Off the subject a little, you may not be a big survival lighter fan but I see country comm is starting to carry the airtight flints off of e-bay for $5.00,
Oh, I like lighters ok. I just try to discourage people from using them as their only fire source; especially unreliable types like piezos or cheap import disposable ones. That’s a pretty neat looking lighter. It kind of looks like a pill fob or something. I have plenty of Bics in my emergency kits; they’re just not my only fire source. I like flint rods because of their simplicity, and because there are no moving parts to fail. Originally I started trying to use flint rods when starting my fires because it’s super easy to use a lighter, and I wanted to practice with a more difficult method until I was confidant with my skills. A train hard, fight easy kinda thing.
Here’s another tip that applies to Zippos, and would probably work with that Peanut lighter as well. Take out the polyester wadding that is used to absorb the fluid and replace it with fluffed out cotton balls. That way, if you run out of fluid or it evaporates on you, you can pull out some of the cotton and spark it with the flint and still be able to start a fire, even if you’re out of fluid. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> It’s a good idea to put a few extra flints in the bottom of Zippos with the wadding too in case you run out, but I think most people know that one.
I tried making an egyptian bow drill once. I wasn’t very sucessful with it. I got the bit darkened, and could smell smoke, but no ember. I could have tweaked it a bit and probably would have been sucessful, but I moved on to other things and never got back to it. I think the bit wasn’t rounded enough, and the keyhole wasn’t the right shape.
