Zippo Alternative Fuel

Hi all, i was looking across the internet for other types of fuel anyone can use in a Zippo style lighter.
If you believe in 2012 and whats to come some people would like to prepare, im thinking more half way down the road.. im going to need my little magical fire lighter! so my question is this. Is it possible to use other types of lighter fuel for the Zippo style lighter?

ive heard of petrol ..(tho im abit worried it'll just blow up in my face)
swan standard fuel, the canister
and Olive oil.. again sounds messy.

what are your thoughts?

buy a clipper and a can of gas

thread/

deodorant i have used deodorant before in my zippo ,have wondered about my car and if i could convert that,please note not all deodorant works lynx does but im in uk some furniture polish is flammable to

Originally posted by Acidtastic
buy a clipper and a can of gas

thread/

yeah i could but they're made of plastic. and thats not really great for long term use. plus their flints ware off well fast so no. not a clipper

zippos will out live time its self

i used to use aftershave and deodorant (when i had a zippo i was too young to smoke and buy gas for my lighter hence the alternatives ) ...smells nice in your pocket too.


Or you could try this method...





Oh and be careful ... its not cool having no eyebrows

OK, lighter fluid is Naptha, a group of hydrocarbons with a specific set of boiling points. There are different definitions of naptha that have different boiling points. (ranges of boiling points actually) Do a bit of research, find a material safety data sheet(MSDS) for lighter fluid. Note the boiling point range and then look up a bunch of MSDS's for paint thinners, particularly enamel thinner, and find something with similar boiling points(it's all on google). There are thinners that are pretty much the same thing as lighter fluid.

I had this data years ago but not any more. It's not too hard to find.

Originally posted by Kriltosthe2nd
Hi all, i was looking across the internet for other types of fuel anyone can use in a Zippo style lighter.
If you believe in 2012 and whats to come some people would like to prepare, im thinking more half way down the road.. im going to need my little magical fire lighter! so my question is this. Is it possible to use other types of lighter fuel for the Zippo style lighter?

ive heard of petrol ..(tho im abit worried it'll just blow up in my face)
swan standard fuel, the canister
and Olive oil.. again sounds messy.

what are your thoughts?

The Zippo was originally designed to use just about any liquid that will burn. I have used straight petrol in mine on numerous occasions. The only difference is that straight petrol tends to burn a bit "dirty" so you'll get a bit of black smoke coming off the flames but otherwise it's perfectly safe.

I once heard an anecdote about a chap that would pull his Zippo out of his pocket while fuelling up his car so he could catch those last few drops of petrol in the lighter! I would NOT recommend this! Good way to cause a stampede at your local forecourt!

reply to post by Kriltosthe2nd
"ive heard of petrol ..(tho im abit worried it'll just blow up in my face)
swan standard fuel, the canister
and Olive oil.. again sounds messy. "


My Dad used to use petro years ago he soaked the what ever you call in in the fuel and aired it out a bit, before lighting it. It never blew up in his face Had a bit of a funny smell though!

yeah i heard it felt a bit funny. i guess thats just the petrol getting out :S but that surely cant be good!

i think i'll give my lighter gas nosel a go might see if i can get oil working cheers guys, massive help so far!

Petrol is pretty toxic. Contains n-hexane. Nasty stuff. Find naptha. You can buy big drums of it.

I would guess that just about anything would work, or combinations of anything. Mineral oil, vaseline, vegetable oil, kerosene, diesel, turpentine, alcohol.

For the record, I don't think shoe polish is a good idea unless you strain it a couple of times first, the dyes and lacquers would gum up the lighter pretty quickly and render it useless. Something like vaseline or paraffin is too thick, but maybe it could be cut down with some vegetable oil or alcohol or turpentine and made useful.

reply to post by Kriltosthe2nd


I could care less about the 2012 hype, but in my opinion it is a good idea for everyone to have some basic preparation in case of any unforeseen circumstance where it may be needed. Zippos are multifunctional in that they can be use as a light source or fire starter and are pretty much windproof.

Like the poster above stated, Zippos were designed to work with any burnable liquid. I've used everything from rubbing alcohol to perfume. It's an excellent tool for sure.

Don't forget that flint runs out too and to stock up on a package of them. Although remember that most "bic" style liters never go through all their entire flint before the fuel runs out, so you can even scavenge flint from old decrepit liters.