Zippo catalyst replacement

I bought new catalyst and a spring for my zippo. I stuffed the spring with probably twice as much catalyst as was required installed the spring and tried to light it. Would not light at all. I removed the catalyst and put about half back in. It was fragmented pieces by then. The stuff is very fragile. It still wouldn’t light. I suspect by this time I had damaged the catalyst. I then cut a new piece of catalyst and installed it much like origional without the spring and it worked fantastic.

Thanks Steve,

Alan C and I were just brainstorming this topic a few minutes ago via email. He suggest pulling the spring and just putting catalyst into the head, you guys must also have been discussing that as well?

So I'm going to give that a try this afternoon as well, I have to go out and hang Christmas lights and it's turned colder, so it's a good chance.