Do you work for Bic?

 

I have like 5 Bic lighters in my pack.

 

The disposable lighter is my #1 way to make fire. I always have one with me and I don't even smoke cigarettes.

 

Ditto it is fast and easier than fire from sticks. Why learning and practicing primitive and other methods is great but, the BIC is KISS:thumb:
I always use a primative method and have a few lighters for back ups. You can never have enough ways to make fire!

 

The Bic Lighter- Part 2
The reason I'm being so wordy is so that I can get my point across fully rather than have a long, drawn-out debate with a million incomplete-sentence replies, rereplies, and rerereplies. Bear with me.
They don't last long/are unreliable? Myth Busted as they say.
Let's look at the bic vs. the standard $8-$14 firesteel.
The bic, as I said above, creates both spark and fire. All you have to do is provide that fire a place to live. The firesteel on the other hand only makes sparks. I know most of you carry some sort of dry tinder. Great. While you're sparking away, hoping that the sparks that fly in all directions land on your tinder and set it alight, I have 2 or 3 little piles of tinder going, and have likely lit a cigarrette (or pipe if it isn't raining). Yes the firesteel works, but I challenge you to start a fire FASTER with a firesteel than with a bic. I have 2 firesteels, just for fun, but I never take them with me unless I'm just using them for fun.
In adverse conditions, i.e. injury, extreme cold (numb hands), etc. the bic is so simple to use that in the late 80s they made them babyproof. That means that a toddler can start a fire with a bic. A guy with half-frozen hands, half conscious from hunger or injury, in the pitch-black dark can start a fire one-handed with a bic.
Most folks building a BOB or other survival kit will go out and get the most space-aged bag, made of polymer-fibers, fancy high-tech tactical flashlights, and let's not mention the most definitely NOT primitively manufactured knives, so why do people insist that the only reliable way to start a fire is with quasi-primitive, expensive, moderately reliable manufactured moneywasters?
You're trying to survive. That means not die. You obviously have far more important long-term things to worry about than showing off your arcane firemaking skills. Spend 2 bucks on a 3-pack of bics and leave the firesteel crap at home.
Even when your bic runs out of gas, it will make sparks. And yes, I've started several fires with empty lighters.
Discuss.

 

Most folks building a BOB or other survival kit will go out and get the most space-aged bag, made of polymer-fibers, fancy high-tech tactical flashlights, and let's not mention the most definitely NOT primitively manufactured knives, so why do people insist that the only reliable way to start a fire is with quasi-primitive, expensive, moderately reliable manufactured moneywasters?

I have to disagree with this. I think most folks with a bob/survival kits will say a lighter is better but carry both just in case.

 

Hahaha. No, I don't work for bic. I just say bic because a)they have the patent and b) bic is easier to type repeatedly than "disposable lighter"

 

i really think your preaching to the quire. EVERYONE knows how useful a lighter can be

have you been reading any of our past posts?? or are you just talking about ppl outside of this forum?? because you really have miss the mark so far if your talking about ppl here.


side note: i dont smoke but i have had bic's go dry/empty just setting in a drawer.they can and do leak (it may take years so buying 40 to stockpile may be a waste)so they arnt good for LONG term. i would also suggest in BoB's to get lighters that are child proof so it doesnt get the button held down and empty your lighter out :thumb:

 

side note: i dont smoke but i have had bic's go dry/empty just setting in a drawer.they can and do leak (it may take years so buying 40 to stockpile may be a waste)so they arnt good for LONG term. i would also suggest in BoB's to get lighters that are child proof so it doesnt get the button held down and empty your lighter out :thumb:

fire is one of the most important skills you can carry so why put all your eggs in one basket, i have a storm proof lighter in my pocket at all times and a fire steel in my base kit but spread through all my other bags and vehicals i have "bic" lighters, when i store them i tend to put a zip tie around the top that sits under the lip of the button which stops it from being pressed accidently, i do this as they are cheap very light and easy to fit into just about anywhere and may well save my life one day,

but feel free to disagree with the guy from across the pond

 

Cryptkeeper-
I know most people are practical, but more and more I see videos, TV shows, forum posts, etc. where people give a run-down of their gear and it's amazing how many DON'T have a lighter. Their primary source of fire is some nonsense like waterproof matches. I'm confused as to why they even make those crappy things anymore. I'm just trying to inform the younger and inexperienced people out there who buy into gear-hype, which is one my biggest pet peeves.

 

lol i have to agree there are ALOT of idiots out there lol

but if a bic gets wet you can not get it to spark and if your REALLY needing a fire within a couple of hours then you need an alternative means of starting a fire.hence water proof matches :thumb:

 

stick it in a freezer over night then try to light it.. I had a bic fail to light just because it was in my car over night and was cold..

 

lol there you go.. theres a good one... all your bics get wet and freeze by the time you get to your camp site what are you going to do you need to get warm NOW!!not 2 days from now when the sun comes out and melts and drys your bic's out

 

Actually, I'd guess most of us keep both a lighter and some type of sparking (?) method for fire starting.
I like the magnesium blocks, as a back up to the lighters.

