I already knew this one, a magnifying glass. This works by concentrating the sun's energy. Adjusting the magnifying glass at such an angle, you will see a small circle of sun light the smaller you make this circle of sun light the more intense it will become. Place your tinder bundle under this spot and it will begin to smoke and with some luck it will catch fire. I tried some of these methods and some I haven‘t tried. The following techniques are based on the same principal as the magnifying glass. Condom filled with water for your lens. An aluminum soda can and chocolate bar. Basically polish the bottom of the can to a mirror finish by using chocolate or tooth paste...I'm working on this one.
This one I created back 80's and it works really well. Using an empty lighter striker and a Q-tip, fluff up the cotton on the Q-tip. Using the striker from the empty lighter and light the Q-tip; an easy one. You also can use sock lint. Another one with a empty lighter striker that does work is here.
On the 4th of July my dad would grab a coat hanger and fasten some steel wool to it and light it. Us kids would then twirl this around. Well folks, that's what we called the poor boys 4th of July sparkler. We had fun! I found this one, starting a fire with a 9 volt battery and steel wool. I knew as a boy, steel wool was flammable and a 9 volt battery has more current and should work, right? Yes it does! The finer the steel wool the better.
Here's one I found one on YouTube "Starting a Fire with a AA Battery." I was curious so I decided to watch it. Every thing in this video made sense. When shorting out a battery it creates heat. I was sitting at my desk at the time, and noticed that I had some AA batteries that my wife had just recently bought. So I grabbed one and proceeded to follow the directions from the video. Well the battery got really hot and I burnt my finger. Well maybe I'm not doing this right. He did say that using char cloth works better...NOT...but it would make a good a hand warmer. My point here is you may read or watch a lot of stuff on the net, but if you don’t actually try them you never know if it's going to work when they're really needed.
