The Crimson Pirate

When it comes to lighters you have two choices, refillable or disposable. Refillables also come in two types, liquid, and gas. The gas refillables use presurized aerosol cans of butane. They are not really any better than disposables in terms of savings and utility. If the butane is not available you are pretty much screwed. They also have problems with leaking gas, and with deformation of their fill nozzles which can easily render them useless. That is why I long ago dispensed with them, and went with liquid refillable lighters and disposables. While disposable lighters are common, inexpensive, and should be a part of every emergency kit, a refillable lighter is also worth considering.

Refillable Lighters Closed 06/07/2011

The Zippo company, in Bradford PA is the largest, oldest, and most famous manufacturer of refillable lighters in the U.S. Their windproof lighters are basic simple mechanical devices that rarely, if ever fail. There are other makers, and even no name generics, but the quality is not the same. However they all seem to be copies of Zippo lighters, and use the Zippo lighter supplies. If you are going to get a refillable lighter, get a Zippo.

The advantages of a refillable lighter are many. It is, of course, refillable. Once a disposable lighter is empty it’s empty. You can’t do anything with it but throw it away. A refillable lighter can continue to be refilled indefinately. Reillable lighters are supposed to be used with only the recommended lighter fluid. But over the years people in difficult situations have filled them with gas, aviation fuel, charcoal lighter fluid, coleman fuel, benzene (naptha), rubbing alcohol, booze, and even cologne. In a prolonged outage of services you could keep using the refillable lighter with almost any flammable liquid that you can get your hands on.

Refillable Lighters Open 06/07/2011

Most refillable lighters, and especially Zippo lighters, have a wind screen. They will ignite in wind, and even in rain as long as they aren’t totally soaked. They also use a wick, and so remain lit until extinguished. This means that they can be used like a candle in an emergency. All the refillable lighters that I have seen are metal. They are durable and will stand up to tough use and abuse.

Refillable Lighters Close Up 06/07/2011

Refillable lighters also produce a bigger spark than disposables, due to the large flint and the steel wheel. So even if you run out of anything to fuel it, it can still be used as a fire starting aid. Just like an ancient flint and steel. People have used dryer lint, cotton balls, tissue, dried leaves, old bark, and piles of dried grass as tender to start a fire from a spark from an empty refillable lighter. Anything dry, highly flammable, and small can be used as tinder.

Zippo And Supplies 06/07/2011

The downsides to refillable lighters are that they require supplies and are more expensive initially. You have to fill them with lighter fluid. While any flammable liquid will generally work, using anything but the recommended lighter fluid will void your warranty. So don’t experiment with anything else until you absolutely have to. In an emergency the warranty will be the least of your concerns, but until it would be nice to have free or cheap repairs and replacement if anything does go wrong. You have to replace the flint when it wears down. The flint is held in a metal tube that goes up through the body of the lighter. A spring and metla plunger apply tension to it to keep it pressed against the steel wheel. And once in a while you will also have to change the wick. This is similar to a candle wick, and in a crisis candle wicks or even some string or cord could be used instead. Again, until it is absolutely nessecary to do otherwise, use the recommended wicks.

Zippo Fluid 06/07/2011

The lighter fluid currently runs about $1.50 for a 4 ounce can. According to people who use their lighters a lot a 4 ounce can of fluid will last about 6 or 7 months. They report that they have to refill their lighters about once a week. If you don’t use yours that often then both the fluid in the lighter and the can should last you a lot longer. If you do not often use your lighter it is recommended that you not fill it, as the fluid will evaporate from the lighter eventually. There is a larger can of fluid available, but I have not priced it.

The fuel is basically naptha, or benzene. However other additives or substances in the mixture are not know. Anyway at the prices it sells for it is easy to stock a couple of cans. That should last you a year if you use your lighter daily. If you rarely use it, and don’t even fill it until needed then that may well be a lifetime supply.

Zippo Flints 06/07/2011

Flints currently cost $0.79 for a pack of 6. Heavy users report having to change flints about once a month. So for less than $1 you get a 6 month supply. At that price and considering their small size you could easily have a pack of flints in your emergency bag, your home emergency kit, and your vehicle emergency kit. That would give you more than a year of flints for cheap. There is also a larger pack of flints, which I have not priced. I believe it is a 12 pack, as it is about double the size of the 6 flint pack.

Zippo Wick 06/07/2011

Heavy users report that they have to replace the wick about once a year. Wicks vary widely in price from $1.50 to $3.00. That isn’t too expensive to have one in your emergency bag, your home emergency kit, and your vehicle emergency kit. As mentioned in a crisis you could probably replace a wick with something else. But with all of the stories I”ve read of people using alternatives fuels, I have never read of anyone even needing to replace a wick or flint and having to improvise. I guess they either are easy to find even in desperate times, or else they so rarely wear out that the crisis has passed by the time they need to be replaced.

Anyway, for less than $5 or $10 you could have several years worth of Zippo supplies on hand. And that is where the long term savings come in. While Zippo’s are more expensive initially, in the long run they are actually cheaper if you use lighters frequently. And as mentioned previously, they will last indefinately with minor resupply.

