After watching the video, the first suggestion I'd make is, get closer to the cotton. It's OK to touch it, if the hair on the back of your finger gets singed... you're doing it right. Next, until you get the hang of it, use a bigger piece of tinder, use a whole cotton-ball. Fluff it up into a bowl-shaped, birds-nest looking mass, stick the Spark-Lite right down in it, and presto... you should get fire. Once you're comfortable with this, you can use smaller bits of tinder, but just starting out, don't make it any harder than it has to be. And last... do yourself a favor, and work in a small bit of Vaseline, you'll be amazed at the difference it makes, not only in the ease of lighting, but also in the intensity and duration of the burn.

Troy

Nice, a fellow south-paw. It's definitly easier when I use my index finger as opposed to my thumb. The Spark-Lite is just so damn so. lol.

On the video the sparks looks bigger then what they really are. But I see what you mean about the distance. Right now I just got a ruler and mesured how far the sparks travel. 90% of the time they don't go more then 2 centimeters, max is 5 centimeters. Now i'm trying to to stay within 1 centimeter of the cotton. I'm also using much more cotton fluffed up about the size of an egg. I'm still not able to get quick lights.

It's kinda of hard to tell by just watching that little video clip, but is it possible that the flint in my Spark-Lite is messed up, to small, or misalinged in some way preventing me from getting good hot sparks? Or does the amount of sparks I'm getting look normal. Because the cotton really isn't even getting chared no matter how close I get.

Also does the vasaline just make the cotton water proof and burn slower, or does it actually help it ignite easier? If I can't get this nailed down pat within a week I think I'll need to look into buying the BlastMatch. But first I think I need to rest my fingers, boy are they hurting. lol.

Anyway, thanks a lot guys. Been a big help.

I've used the SL to ignite toilet paper. It took about 5 or 6 strikes, very close, IN THE SAME LOCATION. (Just in case you're one of those people who like to move the match around and try different spots.) After 3 or 4 strokes, the paper turned brown; another 1 or 2 strokes after that ignited it.

The TP had been left out overnight, but underneath an army surplus parachute shelter, so it wasn't wet but may have been slightly damp.

I just tried it with a dry cotton ball (no vaseline). I made no attempt to fluff the cotton ball, I just left it as is, held the SL about 1 cm away (my first attempt resulted in the cotton being caught by the rotating wheel and dragged inside but it didn't seem to cause any damage.) Three quick flicks and the cotton ball began burning.

For a FeCe rod, a Blastmatch or Swedish Firesteel, or a Mag-Flint type lighter I would probably recommend fluffing up the cotton ball, because those items release a large shower of sparks. But for the SL, it seems to work better if you have a specific area that you can concentrate the sparks on. MHO only, of course, and bear in mind that I have far less experience than most of the others who responded. Still, what works, works.

I agree, I think he was holding it too far away. He also looked hesitant, like he was afraid of getting burned. (I've seen that with younger cadets a lot.) And he wasn't holding the SL steady, so the sparks weren't being concentrated in a single spot.

I have never tried vaseline impregnated cotton balls, but to a certain extent I disagree with using them when you're starting out. If you're lost and you don't have any vaseline impregnated cotton balls, but you do have a bottle of aspirin in your first aid kit that has cotton batting in it, it's better to know how to use that. Having the vaseline-soaked ones in an emergency is good; using them for practice because they're easier to light is not. (I probably misinterpreted your post, though.)

The Vaseline doesn't make it light easier - it actually will make it harder to light. The Vaseline makes it burn longer. The idea is to have non-coated cotton catch the spark easily, and then have the Vaseline-coated cotton burn longer.

First off, Happy Holloween! Hope you guys have fun today. I'll be heading out to the local desert to check out some volcanos. I think I'll be taking along a good lighter with PSK till I get the hand of using my spark-lite. lol.

So anyway, I made a new video clip. Click to download (1.1MB).

In this video clip I'm using the cotton from three Q-Tips. I used the base of a fan to hold the cotton and help keep my hand steady and the Spark-Lite in place. This time I was really trying to get as close as possible without getting the cotton fibers stuck in the wheel.

Still had a hard time. Am I still doing the same things wrong: to far away and cotton not fluffed up enough? I'm not worried about getting burned, I just have a hard time keeping the spark-lite in place because of it's small size.

After reading your troubles I thought I'd better practice just in casen as I have never tried using my sparklite. I took a cotton ball (checked the label first 100% cotton) and fluffed it up well. For comparison I used a windmill lighter no problems. Lit easily. I then fluffed up a second ball. On first try holding close nothing. On the second spark attempt I was right inside the fluffed up cotton so much so that my spark attempt dragged some cotton fibres into the spark lite. I was however rewarded with a nice ball of flame that I had to rapidly pull my hand away from.

My advice is to make sure the cotton is very well fluffed up and get right in amongst it. Dont worry you wont actually burn your hand just feel some warmth <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Okay I think this has been ccvered real well but let me say again. Fluff fluff lfuff .... then fluff some more. I'm gonna put together some pics and perhaps my own video this afternoon. After all, if I dont then my wife will put me to work doing something less fun since I came home early from camping. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/ooo.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

I just took a brand new spark light out of the package and grabbed a few cotton balls and q-tips. Had no problem getting any of them lit within 2 tries. What I did is hold the cotten in one hand, held the spark lite in the other and putting the fluffed up cotten close to the bottom of the wheel (where the sparks come out) gave it a long stroke with my thumb. Not a short push like you do to light a bic, but a long pull using the whole pad of my thumb. Worked great.

Vindicated:

For a better grip on the Spark Lighter, drill out a wooden dowel, cut up a popsicle stick and glue the pieces into the drilled hole so that the Spark Lighter fits snugly and doesn't twist when using it.

You can make the hole in the dowel as deep as you want so long as it does not impair your ability to thumb the wheel. You can cut out a groove in the front of the dowel to allow a full flow of sparks and you can also jam a small piece of the cotton in the groove while the rest of the cotton hangs out of the groove. In this way, you will be sparking the same area consistantly, and still be able to pull the lit cotton out into your waiting tinder pile.

Good luck!

Bountyhunter