Handy, large butane lighters for the shop and tool box.

[David Thomas]

I was searching for something else and saw these on Amazon:

While a Bic and Mini-Bic are wondrous things on the trail, a lot of larger lighters I have aren’t great.  And, I thought, maybe it would have some use on a treeless, volcano island with no fuel for sale next month.  $13.46 for 4.  Refillable.  Ad says, “In Compliance with DOT Regulations – Butane Fuel is Not Included” but they lied.  In a good way.  They came filled! (especially handy for the aforementioned Aleutian island.

They showed up in 4 days and are nicely made and feel good in my hand and allow for easy one-handed use.   It’s a “turbo-flame” kind of lighter with the hotter, pre-mixed blue flame rather than the cooler yellow flame of a Bic lighter.  78 grams full.  There’s a lock button meant to lock-out the push-button on function, but if you press hard and jiggle it a bit, you can use the lock button to lock it ** ON **.  Hmmm.  Now they become more useful!

In the garage, they’d be great for heat-sealing the end of nylon ropes.  I usually use a propane plumber’s torch because I can lock it on and set it upright and use two hands to position, twist and pull nylon rope as I cut/burn/seal it all at once.  This lighter could easily do that because it stands upright and can be locked on.  I could imagine burn/cutting plastic sheeting, although the edges might be a little rough.

And I pondered if you could use it as a mini-stove/fuel option while backpacking.  I’ll write that up in the next thread.

[Valerie E]

One word:  S’mores! 😊

[David Thomas]

I hung a pot over one of the lighters while it was on high and locked on.

I tried it at 10 cm (shown) and 8 cm height above the table which didn’t make much difference.  I got 3F/min rise in 500 grams of water.  So in 10 minutes it went from 70F to 100F and used 1 gram of fuel.  Good efficiency but not much heat output.  Maybe useable in mild weather with a smaller amount of water or with two or three of the lighters going at once.

Conclusion: handy to have in the shop, in the glove box, and maybe while camping to light fires.  But not as a alternative stove function while backpacking.

To its credit, it did run at full flame for 10 minutes with no problems.  The plastic nearest the metal tip did get hot and I’d hesitate to run it indefinitely like that, but a $4.00, high-temp, well-made, lockable lighter has its uses.

[David Thomas]

Valerie’s right – you could do s’mores or chicken satay, one at the time.

[Matthew / BPL]

brûlée on the trail

[Jerry Adams]

[Jerry Adams]

you make me work for searching for this

“Butane Fuel is Not Included” was a good search string  : )

[DAN-Y/FANCEE FEEST]

Excellent for lighting “hard to light” Esbit

[Author]

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