Just thought you might like to know that these are now available in the UK from Woodlore, priced at £8.95 including p&p.
I saw one on the site last Thursday and so phoned through an order. It arrived yesterday (thanks guys!) and I spent a happy hour playing with it!!
It's basically a stainless steel parabola with a folding central arm shaped to hold a piece of tinder at the optimal distance to be ignited by the solar energy focussed in the parabola. Very simple and very, very effective!!
So far I've only tested it in full sunshine (that's the problem with living in Dorset!) but I was impressed by the speed with which the tested tinders caught. The trick is to centralise the bright white spot of light formed onto the tinder.
I first tried a piece of crampball and this caught literally instantly - as soon as the light spot hit it it smoked! Charcloth was the same, but buffed honeysuckle and scraped western red cedar bark took a few seconds to start to burn.
None of the tinders 'burst into flame' as such but instead smouldered and 'glowed' so were easily removed to be blown up into flame with more material. I also tried Birch bark and cotton wool which also took a few seconds to smoke.
All in all I was impressed by both the simplicity and size of the lighter (the parabolic mirror is approx. 4.5 inches in diameter). It weighs next to nothing, packs down to 4.5 x 1 inches (the 1 inch being the mirror depth) and appears to work well - at least in the summer sun!
Oh - you also get a cone of incense to burn in it as well - what more could you ask for!!!
Bob
I saw one on the site last Thursday and so phoned through an order. It arrived yesterday (thanks guys!) and I spent a happy hour playing with it!!
It's basically a stainless steel parabola with a folding central arm shaped to hold a piece of tinder at the optimal distance to be ignited by the solar energy focussed in the parabola. Very simple and very, very effective!!
So far I've only tested it in full sunshine (that's the problem with living in Dorset!) but I was impressed by the speed with which the tested tinders caught. The trick is to centralise the bright white spot of light formed onto the tinder.
I first tried a piece of crampball and this caught literally instantly - as soon as the light spot hit it it smoked! Charcloth was the same, but buffed honeysuckle and scraped western red cedar bark took a few seconds to start to burn.
None of the tinders 'burst into flame' as such but instead smouldered and 'glowed' so were easily removed to be blown up into flame with more material. I also tried Birch bark and cotton wool which also took a few seconds to smoke.
All in all I was impressed by both the simplicity and size of the lighter (the parabolic mirror is approx. 4.5 inches in diameter). It weighs next to nothing, packs down to 4.5 x 1 inches (the 1 inch being the mirror depth) and appears to work well - at least in the summer sun!
Oh - you also get a cone of incense to burn in it as well - what more could you ask for!!!
Bob
