It bears mentioning when the sky is not perfectly clear, when your magnifier isn't the greatest, make sure your focal point of concentrated photons hits the char material or whatever you're trying to ignite at a 90 degree angle.... I have ignited char cloth in the wind with 2.0 reading glasses, in the winter's evening sun... but it would not ignite until I had the smallest focal point at a 90 degree angle. It's so easy to make the mistake of not tilting the char cloth to get that direct hit... at 90 degrees.

This video is a classic. One of the best demonstrations of the use of solar power for fire ignition. I’ve carried a 7x magnifying lens in my fire kit since the beginning. Unfortunately, I’ve only used the lens to start a fire a few times. Seems as if I’m always in a rush to get the fire started, or I’m concentrating on another fire starting method like using flint and steel. Obviously, I need to make solar fire ignition a focus of a future adventure in order to get in some practice. My thanks to Dave Canterbury at SRO for the detailed instruction in this classic video. - Tennessee Smoky

As soon as I finished watching this I grabbed my old and broken binoculars and salvaged the main lens out of it. Just have to stitch up a small buckskin pouch and I'll be set. The focus is about 4 inches which is perfect to rest your hand down for maximum stability.

I really like my brass Hudson Bay Tobacco Tin. Multi purpose for sure. Carries a Bic lighter, char, sure fire, and has the magnifying glass. Plus... it looks so cool. I was watching an old John Wayne movie (1930's) today and one of the cowboys pulled out a Hudson Bay Tobacco Tin and lit his pipe with the magnifying glass.

Thanks Dave I look forward to your videos. They are my therapy. Helps me to heal. You have kept my spirits up. I just wanted to say thank you for sharing

I got a old magnifier that was used by a hospital or nursing home. a flashlight going out to the side magnifying glass to read either the charts or books. the flashlight usually gets ate up by a bad C cell battery and the whole thing gets tossed. My glass is the size of your larger one but the plastic frame was available to cut away and still protect the glass. About 4 inches across.

Thanks Dave. I've kept a lens from an old pair of binoculars in my kit for years. It also comes in handy for taking hi-res close up pictures with cheap cameras. Just hold or tape the lens a little in front of your camera lens and you have a very effective zoom lens

Just a historical tidbit. When the crew of HMS Bounty mutinied and set the captain, William Bligh, and 17 others adrift in an open boat in the South Pacific, Bligh was able to navigate the boat thousands of miles to civilization at East Timor. Along the way, they stopped at several islands to harvest supplies and water. Bligh specifically mentions that he was able to start a fire using a magnifying glass that he carried with him to read his sextant markings with.

Burnin that wood like nobodys business. Your the man dave

I like the reflectors, you can get them in solid aluminum too instead of only aluminum coated, a little heavier, but a lot tougher. I've also used the ones with the fork instead of the spring at the end of the positioning device, less likely to get the tinder stuck in the fork than in the spring. the other reason I like them is that they can act as your signalling device, just use it exactly like a mirror. the one I have is the Aurora fire starter, it costs about $30-$35, but for a reliable system that also has a small tinder box integrated in it, it's a great deal for what you get, a compact solar lighter that does it's job very well. the only downside is the lens is part of the container, so you're stuck using something else for making char in or making it in the ground like you showed in a previous video.

Solar ignition work so fantastic with chaga shroom. This is my favorite way of starting a fire. The chaga start to smolder almost instantaneously.

continuing on with what u find in the woods the bottom of a pop can makes a good reflector

well now I've learned another thing that I was doing wrong as a kid---trying to light something on fire with a lens. I tried paper, grass, etc expected it would just flame right up, but I never got anything but a bit of smoke. Thanks Dave!

Thanks again Dave. I've enjoyed this series.

Dave. great vid thanks for the upload. heres something that i use, when i do solar fire starting. i take with me a black piece of paper. black attracts more than white. its easy easy to start with black paper.what ill do, is feather some wood, at least 2 feather bundles, and then ill use a small piece of the black paper, in the middle of my bird nest, and i put the feathered wood a top of that. easy to do, even when wet or cold. hope that helps. edit:: thinking about it, perhaps replace black paper with char cloth... ive never tried that before. black paper is easy to make and carry, and its my go to solar fire starter. i always have 3 ways of making fire, ferro rod, lighter, solar. i actually made my own para cord bracelet, and i have black paper folded real small, with jute on top and thats threaded in my bracelet, which has a ferro rod on it. ..

It seems no end to your knowledge, again, thanks for sharing.

thanks Dave

Thanks Dave I will use that on my Appalachian through hike starting this next week

Excellent video. I love everything about it. A thought: If I could unscrew the magnifying glass from the Hudson Bay box, I could use the box to make charcloth.

Thanks for helping me out man.

i have used dried hare crap or rabbit crap for solar as it just small compressed grass pellets

It's hard to imagine, if the Hudson Bay Company tobacco tins had a magnifier for pipe-lighting, that they wouldn't also be used for lighting tinder. People of that era were self-reliant and clever; i'm sure they understood, (in a way that, today we largely don't,) how precious the resources they carried could be. Flint and steel is great, but as long as you have a lens, skill and some Sun, you can have unlimited fire.

I have had lots of good luck using a 2x - 3x credit card Fresnel lens, they will easily and quickly make a coal even if they are scuffed, scratched or even cracked. I have even done this on the winter solstice when the sun is the weakest, the power is completely irrelevant it is all about the size (area) of the lens power only changes how close or far away you need to be to get a point of light (focus). I believe that higher power needs to be closer than lower power.

Hey Dave! I am glad to see you still have the solar lighter I gave you at The Pathfinder Gathering last year. It's kind of fun, and a novel, isn't it?

Good word. Keep 'em comin'.

Good info dave. First video ive seen you didn't have a thank you at the end

Very cool.. Would jute twine work as well if you called it up like that?

Oh my good Odin, why did you shave? YOU were my beard role model ;)

Hello Dave, I personally haven't had trouble with starting an ignition fire with a 94 cent magnifying glass from Wal-Mart. I've used a condom filled with water or a credit card magnifier to light my cigarette. I have noticed a smaller magnifier was a bit difficult to aim, but manageable. Water bottle solar ignition has been the most difficult solar ignition method. Season, time of day, and weather seem to be the most important variables in solar ignition. I'll get more dirt experimenting with these different methods. Thank you for the great vids. Just purchased your basic survival kit. Very legit. If I do a video on solar ignition, may I attach it as a response video to this video? Thanks for everything from one service member to another.

Question! is it possible using some natural product like animal skin or innards, to suspend water in a spherical shape and freeze a lens of ice to start a fire?? It doesn't get cold enough here to freeze any thickness but it looks plenty cold enough there. Keep up the great work

I would always fear to break a big lens.

Dave, might be a stupid question but in your last video with the tin can inserted into the hand hold, would the spindle polish the tin can enough to be used as a parabolic lens incase the shavings came out brown due to a damp fire board? Then maybe the tin could be used as a small ignition device. I will give this a try just to see if it could light the shavings on fire incase the bow drill didn't do it for moisture problems.

Tier 1 of woodscraft

ok Dave where are you getting the shirts with old style 1800's sleeves

Dave were do you get you leather pouches?

What kind of camera are you using Dave?

Congrats! You just broke 900 videos!

No beard! I am behind the times LOL Got to shave the head next Dave (: Good vid as always, gonna try a mag glass soon Lord willing and the river dont rise...

I broke a pair of vr goggles and first thing i did was use the lens to light a cigar

We use cigarettes with work really good.

Where is the beard!?!!