I spy...

[saxonaxe]

El scorchio today so I retreated to one of my sunny spots where there is usually a nice sea breeze and just flaked out.
Cooking nicely in the sun I was thinking about the different fire making methods that You Tube stars talk about, so I decided as conditions were perfect to just dabble in a couple.

Base plate compass with built in magnifying glass...Reasonable compass, quite well made and decent magnifying lens, and a bit of paper kitchen towel. Failed...held a small spot for probably 2 minutes with no effect in the hot sunshine...It might work, but you would need to hold the spot for some considerable time, which is a pain and not practical by hand. Fix the compass in situ perhaps and leave it might work.
Might be ok in the Mohave Desert or similar, but not in 23 degrees + sunshine in Blighty.

Spectacles, depends on lens prescription I suspect. Bifocals might be better, but mine are I think strength 3 reading specs whatever that means.
Very difficult to focus a compact bright hot spot on the paper, so again failed after several attempts.

But...being a wizened old git, I carry the object lens from an old pair of 7x50 binoculars in my fire kit, although I've never used it for fire making. only for finding splinters or thorns which have stabbed me. Anyway, it's there..dual purpose.. and it proved it's worth. 10 seconds and the paper towel glowed and away it went.

I wouldn't totally discard the other methods in a real emergency but a dedicated lens wins hands down and doesn't weigh much in my kit.

Lovely day, views from my sun spot. The light green on the extreme right of photo is weed on the lake, not a grass field... Hot sun has caused it all to bloom. Nice breeze off the sea in that spot.

Cool and green in the wood coming home.

Another intriguing tree. This Field Maple growing on a slope has it's roots exposed. I'm pretty sure that is wind scour which erodes the soft soil of the bank. Seems healthy enough though and probably provides temporary shelter/ hiding places for various Meeces and the like when the Buzzards fly overhead...

I'd better stay out of the sun for a while now, any darker and they'll start calling me Abdullah and asking to see my passport...

 

[Bam]

You've reminded me to do the experiment with the Fresnel lense I keep in my wallet. It is more for reading small writing or finding the thorns and skelfs but it would be handy to know if I could use it on a hot day.

 

[38thfoot]

I’ve tried with the magnifying glass on a number of compasses with no success; I don’t think the plastic lens on a compass is optically good enough.

38

 

[saxonaxe]

I'd agree with that 38, I managed to get a 'spot' of about 3 or 4 mm but there was no real heat in it, as you say, optically the plastic lens is not really up to it. Yet often I see it being recommended as an easy option, probably by people who have never tried it.

 

[38thfoot]

In the same way that loads of bushcraft books show with a simple diagram who to use a fire bow or knock up a quick igloo!

38

 

[Joecole]

I’ve tried with the magnifying glass on a number of compasses with no success; I don’t think the plastic lens on a compass is optically good enough.

38

My thoughts exactly

 

[Joecole]

El scorchio today so I retreated to one of my sunny spots where there is usually a nice sea breeze and just flaked out.
Cooking nicely in the sun I was thinking about the different fire making methods that You Tube stars talk about, so I decided as conditions were perfect to just dabble in a couple.

Base plate compass with built in magnifying glass...Reasonable compass, quite well made and decent magnifying lens, and a bit of paper kitchen towel. Failed...held a small spot for probably 2 minutes with no effect in the hot sunshine...It might work, but you would need to hold the spot for some considerable time, which is a pain and not practical by hand. Fix the compass in situ perhaps and leave it might work.
Might be ok in the Mohave Desert or similar, but not in 23 degrees + sunshine in Blighty.

Spectacles, depends on lens prescription I suspect. Bifocals might be better, but mine are I think strength 3 reading specs whatever that means.
Very difficult to focus a compact bright hot spot on the paper, so again failed after several attempts.

But...being a wizened old git, I carry the object lens from an old pair of 7x50 binoculars in my fire kit, although I've never used it for fire making. only for finding splinters or thorns which have stabbed me. Anyway, it's there..dual purpose.. and it proved it's worth. 10 seconds and the paper towel glowed and away it went.

I wouldn't totally discard the other methods in a real emergency but a dedicated lens wins hands down and doesn't weigh much in my kit.

Lovely day, views from my sun spot. The light green on the extreme right of photo is weed on the lake, not a grass field... Hot sun has caused it all to bloom. Nice breeze off the sea in that spot.

