The cotton fiber strands run parallel while having compressed “ribs” that create a convenient square shape with a straight edge. Having a straight edge is desirable for a controlled flame.

I modified the can’s lid and bent the edges down to create a small “table” inside the can to press against the wick to hold it in place.

Something else that I found helpful is how to lite the wick. Once a wick is dipped in oil it can be difficult to lite. If the edge can be squeezed to shed excess oil, wood ash or charcoal carbon can be applied as a catalyst to recieve the ignition flame more quickly.

Once lit, I enjoyed the flame for a couple of hours before needing to adjust the wick.

Being curious about shelf fungus I
collected a local shelf fungus and cut it open but was disappointed to find no “trama layer” referred to as amadou because it wasn’t the right kind of fungus. Upon further research I learned that fomes formentarious grows on dead birch and beach trees that resemble a horse’s hoof and there are scant finds outside of my area.

I did learn that he bottom layer of shelf polypore funguses known as hymenium contain minute tube-like structures that can have a capillary effect and a narrow slice can be used for a wick in a slush lamp so I decided to try it out.

I used an empty sardine can for my vessel and poured in vegetable oil for fuel. I cut a slice of the bottom layer of my fungus and initially soaked it briefly in the oil. When I removed it, I wiped off the excess oil then lit the flat bottom edge until it took flame to prime it for use.

As with any wick, the exposed length of the wick determines the size of the flame. Excessive length will produce a large flame but will also exhibit much smoke and soot.

I’ve used slush lamps mainly for light but I wanted to see if I couuld cook, much like a Inuit qulliq stove so I positioned a metal cup containing some shallow water above the flame. The wick stayed lit for over a half hour but it only managed a pre-boil. It was enough though for a delicious instant oatmeal meal.

In the past, when I would go to a restaurant with my wife I would look for a candle for a little atmosphere at the table. If there wasn’t one I would take one of the complimentary bread buns and poke a hole into it with my table knife. I would put in a pad of butter and then twist up a piece of paper napkin to use as a wick and poke that into the butter. I would light it with my EDC lighter and Voilà! I had a candle!

With this experience as my inspiration I took a butter stick out of the fridge, set it on end in a small bowl, and let it warm up to room temperature. I cut a piece of paper towel and lightly buttered it on one side and rolled it up, flattening it with each round to create a wide vs. round wick. I used a spoon handle to poke down the center of the butter stick then I turned up the wick at the bottom end a little so that I could poke it down into the hole.

Once it was lit, it burned brightly at first and the butter began to melt. I had to attend to it by trimming the wick occasionally with some scissors along with the surrounding wrapping paper as it would burn off around the edge from time to time. It burned that way for over an hour. The butter would continue to leak into the bowl and gather at the bottom. When the cube burned down to a quarter inch in height and the wick began to have trouble staying upright I changed my strategy from candle mode to slush lamp! (See “Slush Lamp Basics“)
 

I decided to use a different wick for this approach and added a small strip of cotton from some scrap jeans and placed it inside the remaining square paper wrapper. Then I cut out a piece of scrap aluminum from a pet food cup and placed it on top. This effectively supported the new wick in addition to isolating the cotton wick from the melted butter. The new flame burned for 4 more hours!

In the end, the candle provided a quick usable flame but required constant maintenance. It also provided clarified butter at it’s base that worked wonderfully as fuel for a slush lamp. The slush lamp was virtually maintenance free. Depending on the emergency a person would have to decide on whether to use the butter as a fuel for light and warmth, or for using butter as a food, but then again, this was just a proof-of-concept project that was fun to do!

The solar cigarette lighter uses a parabolic mirror to direct the sun’s rays to a point of focus where the tip of a cigarette is held in place by a retractable arm or bracket. These lighters are produced in metal or silverized plastic. The cigarette holding arm can be a hinged bracket or a spring mounted wire (as shown in the photo). In lieu of using the lighter as it’s manufactures intended, alternate tinders to start a fire can be lit by moving the bracket to the side while holding the tinder by hand at the point of focus.

 
The flint-less lighter uses a hair-thin platinum wire or grid of wires to ignite it’s fuel. Platinum wire when exposed to methyl alcohol fumes and other flammable gases creates an exothermic reaction that causes it to glow red-hot thus causing ignition. These lighters can come as a wand for stove burners or lipstick style canisters as shown in the photo. It’s quite a phenomenon to behold. If you acquire either style, you may need to pass the filament through a flame or touch it to a lit cigarette to burn off any residue in order for it to be activated more easily.
 
 
 
The “Shepard’s lighter” or “trench lighter” is a flame-less lighter that uses a charred cotton cord to catch sparks from a flintwheel striker. Where a modern lighter uses lighter fluid with a wick or a nozzle for butane gas, a cotton cord that is charred at the end is similarly positioned to catch the sparks produced when the flintwheel is struck. The result is an ember that is enhanced by blowing on it and then touched to a cigarette. It was used during WWII to light cigarettes without a flame, thus reducing visibility to the enemy when lit.

There are more lighters on my “to-get” list. During WWII Japanese soldiers had a brass fire piston that they used as a lighter. Dunhill made a flint-lock lighter with an actual fire pan for gun powder. There are also battery powered lighters, the most recent model having the appearance of a thumb-drive that is charged via USB port. In the interest if obtaining more specimens for my collection I would enjoy receiving any comments regarding your favorite lighters and how they work.