Zippo help!

[geothorn]

That's what I'm talking about. They get a powdery coating on the outside and can weld themselves into the tube over time(you have to take a drill bit to the tube to clear it and it's not easy. I'm talking long term storage here. It's why I used to pull the inside out, remove the flint and let the fluid evaporate before putting the flint under the cotton just to store it and then putting it away.

I guess that I've just been lucky in not having had any flints getting welded into the flint tube! Someone, somewhere must know that I don't have a drill.

I go through a lot of BIC lighters, and when they run out of butane, I salvage the remaining flint from them. Usually, there's still enough flint left, in BIC-brand lighters anyway, to split in two, down to Zippo flint size. My current EDC Zippo has probably thirty flints hiding beneath its felt, which is close to too many. So, I'm now taking my "recycled" BIC flints and putting them into "long term" storage in the base of my other ten Zippos. So far, so good, and no signs of the grey dust that indicates disintegrating flint.

GeoThorn

 

[GarageBoy]

Don't use those cheap flints outta Ronsons or cheapie butane lighters..they WILL clog up and get stuck in the tube.. (Spanish Flea on Lightertricks.com has seen his share)

 

[kamkazmoto]

When you get the spare flints, lift the cotton pad on the bottom of the lighter insert store the extra flints between the loose cotton and the cotton pad.

 

[yinyang]

To clarify, yes I was being sarcastic. I own a Zippo, and would be lost without it. It makes a good tension releaser...flicking it, not lighting things on fire...although...

 

[Mike Hull]

Don't use those cheap flints outta Ronsons or cheapie butane lighters..they WILL clog up and get stuck in the tube.. (Spanish Flea on Lightertricks.com has seen his share)

Ronson flints have the same quality as Zippo. Where do you get the idea they're cheap/low quality?
If the truth be known, more Zippo users buy and use Rinson flints and fluid than Zippo because Zippo is not available in many places. You can buy Ronson in supermarkets most anywhere.

I carried and used a Zippo on a daily basis(many times daily) for 43 years and never had a problem with either product.

If you store a lighter with Zippo or Ronson flints incorrectly over a long enough period, you can have problems. It's an easy enough fix, even easier to prevent by just leaving the inside of the lighter out to evaporate prior to storage and remove the flint. I've seen both turn to powder stored under the felt top pad, or flint tube, if the lighter was not completely dry when stored. I've bought many Zippo's at yard sales, cheaply, because the owner had this happen and didn't know how to fix it.

The instructions that come with the lighters now tell you these things, if not, experience quickly will.

I have the first Zippo I ever owned(as well as many others), given to me as a birthday present in 1959 and have used both Zippo and Ronson flints(mostly Ronsons because of availability) in it by the thousands, as well as fluids. It still works as new. I've never had either flint or fluid cause me problems in use.

 

[Banshee]

just bought the smaller version Zippo lighter (slightly narrower than the normal) and tried to fill it up with the original Zippo fluid.

each time i'd fill up either half full or full, it only last for one (1) days ... after that noticed that fluid is dry and the wick is dry also ..... burnt with carbon deposits on the wick .....

is some thing wrong with my Zippo???, the wick???, the loose cotton packing ??? , the cotton pads???? or the lighter fluid used????

tried repacking the loose cotton, re-inserting the cotton pads, took everything apart and re-assembled but nontheless, after each top-up the darn thing only last one (1) days then dries-off ...... this is very frustating .... how long is the average (normal sized) Zippo is supposed to last after each fill ????


thanks for the advise.......

bob

 

[geothorn]

Ronson flints have the same quality as Zippo. Where do you get the idea they're cheap/low quality?

My experience is the same as yours. Zippo-brand fluid/"fuel," flints, and wicks are few and far between in some places. There's nothing wrong with using Ronson products in a Zippo, and vice versa, as far as I know.

A friend of mine used to work at a Dairy Mart, one of the stores that was converted from a place that was a store thirty years earlier. Tucked up away, in a corner, there was one of those old-fashioned advertising/display cards, with flints stapled to the backing paper. Despite the ad/display looking all of 20-years-old, my friend still charged me the price marked - 8-cents apiece for each of the flint holders:

Needless to say, I bought the whole display at that price.

I have the first Zippo I ever owned(as well as many others), given to me as a birthday present in 1959 and have used both Zippo and Ronson flints(mostly Ronsons because of availability) in it by the thousands, as well as fluids. It still works as new.

I lost my first Zippo while out hiking. My girlfriend gave me another one to replace it, in the same year, 1980. It is a polished chrome jobbie, with "BEAR" stamped into it (Because of my grizzly and teddy sides, I guess.... ). I've also had the same exceptional experience with Zippo.

I've had to send one of my Zippos back to Bradford, PA, in order to get a replacement hinge pin. That's the one difficulty I've had occur that mandated sending it back to the factory. After enough use, that hinge pin starts looking like a cam shaft, and it begins falling out....

Once you lose a hinge pin, you'll have to send it back to Zippo for a replacement, unless you have a nice bale of wire around, and it happens to perfectly fit the hinge holes. When one sends their lighter back to Bradford for repair, Zippo will also replace the inner workings of your lighter with new, and return it in the old case. (So, grab your extra flints out from under the felt, or you'll likely lose them....)

I've never had either flint or fluid cause me problems in use.

Me either. Also, I've never had to ever lengthen or replace a wick, despite their being replacement wicks for sale, at some places.

Zippos are just a great classic and reliable lighter!
(but, they wouldn't send me any extra hinge pins....)

GeoThorn

 

[geothorn]

is some thing wrong with my Zippo???, the wick???, the loose cotton packing ??? , the cotton pads???? or the lighter fluid used????

There isn't anything "wrong" with your Zippo, per se. It is operating as normal.

However, lighter fluid, being highly volatile, is nearly continuously and constantly evaporating. So, even if someone fills their Zippo all of the way up with fluid, and just puts it away in a drawer, never using it, it will probably be out of fluid and dry in a week or two.

One solution to lighter fluid evaporating too fast, and, perhaps, a way to make a Zippo "water resistant," would be to get an old bicycle tire tube and cut out a 2" section, like a wide rubber band. Stretch it around your lighter's middle, covering the separating line between the top and bottom of the lighter case. Hm...that solution might only work with a full-sized Zippo, though you could try it, and see.

GeoThorn

 

[LongDistance]

I have finally fixed my Zippo!!!

I replaced my old and worn Zippo flints with Coghlan's flints. Coghlan's flints seem to ignite a bigger spark than Zippo's.

Once again, thanks for all the advice. If it weren't for you guys, I would have done something stupid