I first learned the skill of making wood lighter cases more than 30 years ago (1990) in Northern Minnesota. I was taught by friends there how to make them out of birch bark from fallen trees. I later returned to Southwest Minnesota and showed all my friends the lighter cases i had made. They loved them! I think i had 5 or 6 and i sold a couple of them immediately. Little did i know at the time i would return to making these years later.

Fast forward to February 2012 when i began to think of a hobby i could do and perhaps even make a buck or two in the process. Partially just to spend more time while keeping occupied in my newly finished garage. Being i love working with wood, having also worked in wood truss manufacturing field for 12 years i began to think about making wood lighter cases again. The more i thought about it i began to love the idea but would people still love the cases as much as they did two decades ago? Time to test if they would first before investing time and money into this project.

And the testing i did… Just one small ad had a very positive response including people wanting to buy them not just for themselves but as gifts and a local store wanting to carry my lighter cases in their store. Seeing this response got me very excited and i have now went into handcrafting these for people to enjoy. In 2009 bic corporation said they were manufacturing 5 million bic lighters a day. Which means their is a large market out there for what i make. I have also set up a website to take orders through. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey T Ankrum
Wood Lighter Cases, LLC
7705 Pine Hill Dr SE
Elizabeth, IN 47117