Make Your Lighter Work When Your Fingers Don’t

While a lighter is an amazing fire tool, the simple act of sparking it still requires fine motor skills. Here are a few ideas for getting flame from your lighter in the event that you lost the ability to make precise movements with your digits, whether from hypothermia or injury.

More info and photos here…
https://bushcraftusa.com/forum/threads/make-your-lighter-work-when-your-fingers-dont.215577/

As long as you can spin the wheel and hold the button down, the lighter will give you flames, so I experimented with a few alternative ways to get it lit using gross motor skills, after attempting to disable my fingers in cold water.

These would be significantly more difficult in a real hypothermia situation where more than just the fingers are affected, but I hope it is a useful reminder that there is always more than one way to complete a task.

I want to stress that the most reliable technique shown is the first one that utilizes a stick, and that is probably the best method to keep in mind, but I wanted to highlight some others as well.

Of course in extreme cold you may also need to warm your lighter in your armpit before attempting to light it.

I uploaded a copy of this video with a typo in it earlier this morning, so this is the re-upload.