zippo lighters as a survival firestarter

At first I thought zippo lighters were terrible survival tools because they tend to run out of fuel fairly fast. But now after using one almost everyday I came to realize their versatility. A zippo lighter can be fueled with any flameable volatile liquid. And while in the wilderness when you do run out of liquid, you have the flint sparker; and if you keep extra flints unter the felt pad, your zippo can be used just like a flint striker to ignight some tinder. Also, if it came down to it, inside the zippo you have about five cotton balls of tinder that will easily ignight with a spark.
A zippo may not give off sparks as hot as the new firesteels, but a zippo has multiple uses, and another thing I love about them is the large flame it produces, giving it a great ability to illuminate things in the dark.
Yes, zippos downside is the fuel runs out fast, but before I carried just a flint rod attatched to a piece of pitchwood, so as long as someone has the skills to locate tinder in the wilderness that will catch sparks from flint, a zippo is a much better firestarter than others just because of its many uses. This is my thoughts on the zippo lighter, please feel free to share your comments, thanks. Elkman.

A rock makes a pretty substantial projectile.
It's usually been around a few million years and it's cheap.

Some people decide a smoother surface will have greater range and accuracy. Before you know it, people are shooting missiles across the Sea of japan.

And darned if some of our rocks don't turn out to to be coprolites.

Few things are perfect. We hope to balance imperfections with a redundancy of perfections.

Just understand your zippo is a rock.Sometimes it's best to have a pocketfull of rocks.

Is it real cotton or synthetic wadding?


Pete

Note to self: bring along a pocketfull of rocks.

I still carry a Zippo too. I don't have any use for it daily, but it is a fine reliable tool. I also carry a mini tabasco bottle of fuel....just right for a fill and a half. I like this bottle better than the Zippo fuel canister too.

I use the Pipe version of the Zippo...easier to get a vertical flame under tinder with that style than the standard version.

A good classic tool....with its own set of advantages and limitations.

I cannnot quite remember but I think I posted on here pulling some the cotton wadding out of mine and sparking it. I think I did that

Anyway my old Zippo has real cotton wadding in it. The pad over the wadding seems to be synthetic though.

I forgot to add...


Wrapping a Zippo in 3-4 layers of Saran wrap preserves the fuel for several weeks. This is a good trick if you are heading out.

However I just assume my vest pocket Zippo is going to be dry....hence the Tabasco bottle of fuel.

The local carniceria sells some tabasco that doubles as condiment AND fuel.

As long as you carry extra fuel, a Zippo makes a very reliable lighter. I've bought a number of "windproof" butane lighters but none of them is as dependable as the good, solid Zippo. The only problem is, you have to refill it very regularly and it might not even last a week in the bush before the fuel evaporates.

To counter the evaporation problem there are little brass fuel tanks for Zippo and its clones. You have to remove about two thirds of the cotton wadding and the felt pad to accomodate the tank but this works great and a freshly filled zippo will last a lot longer now.
Beyond this I've even further resolved the evap prob by cutting about one inch of bicycle inner tube and fit this around the lighter and this performs extremely well in conjunction with the tank. Just roll down the innertube enough to open the lighter and flick as usual. I basicaly works much like an O-ring. I lit my zippo on the first attempt after not being used for 4 months this way.
Give it a try !
Pharaoh.

I like the innertube idea. Got to give that one a try.

Are the brass fuel tanks for zippo fuel or butane? I have seen the butane modification at Country Comm but never tried it.

Schwert.
The tanks are for regular zippo fluid.
Pharaoh.

One more thing on my "get" list

I don't know about the tanks, but I tend to make sure I have spare flints in the bottom of the lighter and a bit of extra fuel handy.
The extra fuel is also good to have just in case you really need to get a fire going in a hurry.
(A candle stub is nice to have around for fire starting too.)
Like Martin said, it may be as plain and primitive as a rock, but it is reliable.

Found this youtube of the Diamond Super Tank Oil Container...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUaXC3kzj4M

Is this the thing?

Cannot locate where to buy one, but it looks like a handy modification for those of us how do not regularily use a Zippo.

Exactly Schwert.
This is what I was talking about. I have something similar.
The company I got it from apparantly doesn't carry them anymore.
Google could point you in the right direction though.
Pharaoh.

Excuse me if I'm totally out of line but I have to ask... Are you the same Schwert who wrote those really (and I mean REALLY) impressive posts on Outdoors-Magazine's forum about his EDC some time ago?

Well, if you are, sir, I am a big fan of yours (it would be true to say that you got me started with all this preparedness thing).

Well yes I am that fellow....and thanks for those kind words. I was really sad the old magazine went inactive because I really enjoyed doing those articles.

Specifically to the old EDC articles....most if not all of my kit ideas came from studying this forum and adapting and modifying other peoples ideas and observations to my own "style". We had an moderate earthquake here in Seattle in 2001...it was not long after that I found this place and started seriously working on my plans.



The magazine is available in the archives....my old stuff:
http://outdoors.magazine.free.fr/spip.php?auteur39



Now as to that Zippo fuel tank...so far I have not been successful locating one for sale anywhere.

Anyone else looking.....and finding?