Magnifying glass for starting a fire

[johnnie l.]

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I pack matches , fire steel , plastic magnifying glass and knife and flint plus char fire catcher I don't have much luck with lighters I have a Zippo flints and lighter fluid but it will dry up very fast disposable one's don'tseem to want to work after a few years even if their is fluid left in them so I keep some around but don't trust them to work when I need them.

[marineguy]

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I pack matches , fire steel , plastic magnifying glass and knife and flint plus char fire catcher I don't have much luck with lighters I have a Zippo flints and lighter fluid but it will dry up very fast disposable one's don'tseem to want to work after a few years even if their is fluid left in them so I keep some around but don't trust them to work when I need them.

I carry survival tins, so everything has to be compact. I discovered "vacuum packing". I vacuum pack everything to be air/water tight. How would vacuum packing a BIC light workout? Anyone try yet?

[Comanchesniper]

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I am a big fan of the lens too.

[marineguy]

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found some fresnel lenses for .50 each and bought a half dozen. About a week later my wife picked up 2 for me not knowing I already did. I laughed at her because she paid $1.50 each and bragged I got them for .50. She claimed hers were a better quality and again I laughed. I said both will make the same fire and it finally got down to " lets try both and see"

After about 3-4 minutes I got the leaves smoldering and eventually got flame. I then tried hers and within a minute Inot only saw smoke, but the leaves caught fire! I looked up and my wife was grinning nd had that "I told you so" look. After some humble pie, she told me she got hers in the drug store where the reading glasses were located. Hers was a 4x power lens and I assume mine was maybe a 2x. Once again, cheap isn't always better.

[survivalguy]

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great post, people often forget about that, and the plus is it never runs out

a plastic fresnel lens is amazing

I carry one in my wallet all the time.

[nakadnu]

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IMO a magnifying glass is one of those multiuse items you should never be without. I don't know if anyone remembers this or not but they are also good for looking at small stuff like checking to see if you left the head of that tick in when you pulled it off your "area". Oh Yeah they are good for starting fires too in the right conditions.