AMK Pocket Survival kit Frensel Lens

langston302

langston302

Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
990
I have 4 of these little kits and had never played with the frensel lens to see how good it was. Well I changed that today. It works awesome, I was able to start a fire on the first try using some dry grass rubbed into a finer dust and some cedar shavings. I like it. Never thought I would like a F.L. so I never messed with one. Thank goodness I did. I know have a whole new toy to play with.
 
I have two of the AMK Pocket Survival Kits, and I have not played with the fresnel lens, so this threade is a good one, I wonder if anyone has actually had to use this kit in a real situation.

RickJ
 
Good stuff!

Lenses were my very first improvised fire starters as a kid. Quite a feat in England really, but thinking about it we had better summers back then.

A lens, later including fresnel lenses, was always part of any kits I made.

And as an 8 year old, chasing ants around with a lens-beam was almost as much fun as chasing girls around, which I discovered at 9! Didn't chase them with a lens though ;)
 
Without all of the rain and gloom, how could England have possibly invented Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin? Hear! Hear! To Gloom and Doom and rain by the bucketful I say! :D
 
Fresnel lenses work very well for fire starting. Also, I always carry one in case I lose my reading glasses (I'm old, and can't see up close without glasses). A fresnel lens may not be the ideal solution, but it's better than being blind.
 
FortyTwoBlades said:
I like their beer. :D
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Try a pint of 'Directors' bitter, which is brewed by Courage Brewery!
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My favourite used to be Old Fart, when it was brewed just down the road from me. There's a story about it too...

We once bought a big plastic tank of it to take camping to Dartmoor, a 300ish mile drive.

The tank went into the boot (trunk). We were following in another car and, half way to Dartmoor, started to smell a sweet, pleasant aroma. After a while we recognised it as Old Fart.

We got on the CB radio (pre car phone days) and we all pulled over at the next service station.

The Old Fart had started secondary fermentation in the heat and shaking, and had burst the tank. The worst thing was the loss of the Fart, but almost as bad was the fact that all the sleeping bags and clothes were in that car!

At least it was an excuse to discover real scrumpy!

Dave never could get rid of the smell of Fart in his car, and had to sell it a few months later.
 
I pulled this lens out of a survival whistle/button compass do-dad and used it to start coals on tinder fungus with ease. It goes in my kit now. Goinggear also has a credit card fresnel lens that can go in your wallet. I might be tempted with that one next time I order from him.

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Just outta interest I get extra Frensel lens from the chemist ( Pharmacy) in the old folk section.
Carl
 
I have wondered how these would work if it wasn't sunny enough. Could you use a flashlight for a light source and focus that light with a f.l. to start a fire? Has anyone tried something like that?

david
 
It can and has been done with a flashlight, but only a seriously modified one with a ridiculously powerful bulb. In fact I don't think they even focused it to a point, just pointed it near the paper!

In reality, not a chance. A large flashlight reflector can be used though, pointed towards the sun and with tinder suspended at its focal point.
 
foxyrick said:
It can and has been done with a flashlight, but only a seriously modified one with a ridiculously powerful bulb. In fact I don't think they even focused it to a point, just pointed it near the paper!

In reality, not a chance. A large flashlight reflector can be used though, pointed towards the sun and with tinder suspended at its focal point.
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I think we are talking about two different things ( or maybe I just read your post wrong) I was talking about pointing a flashlight at a fresnel lens and using the lens to focus the light onto tinder to start a fire.

It sounds to me like you are talking about just shining a light at a paper.

Am I reading it wrong?

David
 
It's not you reading it wrong; I didn't explain myself properly. Also, thinking about it a bit more, I might be not entirely correct...

With smaller flashlights, such as single lithium cell or couple of AA's, there is not a chance. Especially not with an LED. Not a cat in hell's.

With more powerful ones, maybe, but I do mean powerful, and well collimated.

I actually tried once with a six D-cell maglite. I thought of it because I could feel the warmth of the beam on my hand. It just didn't work though.

One problem is focusing the beam to a small enough spot to concentrate the heat energy. Sunlight is easy to focus to a point because its light is near enough a parallel beam because the source is distant. The flashlight bulb isn't and simply won't focus to a small point to concentrate the energy.

I've just tried with a 200 lumen LED flashlight, using a good 4" glass lens, on the back of my hand. Managed to get a fairly small circle but no warmth.

I also tried with a 20W halogen lamp on my desk next to me, way more powerful than most flashlights. Simply couldn't get that to focus at all.

Now, if you have a high power flashlight, that's well collimated into a long-throwing beam, like the really expensive surefire tactical jobs, then maybe, just maybe, it might be do-able. I wish I had one to try it out - any volunteers??? I'm betting it still won't work though.

My 'tinder' of choice would be finely powdered potassium permanganate (2 parts) and icing sugar (1 part) well mixed, because it lights really easily from a lens.

I the only ways to use a normal flashlight to light a fire are:

1. Use wirewool to short the cells, or improvise a fuse wire and wrap that around some good tinder.

2. If it's got a good sized reflector, suspend some tinder at the focal point (where the bulb is usually) and point it at the sun.

3. Wrap some good, preferably dark/charred tinder around the bulb. Might get hot enough to ignite before the bulb burns out from overheating.

4. Carefully break the bulb's glass off and use the filament to light your tinder - be quick, it'll burn through quickly.

5. If you've got unprotected, rechargeable lithium cells, reverse-short them, put them in your fire bundle and run away.
 
kgd said:
Goinggear also has a credit card fresnel lens that can go in your wallet. I might be tempted with that one next time I order from him.
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I've been wanting one of those for a long time now and was going to ask where to buy just a lens, thanks for the tip KGD :thumbup:
 
Ah, thanks DB :thumbup: I'm going to order some stuff from goinggear anyway, but good to know drug stores have em too.
 
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