When cleaning out my dad's plunder after he passed in 1997 I found about a half dozen nib zippo lighters from a real estate company he had in the 1970s. I didn't look at them beyond identifying what the were but when I get roundtoit I'm going to check them out for flint damage.

Years back, I collected vintage cigarette/cigar/pipe lighters. Zippo, Ronson, Dunhill, etc. I drilled out many a bad flint from my latest finds with a hand drill cranked slowly.

I haven't looked in that box in 15+ years, I bet they are all due again.

It's a good lesson all around. I'm now checking all of my gear.

Age old issue with Zippo is finding it empty, at least in my experience.

I replaced my Zippo internals with a Thunderbird butane insert.

Very handy. I keep it in my top box on the motorcycle and use it infrequently for lighting cigars.

Always holds the butane and ready to go.

These come in soft flame like a Zippo, or the torch which is what I chose. Piezo electric spark so no flint.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_cS7KBZFfA

Maybe the fluid that deteriorates the flint, pulled out an unused Zippo from 1994, looked fine. I have a few somewhere I used to use when I smoked, I will see if I can find them. I did find a flint refill, one was worn to a point ?? Not sure if it was ever used.

This isn't just a Zippo flint issue. It affects Bic lighter flints too.

I just experienced this recently. I had a stash of Bic lighters from my youth, and when I went to test them out after coming across them in a drawer the wheel spun, and a small puff of grey dust was all I got from all but one of them. I think there were 7 or 8 in there.

Maybe a problem with newer flint composition, but a problem just the same.

 
I have 3 Zippos I use regularly, and the one in the garage was always empty because it gets used infrequently. I converted all 3 to use the Zippo butane torch inserts. They come in single or double torch models. Best thing I ever did. A fill lasts 3 or 4 times as long as the fuel did. So I'm a non-traditionalist Zippo owner, and I don't care, but I really like the butane inserts. I really like Zippo lighters, too, just the sound of using one, and the many ways you can open and close them.

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
I have 3 Zippos I use regularly, and the one in the garage was always empty because it gets used infrequently. I converted all 3 to use the Zippo butane torch inserts. They come in single or double torch models. Best thing I ever did. A fill lasts 3 or 4 times as long as the fuel did. So I'm a non-traditionalist Zippo owner, and I don't care, but I really like the butane inserts. I really like Zippo lighters, too, just the sound of using one, and the many ways you can open and close them.

I just discovered the butane inserts a couple months ago; now I can use a Zippo to light my cigars without affecting the taste. There’s just something cool about a Zippo...I had to buy a new Zippo in which to put the insert, though, as my small collection of about 6 Zippos is packed away somewhere.

I have now switched to piezo electric style lighters in my emergency kits.

All of my Bic lighters now have degraded flints. All of my piezo electric "aim-n-flames" of that same era work fine.

I rarely use a lighter. Don't smoke, light the BBQ with a torch. Essentially just use it for the occassional camp fire or candle, or to finish off the ends of synthetic cord. Accordingly, I have lighters that are approaching 10 years old in various stashes.

^^^^ Henry thank you for the info about a Zippo butane insert. I had no idea it existed. I'll get a couple and use them on a couple of old Zippos I have.


A Zippo lighter was always in my coat pocket during winter when I was a young man and first started driving and owning my old car.

We'd get winter rain that froze and some water always ran down past the window seal and froze on the door lock mechanism. You couldn't get your key in the door lock to get into the car.

You youngsters who have only known and used electronic remotes to lock/unlock your car doors won't know about this.

I'd use my Zippo to heat up my car key to get it into the door lock cylinder. It might take a couple 2 or 3 tries to get the key in enough to thaw out the lock.

I never smoked but that Zippo sure came in handy for things such as that. It even heated up a sewing needle to sterilize it and dig out a splinter.

How many remember the good old days when Matches were Real Matches? They were outlawed something like 30-35 years ago?

You could light them with your thumb nail, the teeth of your zipper, sometimes on the butt of your jeans.

Todays matches are just about nearly worthless. They have to be struck on the provided worthless wimpy strip attached to the package.

