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Thread: Solar ignition?

  1. #1
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    Exclamation Solar ignition?

    Primitive skill? Survival skill? Brushcraft skill? Anyway I’ve been making fires with solar ignition just trying to learn about it. I would not consider solar ignition a survival skill. If you are in a true survival situation chances are you are in a worst case situation. Lost and the sun is setting, storming, night time and freezing. Magnifying glass is not going to work. Primitive skill? I don’t know, how long have people used magnifying glasses to start fires? I know magnifying glasses have been around a long time. Brushcraft skill absolutely! Conserve your ferro rod flint and steel. Just start your fire before the late evening if the sun is out. If you can’t use your whatever else. Or just put it to sleep and keep coals smoldering. Anyway I started with a cheap 1 dollar plastic magnifying glass from Dollar General. It pretty quickly lights charcloth. It will also ignite charred punk wood. Finely processed pine needles it will ignite to a flame but it takes some time. It will creat and ember in a hand full of pine needles which can easily be blown into flame. It takes a good 30-45 seconds but it works. I went to staples and bought a big magnifying glass the dollar store magnifying glass is just under 3 inches wide. Probably like 2.75-2.85 inches I do not know the magnification. The new one is 5.5 inches wide and 2x magnification. It’s a lot thicker and made of acrylic. Right away I noticed a huge difference. When the light is focused it is way brighter and the focal point is way smaller. Less diffusion if that’s the correct word. It instantly ignites charcloth charred punk wood lights almost instantly. Pine needles start to smoke immediately and within 10-15 seconds they will ignite to flame without blowing on them. I grabbed a few pieces of charcoal left over from last nights fire. I was able to light a small chunk right on the edge with the dollar store magnifying glass but it took a long time. With the big one it lit the chunk of charcoal very quickly. I took that chunk of charcoal plopped some pine needles on top of it then stacked some kindling on top the needles. Within a minute or two it was smoking pretty good I blew on it and it popped into flames. The big one I think is to big to be worth it for a survival pack or backpacking so I’m gonna look for a smaller one made from better materials. I’m also thinking about trying a small fresnel magnifier. As well as an A4 size that I saw at staples. I actually found starting a fire with the magnifying glass to be easier than flint and steel or a ferro rod. Super easy seems like a thing you can do a few times and have it down if you practice with flint and steel or a ferro rod. What other stuff have you lit with a magnifying glass? Do you keep a magnifying glass with your survival or brushcraft fire kits?


  2. #2

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    It's definitely dependent on direct sunlight naturally. I do not have one in my survival bag. There are just so many better ways. But I have a big one in my bushcraft and rendezvous bags unless I'm cutting weight. Which is the limiting factor with the big magnifiers.

  3. #3
    Resident Wildman Wildthang's Avatar
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    Have tried a small real glass magnifier? Might work even better!
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  4. #4

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    "Less diffusion" is a good way to put it. "Better focus" might be more technically accurate, especially if you're an amateur astronomer nerd-type.
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    The expense and efforts folks will go to just to avoid carrying a Bic!
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    Resident Wildman Wildthang's Avatar
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    A magnifying glass can also be handy for finding chiggers and pulling splinters, good as a alternate source of fire starting🤓 I just normally use a Bic because it works every time!
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    A magnifying glass can also be handy for finding chiggers and pulling splinters, good as a alternate source of fire starting🤓 I just normally use a Bic because it works every time!
    Have tried a small real glass magnifier? Might work even better!

  8. #8

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    Hey, did kind of enjoy the read as for magnifying Glass I only have on two compasses I use. But have played around a while back while camping with campfire already burning away as I was just killing time playing around and like yourself came to the same conclusion it would not be close to an ideal way to tray and make campfires. It's was nice seeing there is still a kid in this old man. One thing I do which I have never truly shared with anyone until now. I do wash my own clothing and remove all lint from the dryer catch screen and place them into a paper roll, like toilet paper cardboard and pack them as they are very lightweight. Once at a campsite and ready to build a soft campfire and this is not every time I camp as I still carry a gas stove. But will cut before a hike a toilet paper roll the cardboard into three parts with packed lint inside. I still also pick up small tender when hiking and put into my small tenter bag. Many times I come home having never used some tender. But when making a campfire will use one of my cut cardboard with lint and in some, I pack in them a bit of vaseline petroleum jelly which helps with the fast start-up and burns. I will also use the sap from Florida Pine trees cutting small tender of lighter wood as it is called as a firelighter.

    As for two compasses, I'm old school and never truly trusted a handheld GPS, My auto GPS has taken me to out of the way places and I don't want to use what I have not tried and know will work outdoors. One is for my MAPS and the other is from the military handheld directional. Sorry I know some of you younger folks love your GPS, but I'm so concerned about many things battery failure, Dropping, falling into water (which I have done and it saved my life knowing to never cross water without first losing your backpack as you want to be able to get out of your equipment fast as it will pull you down).

    But if I recall correctly back in the primitive days they used flint rocks, wood on wood friction to create fires.

