Topic

Starting a fire with AA battery and gum wrapper

This topic has 7 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 9 years ago by Jim Colten.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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Jan 31, 2015 at 6:20 am #1325191

Gordon Gray
Spectator

@gordong
Locale: Front Range, CO

Jan 31, 2015 at 11:08 am #2170068

Mitchell Ebbott
Spectator

@mebbott-2
Locale: SoCal

I never carry gum, but I bet that trick would work with a hot cocoa packet. Most of those are made of a foil and paper laminate.

Jan 31, 2015 at 2:26 pm #2170111

Dan Yeruski
BPL Member

@zelph
Locale: www.bplite.com

First time seeing the gum wrapper way to do fire….thank you :-)

Another video by the same guy was in the right hand column:

Feb 2, 2015 at 1:07 am #2170420

Mobile Calculator
Spectator

@mobile-calculator

[…]

Nov 17, 2016 at 9:07 pm #3436126

Kattt
BPL Member

@kattt

Looking at older threads and this one caught my eye. Pretty cool :)

Nov 22, 2016 at 7:10 am #3436834

Kevin Babione
BPL Member

@kbabione
Locale: Pennsylvania

I forwarded this YouTube video to one of my hiking buddies and he and his son (who didn’t believe it could possibly work) set out to prove it either way. Here are his comments:

I would say that the myth is confirmed.

Things we learned. Duracell did work better then store brand batteries. I have concerns regarding how much strain it puts on your battery as it gets very hot. You need to bring extra batteries if you want to feel good about powering your flashlight later at night. The thickness of the wrapper is important (3/32’s is exact), too thick and it smokes but does not catch fire, and too thin it burns up immediately and would not start tinder. If you fiddle with the contact points on the wrapper too much, it loses its conductive properties. The guy in the video is much more manly than Tyler and I. The ends of the battery get extremely hot immediately and is difficult to hold long enough to ignite. I do believe it could actually leave light burn marks on your fingers. I did it a few times by hand and then successfully held copper pennies on the ends as conductors instead of burning my flesh.

Nov 22, 2016 at 8:40 am #3436849

Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear
BPL Member

@jonfong
Locale: FLAT CAT GEAR

It would probably work a lot better if they used a Samsung battery

Nov 22, 2016 at 12:03 pm #3436881

Jim Colten
BPL Member

@jcolten
Locale: MN

It would probably work a lot better if they used a Samsung battery

Good one, Jon!

Cute idea, but … who needs to start a fire in the weather conditions shown in the video? Wants to have a fire, sure.

Let’s try it at 34F with everything wet. I can offer my back yard as a test lab. There are other light weight sources of ignition that many of us would be already carrying for other reasons
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