Two items I see often on bushcraft sites are related to lighters and fire steels. I wanted to do a little test of fire steels so I purchased a Coghlans and a Light My Fire 2.0. Fatwood isn't something I run across much in these parts so I stopped by the hardware store the next town over and purchase a sealed four pound bag for just under $4.00. I had it setting at home waiting for a little warmer weather and notice the bag was fogging up. The fatwood was very wet so I opened the bag set it out on the deck for a day and then moved it to zip loc bags left open to help it dry. I selected two sticks, one look very good the other no so much. After about an hour of trying I never was able to get the fat wood to fire up with the Coghlans steel despite getting good sparks. I wanted to believe it would work better since it through large globs of hot metal sparks, even though it was much harder to control. I even tried shaving part of the fire steel making a little pile and lite that trying to get the fatwood to burn. No luck. I broke out the waxed jute lit it and transferred it to the fat wood to be sure it would burn.
Next up I pulled out Light My Fire 2.0 and was pleased how much easier it was to produce and control the sparks. The claim 5000 degree sparks so I figure it should work. I did not make fatwood dust, just thin feather shavings with my Mora. I use the 2.0 striker than came with the steel and use small controlled strikes at the end of the rod. On the sixth try it was a go! I couldn't believe how much better the Light My Fire worked over the Coghlans. Lesson learned.
Next up Zippo range band test update.
I read many people say they prefer the zippo, but do not like the fact the fluid evaporates quickly. Times listed ranges from a couple days to two weeks. A few have resopnded saying Peanut lighter last up to six months because they are sealed, and a few wonder if a range band on a Zippos would offer any improvement.
I purchase three zippo lighters, two Case brands and a Wal-Mart purchase Zippo. I filled all three on the same day and did notice both Case branded lighters had a tighter fit and finish. I elected to use the loose fitting Wal-Mart Zippo as a Ranger banded lighter in the first series. I made sure all three would light and then put the band in place on one and sat them on the shelf. The following Saturday I made sure both unbanded lighters worked and returned them to the shelf for another week. To shorten the review on the third Saturday one of the unbanded lighter did not work at all and the second was hard to light. Thinking this might be telling me it two was low I tried again later that day and it too would not light. It appears that three weeks is the limit for a mostly unused Zippo before the fuel evaporates. The Banded Zippo was tested and found to be in good working order. I'll try it again in a week.
After this test is completed I'll need to rotate the band to see if it makes a difference to account for differences in the lighters fit and finish. After that I'll carry each to see if orientation in ones pocket makes a difference in how fast the fluid evaporates.
Next up I pulled out Light My Fire 2.0 and was pleased how much easier it was to produce and control the sparks. The claim 5000 degree sparks so I figure it should work. I did not make fatwood dust, just thin feather shavings with my Mora. I use the 2.0 striker than came with the steel and use small controlled strikes at the end of the rod. On the sixth try it was a go! I couldn't believe how much better the Light My Fire worked over the Coghlans. Lesson learned.
Next up Zippo range band test update.
I read many people say they prefer the zippo, but do not like the fact the fluid evaporates quickly. Times listed ranges from a couple days to two weeks. A few have resopnded saying Peanut lighter last up to six months because they are sealed, and a few wonder if a range band on a Zippos would offer any improvement.
I purchase three zippo lighters, two Case brands and a Wal-Mart purchase Zippo. I filled all three on the same day and did notice both Case branded lighters had a tighter fit and finish. I elected to use the loose fitting Wal-Mart Zippo as a Ranger banded lighter in the first series. I made sure all three would light and then put the band in place on one and sat them on the shelf. The following Saturday I made sure both unbanded lighters worked and returned them to the shelf for another week. To shorten the review on the third Saturday one of the unbanded lighter did not work at all and the second was hard to light. Thinking this might be telling me it two was low I tried again later that day and it too would not light. It appears that three weeks is the limit for a mostly unused Zippo before the fuel evaporates. The Banded Zippo was tested and found to be in good working order. I'll try it again in a week.
After this test is completed I'll need to rotate the band to see if it makes a difference to account for differences in the lighters fit and finish. After that I'll carry each to see if orientation in ones pocket makes a difference in how fast the fluid evaporates.
I did have a little better luck with the LMF striker and various knives. I also used the Coghlans striker on the LMF and that worked great. The issues I discovered is the metal is soft and requires heavy fast strikes to be effective. Even so the metal sparks produced just simply isn't as hot. I did light a ton of fires with the Coghlans, but any natural tender just took too much effort and often made me say dirty words.