How to start a fire with a magnifying glass

Content

Method 2 of 3: Light the tinder
Method 3 of 3: Try different types of lenses
Warnings
What do you need

1 If possible, use a few sheets of newsprint as tinder. Newsprint is highly flammable, so it works well for starting a fire. Take 2-3 sheets of newsprint and tear each into 3-4 pieces. Crumple each piece into a ball. You can then set one of the pieces of paper on fire.

If you wish, you can also put all the paper balls together and use them to light a large piece of wood.
If you don't have a newspaper, you can use paper towels as tinder instead. They burn just as well.

2 Use charred cloth as a highly flammable tinder. This fabric has already burned, so it ignites at a lower temperature than other tinder materials. Charred cloth is great for using a magnifying glass to light a fire. You can use the charred cloth on its own or with another tinder (such as newsprint or spruce needles) to spread the fire onto it.

If you have an emergency or survival kit, add a few scraps of charred cloth to it just in case.
You can purchase charred cloth at a hardware store. You can also make your own by using a tin can, a fire source, and a white cloth.

3 If you want to start a fire in the forest, find a suitable dry material for the tinder. If you are going to start a fire in the countryside or outdoors, you can use leaves, grass, or pine needles for this. Dry bark also burns well. Find a tree with loose fibrous bark and tear off 2-3 pieces. Before starting the fire, manually grind the leaves or bark to help them flare up more easily.

Choose dry material for tinder. Wet leaves or pine needles will smolder and smoke, but will not ignite properly.

Method 2 of 3: Light the tinder

1 Choose a safe place. Use a magnifying glass to build a fire in a location where the fire will not spread from the tinder to nearby objects. A cement sidewalk, bare ground with no vegetation in the neighborhood, or recessed brickwork will do.
- If you are in the forest and there is no clean place nearby, you can shovel leaves and pine needles aside with the side of the sole and make a fire on the cleared area of bare ground.
2 Place the magnifying glass between the sun and the tinder. This will create a small bright spot on the newsprint. Move the magnifying glass back and forth to resize the spot. To properly warm up and set the tinder on fire, the stain should be as small as possible.
- Try to focus the rays so that the spot diameter does not exceed about 5 millimeters.
3 Focus the beams in one place for 20-30 seconds. Hold the magnifying glass still until the tinder is smoke-filled. It takes more time to light a fire with a magnifying glass than using a lighter or matches. Try to keep the magnifying glass still and focus the sunlight in one spot to warm up the tinder properly. If the stain moves over the tinder, you will not be able to ignite it.
- If you are trying to light a fire in a dim sun, it may take more than 5 minutes for the tinder to ignite.
4 Put out the fire as soon as you achieve your goals. If you're just experimenting with a magnifying glass, you can extinguish the flame as soon as the tinder breaks out. If you start a fire for more important needs, put it out after you cook or warm up. To extinguish the flame, take a shovel and cover the fire with 4–5 shovels of earth. After that, pour it with water from a hose or bucket.
- After extinguishing the fire, shovel the embers with a shovel and pour water over them again. Make sure they go out completely.

Method 3 of 3: Try different types of lenses

1 Use a lightweight flat magnifying glass as a portable option. A flat lens is a square with a side of about 5 centimeters. Although flat lenses do not have the same magnification as magnifiers, they still have enough power and surface area to focus sunlight and ignite tinder.
- A small magnifying glass can be purchased at a hardware store or supermarket.
- You can also light a fire with a page-sized flat magnifying glass. In this case, please note that one side of such glass is curved, and the other is flat. It is better to hold such glass with a flat surface to the tinder - in this case, it will ignite a little more easily.
2 If you have glasses on hand, use their lenses to ignite the tinder. Glasses are a great survival tool that many have. If you wear glasses with sufficiently powerful lenses, especially if you are farsighted, their lenses are shaped to focus sunlight just like a magnifying glass.
- The lenses of glasses focus the sun's rays weaker than a magnifying glass, since they have a convex surface on one side only, while in a magnifying glass it is convex on both sides.
- To compensate for this, apply a drop of clean water to the inside of the lens of your glasses. As a result, you have two convex surfaces, and you can better focus the light on the tinder.
3 Focus the circle of light with the lens so that it becomes as small as possible. Different types of lenses focus light into circles of different sizes and shapes. Try to keep the circle as small as possible. Bring the lens to the paper at the required distance and turn it towards the sun.
- Note that if you are using a rectangular flat lens, the focused beam will be rectangular rather than circular.
4 Do not look directly into the spot of focused light if you are using a large lens. Large lenses, such as the size of a page, create a very bright spot, much brighter than a conventional magnifying glass 5–8 centimeters in diameter. Do not look into the bright spot, or you could seriously damage your eyes.
- Consider wearing sunglasses if you are using a large lens. This will help protect your eyes from possible damage.

Warnings

Do not look directly at the sun when trying to determine its location in the sky. Also, never look at the sun through a magnifying glass.
Don't get burned when using a magnifying glass. Never shine a glass-focused light onto your skin.
Do not hold the tinder in your hands when using a magnifying glass to light it. If it flares up faster than you expected, it could burn your hand.
Have water handy in case of an emergency.