I first heard of the
Fresnel Lens about two years ago. The applications that it was developed for really have nothing to do with the wilderness survival, but it's a really great, cheap little addition to your wallet or Altoids Tin Kit. It is simply a flat piece of material with little ridges grooved into it. The
one that I carry is sold by Ben's Backwoods for $3.00. It fits in my wallet, takes up hardy any space and is easier to keep on my person than say, a firesteel. The down side to a lens over a firesteel is that you need clear weather and a view of the sun to get a fire going. On an overcast day, the lens isn't going to work at all.
Oh and also, this is a good alternative for those who want to be a bit more primitive that a lighter and a newspaper but who are friction fire impaired like me :)
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| Everything you need, plus a little PSK blade. I chose paper for contrast, but there are plenty of better materials to try this on. Fatwood dust, dryer lint, cottonballs, charcloth... |
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| You want to adjust the lens placement until just a focused dot of sunlight is on the tinder material |
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| After 2 minutes |
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| At 3, smoke appeared and at 4 minutes, the first flames came up an charred the paper |
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| At 5 minutes, a nice little coal in there |
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| Photo taken in the shade so you can see what the charred area amounted to |
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