Cool and green in the wood coming home.

Another intriguing tree. This Field Maple growing on a slope has it's roots exposed. I'm pretty sure that is wind scour which erodes the soft soil of the bank. Seems healthy enough though and probably provides temporary shelter/ hiding places for various Meeces and the like when the Buzzards fly overhead...

I'd better stay out of the sun for a while now, any darker and they'll start calling me Abdullah and asking to see my passport...

No you should be ok Mahmood

 

[saxonaxe]

Shukraan Li .......

 

[Ystranc]

Pretty much every bushcraft book I've ever seen includes the magnifying lens (often the crystal of a watch) for fire making as well as the ubiquitous solar still.........Could they all be complete bollocks?...
Honestly, I've yet to read a survival or bushcraft book that didn't have at least one bit where the author was obviously on about something he had never tried or had no clue about and was copying from a manual. Usually there is also at least one great big howling mistake that could endanger someone who blindly followed the advice given in books.

 

[saxonaxe]

The compass I experimented with is of reasonable quality, a Duke of Edinburgh Award recommended one, so not out of a Christmas cracker. But I think 38 summed it up, the optical quality of the plastic lens although perfectly ok for map reading, was too poor to focus a small enough heat spot. I got it down to about 3 to 4 mm and it probably would work if the compass was somehow held in situ for some minutes focused on the exact spot, but when compared with the rapid burn of the Binocular lens, the compass was a last ditch fire starting method as far as I am concerned.

I never did get a heat spot with my specs, holding them at any angle. I know specs left on window cills have started house fires, but I suspect it was a few hours of sun through the lens before the temperature reached flash point.

 

[divebuddy]

Many moons ago when we lived just south of Birmingham we had a mystery where the window sill in the bedroom developed charring about 10mm wide and 40 mm long and about 2mm deep. It turned out to be my wife's concave magnifying make up mirror. We left it in a position for the sun to hit it over a period. We were lucky it wasn't focussed on the curtains.

 

[saxonaxe]

I see they actually sell concave mirror fire starters. stick a bit of tinder in the holding clip and the sun does the rest...

 

[Ystranc]

There is that building in London, I believe it's nicknamed the "phone" because it looks a bit like one, one of it's elevations forms an almost perfect parabolic curve that focuses sunlight into the street below and it has been accused of causing damage to parked cars.

 

[divebuddy]

Shame they can't focus it on the stock exchange!

 

[Ystranc]

It's 20 Fenchurch street, an office building thats something to do with the financial markets. Nicknamed the walkie talkie, not the phone as I first thought.

 

[saxonaxe]

I remember reading about that...... Divebuddy, if they start finding Politicians staked out on the pavement below that building we know what you've been up to...

 

[Bam]

Pretty much every bushcraft book I've ever seen includes the magnifying lens (often the crystal of a watch) for fire making as well as the ubiquitous solar still.........Could they all be complete bollocks?...
Honestly, I've yet to read a survival or bushcraft book that didn't have at least one bit where the author was obviously on about something he had never tried or had no clue about and was copying from a manual. Usually there is also at least one great big howling mistake that could endanger someone who blindly followed the advice given in books.

I guess it depends where you are, if you're in the Arizona desert then you might have more chance with a crap lens, deepest, darkest Wales or Scotland then most likely bollox. I guess its like any of this stuff, you read about it, have a play and make your own call. I still need to give my Fresnel lens a shot at making a fire, should have done it yesterday when it was scorchio.... manana... (if anyone can tell me how to do the 'a' with the squiggle on top I'd appreciate it).

 

[Ystranc]

Ååàáh well mate, it depends what you're writing with, with an iPad you just put your finger on the letter of choice and hold, a pop up box of options appears. With a Mac you need to press and hold the letter then select the number from the drop down menu. Android is something similar while I haven't a clue about Windows.

 

[Bam]

Ååàáh well mate, it depends what you're writing with, with an iPad you just put your finger on the letter of choice and hold, a pop up box of options appears. With a Mac you need to press and hold the letter then select the number from the drop down menu. Android is something similar while I haven't a clue about Windows.

Balls, I've figured it out for android but I do most my posting on my Windows laptop.

 

[38thfoot]

I believe that the lights on one model of Ferrari had a unpleasant tendency to set itself on fire until they changed the design; which is clearly the reason I drive a Passat estate!

38