When I say 'infrequently', I mean many years. This would apply to collectors of Zippos, as well as people like me, who've kept one in a kit long term without any use of the lighter.

Those of you who use Zippos know that they leak fuel, or perhaps it is better to say that the imperfect seal between the lighter body and the outer case of the lighter allows fuel to evaporate at a suprisingly fast rate. Also, by nature of the lighter's design, fuel evaporates through the wick of the lighter. You can't stop this evaporation, but you can contain it by sealing the lighter. Some guys will wrap a piece of electrical tape or a heavy duty rubber band around the gap between the upper and lower portions of the outer case of the lighter and this dramatically slows down the rate of evaporation. I recall reading an article about Zippo lighters in Smithsonian magazine in the 1990s. A fellow was praising his Zippo that he had carried decades before in a war (Korea IIRC) and hadn't used since. He removed the electrical tape seal and struck the lighter and it lit on the first try and gave off a flame as big as his thumb, he said. That's a confidence-inspiring endorsement, isn't it? If you seal it properly, you can get a Zippo to light up after years of storage with no problem, right?

Well, my experience with storing a Zippo long term is different than that. I have a Zippo with a manufacture date of February 1998 which certainly contained the flint which was installed at the Zippo factory. I learned a trick from my father, and that is to store two or three flints under the felt in the fuel chamber of the lighter. This doesn't reduce the fuel capacity in any appreciable way. This way, you'll always have spare flints.
I had the lighter stowed away in its little tin box Zippo sells the lighter in, and inside this box, I had additional flints, not that I needed them, but flints are sold in quantities of a dozen or thereabouts, so I simply stored them in the box so that I would know where the flints are.
I think the last time I checked this lighter was probably 8 or 10 years ago. I opened up the box in which the lighter was stored. I hadn't sealed the lighter body and knew that the fuel chamber would be bone dry, but I gave the thumb wheel a roll and there was no spark. The wheel spun freely. Now, I knew that this lighter had been stored with a flint in place, but when I looked at the gap between the wheel and the top of the flint chamber, I saw nothing. Puzzled, I pulled the lighter body out of the case and noticed a fine gray powder embedded in the felt. I lifted the felt and the three flints I had stored underneath had rotted almost completely, and the extra flints that I had stored in the Zippo tin had also turned to a fine gray powder and coated the inside of the tin.
I tried to look inside the flint chamber by shining a flashlight towards the gap between the bottom of the stiker wheel and the top of the flint chamber, then peering through the flint chamber from the bottom of the lighter body. I couldn't see a thing- no light at all. What. The. Hell??
I took a heavy duty paper clip, straightened it out and pushed it into the flint chamber from the bottom of the lighter. The paper clip did not appear in the gap between the wheel and the top of the flint chamber, and then it made sense; the flint had deteriorated and was blocking the top of the chamber. The portion of the flint which should have appeared in the gap had turned to powder and simply fell away at some point over the years, but the portion of the flint which was inside the chamber had remained and turned into a form of concrete. Once again, I pushed the paper clip into the chamber and pushed very hard and after a couple of seconds, the remainder of the deteriorated flint exploded out from the gap above the flint chamber in a tiny cloud of this fine gray dust. Shining the light at the gap, I could now see that the chamber was cleared. I blew out the chamber and the rest of the lighter with a can of compressed air and wiped all nooks and crannies of the lighter body and outer case with a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol.

All of this is news to me, so I went looking online to see if anyone else has experienced it, and sure enough: Warning- Lighter Flints Apparently Have A Shelf Life

You can see his remarks about the concrete-like mass created in the flint chamber, no doubt aided by the spring compression which the flint is under.

I suppose it's laughably unfair to be critical of Zippo for this. What would happen to all the seals and hoses of your automobile if you left it sitting undisturbed for an entire decade? So, I can't fault Zippo or the flints they use for their lighters, but if you are a Zippo collector or if you have a Zippo which you have stored long term in an emergency kit, I suggest that you check your lighters.

Good to know. I have a couple of Zippos that I haven't used in years. Always thought the flints, being metal, would last until they were used up. That's strange to me that they deteriorate like they do. Thanks for the heads-up.

In the linked thread I posted, someone suggested using ferrocerium in place of the flint, but talks about having to make them. Umm, no thank you. However, that thread is from 12 years ago, and it looks like that in the interim someone has maufactured ferrocerium flints for Zippos.

https://www.amazon.com/CooBigo...s%2C169&sr=8-36&th=1

These are, unfortunately, Chinese-made and they sell them in a ridiculous quanity of 450 or 500(!), but for only ten bucks, so this part is likely the answer to long term Zippo storage.

