BIC lighter sparks

[anthonyyy]

Could you start a fire with the sparks a bic lighter which had run out of fuel?
Without using tinder like petrol meths etc?

 

[jason01]

The sparks from a Bic with no gas will light charcloth fairly easily and therefore probably (less easily) some of the tinder fungi, I doubt that youd manage to light birch bark or similar directly though, the sparks from a Bic are very small.

 

[KIMBOKO]

Torn up tissues will work.

 

[leon-1]

I was playing with this in the early nineties, don't try to create a light from one single strike. Your better bet is to slowly grind filings of the flint from the lighter so they fall in your tinder (time consuming) and then give it a decent grind to ignite the filings from the flint.

Whichever tinder you use make sure it is reasonably fine, lite, dry and you will be able to get it to go, I have managed to get 000 grade wirewool to light from it in Cyprus, but it will take a lot of work to get there.

 

[rich59]

The "flint" is almost certainly a bit of ferrocerium. This stuff easily ignites from friction. The size of the spark relates to its power to light various tinders. The size of the spark also relates to the size of the chunk that you scrape off it. If you can get the flint out and scrape if forcibly with a knife you might be able to get a juicier spark that could ignite birch bark etc..

 

[jason01]

Good idea Leon, I'd forgotten you can build up a little pile of dust and set it off like a sparkler

It is some kind of ferocium Rich but theyre usually too small to handle outside of the little spark generator that comes with the lighter (which is conveniently removable as a stand alone sparker or a tip tamper if you roll your own), I have a new one here and its 4mm x 2.5mm, wouldnt fancy trying to hold it and scrape it with a knife at the same time

 

[TwoFourAlpha]

I have the snapped off top of a disposable bic-type lighter tied to my petrol stove. I can't lose it then.

 

[innocent bystander]

I used to keep the lighter wheel and flint from a swan type refillable lighter in a resealable bag, along with a good wad of cotton wool. Seemed to work okay.

Also read of people setting the flints into perspex after heating the perspex up, and you could get a decent wad of sparks from enough of them... Not tried it myself..

 

[Grooveski]

Does anyone use welding lighters? They chuck off a pile of sparks and the replacement heads are cheap.

 

[ChrisKavanaugh]

With care, as allready discussed you can. What I truly do not understand is how anyone could fall into such desperate circumstances . It's ironic, but I've collected more anecdotal stories about people who used a $1 BIC in an emergency than all other systems combined. It hardly seems fair: I learned all these show off firemaking strategems and my #1 method is this translucent pink bit of indulgent castoff society I just carry extras

 

[DOC-CANADA]

Could you start a fire with the sparks a bic lighter which had run out of fuel?
Without using tinder like petrol meths etc?

I don't know if anybody has mentioned this or not (still trying to figure out how to navigate in this new format), but the pappus (?) or fuzz from a mature Thistle (Cirsium spp.) or Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) will ignite quite easily from the spark from a fuel challenged (how's that for political correctness? ) Bic lighter. Also to make it easier, remove the chrome guard, but don't throw it away. It makes a good attractant when spearing fish.

Doc

 

[rowen]

In prison when your lighter has ran out of gas you can grind the flint, as mentioned before, into a rizzla or thin sheet of tissue then egnight it with a spark. Many a inmate has been saved from overnight nicotine withdrawal by this, It works remarkably well

Ps, i was told about this