Restoring World War I Trench Lighter - Vintage Lighter Restoration

This replica WWI trench lighter was sent to me in pretty rough condition. Extremely corroded on the outside, and god awful smelling liquid on the inside cotton.

The lighter was missing it's retaining clip for the cap, so a new one had to be made. It was pretty straight forward to disassemble. There are three main components to restore, the main body, outside slide, and lower fluid cap. The lighter was missing its wick and flint.

To start off, I removed the lower fluid cap and took out the cotton that was inside. It appeared to be wet and had a terrible musty smell. From there the outer slide was removed and cleaned. After all the parts were washed and scrubbed, the lighter was mostly reassembled to begin polishing. The outer slide was polished while on the main body to help prevent it from bending out of shape from the force of the wire wheel and buffing process. The main body was then separated to be polished, then on to the lower cap.

After all the parts were polished, a new wick was inserted and new cotton was stuffed inside. The lighter was filled with fluid and the lower cap was reassembled. A new retaining clip was hand made to allow the slide and body to move, activating the cap. The flint was installed and lighter was struck....and we have flame.

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