I have a brand new swisschamp and I was wondering if it's possible to make a coal/fire under the right conditions.
Yes, it's possible but challenging. Depends much on tinder and technique. I've done it on occasion and failed on more occasions. I think those that carry char cloth can have more success more often. I don't carry char cloth so...
I’ve haven’t tried with magnifyglass, but if wanting a way to start a fire using a SAK, the FireFly (in place pf toothpicks) or FireAnt (in place of corkscrew mini-driver) are probably easier choices.
I would suspect that the magnifying glass does not have enough surface area to collect the sunlight to get things hot enough. If I remember right, it will hurt your skin, but I don't remember it ignoring paper.
It is allegedly possible, but I have never managed it, and it's been tried at the same time a larger lens almost flash ignites tinder. My carry SaKs all have firefly toothpicks. You have a knife, you can whittle a toothpick while sitting in front of your fire
At least 3 videos. All seem to revolve around getting a piece of starter material smoldering, placing that in a tinder nest and adding a lot of force oxygen by blowing on it. Char cloth seems to make things easier. ATB, Sam
I have an older Swisschamp. The magnifying glass has a gray plastic housing. I was never able to start a fire with it after trying a few times. I also have a large magnifying glass (4" diameter) and I am able start a fire with it.
People in the bushcraft community use either credit-card-sized Fresnel lenses, or 2" diameter glass lenses of at least 4x magnification for solar ignition. Looking at SAKWiki, it seems SAK magnifiers range from 5x to 8x, so theoretically it should be possible. However, the small diameter of the SAK magnifier means you will be focusing only a small amount of light. A larger diameter magnifier would allow you to focus more light onto your ignition material, thereby heating up and igniting faster. Again, in theory: I've never attempted solar ignition in any form.
