To-Do projects

[ArmedBear]

1.  Fire Starting -  I recently bought a couple of pocket magnifying glasses with plastic lenses.  My thinking was that glass ones would break if dropped, hence get the plastic ones.  My worry is that the lense quality isn't good enough to focus the sunlight enough to start the fire.  I meant to start the grill this weekend with the magnifying glasses but forgot   

2.  Can you boil water on a sterno stove?  Another experiment on the to-do list.

3.  etc etc.

Are there any experiments you guys/gals have conducted?

[dreadstalker]

I think that you will find, just as you feared that the lens won't focus to greate the pinpoint heat spot needed. A magnesium fire starter works well. Fire pistons are even faster and the blast matches are preferred by many.

Learn to use a fire bow drill anyway though. Don't depend on something that you have to have with you.

[archer]

When I was a kid I learned that glass magnifying lenses worked best. Plastic ones barely lit.. um.. focused the sunlight properly.

Magnesium fire starters are good to have but you must practice it so you know what to expect if you ever need to start it in a less and ideal condition. I need to start a fire with a bow still.

[Beetle]

I haven't been able to get Sterno to actually bring water to a rolling boil, but I've had it get hot enough to make cocoa.

[Mr. Blank]

I'm moving this thread to the emergency prep forum. This area of the forum is specifically for completed projects with some kind of plan for doing them.
No bad vibes, I just thought it belonged else where.

[JetstreamJonny]

Maybe the sun just isn't strong enough where I live but I spent the afternoon experimenting with a magnifying glass and trying to start a fire with it on an averagely sunny day in England. I tried a lot of different materials and found that I couldn't get any of them to actually burst into a flame. The only success I had was by using the magnifying glass to get a small piece of charcoal glowing as an ember and then using that to ignite a ball of tinder. Lighter coloured materials hardly even smouldered, even things that like to ignite like Birch bark or wax paper. Admittedly, I was using a small x10 hand lens for the job but it was an interesting exercise. We all have this "common knowledge" that you can use a magnifying glass to start a fire but it's not always as easy as it sounds.

[dreadstalker]

your experiment showed normal results. a ember that must be encouraged by transferring it to a tinder bundle and lightly blowing on it.

As you found out patience is a virtue when using this method, But at least you found out that it does work. That is valuable knowledge and can only help in the long run.

[archer]

When I was a kid, I used to use a magnifying glass to burn small pieces of old, rotten railroad tie. The oil the railroad tie is soaked in caused them to actually flame up if the light  was focused for a while on one spot.
For other materials, do what dreadstalker suggested, get a tinder bundle and carefully breathe it to flame.

[J.R. Morelli]

I've also got bow-drill practice on my To-Do list.


Additionally some more projects on my list include:

• Learn about the local plant life and what uses it has
• Continue getting in shape, and ramp that up a bit
• Find every way to cut my spending
• Look into buying silver and gold around my area (seems hard)
• Get properly trained in firearm use and maintenance
• Invest in food storage and learn more about it

And I'm sure there's more but that's just what comes to mind right now. I'm a newcomer to the concepts of survival and as you can see I've got a LOT of work to do.
Good thing I found The Survival Podcast and it's forums eh? heh-heh

[ArmedBear]

Well,  I've worked on one of my experiments today.   Finally we had some sunny weather around here.  I got one of those magnifying glasses that had the two lenses that swivel out and can stack on top of each other.    If you stack both lenses on each other, that will much intensify the beam.   

I tried to use the beam to light a cotton ball soaked with vaseline (I heard about the cotton ball thing from the boards) and found that the cotton ball / vaseline difused the light too much to even get the ball smoking.    Of course the glass would light just about any solid flammable objects. 

About the Cotton Ball.   It wasn't completely soaked with the vaseline and it still lasted about 15 minutes in the grill (ie, protected from any wind) and produced a flame about 7 inches high.   The second ball lasted about 8 or 9 minutes when i brought it out into the wind.  Plus it stayed lit (with flame) in winds up to about 20 mph or so.  When the flame went out, it was still burning like tobacco or char-cloth.

[STLAR]

1. Build a composter.  I dont want all my leaves and grass going to waste this year.  I plan on having a patriot garden started next spring.
2. Get my spring garden planned.  I will be setting up a square ft garden.  I want to have the vegetables and fruit staggered throughout the summer.
3.  Plant some fruit trees.  I would love to have my own peaches, apples and pears.

[creuzerm]

Magnesium fire starters are good to have but you must practice it so you know what to expect if you ever need to start it in a less and ideal condition.

I have been practicing with one of mine- the striker is about a third worn out now. It's challenging to get the sparks where you want them without making a mess of everything.

I have also been using mine to start my oil lamp with one. This takes a bit of doing to get figured out. I still can't reliably start one in short order yet.

[archer]

Hmm. good point. I can light a campfire with the striker and magnesium and my small stash of cotton balls/vaseline, but I've not tried my oil lamp. Thanks for the homework assignment!

[creuzerm]

Hmm. good point. I can light a campfire with the striker and magnesium and my small stash of cotton balls/vaseline, but I've not tried my oil lamp. Thanks for the homework assignment!

You will probably never need to be able to do it. It is fun trying. At best, maybe you can impress a friend while camping - maybe win a beer betting your buddy that you can light the oil lamp without a lighter or matches.

For just starting to figure out out. light the wick with a lighter, let it burn for a second or two, then blow it out. It seems to catch MUCH faster freshly burned like this.
I found that if I hold the knife still, and draw the sparker, I can direct the spark to the wick better. I end up sliding the fire starter parallel to the wick, and hold the knife at an angle halfway between the wick and the fire starter.

It's kinda awkward, which is why I think I have troubles doing it reliably, but once you try it, it makes sense.

[archer]

Oh. good tip.. I need to find my spare flints now..