Here's an inexpensive project for Scouts to do at a meeting. If you set it up right, you can show them a little "out of the box" thinking - turning junk into something useful. I'll leave that up to the reader...<br><br>For each Scout, you'll need an EMPTY disposable butane lighter (non-piezeo) and about a dozen cotton balls. Optionally, include about 12 inches or so of dental floss.<br><br>Additionally, have enough petroleum jelly (Vasoline) to coat all the cotton balls, a portable vise (a clamp and a table top will also do), a hacksaw or two, and a file. I did this with a WAVE, and that also works...<br><br>BIC lighters seem to be ideal - they have fairly large flints compared to several others. If you want the MOST spark, I suppose you could buy new lighters and exhaust the butane, but that's not really the point of the exercise...<br><br>The short version is: Cut off the butt end of the lighter with a saw. Breakout whatever internal web you see fit (or leave it alone). Use the file to open up the forward part of the metal shield as I did or simply prise it off. Tie a bit of dental floss around a petroleum-jelly saturated cotton ball and pack it tightly into the body of the defunct lighter. Repeat if there are multiple chambers. Pack remaining cotton balls in the lighter and trim excess cord (the string helps get the cotton balls out - is not essential). Presto! You make a poor-mans Spark Lite, complete with waterproof tinder tabs, for the cost of a few cotton balls and petroleum jelly. Make sure each Scout has an extra soaked cotton ball and show them how to fluff up the cotton ball and ignite it with the spark from the old lighter (it works well and it's one-handed). You could go farther, using a heated nail to bore a lanyard hole, taping up the butt, etc - this is just the basic idea. Following are some pics to show the "device":<br><br>The raw materials (I used can to melt jelly in a pan of water on the stove and soaked/squeezed the cotton balls):<br><br><br><br>Modified lighter ready to go (I zapped off the gas port with a Dremel tool, but it's not that important):<br><br><br><br>I didn't know the post would amputate the rest of the pics; I think I hit the wrong button. I'm trying to piece this back together... I had text with the pics, but am too lazy to type it all in again, so here are just the pics:<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>A suggestion is to set this up in advance (secretly) for a campout. Prep (saw and file) enough lighters for all the Scouts, but leave one unmodified for you to "demonstrate with. Toss the prepped lighters, cotton balls, and vasoline, and a small zip lock bag for each lighter in a sack.<br><br>As you're walking around the campsite, "discover" the un-modified lighter as a piece of litter. Wonder out loud about what use it could be - flick it a few times to show the spark. "Hmmm, this looks like it could be useful..." - ask the lads what they think (you may be surprised at the answeres you get - I learn new things all the time).<br><br>Gather them around - a patrol is about the right size group - and whip out your Leatherman. Modify the lighter as shown (file, or file and saw), make a dozen vasoline-impregnated cotton balls, and stuff them into the lighter body.<br><br>Quickly gather up the fixings for a small fire lay, pull out a cotton ball, fluff it up, spark, and poof! Make a fire!<br><br>Circle the lads up and hand out the materials; coach them thru making the cotton balls. You may use a stove and tin-can double boiler to speed things up if you wish, but first show them how to simply work the vasoline into the cotton balls.<br><br>Show them again how to fluff up a cotton ball and coach each one through igniting a cotton ball with the defunct lighters. Pass out zip lock bags and instruct the lads to put the device in the bag and then into their "Be Prepared" kit.<br><br>Discuss other ideas or dismiss, as the circumstance and the boy's mood dictates - they have many distractions in the outdoors.<br><br>Comments, suggestions? I'll be doing this again with a group of Scouts next month - few of whom know me - as part of a District level Winter Survival program I got volunteered to head up.<br><br>Teaching kids stuff like this is even more fun than doing it for myself. Looking for more ideas like this - share yours, please!<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom

Mr. Ayers,<br><br>You are a genius.<br><br>Ade

Nice idea and thanks for the post ok if I try it with my scout troop we'll call it the Ayers-lite.