**edit** Oh, wait. I changed the link. You can get a mere 60(!) in black, or 500 in gold color, but both for ten bucks. Huh? Whatever. Looking at the reviews, it seems like these flints work properly in Zippos, and I've never heard of ferrocerium deteriorating into dust, so...

Clean it with lighter fluid, let it dry. Take the cotton out, and re pack it with new cotton if needed. New flints only last about a year. (DONT toss that lighter in your front pocket right after you re-fill it. )

I've gone through who knows how many Zippos in the past 30 or so years. I've heard some of the older ones can be worth a few bucks.

As far as keeping them in a kit, or long term storage, a bic lighter or matches (stick, and the strike anywhere kind are even better, but they need to be in a waterproof container.) are the way to go. Only problem with Bic lighters are watching out that the little lever for the gas doesn't get accidentally depressed, and let all the gas out.

A few months ago I found my old butt-pack from when I was in the Marines. I had a small kit in there, with a Bic lighter, I tossed that Bad-Larry in there in '93. Still works.

I'll not go into the reasons I keep a Zippo, but I will say that I possess bushcrafting skills and I can make fire in the woods about ten different ways. Give me a small, single blade pocket knife and 2 feet of reasonably strong cordage and I'll make a bow drill and have fire going in about 20 minutes or less.

I have a friend who used to keep a BIC lighter in his kit. The lighter was packed into a kit and the fuel button got compressed down and when he went to use his lighter, no worky. All the fuel was gone. I keep a ferro rod, striker and bar of magnesium in my kit. I keep a small magnifying glass. I keep "stormproof" matches and "strike anywhere" matches. Redundancy in all critical systems. That's my mantra. The Zippo is merely a part of the kit. I keep the fuel separate and would fill the lighter only when I needed to use it.

Use Bic Lighter flints unless they have changed them. I have always pulled the flints out of old Bics that ran out of fluid but still had flint left for my Zippos. Even have found some 15+ year old bics in my old clothes pockets that still were fine (as in no flint degradation).

Yes, BICs are convenient and ubiquitous. If you keep one in your kit, wedge a chunk of pencil eraser under the fuel button, or you may find out at the most critical moment that your lighter is dry.

So, thanks for the suggestions, but I know how to make fire as well as anyone in this forum. Hell, I can even make it using a fire plow, al la Tom Hanks in Castaway.

This thread is about Zippos in long term storage.

Sounds like what's in my kit.
Your buddy still could have used the spark from the Bic!

A few of the old timers that taught me how to uuuhhhh.... Camp were mostly Vietnam Vets, and taught me to keep everything in ziplock bags and dry. And that Zippos were great for lighting a smoke, but not so much for long term storage. The flints degrade and the fluid evaporates after a while.

I have a small plastic soap box with 2 lighters, some kindling, magnesium bar and a razor blade. I love the magnesium bars with the ferro rod. They work incredibly well in different environments.

Primarily, I use a ferro rod to start a camp fire, because that's the most fun way to do it IMO. This is why my Zippo has remained unused for so long. Lighters seem almost like cheating.

Lighter and matches are quick and easy.

But yeah, something about a flint & steel, ferro rod and some magniesum shavings, or fine kindling to start a fire.
That fire seems just a little bit warmer.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Yes, BICs are convenient and ubiquitous. If you keep one in your kit, wedge a chunk of pencil eraser under the fuel button, or you may find out at the most critical moment that your lighter is dry.

So, thanks for the suggestions, but I know how to make fire as well as anyone in this forum. Hell, I can even make it using a fire plow, al la Tom Hanks in Castaway.

This thread is about Zippos in long term storage.

I didn't mean to "use" Bics, I just meant that the Bic made "flint" inside the Bics, is very much higher quality than the little cheapo flints normally used in Zippos and don't seem to degrade over time. If you take them out, you can put them in zippos (although they are a little long brand new).

I now coat my ferro rod with paste wax to slow oxidation. I had a ferro rod disintegrate into gray powder while stored in a zip lock. Hadn't occurred to me to check the flint in my zippp lighters. I have a 7 or 8 year old bic lighter in my survival kit that took a bit of work to get the spark wheel spinning. My guess is that the flint corroded it stuck.

