Like many posters on here I have been frustrated with torch lighters in the past - you know the ones I mean - the ones sold by Blue Flame, Turbo Flame as well as models sold by the well established makes like Ronson, Colibri & Zippo.
These lighters have the potential to be really useful - a reasonably windproof flame (not totally - as advertised!) - above all the flame is directional, so you can hold the lighter upside down without burning your fingers! All that combined with other uses like soldering - make them a potentially useful little tool - certainly excellent for fire lighting.
Unfortunately - as I, and others, have discovered - they are insanely unreliable!! I have not had one yet that has survived beyond the first or second refill and I thought I had given up on them - until now...(maybe!).
First of all I came across this website:
http://www.hill.u-net.com/
This guy claims to be able to fettle these things to accept "heavier" western butane. He also offers a 12 month repair warranty. At this point I'll say I have no connection with the vendor etc etc.
I went for the PB-10 model which is an updated version of the PB-207 that Mr Mears (or "Sir Raymond" if you prefer!) sells on his website. The whole deal came to about £38 with p&p. Expensive? - yes (but cheaper than the Woodlore store - and I was intrigued by the 12 month warranty - worth giving these things another go. The lighter arrived by first class mail, half filled and working as advertised. So far so good...
I then looked at the question of filling it. There are some useful (if not hilariously geeky!) videos on the net explaining the science behind butane lighters and the best way to fill them - but hopefully I'll save you some minutes of your life by explaining the basics here:
1) Before filling - you must turn the flame setting to it's lowest (off) and completely purge the lighter of all remaining fuel - use the end of a match to depress the end of the fuel filler nozzle - and be really fussy about it. It sounds daft but I hold the lighter under my armpit to raise it's temperature above ambient - that way the pressure in the lighter is greater than the surrounding air - and after a few purges - you almost create a vacuum within the lighter itself.
2) Put the - now completely empty - lighter in the freezer for about 10 - 15 minutes and stick your fuel canister of choice under your armpit to warm it up. You're now creating another pressure differential with temperature - only in the opposite sense.
3) Fill the lighter from the bottom up - i.e. both lighter and fuel canister should be upside down - I find it takes a couple of seconds to completely fill the reservoir with liquid using the method above.
4) Probably the most important bit - the lighter will now be very cold. Do not attempt to light it until it has come up to ambient temperature (ye olde faithful armpit will speed up the process). Once the lighter has warmed up - turn the flame setting to low(ish) and light.
So far this has worked for me - the lighter lights every time and, as a smoker, I'm getting about two weeks from every fill - which beats my old Zippo hands down!
These lighters have the potential to be really useful - a reasonably windproof flame (not totally - as advertised!) - above all the flame is directional, so you can hold the lighter upside down without burning your fingers! All that combined with other uses like soldering - make them a potentially useful little tool - certainly excellent for fire lighting.
Unfortunately - as I, and others, have discovered - they are insanely unreliable!! I have not had one yet that has survived beyond the first or second refill and I thought I had given up on them - until now...(maybe!).
First of all I came across this website:
http://www.hill.u-net.com/
This guy claims to be able to fettle these things to accept "heavier" western butane. He also offers a 12 month repair warranty. At this point I'll say I have no connection with the vendor etc etc.
I went for the PB-10 model which is an updated version of the PB-207 that Mr Mears (or "Sir Raymond" if you prefer!) sells on his website. The whole deal came to about £38 with p&p. Expensive? - yes (but cheaper than the Woodlore store - and I was intrigued by the 12 month warranty - worth giving these things another go. The lighter arrived by first class mail, half filled and working as advertised. So far so good...
I then looked at the question of filling it. There are some useful (if not hilariously geeky!) videos on the net explaining the science behind butane lighters and the best way to fill them - but hopefully I'll save you some minutes of your life by explaining the basics here:
1) Before filling - you must turn the flame setting to it's lowest (off) and completely purge the lighter of all remaining fuel - use the end of a match to depress the end of the fuel filler nozzle - and be really fussy about it. It sounds daft but I hold the lighter under my armpit to raise it's temperature above ambient - that way the pressure in the lighter is greater than the surrounding air - and after a few purges - you almost create a vacuum within the lighter itself.
2) Put the - now completely empty - lighter in the freezer for about 10 - 15 minutes and stick your fuel canister of choice under your armpit to warm it up. You're now creating another pressure differential with temperature - only in the opposite sense.
3) Fill the lighter from the bottom up - i.e. both lighter and fuel canister should be upside down - I find it takes a couple of seconds to completely fill the reservoir with liquid using the method above.
4) Probably the most important bit - the lighter will now be very cold. Do not attempt to light it until it has come up to ambient temperature (ye olde faithful armpit will speed up the process). Once the lighter has warmed up - turn the flame setting to low(ish) and light.
So far this has worked for me - the lighter lights every time and, as a smoker, I'm getting about two weeks from every fill - which beats my old Zippo hands down!
