Hey guys I just learnt that it's not so much Australian law that prohibits a person whom dose not hold a gun licence to be in possession of empty bullet shells but rather western Australian law In other words anywhere else in Australia it's legal to own empty bullet shells but in Western Australia they are classified as live ammunition and are illegal
As an avid smoker, I like DIY lighter projects. As an American, and 2nd Amendment absolutist, I find this to be a great use of spent brass. I have plenty of that, lying around.
This was amazing to see thank you for sharing. The use of the copper tubing the house the Flint was ingenious. As well as solving the issue that I would see as easily replacing the Flint after wore out
I'm really glad you found it interesting Chris, I hope it's given you some ideas to maybe try it out yourself, if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to ask, thanks for the comment and happy crafting!
That's really well done! You may know this by now, you can aneal brass and copper. They are non ferrous so you can do this by getting carefully to red and quenching in water.blacksmith tricks.... Greetings from CO usa.
Tim, you are a man I admire. You are both an Historian and Engineer. -As I am. Alas, I am an old fart, -well past my clever days, hence, jealous of your youth. Time is on your side. and I suspect you shall not waste a second. You have your natural inclination to thank and, therefore, little to worry about. Keep following you interests and all will be well. Youth combined with creative talent and intelligence is a powerful attribute. By now, you have surely noticed that few people possess your clever intelligence and worthwhile interests that I suspect you pursue with a passion. This is unusual and makes you an exceptional young man. I congratulate you for living your life well. Living a worthwhile life has no deep secrets, -just follow your interests. These interests will require you to lean heavily upon you grey matter and , thus, lead you to many worthwhile endeavors. My trench lighter is Russian, from WWI, made from something that looks like a Webley .455 shell casing, -which is British and, thus, rather odd. 'Tis curious how or why a Russian soldier would have chosen a Webley .455 shell casing for his trench lighter. Historical Note: The main, intended purpose HM's Government had for issuing the Webley .455 side arm to officers was to SHOOT their own soldiers who were too frightened to progress "over the top" of the trench into heavy machine gun fire. There is no way to train a healthy young man to ignore his natural survival instinct to avoid suicide. The Yanks had a similar side arm for this evil chore; -i.e., the Colt 1911, .45 semi-automatic side arm. The reason both weapons were chosen for this purpose was that the round possessed enough mass and grains of powder to immediately kill a soldier if the round soundly struck the lungs, heart or head. As my generation used to say, "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" TIP: I am an Electrical Engineer. Tim, I believe that lead and tin soldering will be useful to your endeavours for the rest of your life. I suspect that soldering ELECTRICAL circuits will be a common chore in your life. Hence, I recommend that you invest in a good REGULATED soldering iron. Use a simple plumber's soldering torch for heavier jobs, A regulated soldering iron has a special variable power supply that varies the iron's voltage to insure that the iron's tip is always at the perfect soldering temperature for the materials you are soldering. I find that the best and most reasonably priced regulated soldering irons are made by the Weller Company. There is an approx 40 watt regulated professional Weller iron I recommend. The last time I purchased one, they were about £65 Sterling, but that was a long time ago. I would suspect that they now cost about £125 Sterling. -Perhaps $250 in Australian dollars? They are quite professional and should last the rest of your life if you buy new tips. You might, someday, need to rewire the iron handle, -or not. HOWEVER: Weller also makes an electrically and mechanically identical iron (about 35 Watts). that is generally called the hobbyist version. This is much less expensive and cost (at last glance) about 50% LESS than the professional version. I have owned both and advise that you can't go wrong. The less expensive version is orange (not light blue), and the power supply is built into a plastic case. The iron handles about the same, but is likely not as sturdy. Alas, I have owned the hobby version for over 20 years and have replaced it once. The hobby iron has the advantage of having a standard mains connector so that you can plug ANY simi;ar;y rated iron into the power supply and connected iron stand. TOOLS: You should always endevour to buy the best tools you can afford (for common tools), however, if you are on a budget, buy the Weller hobbyist soldering iron. American, British, Swiss, German and Australian tools are worth the extra money. Particularly, CRAFTSMAN. as Craftsman tools are irreplaceable for free, regardless of the damage. I once ruined a Craftsman ratchet by my own fault. I brought it back to the Sears shop and expected them to tell me that since the damage was my fault, I would have to pay for the tool. NOPE. They did not even say anything! I presented the tool, the man simply took it and handed me a new ratched (then, about a £35 item), AS I said I am old, and I am not sure if Craftsman tools are still being sold, but if so, they re an excellent purchase. You will never lose when buying the best tools.
Wow thank you so much for all this information! I wouldn't really call myself a historian, but I do enjoy history. As for new tools I have been keeping an eye out for all sorts of things and I have now invested in a decent soldering iron, nothing super fancy but it certainly beats what I had up until now, and I also have a gas torch too now. Thank you again for all of the advice, help and history I hope you enjoy the rest of the channel! Stay safe mate!