 

As to getting wet/freezing... I have both successfully and unsuccessfully ignited bics under both conditions. I don't try anymore. Now, when I'm going out into the wilderness, I throw my spare lighter into a ziploc (no, I don't work for Ziploc) bag with my dry tinder. As to the freezing... most of the time they work just fine in the extreme cold (and I mean extreme). I have a suspicion as to why a freezer specifically would cause issues and I'm going to test that out tonight and post later, but I've been in extremely cold situations and had almost no problems. When the lighter doesn't work as a lighter, I usually just make a bow drill anyway. NOTHING is 100% reliable, but again, as a primary source for fire, the lighter can't be beaten.

 

Agreed!!!!!!!

I'll use my "disposable" lighters for ever!!! so to speak.

Any other means is a last resort as far as i'm concerned. Don't get get me wrong, alternative means of fire starting is a great skill and one that i am working on. But... hell i'll always keep a chit load of "Bics" to last me a long, long, time....

 

No doubt they also make a great bartering item, no? Take little space, cheap to stockpile, and as mentioned, easy for the layperson to use.

 

carry bics in bob and have magnesium as last resort backup....:thumb:

 

I don't trust a bic as my only source for fire. I carry a bic, strike anywhere matches, magnesium bar, flint,ferro rod, fresnel lens as well as some steel wool and a 9 volt battery. Figure that covers all my bases.

 

What about butane. Those are the best for fire starting. Also I agree, taking all these high tech gadgets with you camping/backpacking and you take a Flint with you. I don't buy or use anything other than a lighter. I think people use them because its primitive, but it really is not primitive at all.

 

Bic lighters are awesome and I agree I use them for like 99.9% of fires i make but I also carry a magnesium and flint for the simple fact it is indestructible. Whereas I have broken a few lighters in my time being clumsy.

 

I agree with you all that a bic should not be your only option. Although I did say "leave the firesteel at home", which might have confused the iussue, I did also mention that I use a bowdrill. I also carry a fire piston.
As to lighters being broken... the only ones I've ever broken were a result of me throwing them at high velocity against a very hard object. I've spent most of my life out of doors and am almost 40, and have worked disaster relief, wandered through Southeast Asia, and have plenty of "war games" behind me, and I've never encountered a situation where I was forced to relinquish my many-pocketed trousers and their contents. Sure, learn as many ways to make fire as possible. Carry backups. I must restate that my main point is to prevent "newbies" from relying on gear and skills that are far less effective as their primary source of fire. It's all about priorities.
You all make good points (except maybe the, ahem, "alternate carry method" *cough*)
Thanks for the feedback

Practice and experiment

 

I carry a bic on me everywhere I go as a primary fire starter... then I have a mini fire steel on a necklace as a backup. Nothing wrong with a disposable lighter, just dont depend on only that.

 

The bic can have its lever depressed in a pack or a pocket, and the gas cane escape, from what survival philosophy I have learned from people here, the bic lighter should be one level of three possible ways to light a fire. I carry a couple of bics in cases which keep the lever protected.

 

Its foolish to depend on a bic lighter. They are difficult to operate with their child safety device and I find they lose their gas charge in the pocket too easily. You can't depend on them in a pinch. Now, scripto lighters are a different creature. I love the micros that are half the size of normal. I find that their safety device is easier to use with my big hands then the bics. I carry one or two all the time and have them in all my kits. When I go hunting I carry back-up systems but the disposables are my primary fire starters.

 

hahaha this reminds me of something i did at work a while back, one engineer there used to allways ask to "borrow" my lighter and would NEVER RETURN IT so after i was out like 10 bic lighters (took a few years) I went to the store and bought a magnifying glass. the very next time he asked to "borrow" a lighter i lent him the magnifying glass, he was all "whats this for" and i told him to light your smoke because you allways pocket my lighter. he never asked for a light again! :thumb:

 

The OP needs to stop with the text walls; I quit reading halfway through.

My BOB plans include a Zippo, 2-3 Bics, a Firesteel, and a Fresnel lens. That should cover me.

 

Wow a bit wordy

 

I've been on this forum for a good long while now, I doubt *anyone* goes around without a lighter. Hell, this site drives more lighter sales than most others. Preparedness means you take advantage of whatever you got.

That said, there is merit to learning alternate ways to light a fire. You might lose your lighter, it could run out, you may have other options available to you. Using these options could save your precious lighter fluid for a real emergency.

A key issue with survival is protecting what you have. If I had to light 10 fires, half of them on rainy days and the other half on sunny days, I would surely start my fire *without* my lighter on the sunny days. It's the same manner of thinking that has many of us splitting paper matches in half. Waste not, want not. Starting a fire from scratch is certainly saving your resources.

 

I, along with most people here, carry a disposable lighter to start fires. But, as with most things talked about here, it is good to have backup and skills. I have trained to start fires in the woods with sticks. I must admit there where more than a few fires started with the old style highway flairs back when I was a Boy Scout.: (Oh, the things you can get away with when you are 16).

 

I carry a zippo daily. I would have no problems carrying a bic, but I can't in the environment that I work as it's against policy. It's been proven that a bic can explode when hit with bits of molten metal and while I'm RARELY in that position, others are. The company made a blanket policy that bics will not be allowed inside the facilities.

In my emergency kit, I have both. A few bics and zippos with spare parts and fluid for the zippos. I also carry a magnesium fire starter as well. I don't want to chance either one failing me when I need it most.