I happened to be visiting an industrial facility at the time and it was early evening with the sun lowering on the horizon. I grabbed a small amount of dry shredded bark mulch off of the landscaping and located two pairs of reading glasses. I spotted a friend who I asked to take pictures with my phone’s camera while I began to focus on the tinder. Although the wind was rather brisk, in short order smoke began to appear and with continued focus a large sized ember took shape. I set down the glasses and clutched the tinder and began to blow the ember into a flame. My friends cheered and we were delighted with the results.

Now that we have passed the Spring Solstice, experiments like this are performed much easier. Reading glasses are straight forward magnifiers whereas prescription glasses my not have the same capability due to various optical corrections. In any case, it would be wise to familiarize yourself with this solar fire method because you never know when it might be needed in an emergency.

In my case, my wife taught me this trick when I couldn’t read the numbers on my old cell phone. I was truly amazed and now I’m eager to pass this trick on to all the newbies in the reading glasses crowd.

If you use reading glasses and haven’t tried this method yet, you need to give it a try… you too will find it amazing!

During a lunch break you can take a pair of drugstore reading glasses, 2 1/2 power or higher preferred, and head outdoors for a little solar firecraft practice. You can’t really focus on fluff, so pinch the pencil shavings into a tight clump, then focus the lens on it. When smoke appears, blow lightly and keep the focal point on the edge of the new ember to increase it’s size. To stay focused on the same place may just consume that spot and not build. I’ve also used pencil shavings with a light-bulb filament to start a fire. And of course, a ferrocerium stick works great. If you don’t have a sickle style sharpener, try visiting the local flea market or thrift store and start having some fun.