Very Nice Job! Your perseverance, and hard work paid off. Congrats! Makes me happy to see a young man stick it out, fight thru trial and error, and build like this !
well thank you very much I try my best hopefully next time I do this I'll actually fully know what I'm doing, and when I do I'll be sure to make another video on the subject. take care, and happy crafting!
I really like this video the finished project looks very rustic Ive been a big fan of this sort of thing for a very long time, I thought this was a really good idea I like your resourcefulness
You could make an alcohol lamp to do the soldering and annealing your brass so it doesn't break when you bend it. Keep up the metalworking, you'll find it's lots of fun.
Trench Lighter, made by soldiers in the trenches during WW1. How fascinating, I never knew that our brave troops had access to electric soldering irons, taps and die sets, plus the rest of tools normally found in a workshop environment. How lucky they were, because I had always assumed that a WW1 trench was a muddy hole full of human suffering.
Not all that made these or any other form of "trench" art were soldiers (a lot were actually civilians out of work due to the fighting taking place in their area so they would make and sell trench art to soldiers to make enough money to put on the table), but there was a lot of waiting between battles and orders when troops did have down time, "trench" art wasn't really made in the trenches, as you mentioned it wasn't a prime working environment but it didn't stop them from making things in their down time, (after all, a lot of them were drafted into the war coming from all sorts of backgrounds, many were craftsmen). As for access to tools, I agree that I used quite modern tools but some of the tools that I used would have the "trench" equivalent (eg. using gunpowder or something similar to solder). Anyway I hope you enjoyed the video, Thanks for the comment!
Yes, I like your video and finished product. I just get a bit annoyed at the "Trench Art" myth. There are plenty of people here on RU-vid showing modern Chinese copies of the 1927 Austrian IMCO lighter, claiming that it has some connection to WW1 which, as we all know, ended in 1918. IMCO never used old bullet casings, they used good quality brass sheet. In fact no calibre of shell case matches up with the IMCO lighter's dimensions. Check out this site.. www.vintage-evans-and-classic-cigarette-lighters.com/imco.php You'll recognise the one that is most copied by modern Chinese producers. (scroll down to 1927) You have a good point when you say that civilians probably made the majority of real trench art. If I were some unfortunate soldier fighting in WW1 France, not knowing if I'll survive the day. I wouldn't be off making Lighters on my next leave. I'd be off to the nearest French Village making out and getting very drunk.
yeah that's pretty fair i would probably be doing something similar myself but it was up to the individual to keep their mind occupied and yeah Chinese knock offs always ruin true craftsmanship (not saying I'm a true craftsman (I just try)) but as for what we see that came from the time period its still petty interesting that with all the destruction came a new form of creation and all and all this project took me about 2 weeks to finish even with all of the modern technology, so if these were made in ww1 (by solders or civilians) just goes to show what we can all be capable regardless of the situation this is what my channel is about, not just me making things but getting other people into creating things of any kind regardless of skill level or access to materials or tools but anyway thanks again for the comment! have a good one
@@Bobo-ox7fj Troll 👆🤡Troll Harder. Or return to your therapeutic relaxation oscillator array. Little lights go on, little lights go off.😂 I'm sure you'll feel much better.
haha that's what I said when I first started this, but yes I have been meaning to revisit this and I think it would be a great opportunity to try a few new ideas
@@angelus_solus I'm serious but I don't know when I'll get around to this so lets throw this onto my new years resolution list, right now its got 3 items so I'm pretty confident that I can get this done!
Crafted by Tim Champion! Just don’t push yourself too hard though. There’s no time limit on it, so even if it takes a couple/few months....we’ll all still be here.
Great job mate !!, using minimal equipment way to go !! Hey the brass that kept breaking, try heating it to red then let cool, bend a bit then repeat fairly sure brass work hardens, also try silver solder (lead and cadmium fee) type , much stronger and safe to have skin contact with. Soft iron wire from old fashioned 'pipe cleaners' is good for tying parts together during soldering.
thanks for all the advice, I'll defiantly take it into account if I make a third. I did try the heat treating trick with the second lighter I built for my brother unfortunately I ended up with similar issues (this is probably because I had minimal knowledge about it) but I found that using copper will also work.
Its a pain , you have to do a bit of bending, then retemper then bend etc quite a few times , you should be able bit to feel when its hardening. It only takes may be 4 blows with a hammer and you have to reheat.
Anneal the brass by heating it to red then quench in water, if you're working it a lot anneal it again. Whats happening is you're work hardening the material making it brittle hope this helps
Actually annealing is done by slowly cooling metal, usually by leaving it to cool in the oven/furnace it was heated up in. This is suppused to soften the metal. Quenching it will make it harder
I'm glad, let me know how it goes and if you want you can post a picture on my facebook page facebook.com/groups/537658763098559/538033239727778/?notif_t=group_activity¬if_id=1476161293391030 Happy crafting!
