Bic lighters DO have a lifespan!

I have a number of Bic lighters that are at least 10 years old. I bought a big box of them when the child-resistant requirement came in.

So far they've been flawless. But I just had two of them fail on me in the last month. Butane and valve are fine. But somehow the flint seizes tight in its tube, so no spark. I tried everything, including cutting the holding tube with an Exacto blade. No luck.

So check your gear regularly. Bics have a lifespan. Who knew?

Well I think your pretty lucky. Most life spans of new bics last as long as they are in your pocket then a day or week later. poof. gone.

I have certainly had fluid evaporate quicker than a decade. I think the heat in my car killed a bic in a desert summer. The opposite side is rust. I do think, and could be remembering wrongly, that if a bic gets wet from a dunking, it will rust around the flint.

Well, they owe me nothing. I think I paid maybe 20 cents each.

Still, for laughs, I'd like to try to resurrect one.

Some sort of lubricant? Oily stuff would keep the flint from sparking if it ever came loose (WD-40, Liquid Wrench).

Maybe -- irony of ironies -- lighter fluid?

EDIT:
Just checked several others of that batch -- all were seized. But a few sharp cracks on a table loosened up two. And the third, after serious whacking on the bottom and sides, came back to life. I've put a big X on the bottom of all with a Sharpie. Time to use 'em up for the woodstove and firepit.

Pardon the uber-nerd commentary. "How to field strip a Bic lighter?" Oy. But it's still a more practical hobby than stamp collecting.

Toss them ALL in the firepit ato nce and take apic

If there is dampness the flint itself corrodes. It seems to depend a little bit on the mix of metals in the mischmetal flints, but they swell a bit at first and then turn to dust. I have had it happen in Zippo lighters too.
It is possible to pull the lighters apart and replace flints, but at a dollar apiece it hardly seems worthwhile on a bic.

Something to read from freshpatents.com:

Very interesting. It does seem like the flints have swelled in size, indicating oxidation.

Alberta has a fairly dry climate (low humidity) and maybe that's why these Bics have lasted this long.

For long-term storage, I guess they should be left in the original package or sealed in doubled bags with some silica gel.

As for saltwater, sounds like it could kill my EDC firemakers in hours. Yikes.

Any thoughts on ways to "innoculate" the flint of a new Bic against corrosion?

That was my first thought, sort of, except I was going to tape the valve open, light them, and see where the point of actual failure (poof!) was. Cool to watch, from a distance.

But having identified a potential point of failure in gear I rely on, I'm going to see if I can light the butane "tinder" with a spark (stainless knife + rock). Shouldn't need a very hot spark.

I don't know about the bics, but some flint rods are made properly:


dougwalkabout, it's relatively easy to open a bic in the field in order to fix the flint. All you might need is a thin piece of metal which can fit between the grinding wheel posts to hold the flint on the spring deep in it's well while you are replacing the wheel. The tip of a narrow knife works well enough in most cases. Just remove the metal screen and the rest should look obvious to you. The rust on the flint side surface is easy to scrub away with the same knife, just don't overdo it. You don't want it to wobble in the well.

Sometimes rotating the spark wheel in the "opposite" direction will remove the oxidation without destroying the flint. Thus allowing the lighter to function as advertised.

Notice I said SOMETIMES......

I think that is a bit of hyperbole employed to make their patentable idea seem more necessary than it otherwise might be.

Corrosion of flints isn't really new. Anyone who is old enough to have owned a Zippo and used it enough to need to replace the flint will remember the old yellow plastic card that the flints came on. And that the flints were sealed with a heavy coat of waxy red paint. Last I checked those flints were still available. Next trip to the store I will look.

Seems to me like if there is still liquid butane in a disposable lighter, and the corrosion isn't too bad, you should be able to pop off the chromed shield; pry off the striker wheel; work the old corroded flint out; and insert a new one.



Now I have found flint striker rods, the magnesium blocks with a flint on the side, and ferro rods that have deteriorated. Usually not entirely to dust. And usually only where they were allowed to get, and stay wet for months. Seemed worse in those situations where there were dissimilar metals present.

But I have never seen a Doan's bar, mag bar with flint, "react violently when immersed in salt water producing heat and hydrogen gas". I can't say that I remember keeping one near where it might get wet with salt water. I have had one get and mostly stay damp with sweat, it was riding in my pants pocket for several hot summer days. It was corroded a bit, mostly the magnesium had flaky white corrosion on one side but it didn't get hot or burst into flames. Good thing I guess. Then again it was new and may have been still coated in some sort of sealant or wax.

Which may point out the solution. Heavily wax your flints to keep them protected from oxygen and water. I wonder if silicone might help.

I have kept the same mini-Bic in my front pants pocket for a couple of years and it needs a few more flicks to get it to light if it hasn't been used in a while. Given the warm weather here it probably gets a bit damp regularly from sweat and after two years, maybe more, it still lights. So the corrosion effect wouldn't seem to be an immediate concern. Perhaps just another thing to keep an eye on.

Galvanic Reaction????

In the worse case I suspect it was a galvanic reaction between steel, stainless steel, aluminum and the magnesium on the Doan's bar. The flint may have also played a part. It was the result of a small kit in a nylon pouch getting water inside it while rattling around the floorboard of my car at the time. The floor of my car at the time had holes you could drop a baseball through. And it would fall through except for the random pieces of sheet metal I covered the holes with. It made inspecting the road for standing water and ice easy, slide the metal over with the toe of your boot and look down, but anything dropped on the floor got, and stayed, wet. The kit rolled under the corner of the patch on the passenger side and had been there for weeks. I spotted my spare kit when I was walking around the car and saw the drawstring hanging out of the hole.

My present vehicle is much better. No holes, brakes and A/C work. On the other hand I kind off miss that old beater. People in expensive cars see a ragged out beater coming at them and they get out of the way. Almost like they were afraid the ugly might rub off on them.