Fire from ice

[Forest fella]

Has anyone tried making fire from a ice Magnifying Glass yet,while we still have the snow.

 

[dangerpie]

Making fire from ice magnifying glass! Now thats cool! (wahey!)
I've never even heard of this being done I seem to be learning stuff every day on here!

Pete

 

[HillBill]

Is it even possible??

 

[Oblio13]

I've tried it several times, and have never even come close. Not a wisp of smoke or even a dark spot on the tinder. I think there's too much air in ice for it to transmit enough light. Maybe glacial ice would work better.

 

[Peter_t]

i saw it on mythbusters, it is posable but they had to use specialy manufactured clear ice used in ice sculptures so its not posable in the bush

pete

 

[IanM]

Water absorbs infra red wavelengths "http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/vibrat.html" (that is why the sky is blue) so I would be surprised that it would be possible to transmit enough energy through an ice lens or a condom of water to ignite fire.

Love to see it though as well as lighting a fire from moonlight!!

 

[John Fenna]

I have seen the condom full of water work - it was quick and easy!
It was not done by a "fire Guru" but by a mate of mine using a condom full of river water...I must try it myself sometime, when there is a good strong sun....

 

[gregorach]

If you can find clear enough ice, I believe it's do-able. The trick to getting clear ice is to freeze it slowly - I've certainly seen perfectly clear ice in my water butts.

 

[Oblio13]

If you can find clear enough ice, I believe it's do-able.

Try it and let us know how you do. I just looked through a few of the survival guides on my bookshelves. A few of them mention it, but the one I consider most complete and useful (USAF Search and Rescue Survival Training) does not.

I suspect that, like the infamous solar still, it's an often-repeated myth, and won't work except under perfect "laboratory conditions".

One of my pet peeves is survival authors who propound things they haven't actually tried, especially considering the subject. (As another example, I have a book with a photo of a figure-4 trap, and the trigger with the bait on it is OUTSIDE of the rock that's supposed to fall on the critter.)

 

[gregorach]

Hey, I said "do-able", not "practical".

 

[Oblio13]

Hey, I said "do-able", not "practical".

Give it a go anyway, be the first to post it on Youtube and you'll make bushcraft history.

 

[gregorach]

If we get some more cold weather, I might just have a crack at it if I can get a thick enough piece of clear ice. It's one I've fancied trying for a while.

 

[Toddy]

Would it not be worth a try to make a shaped lens in a bowl in the freezer? If you put it in on top of a bag of something like soup that is also being frozen, then it would freeze really slowly.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Oblio13]

Would it not be worth a try to make a shaped lens in a bowl in the freezer? If you put it in on top of a bag of something like soup that is also being frozen, then it would freeze really slowly.

cheers,
Toddy

I'm trying that very thing right now.

Great minds think alike.

(So do the other kind.)

I'll try it at high noon tomorrow and post the results, if the solar deity smiles upon me.

 

[gregorach]

Tap water has far too much dissolved gas in it. I've heard that boiling it first helps, but I've never tried it. My freezer's far too small (and full) anyway...

 

[Toddy]

So the stale boiled water from last night's kettle would be fine if used in the morning ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[gregorach]

I don't know. Give it a try - it's real science!

 

[gregorach]

Just been reading some articles on the subject by Rob Bicevskis over on Wildwood Survival, and he has this to say about boiled water:

I have read that boiled water will freeze into clear ice. Well, I tried: distilled water, filtered water, boiled water and "vacuumed" water. For the later, I put water into a flask, hooked up a vacuum pump and held the water at a vacuum to try to extract the air. I then put all of the water samples in identical containers and put them into the garage so they would be exposed to the same temperatures. All samples had the typical frozen entrained air problem. Getting water with no dissolved air isn't easy.

From Fire from Ice #3 - Perfecting the Ice Lens. Some very interesting ideas there, and also in article #4.

The chances of getting good conditions for it in the UK aren't too promising though...

 

[HillBill]

I heard you have to put the hot water directly into the freezer. Or is that what was meant by boiled water?( i was thinking boiled and cooled.)

 

[Pict]

Testing this method with man made ice is OK but the true test is to do it with naturally formed ice. The clearest ice I ever come across in nature is in the form of icicles and the best of these are found near waterfalls on fast flowing streams. Sometimes such ice is beautifully clear and can be quite large. I'd say its worth a try if you come across such formations and have very dry/cold/sunny conditions.

These were formed along the Delaware river during falling water conditions in the winter of 2007 and are just too pretty not to share. BTW this was just up-river from where Washington crossed over to knock around a bunch of drunk Hessians.

Clearly this wasn't the day to test the theory of ice-lens formation but it does illustrate that naturally formed ice can be quite clear optically. Mac

Edited to add - this last one seems to have lens potential.