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Random Thought Thread

tinfoil hat timmy said:
Zippos offer convenience of the one handed open imo. for camping and backpack storage however I agree zippo falls very short on storability with fluid.
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True. I should have elaborated - the Exotac blows the Zippo out of the water when it comes to carrying a lighter in the outdoors, in challenging wet conditions, etc. due to it being sealed with an o-ring. And if you're someone who doesn't use a lighter on a regular basis, but wants to know that it's going to still have fluid in it in case of an emergency need.

For EDC, Zippos are just fine.
 
Seems like I need to rant about FedEx weekly. They left a Dyson V15 right by my mailbox which is on a busy rural road. That would have been a nice Christmas gift for someone if I didn't go pick up the package after getting a "Delivered" notification. Since my Ring didn't trigger in my driveway, I knew exactly where they put it.

I guess I'll be giving them a call again, but I'm not sure what can be done since they already said they would make sure they didn't do that again.

u7Di6Am.jpg


If I have a Carothers delivery from FedEx, I'll be sitting right by my mailbox. :mad:
 
Smithhammer said:
True. I should have elaborated - the Exotac blows the Zippo out of the water when it comes to carrying a lighter in the outdoors, in challenging wet conditions, etc. due to it being sealed with an o-ring. And if you're someone who doesn't use a lighter on a regular basis, but wants to know that it's going to still have fluid in it in case of an emergency need.

For EDC, Zippos are just fine.
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For outdoors/backpack lighters, I've had one of the Trekker Stormproof butane jet lighters since before the company was bought over by UST (~10 years ago?).

I've only ever filled it with Vector quintuple filtered butane (I don't smoke, so it's only ever used for backpacking/camping and I'm still on the same ~decade old can of Vector butane lol).

The orange rubber armor (which works really well. Dropped the lighter on rocks and it just shrugged it off), is all grungy (tried washing it wish Dawn dish soap. Nope. Still grungy 😅), but isn't cracking or peeling. I like that the rubber armor has a cap with 2 locking/closing mechanisms to keep it closed/protected, but the lighter was designed to be easily operated 1-handed.

It still lights on the first try, every time (easy trick of pushing the button a tiny bit slower, so I hear the hiss of butane a fraction of a second before the spark ignites it), and in that decade of owning it, there were years I never made it out camping, and the lighter was still at least 3/4 full despite sitting unused for 12-18 months (and yep, still lit on the first try). And since it's a jet lighter, anything short of ridiculous wind doesn't faze it one bit.
 
bluemax_1 said:
For outdoors/backpack lighters, I've had one of the Trekker Stormproof butane jet lighters since before the company was bought over by UST (~10 years ago?).

I've only ever filled it with Vector quintuple filtered butane (I don't smoke, so it's only ever used for backpacking/camping and I'm still on the same ~decade old can of Vector butane lol).

The orange rubber armor (which works really well. Dropped the lighter on rocks and it just shrugged it off), is all grungy (tried washing it wish Dawn dish soap. Nope. Still grungy 😅), but isn't cracking or peeling. I like that the rubber armor has a cap with 2 locking/closing mechanisms to keep it closed/protected, but the lighter was designed to be easily operated 1-handed.

It still lights on the first try, every time (easy trick of pushing the button a tiny bit slower, so I hear the hiss of butane a fraction of a second before the spark ignites it), and in that decade of owning it, there were years I never made it out camping, and the lighter was still at least 3/4 full despite sitting unused for 12-18 months (and yep, still lit on the first try). And since it's a jet lighter, anything short of ridiculous wind doesn't faze it one bit.
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For a simple and cheap 'outdoorproofing' upgrade for Bic lighters, the Exotac 'Firesleeves' are pretty awesome, too. I have those stashed in just about every pack I own.

fireSLEEVE_Orange_and_Black_Pers_820x.jpg


Confession - after a dozen years of working in the field in some very wet, cold parts of the globe, I might be slightly paranoid about keeping lighters dry. ;)
 
Smithhammer said:
For a simple and cheap 'outdoorproofing' upgrade for Bic lighters, the Exotac 'Firesleeves' are pretty awesome, too. I have those stashed in just about every pack I own.

fireSLEEVE_Orange_and_Black_Pers_820x.jpg


Confession - after a dozen years of working in the field in some very wet, cold parts of the globe, I might be slightly paranoid about keeping lighters dry. ;)
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I don’t smoke but used this for work back in the day. Would be neat if it had a carry case. C7CA4746-938E-4121-9B99-D6C3C23E3812.jpegADE49342-1FE4-4F35-B56D-2E7DE8518F79.jpeg
 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
dropping hints or what? very cool.

I'm going through my head to try and think how I would process that and its complicated but not overly so.

very clean work right there. not easy to do but less complicated than you'd think. order of operations is important
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I can do it on a mill. I have. But I would have to cheat the start position to do that on a lathe. I also only know how to higbee on a mill. I know it can be done on a lathe but I don't know how.
 
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