Ive tried some of the replacement butane drop ins that hold the fuel without leaking. I have several that are going strong after a few years. Like these:

https://www.amazon.com/Vector-...po+lighter+in&sr=8-2

Zippo lighters are, well, just plain cool. They always have been. Growing up in the 50's us kids would watch the older kids flip them open with their fingers and fire up a butt that they had rolled up in their sleeve.

I carried one in my later life when I smoked and, yup, burned my leg many times by over filling. It just came with the territory. I can't remember when I quit carrying them, probably when the Bics hit market.

I just might have to keep an eye open for one after reading this.

I bought a Zippo about three years ago. They are just one of the iconic American items I think everyone should own. I bought one of the “1940’s” models in nickel. I have never smoked but flame can come in handy (I do keep a couple of boxes of strike anywhere matches vacuum sealed with a desiccant bag in the kit). When I first got it I would use it to light the fire starters for the grill but I noticed that if I didn’t grill for a few weeks it would be empty. Made sense, the fuel can evaporate, I just didn’t think it would be that quick. I guess if I smoked I would have never noticed it as I would be filling it regularly. Anyway this thread got me thinking. If you were to vacuum seal a Zippo for storage would you seal it full or empty? If full it shouldn’t evaporate as it has no where to go, but then I wonder about the vapors trapped in the plastic. Any more dangerous than normal? I had no idea about the flints deteriorating. I’ll have to check mine and grab some. I honestly never bought any because I figured I’d never wear one out with the limited use I give it.

Maybe I’ll install a new flint, fill it up, and vacuum seal it. It can go next to my current experiment, two 50rd boxes of 9mm with a desiccant that has been living in my garage (very humid in ENC) since 5/19/18. Not sure what I am trying to accomplish lol but the desiccant still seems to have life in it. It changed color the first few days as it absorbed the moisture that was still contained in the package and then it seemed to stop.

I went through this a few months ago. I dug out my old Zippo to use to light fireworks on Independence Day. I hadn’t used it in the nearly ten years since I quit smoking, and found the wheel wouldn’t turn. I bore down on it a bit and little bits and chunks of flint broke off and then the wheel spun freely. Thankfully what was left in the flint chamber wasn’t stuck when I took it apart, it all just crumbled and fell free. The flints I had stored under the felt pad were still intact, however, so I installed one and it’s working great. The spares I had are easily a decade old, Zippo brand and seem to be coated in some kind of red paint or something. I guess the exposed portion of the flint that was being used oxidized or whatever and the protective coating saved the spares. That explains that.

I am familiar with this problem. I had a box of torch starter flints in a little tin box in my toolbox for the "sparker" for lighting a gas torch.

They all disintegrated.

I don't know how many years old they were, or how long it took them to die, but they all turned to powder.

On July 10, 1964 I bought a plain Zippo at the Woolworth's store around the corner from the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in Lancaster PA. I was on my way to Basic training at Fort Knox. I didn't smoke, but thought I could use it (for what I didn't know). During the next 20 years that Zippo was my constant companion. It was returned to Zippo 3 times to have the hinge reattached. The fourth time I returned it for a busted hinge, they attached a hinge strong enough to hang a car door on. They unfortunately also knocked out all of the dents in the lid. Much of the silver finish had been rubbed off and the brass base metal was showing through. Each time it was returned to Zippo they put new guts in it.

On a Fall day in 1984, my wife and I were cruising on my motorcycle around the countryside around Erlangen W. Germany. Stopped at a farm stand to buy something. My Zippo was no longer in my jacket pocket. Apparently my wife had inadvertently pulled it out when she took her hands out of the jacket pockets.

35 years later I still miss my Zippo.

I ran that lighter on MOGAS while in Vietnam.

I used to salvage flints from butane lighters to use in my Zippo years ago, think the Bic ones worked well but were sometimes too long and needed to be shortened.

I have to wonder if the Bic flints are the same material, or if maybe they last longer being in a plastic housing for storage versus metal and fiber in a Zippo? Seems like the flints in Bics I've found over the years have continued to work after years of storage in some awful conditions.

A couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Bradford, PA. While there, I stopped at the Zippo/Case Museum to drop off for repair a couple of lighters which belonged to my grandfather. One had the classic broken hinge while the other simply didn't work. (I now realize it probably had an old crusty flint binding the wheel.) Upon arrival, the receptionist immediately walked my lighters back to the service center where I was able to view them being repaired. Within 15 minutes, they were both returned in working order. Total cost - not one cent. If you're planning to be in the Bradford area, I highly recommend a stop at the Zippo/Case Museum and gift store.