    But YES, once on a trail I did play with my MAP compass magnifying glass. Feel like a kid even admitting to this. But in an emergence use what you have. I always have my cigar gas lighter and waxed matches. I carry two Faerialrods, one small one on my person, and a larger in my pack pocket.
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  10. #10
    Administrator Rick's Avatar
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    I generally us my GPS on my phone or will use the one in the truck but I ALWAYS look at a map first. Always. Like you, I have had GPS take me astray or the long way a time or two. I had already looked at a map but wondered where the GPS was taking me so I followed it just to find out. Sort of weird the routes it picks out sometimes. My phone will often route me around construction or traffic or accidents. I have no idea how it knows that. Smoke and mirrors is all I can figure. It does the same thing on occasion for appointments. "Meeting with President in 10 minutes. Traffic on Pennsylvania Ave. is light" What the?

  11. #11
    Senior Member kyratshooter's Avatar
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    Using the GPS on your phone, or the Tom Tom in the vehicle are different from the dedicated hiking and outdoor apps and GPS devices available now days.

    And the map and compass is a fine thing but I do remember situations where several very well trained people almost got into gun fights over where we were and which way we should go while standing over a map and compass. Now days the sergeant can point to the GPS and say "We're right here Lt, and we need to go right there!"

    Battery life? People have been told they need to bring extra flashlight batteries for about 100 years now. Get used to it. The need for extra batteries is not going away, and they make solar chargers now.

    And the next time you need land surveyed they will use a GPS and laser to do the job. They will get it down to a couple milimeters accuracy too, not the old fashioned "we think you own this strip next to the tree, you'll have to go to court and find out."

    If you don't trust the GPS you can at least trust one of the personal locator devices that will bring rescue right to where you are sitting, lost, cold and starving, staring at your map. Thy are pretty much fool proof. You press a button and summon help from anywhere on Earth.
    If you didn't bring jerky what did I just eat?

  12. #12

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    This thread has kinda gone off track. From solar ignition to gps.

    I haven't spent very little time playing with solar ignition. Mostly in the dead of winter and haven't had any luck. I've got to give it an honest go one of these days.

    Keep Your Tinder Dry
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  13. #13

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    When you use a magnifying lens you are capturing the sun's rays and focusing them down to a point. The more rays you capture the hotter that point will be and thus the quicker you will achieve an ember or fire. Size of lens matters.

    The formula for the area of a circle is radius of circle squared times 3.14, let's round down to 3 for simplicity. The radius is one half of the diameter. Here is the area for a few different sized lens.

    2 inch diameter lens
    Radius = 1 inch
    1 X 1 X 3 = 3 square inches

    4 inch diameter lens
    Radius = 2 inches
    2 X 2 X 3 = 12 square inches

    6 inch diameter lens
    Radius = 3 inches
    3 X 3 X 3 = 27 square inches

    You can see that the area of the lens grows quickly as the diameter increases and the amount of sun captured and focused also increases quickly.

    Solar ignition does require the sun but with a little prep, aka keeping chaga or char cloth handy a simple two to three inch diameter lens will create an ember in less than ten seconds in good sun. Oftentimes even if there is only a small break in the clouds you can get an ember. I had Solo Scientific Solar Hot Box parabolic mirror. Shortest day of the year is Dec 21. On Dec 19, at about 4:30pm the sun was just above the horizon, shining through under the clouds and using the Hot Box and a piece of charred cotton rope I was able to get an ember in about five seconds.

    Also using the Hot Box and char cloth I was able to get an ember in less than ten seconds while sitting in my car in the garage. I was capturing the sun's rays after they had passed through the plastic window in the garage door and my car's windshield.

    One big advantage to solar is that every fire you build you have the means to replenish your supply of charred material using things collected from nature. Being prepared to build your fire before the sun goes down means that you don't always need to use valuable consumables like matches or a ferro rod to get fire. But even if you do use a sparker like the ferro rod or the sparker of a depleted Bic lighter, the char works great for creating an ember.

  14. #14
    Member Mannlicher's Avatar
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    I carry a 4 inch glass lens in my kit, and use it often when bumming around in the woods. I find it fairly easy, always interesting, and effective.

  15. #15
    Senior Member Michael aka Mac's Avatar
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    ATS you are giving the formula for the area of a circle but that has nothing to do about its magnification, which is what focuses the sun rays to a focal point for ignition.
    you could have a 3 inch diameter magnifying glass at 1.5 X , 2X, 3X,5X, 10X... it is the magnification factor that counts not the diameter of the lens, least not for starting a fire. so a 10X magnifying glass is ~5 times more powerful for starting a fire then a 2X would be, faster too.

    The higher the magnification the hotter the intensity of heat at the focal point.

    I always have a magnifying glass on me, one on my keychain and one in my Victorinox Swiss Champ. When the sun is shining, its a quick way to start a fire, and even did well under windy conditions while my Bic lighter was flopping in the wind, the magnifying glass worked perfectly. But I mostly have them on me so i can freaken read the small print on packages. Getting old sucks.






    words to live by one should never be a 3.14159 hole as it always goes full circle. isn't that square ^2

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    I baught a replica of a magnifying glass at a Jim Briger Mountain Man rendezvous in Wyoming some time ago. It was a copy of what Mountain Men used in the 1830 etc. Its about 3 1/2" round and can start a fire in the in a cloudless sky if you can see enough of the sun showing though the cloudless. The difernces between what we use today is that it a much bigger convex shape

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