I was trying to sort some of my stuff and came across a magnifying glass from Survival Supplies Australia and being a nice day for a change decided to give it a try. I made a small birds nest from jute twine and filled the center with char cloth. I didn’t make a large nest as I wasn’t starting a fire for anything other than to see if the glass worked for me.

materials used

Temperature is 21 degrees Celsius clear day.It took less than 90 seconds to have the char cloth smouldering and another 30 seconds to have the flame too hot to hold the jute twine. I was very impressed.

concentrating the beam

I was watching the Grey Bearded Green Berets video on what he carry’s in his bushcraft belt pouch and several times through his videos he has mentioned carrying a magnifying glass as a way of lighting a fire without using up resources. I hadn’t thought of carrying a glass until seeing his clips,most of the time when I go bush it isn’t clear or warm enough to use one but from now on Ill be considering it more often.

first smoke
close up of charring process spreading through the jute
ignition

https://www.survivalsuppliesaustralia.com.au/Magnifying-Lens-with-Leather-Holder?b7=z1