Its not the most ideal, but I wanted to recommend something he could try easily to give him a quick and dirty answer. Wrong. You need sufficient fuel to oxygen mix. Too little fuel or too little o2, and it won't burn. My guess (and it was a guess, based on what I know about fires), is the 3 in 1 oil that was on the fuser was too low of a quantity to burn freely. That does NOT mean it won't smolder, it just means you won't get a flame. I'd expect that there was a negligible amount of oil actually on the fuser. The heat capacity is but one factor in starting and sustaining a fire. There are 4 parts needed for a fire: fuel, oxygen, heat, chemical reaction. Remove any one, the fire goes out. All 4 have to be in the correct "zone" for a fire to happen (what that zone is differs based on fuel) That's actually the point of using it. It won't sustain burning. When the heat source is removed, the fire will go out on its own. However, a match (which burns upward of 1000 degrees) will be sufficient to test the 320 degree limit of the oil to see if there is enough fuel to start a fire. You do that... I'll video tape. Gasoline floats on water, unless you chase that cup of gas with the match, the gas will rapidly move to the surface and start vaporizing. Your match will probably ignite the fumes half way into the bucket, resulting in a nice POP as the remaining gas bursts into flame... right on the surface of the water. Should be for a fun video to watch. (we carry foam on our fire trucks specifically to combat situations like gasoline fires... if you have a gasoline fire, DO NOT add water... you just end up with a bigger gasoline fire.) -chris <http://www.mythtech.net>