LoL! Well, if it helps anyone, that's a good thing. I like wrapping a story and adventure and fun around a lesson - sort of like giving a reluctant dog a pill by embedding it in a tasty morsel. So far, the boys like that better, too.<br><br>How about sharing some of your experiences with training Scouts? I gather from your previous posts that you've invested time and money in some interesting training, have skills that I do not, and have lots more experience than I as an active Scouter - I've only got a few years in that.<br><br>Planting and nurturing good habits, keeping it broadly fun as they learn - what sort of things have worked (and not worked) for you? To stay on-topic, I'm specifically asking about good outdoors "Be Prepared" aims, methods, and results.<br><br>The main point I want to make with the Scouts in this case is to be innovative; consider all the resources that might accomplish the task at hand. It's laignnape that they pocket a useful tool made from a "useless" discard.<br><br>I believe that particular exercise is a bit more effective if - situation permitting - instead of first making the the vasoline-soaked cotton balls, one spins out the yarn a bit more - let their imaginations run and see what comes up. Then run with it - see if they can collectively get a fire going without the cotton balls and vasoline - which obviously would not be lying on the ground <grin>. Just to be sure, one could have a "plan B" in trouser pockets - a small bit of good lint "discovered" in a pocket, and a tube of chapstick or the little tube of jelly Vasoline sells as lip balm in one's other pocket, for example. The sparks from these lighters are kinda wimpy for more difficult tinder, and I don't think I'd happen to have char ready-made in that sort of story.<br><br>The problem is getting a fire lit with nothing but the spent lighter - inventory, innovate, and go... I want to teach them how to THINK and DO. Teaching skills, like how to lay a fire, how to tie this knot or that knot, how to organize a Patrol Campsite, etc. are also very important - and we have plenty of resources to help us do that.<br><br>Teaching them how to think and perform needed actions in unfamiliar situations requires a deft hand and an open, nimble mind - being impaired in all those areas, I'm looking for great suggestions and ideas from folks like you <grin>.<br><br>So... I'm all ears<br><br>Tom

*bowing before you*<br><br>You have humbled this unworthy engineer, oh great bodger of gear. <br><br>This should be quite effective. Not as compact as a sparklite, but at least of on my co-workers has thier lighter die at work every day, so if I bum the empties off of them, slightly cheaper than dirt.

>>>Comments, suggestions? I'll be doing this again with a group of Scouts next month <<<<br><br>BTW, every month the BSA has a recomended theme and next month's is Wilderness Survuval!<br><br>I really like the idea of consolodating the lighter container to carry the tinder rather than two separate items, a sparker and a film container. I still think that the more compact one in the PSK makes sense as the I view the PSK as a true emergeny item that should not be raided routinely. The Bic lighter case sounds like semi-emergency item. I wonder if it wouldn't even be preferable to matches for normal every-day firestarting <shrug>?<br><br>Anyway, I don't smoke, so I'll have to keep my eyes to the ground for any expired lighters. Also, any smokers out there have preferences on different brands as having beter sparkers than others?<br><br>Hmmm... I'd be interested in figuring out a way to convert the cut off bottom into a hinged lid.<br><br>Incidentally, I had read about using petrolleum-jully on cotton balls bfore, but missed the part about heating the jelly into liquid to impregnate the balls. I just daubed the balls an worked it into the fibers between my fingers, which worked reasonably well. I suspect the liquid jelly coats more evenly and is easier to ignite. Now I'll have to go back to our scouts and "modify" the demo I did last month. ;-)

