Originally Posted By SamanthaR
This is _very_ cool (or should that be hot?)!

I did a little Googling and found references to the use of a ball of platinum black (which is very finely powdered platinum) or a platinum sponge, both of which would have a _much_ greater surface area than even extremely fine wire. So I suspect you are on the right track in trying thinner wire but have no idea how fine you may need to go to do the trick.

-- Sam


Platinum black or Platinum sponge would probably be better but that stuff runs around $1000/gram and I couldn't find any quantity for sale that was less than a couple hundred bucks. I think thin wire should work. I have seen an upclose video of the lighter where the support wire starts glowing before the sponge.