How to Use Potassium Permanganate Fire Starter

Using Potassium Permanganate Fire Starter is a common topic for prepper and survival website.  It is commonly found in lists of things you should always keep in your first aid kits.

Potassium Permanganate or KMnO₄ is a strong oxidizer and when mixed with certain materials it will spontaneously ignite.  It will also kill bacteria and organisms in water.

Most commonly it is mixed with glycerine to burn.  I mostly use it to light my thermite.

I don’t think it is as effective as a prepper tool because the reaction is dependent on the ambient temperature.  If it is too cold it won’t work.  This video was in my cool basement and you saw the delayed reaction.

I also think that space taken up by a one time chemical would be better suited to a lighter, a pack of matches, flint and steel, a feocioum rod, or a fire piston.  Any of these take up less space and give more fires per size.

However, if you just think this is cool and you want to carry it for the mall ninja effect, I say go for it.  I am not hating on you, just carry a backup tool just in case.