Flint sets.