Plus Zippo lighters are just plain cool. I’ve used them for years off and on, and never had one break or fail. I’ve subjected them to some pretty tough abuse and the worst thing that ever happened was that one lid became misaligned and this caused the fluid to evaporate faster. I highly recommend having a Zippo lighter for every day use, and in each of your emergency kits.

Wind Light And Attachments Closed

Lights are a very important item to have whether at home, in a vehicle, or in an emergency bag.  Spelunkers and survivalists prefer to have at least three sources of light.  Hence lights inclusion in the RULE OF THREES (You can live 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. Always have 3 sources of light, 3 sources of fire, and 3 knives) Batteries die, devices fail, things get dropped or lost or wet, and other accidents happen.

For spelunkers light is life.  Getting out of a cave in the dark is almost impossible.  Especially if you are very deep inside. Spelunkers always carry a minimum of three sources of light with different power sources. For the rest of us light is nessecary because we use our eyes as our primary sense.  And it is dark for half of everyday.  So whether it is for major disaster, minor power outages and night time car breakdowns, or seeing what that thing is way back under the couch, everyone can use a good light.

Wind Light And Attachments Open

But lights often get left in bags, packs, closets, drawers, and trunks until needed. One may find when they pull out their light that the batteries have died while it was sitting there. One way around this is a light that recharges itself. These tend to come in two varieties:wind up, and shake. I haven’t used any of the shake lights because I heard from others that were not very good. Instead I went for the wind up lights.

This particular model is a generic Chinese made light popular with promotional branding and imprint companies. These are companies from whom you can buy neat little useful knick kncacks with your brand on them to give out as promotional items. Our lights were branded by Totes, and were used in a promotion. Afterward the one’s they hadn’t given away sat aroud until Kohl’s put them on the discount rack, and there we found them.

Wind Light LEDs

The lights have a lever on the side that can be folded openned or closed. Winding this lever chargers the light. A few minutes of winding provides light for a few minutes. The longer you wind it the longer it will last. There are four LEDs and two switches. One switch turns on the center two LEDs, and the other turns on the outer two LEDs. Obviously it will last longer with only two LEDs being used, but turning on all 4 gives you a lot of light. The lights also have a lanyard, which can be useful.

Self charging lights are essentially little generators, and this opens up some other possibilities. These have an outlet in the side and an adapter cable that attatches to it. The other end of the adapter accepts a variety of cell phone charger attachments allowing you to recharge your cell phone from the light. I have used this feature a few times, and while I wouldn’t want to totally recharge a cell phone this way it is certainly easy to get enough juice for an emergency phone call. That is what it is for. Emergency use. One of the attacjments is the small variety USB connection, and this opens up the possibility of recharging all sorts of other devices. With USB to USB (size changeing) adapters you could potentially recharge any USB device.

We got these lights about 4 or 5 years ago, and I have used them extensively. They continue to work, charge, hold a charge, and provide a lot of light. I’ve carried them in the car, and in my backpack and they have stood up to the abuse. They work well. We paid less than $10 for them.

The downside is that it does take a lot of winding if you want the charge to last very long. For prolonged use you would need to wind for a minimum of 10 minutes and that gets tiring. You can wind while they are in use. More expensive models, many of which include an emergency radio, have more eficient generators and require less winding to produce more charge. It would be more accurate to characterize many of the more expensive models as a wind up radio that also has a light. Anyway, for what we paid and the limited duration of use we need them for, I have found these to be quite useful.

Hobo Tool Closed 02/09/2010

I don’t know why I haven’t reviewed the Hobo Tool yet.   I carry the damn thing in my backpack, and actually use it to eat at work all of the time. I’ve been carrying and using it for years.  It’s an extremely useful little device.

Every Respiratory department is different, and yet they are all the same.  Doing as much agency work as I have, you visit a lot of different departments in a lot of different places.  They all have some sort of kitchen related sundries, but you can never count on them having everything.  If they have plastic forks, then you won’t find any knives or spoons, and vice versa.  If they have paper plates they won’t have paper towels or napkins, and so on.  The only solid rule that can be applied to all of them is that something will be there, but the particular utensil you need will not.  And on night shift you bring your own food.  Cafeterias are long sinced closed before night shift even rousts themselves from bed and begins crawling toward work.  So if you don’t bring your own utensils you will probably not have the utensils you need.  Some people bring their own plastic ware.  I bring a Hobo Tool.

The Hobo Tool originated in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.  It evolved from the folding slip joint pocket knives that became popular as the wearing of fixed blade knives declined.  Hobo Tools are a branch of the same evolutionary limb that became the Swiss Army Knife, and Multi tool.  Much like Chimps, and Apes are another branch on our evolutionary limb.  The Hobo Tool gained it’s fame and got it’s name in the 1920′s and 1930′s.  Guess who it was popular with?  Yep, Hobos.  Those train hopping foot loose and fancy free men we would refer to as homeless today.  But there was a bit of adventure and romance and sophistication to the classic Hobo that is generally missing from similar types today.  Or maybe the media and movies just romanticized them to us.  Either way they gave us the tool, and gave the tool it’s name.