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>BTW, every month the BSA has a recomended theme and next month's is Wilderness Survuval!<br><p><hr></blockquote><p><br>Sure is! A nice coincidence for us, but timely. And let's see... the feature article in Boy's Life this month is a true and recent account about a lad who got lost from his unit - one of those real life "it could happen to you..." things. I wish more Scouters stressed and enforced "Be Prepared" kit and the buddy system...<br><br><blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>I still think that the more compact one in the PSK makes sense as the I view the PSK as a true emergeny item that should not be raided routinely[<p><hr></blockquote><p><br>I agree about not raiding a PSK and that the Spark Lite is perhaps more compact (depending on how one configures everything, it may or may not be). However, I think there is value in frequently practicing with equipment that one may NEED someday, so duplicate every-day gear for "regular" use (like on campouts and hikes) is a way to build and retain skills. I have found first hand that un-practiced/un polished skills can be VERY difficult to manage in real-life stressful situations - no surprise there. The tendency is to revert to what one is most familiar with, and if resources for that are not available... at best there is considerable wasted time and effort, and at worst, things go badly. We are such creatures of habit - at least, I am.<br><br>And... I'm sensitive to the costs involved for kids who are ACTIVE in Scouting. So - how about a Spark Lite type gadget for about $1.00 instead of $7 or $8 for the real McCoy? Simply assembling the personal 1st Aid Kit that all Scouts must do as a Second Class requirement seems to be "costly" enough that I practically have to fist-fight parents to keep them from disassembing it into familiy medicine kit componets the second the kid gets "checked off" on the requirement. <br><br>On your next campout, make some formal time in the woods to have all your 2nd Class and above Scouts layout and SHOW you that they have "the Outdoor Essentials" (which includes the personal 1st Aid kit) pages 207 - 210, 11th Ed The Boy Scout Handbook. All "official" packing lists in the Handbook include the essentials as an item. It hardly matters if you tell them weeks in advance that you are going to do that, but make it a surprise the first time anyway. I will predict that to be a very sobering experience - you'll also find out that most of them are not dressed well and do not have the proper clothing items with them to do so. If I'm right, I ask that you resolve to do something effective to remedy it - don't holler at them; they are products of our modern times, especially the urban kids. (And I would not be too smug about rural kids, either - in my experiences so far most of them are just as bad off, with noteworthy exceptions).<br><br>One thing I'm not estatic about in our TEMPERATE climate is that the BSA essentials list is pretty much the same one the climbers in Seattle came up with two eons ago - substituting personal shelter for map and compass would be my number one change (or adding it, although most of the young and/or inexperienced boys won't effectively use map and compass anyway). Tch! I'm wandering off-topic again - sorry!<br><br>Getting back on track - Using the same tools, a new butane lighter, and a straw scrounged from a fast-food place, I can show how to make a "poor-mans" Spark Lite that is very close in size (small) to the real thing. Why new lighter? To make SURE there are lots of uses left on the flint and that the wheel is not about to come apart. That's the $1.00 component. Nit pickers can correctly point out that this is not quite as "good" as the real McCoy - I will totally agree! I would make two - one for the PSK, and a second one put up into a plastic dental floss box to go into a pocket (those cotton balls are gooey). In that case, add a second lighter and an empty dental floss box - one could go so far as to purchase a box of dental floss and toss the spool into other gear as thread, expedient fishing line (it works quite well - no surprise, as old timey lines were often linen), etc. Total cost, all new components, for two "tinder lites", would be in the neighborhood of $3 - $4.<br><br>My origional post was meant to give Scouters one idea about how to "spark" some useful creative thinking and solicit other ideas. I'm using your remarks to extend into other territory <grin> - hope you don't mind!<br><br><blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>I suspect the liquid jelly coats more evenly and is easier to ignite. <p><hr></blockquote><p><br>I'm far from the first one to think of that! I had the idea on my own and then - like many ideas - found that others had "been there, done that..." Use a double boiler for safety (like for melting wax). Use tongs or pliers (Leatherman works fine) to fish the cotton balls out. Squeeze the bejabbers out of them to get rid of excess jelly. If you're doing it bare-fingered, there is a fine line between "Ouch! Hot!" and "Darn! I waited too long!" An old leather glove on the squeezing hand helps avoid that. It is amazing how much jelly accumulates on your hand/glove - this is much messier than doing it cold - and much faster.<br><br>I find that the lads need a little more coaching on fluffing out the soaked cotton balls VS the cold method - fluffing up is really critical. They work first time, every time if fluffed up. And they DO burn longer than than the cold method, near as I can tell - more jelly.<br><br>I also found it interesting to see how little jelly one can get by with, and how little a tuft of cotton ball. You may be surprised - it does not take much to beat a match. Consider a cotton ball as a multiple use resource if conservation is important. Nearly anything with petroleum jelly works (try some of the ointments to see what I mean). Also, SnoSeal works GREAT (go figure - it's at least half BeesWax), albeit a bit spendy. OTOH, there is always surplus SnoSeal in the creases and welts of my leather boots in the Winter time - enough to scrape up with a knife and saturate a bit of fluff of something. Experiment around a bit some evening and let us know what you discover.<br><br>General question for anyone: I have had very little success lighting a candle wick with sparks - none, to tell the truth. I tried again last night - not much to "fluff", and I started with a previously lit candle so the wick was waxed. Yet the old-timers did it that way if there was not another way. Is it the wick material, the wax, or the way I'm holding my mouth? I'd like to learn the "secret" of that - manmade "flint" for now - I'm not accomplished enough with chert and steel to do much more than beat my chest and roar if I get a spark into some char.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>Tom

