DIY Keychain Mini Bic Lighter

[admin]

A few years ago I got fed up with the County Comm Peanut lighter that was on my keychain. Although waterproof and sexy looking, it was a pretty ****** lighter: It required two hands and several turns to deploy, and was totally at the mercy of the wind.

While it did serve well as a backup to my Zippo, I wanted the option of having a primary lighter on my keys. I don’t always leave the house totally geared out, but I always have my keys with me.

Enter the Keychain Mini-Bic.

I came up with this idea a few years ago, and I have been refining it ever since — modifying materials, design style, and testing it in “the field” i.e. in my pockets and my girlfriends’ purses. I smoke, light fireworks, and do outdoorsy stuff, so the keychain lighters were put through their paces. They’ve held up quite well to all the abuse. And unlike an untethered Bic, I’ve never lost one of these lighters before they ran out fuel.

It’s a fun and easy project, and they make great cheap gifts to help get friends a little more prepared.

Anyway, enough with the ******** preamble, let’s get down to the how-to action.

Materials:

Mini-Bic lighter (or several for an economy of scale)

Superglue,

5” of Paracord

Sandpaper

Tape — either silicon self-adhesive tape, or Gorilla tape. I prefer silicon tape, as it gives the lighter a classy, rubberized feel. However, Gorilla is much more durable.

Step 1– Sand both sides of the lighter like so, to give purchase to the glue

Step 2– Cut your paracord to 5” in length, and take out the inner 7 strand “guts”

Step 3– on a non-stick surface like aluminum foil, apply glue to both the paracord and the lighter body

Step 4– flip the lighter over, so the paracord is contacting the foil, and press for 1 minute — this keeps you from gluing your fingers together. (Ask me how I know.)

Step 5– repeat step 3 on the other side

Step 6– repeat step 4, hold 1 minute

Step 7– cool, all glued, hard part’s over

Step 8– wrap the lighter in tape. This helps protect the super glue from cracking, and improves the aesthetics. You don’t need that much, just cover the paracord.

Ta da! You’ve completed your first Mini-Bic keychain!

Now, either attach it to your keys, or to something else — a paracord lanyard, a zipper on your BOB, a small pocketknife, etc.

Enjoy!

[Author]

Posts