I was at an Estate Sale a few years ago and spotted a box of kitchen utensils. In that box was a half box of Ohio Blue Tip Matches, the real genuine vintage Strike Anywhere Matches. I was so tickled I bought the whole box of stuff and gladly paid asking price for it.

They light today just like they did decades ago. I'm carefully rationing them because they're pretty much unobtainium today, unless you find some in an estate sale or such.

There were other brands besides Ohio Blue Tips but I can't recall them right at this moment. Todays Ohio Blue Tip Matches are junk and are hard to light, the attached strip gets moist and won't spark the matches. JUNK! All matches sold today are junk compared to what we had before.

Todays matches sold in the stores are restricted by law and the label states they are Strike Anywhere Matches. Wrong!

I vividly recall sitting in class in 7th Grade and being bored out of my mind in English Class. I learned how to make a stink bomb rotten egg smell by removing the ink tube part of a Bic Clic pen, placing a match inside, and using the spring to sling a bobby pin on the head of a match to ignite it. It would not really burn, it would just smolder long enough to create a nasty gas smell and stop the class and the teacher for awhile. That Bic Clic rode in my shirt chest pocket and gave no clue to it's modification.

Fortunately I was never caught doing this, thus avoiding the teachers and principals paddling my butt. Yes in those days corporal punishment was alive and well in schools. It was almost a badge of honor.
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I’ve got a femwzippos but I don’t rely on them. I fill them, seal them with a rubber band and in a couple of weeks they are dry. They are cool though. I my try a few different inserts.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
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.

I've had bad luck with both in windy conditions, but I don't have any skills with numchucks either.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:
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.

Coincidentally, I purchased a Mora/firesteel combo knife yestreday from a retaileer called the great outdoor something or another store, a very cool place. Anyway the ferro rod is embedded into the end of the handle. The noticed the ferro is coated, so that is interesting about corrosion of those kinds of materials. I guess it makes sense, since doesn't oxygen combine with the chemicals in the ferro to create the burning spark ? Oxygen is a powerful oxidizer. And isn't the burning of the ferro material itself an accellerated oxidation with oxygen, more or less ? I had lots of chemistry in college (regular chemistry, polymer chem, carbohydrate (wood) chem, organic) but don't recall much about oxidaton vs burning etc.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

Fortunately I was never caught doing this, thus avoiding the teachers and principals paddling my butt. Yes in those days corporal punishment was alive and well in schools. It was almost a badge of honor.

LOL Talk about a juvenile delinquent! LOL

The few Zippos I have were all commemoratives of ships I served on. They've been stored away for decades now.

There are several large boxes of Diamond brand "Stike on box" wooden matches here for lighting candles should power be lost. Sadly as old as they are it usually takes several to find one that will in fact light. This thread reminds me that I need to replace them.

a good heads up. thanks.

Add another vote for the Zippo butane insert. Bought one earlier this year to keep in the truck.

I learned this after carrying a Zippo daily for years. You must maintain it a lot more than most think.

I still like them. You can burn just about any flammable liquid in them. Plus, they just have a certain charm.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
^^^^ Henry thank you for the info about a Zippo butane insert. I had no idea it existed. I'll get a couple and use them on a couple of old Zippos I have.

Amazon sells the genuine Zippo brand butane insert, too. Saves you a few bucks over buying from Zippo.
 
They are a pretty tight fit, at least in the Zippo "armored" lighters (thicker metal case). The insert has a ridge on each side near the bottom. I sanded the ridges down slightly to get a fit that is still tight enough but that I can pull out easily by hand.

I could be mistaken but I seem to remember long ago flints used to be coated with lacquer that kept this from happening. It scraped off with the first spin of the wheel or two once you put it in. A short piece of bicycle tube works well to keep the fluid from evaporating.

My brother passed away in 1994, and I have his Zippo. I’m not a smoker, so it sat in the safe up until about 3 months ago.

I filled it up with lighter fluid, and it lit up almost immediately. Now I don’t know what to do with it. So back in the safe she goes...