I don't think you need any help with teaching,it sounds like your doing a great job with the boys! I'ts been my observation that hunter-gathers, military and scouts all use the same basic teaching methods. They all have older experianced members that want to pass down essential information and habits to a group of young men or boys in the most effective manner possible. They all start with patterning, providing an example of some one who has mastered the skills and reinforcing that example with stories , respect for elders and traditions. Kids naturally emulate some one they repect and admire, provide a good pattern and your almost asured a good product. In fact that's the biggest problem I see with scouting , lack of good leaders and you have that licked. They also all bring them up gradually marked by rites of passage, awards ect. to a position of leader and teacher so they come full circle. So with your military background you already have a great background to teach fieldcraft ect. As far as hints the two best I've found so far are have fun and hide the lesson, look how bad school does it turns the kids minds right off. Which brings us to the big gun immediate need it works wonders. Which is another reason school fails becouse with the exception of tests theirs no immediate need for the knowlege. If you teach them something important , let them practice then provide an immediate need situation . For example , if you teach them a knot arrange for them to use it for real latter or if you want to teach them to be prepared arrange for something to disapear or break. I even use the same thing on my self , I'll go full survival for a weekend with a nice tent full of goodies set up, that way I have the immediate needs of survival to hone my skills and teach me and it's no more dangerous than camping since I can always retreat to my tent and goodies. Gota go to work now hope my thoughts were helpful , I think the boys are lucky to have you as a leader .

Get a new birthday candle, the wicks are already soaked with wax and the wick is a simple twist not a braid . Untwist the wick and fluff and lay horizontally so it catches the sparks then spark it with a flint rod you'll see a orange glow when a spark catches and a wisp of paraffin scent fumes then a second latter it lights when you get that down try lighting it holding the candle and rod in one hand and a saw striker like a lighter. That the easiest way I know and once you get it down you'll have no problem figuring out braided wickes and multiple lights . Hope that helps

Instead of a standard BIC lighter, I have found those which are about half the width ( imagine a half chamber only) and more like a pen. I did as you suggested and it was a good substitute to the spark-lite. Just a little bigger the the original. I've also noticed that different disposable lighters spark differently. So I resorted to buying a bunch of these lighters (costs 60cents in Singapore) and experimenting with the sparking ability. I naturally chose the ones which produced the biggest spark!<br> The petroleum jelly coated cotton balls worked just fine with this and this budget spark-lite now has a place in my mini PSK.<br><br>However, instead of putting the cotton balls in my psk, I've stuck with the spark-lite tinder. Also, instead of putting the tinder into the bottom of the lighter, I put my fishing kit in it instead (12 hooks(2 diff sizes), 8 splitshot) and stuffed the opening with half a tinder to stop rattling.<br><br>Thanks for the great idea!<br><br>Regards<br>Trusbx<br><br>Greetings from the FINE city (Singapore)