Hobo Tool Fork and Spoon 02/24/2011

There have been many different brands and many different styles of Hobo Tool made over the last century, but the one I have carried for at least 6 or 7 years is an Ozark Trail.  Thats Wal Mart’s outdoor brand.  It costs less than $4 and can be found in Wal Mart’s camping/outdoor section.  It has all of my favorite Hobo Tool features.  Most of the other brands and styles are missing one or more of the features that, to me anyway, really make a Hobo Tool.

Hobo Tool Fork and Spoon Halves 02/24/2011

Almost every Hobo Tool has a knife blade, and a fork.  If you don’t have a knife and fork I don’t think it qualifies as a Hobo Tool.  Most also have a spoon.  The Ozark Trail Hobo Tool has all 3 of those, plus a corkscrew, a can opener, a bottle opener, and a straight punch whose purpose has eluded me.  And unlike a lot of the other more expensive Hobo Tools, the Ozark Trail has them are on seperate halves.  Unlike the straight “jack knife” type tools, The Ozark Trail is composed of two halves which lock together when closed, but seperate when openned.  The shaft of the fork and spoon catch on the studs when closed and lock the halves together securely.

The knife and spoon are on one side, and the fork is on the other.  This simple and seemingly unimportant bit of common sense is what enables you to use the for and knif at the same time.  With the “jack knife” varieties the knife, fork, and spoon (if present) are all mounted in one handle, and you can only use one at a time.  So how do you hold things when cutting them with the knife?  Or how do you cut things while holding them with the fork?  With the Ozark Trail style tool you have a seperate knife and fork.

Hobo Tool Everything Open 02/24/2011

The tool is stainless steel, and so far it really has proved to be stainless.  The knife is sharp.  Not sharp enough to shave, but more than sharp enough to cut meat and slice fruits or vegetables.  The fork is about the size of a standard dinner fork.  Some of the other brands have a miniature fork.  The only caveat with the Ozark Trail fork is that if you apply too much presure while using it, it may start to fold closed.  This can be easily avoided by either being careful not to apply too much presure, or simply turning it around so the force exerted is in the opening direction.  The spoon is a real teaspoon, again not the miniature versions seen in other brands.

The bottle openner and corkscrew work well, but the can openner leaves something to be desired.  It is a standard manual beak type can openner.  I have openned probably a dozen cans with it over the years, and it is one of the main reasons I advocate putting a regular good quality kitchen can openner in your emergency bag.   It is very difficult to use, taking a lot of effort to penetrate a can.  Then it takes an equal effort for each stroke as your going around the can.  By the time you open a can your hand will be sore, and tired.  I think this is because of thickness, and that there is not much of a point and very little edge behind the point.  The can openner is noticeably thicker than those found on Swiss Army Knives and multi tools, or the old army can openners.

Cleanup is easy.  Dish soap and water, hand soap and water, run it through a dishwasher, or my personal favorite; alcohol prep pads.  After years of use, abuse and service I cannot find any signs of rust or discoloration.

I should add that I’m very particular about using it only for food.  I don’t use the Hobo Tool to open boxes, or do general cutting tasks.  I have other knives for those purposes.  The Hobo Tool is only for food.  This avoids messing it up, and also avoids potential contamination.  In a real emergency I could break that rule, but I haven’t yet had one that would require me to.

I highly recommend getting a Hobo Tool either for daily use or for your emergency bag.  In addition to the one in my backpack there is one in each of our emergency bags, and one in the car with the emergency gear.  Hey, you can’t be a Hobo without one.

AWP cell phone cases

These are available at Lowes, and cost about $5. I would imagine that you could find them at other home, tool, or hardware retailers, but I haven’t checked. They use a hook and loop (velcro) closure for the flap, and have elastic sides. 

The AWP Cell Phone Case attaches to either your belt or waistband.  It has both a large sturdy belt loop, and a metal clip. The metal clip cannot be removed as far as I can tell. 

AWP cell phone cases side view

The sides are elastic and stretch to accomodate larger items.  The main downside to these is that the sides are not complete.  They are open at the bottom.  This means that the AWP Cell Phone Case is not good for particularly small items.  Change or breath mints will fall out.  However firearm magazines, flashlights, pepper spray, multi tools and knives will all fit perfectly.

AWP cell phone cases open: G23 Mag, Pepper Spray, P-64 Mags, Camera

I have used one as a Glock magazine Holder for over a year.  It has held up extremly well with no rips or tears.  It still maintians it’s elasticity, and has not deformed or stretched out of shape.  I liked it enough that I recently got 2 more.  One holds 4 (yes 4) magazines for my P-64, and the other is acting as a pepper spray holder.  My wife uses one as a camera case.

AWP cell phone cases side view

If you need a small belt or waistband pouch to hold a tool or similar item I can recommend the AWP Cell Phone Case without hesitation.

I’ll probably be picking up another one.  Once I get a suitable carry holster for Yugo M-57 I’ll need a magazine pouch.  There is no reason to spend $30-$50 for one from a holster maker, when a $5 cell phone case will work just as well.