A crazy idea to go with Pitdogs

kgd

kgd

Joined
Feb 28, 2007
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Okay, I had a thought and want to act on it, but I can't find my old zippo lighter. I remember buying a zippo at one point because I thought it was cool. Then it ran out of fuel on me in a matter of days and I started not trusting it. Anyhow, I know there are zippo fans out there and we've seen a bunch of threads including the cool experiment with the ranger band/fuel conservation.

My crazy idea has less to do with practicality and more with aesthetics and reading all the 'show me your kit' threads. There are all kinds of ways of packing in tinders. We see the firesteel + capsule sold by Storl as well as RC. Here is my idea. Take an old zippo out and gut it of the wicking wadding material. Stuff that with charcloth, maybe some twine. Then use the sparking wheel as your ignition source. You might have to mod the shield around the wheel to work....

Has anybody ever done this? Perhaps it is a bit silly, but you would have a rather nice little package for semi-primitive fire starting. I'm looking for my old one now to try it out.
 
Sound like a great idea plus it would be very small :thumbup:
 
That actually sounds quite doable! You might just want to cut off the "chimney" of the zippo off completely to get better access to the flint with the cloth.
 
I know I`ve got some old Zippos around here. I`ll give it a try and let you guys know the results.
 
I've done this with an old knock-off Zippo and it works great !!
Cut the chimney at about a 45 degree angle to allow better access to the sparks. You can't remove it completely as it supports the wheel.
Tried putting charcloth in the base but found it crumbled when pulling it out, however a PJCB or two will fit in there nicely.
 
Here is the modified lighter

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PJCB lit pretty easily.

244za5k.jpg
 
That is a pretty cool idea, but I am not sure I could get myself to cut up one of my zippos :{ lol
 
Awesome John! Very cool. Zippo fire kit. Very cool of you to take pics and show us it in action too!
 
I would suggest leaving the cotten and wick inside there, but cutting the chimney in two. that way you have a reg zippo till the fuel craps out, then you have still semi wet with lighter fluid cotten balls. another tip i use is to conserve fuel. just take a small piece of bike tire innertube and wrap where the lid meats the case to conserve alot of fuel.
 
I saw this years ago on some now-defunct survival website. Although I'm not a fan of Zippos I haven't had the guts to cut one of mine down yet.

Good idea!
 
I wonder if the chimney trim is necessary, or if the PJ ball could be torn in half, one half inserted into the chimney and the other half waiting in the tinder bundle. Just imagining, and I do not have the answer. Any other thoughts?
 
I saw a video on youtube not long ago about that. The guy gutted it out and used it in that same manner. Great idea! But I can't find the video.
 
I have a bunch of spare Zippo's I got from a Camel smokes rep at a bar, I may give this a shot. One question from the forum newbie though, what is PJCB?
 
Petroleum Jelly Cotton Ball

EDIT: Beat to it. Must have been idle on the page for a while.
 
nc527 said:
I would suggest leaving the cotten and wick inside there, but cutting the chimney in two. that way you have a reg zippo till the fuel craps out, then you have still semi wet with lighter fluid cotten balls. another tip i use is to conserve fuel. just take a small piece of bike tire innertube and wrap where the lid meats the case to conserve alot of fuel.
Click to expand...
I kind of think this is a better idea. Use it and if it ever does run out, you can tear the cotton out. Is it for sure cotton on the inside though?
 
among zippo collectors this is a debated issue, wheather theres cotten or rayon balls in the lighter. Zippo has a poster with a breakdown of all parts of the lighter showing rayon balls, but they burn like cotten as my own tests have proved.
 
I use the Z-Plus insert in my Zippo now, as 1) it's cool, and 2) I no longer get Naptha rash. :D

Crazy thing, since I replaced the Zippo insert with the Z-Plus, I can't find my Zippo insert. I've been thinking about buying another one, but I could swear I have one or two others floating around here some where that belonged to my Dad.
 
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