Try heating up the delicate pieces to red hot every now and then while you’re working on it and letting it cool down without quenching it. This anneals the metal which relieves the internal stress that develops while you’re working it. This way it won’t break all the time from being bent. Look up work hardening for more info
actually I learnt (unfortunately after making this) that brass is a work hardening metal so as you work it it becomes more brittle and to anneal its actually the opposite of steel and it needs to be heated to a red temperature and quenched in water to anneal it. thanks for the comment though!
I don't really know, I think I just thought that if I messed up I could always cut it down a bit but then again it turned out alright because it give the user a little bit more to hang onto. Thanks for the comment, Happy crafting
@@craftedbytimyt I agree would be nice to see the authentic trench lighter. The whole basis of trench warfare was to not be seen, a flame would give away the location. The "sailors Windproof lighter, or trench lighter, relied on cotton rope, flint and striker, with a cap to snuff the ember. Since cigarettes don't need a flame, but an ember, to light, it was perfect for them! But this was a great DIY video, I truly enjoyed it!
@@dbeaumontresident847 I would really like to do a follow up video the more I read into these rope lighters or flame less lighters they also seem a bit more practical for use in the field in the case of survival as you have a lot more fuel to burn and it doesn't just evaporate when not in use, I will do another video so please make sure you watch this space, catch ya soon and thanks for the encouraging comments
I think you watch too much television. You don't think striking the flint would 'give you away' as much as a flame..? Or the flame from the fire you started with it..? Or it's only good for cigarettes... Heh.. Haha..
@@bradleyhall1746 you can light almost anything from embers and although you might be able to see the flint, you can still cover that with your hand, its not like setting off a flare, it only lasts a few seconds at most (if you have to strike it multiple times). So you could easily hide it with your hand or even the inside of a jacket or button up shirt.
Brass is a work hardening material, the more you work it, the harder it gets. Thats why it kept cracking and breaking. You can soften it by heating it too a cherry red then dunking it in water.
nice over all work but I think you need to practice how to solder your copper or brass has got to be CLEAN OR solder will not work. thank you for the video
my friend i am an old jew living in South Africa born in England i admire you sence of self and what you do BUT how can i believe your "STAT" when you are high
Don't get me wrong, trench lighters are very cool. And you did a fantastic job. But isn't it kinda cheating to use pre-made zippo parts, a couple bics, and a blowtorch to fabricate a lighter? I'd imagine the soldiers would use those components by themselves if given the same list of supplies. Which brings me to the thought... how on earth is a smoke important enough to spend hours upon hours fabricating a lighter? Back then, decades before the Geneva conventions, they had no rules of engagement. Chlorine, Phosgene, Mustard Gas, Big Bertha, The Red Baron, Trench shotguns/clubs/knives, and on and on. A cig would be the last thing on my mind. And I'm a smoker
I guess you're right but I think the general idea was that smoking was meant to take the edge off, mind you I would have probably been on regardless of what I could take. on the other hand they did have some more simplistic parts similar to what I used and maybe it would be worth it to revisit this project with a better understanding over the subject and try and make it with similar methods they would have used in the trenches. Maybe it can be a 300 sub special but first I gotta get there Anyway I hope you enjoined the video, and thanks for commenting. Happy crafting!
not entirely sure but who ever did probably doesn't trust their own mother hope you have more ease with getting your hands on materials if you attempt it. cheers for the comment!
how ever most trench lighters would have a slide that would protect the flame from wind and not to mention from the eyes of the enemy as a flame at night stands out like nothing else. but I appreciate what you're saying.
cool lighter but not a trench lighter I have my pops old one which I use on the daily and there is no flame on it it is only embers but just feed some cotton rope thru it and charr the end the heat from the sparks is enough to get the rope burning again
That's actually very interesting, thanks for sharing, I do have to apologize as I have been told a few times that this isn't a "real trench lighter" and as I was just following the general concept of something I had seen earlier the same week I had no idea that it wasn't replicating a real one, but never the less I found it enlightening, pardon the pun, to give it a go anyway. Thanks for the comment, I really appreciate it. Happy crafting!
There actually both called trench lighters. Like you said In ww1 and ww2 they made lighters out of anything they could find so their was several different designs
Yeh mate. Normally you get blisters on your hand from the wheel before the petrol ignites, but it does work. I watched this video like a year ago . Good video.
thanks, I would sell them but I think if I were to sell them it would just be locally, due to me being incompetent at knowing how to post things. But hey if I can figure it out somewhere down the line I would! :)
eBay! When I was 17 I started selling and buying rare coins and antiques. It’s not a money making machine, but it’s money on the side. Make an account for eBay then sign up for PayPal. I promise that there is a market for what you make, and it’s quite amazing. It will put extra money in your pocket and that’s never a bad thing is it? You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain. Let me know and I’ll be a customer.
That's a fair criticism, however a lot of people don't like videos where people talk for ages, so I just try to go with what the vast majority like, but I'll try and do more in depth tutorials for the future. Thanks for the comment, happy crafting!
