Well it finally happened. My starter battery lost its umph,,,and ran outta juice at the field. I had my trusty homemade chicken stick as back up, but have never used one before. I received two different suggestions, flip clockwise and counter clockwise. In which direction do you all flip your 4 stroke?

I just used my friend's starter.

First, with the glow driver removed, open the throttle, put your finger over the carb, and flip it a few times until your finger is wet. Now go to 1 or 2 clicks above full low throttle, add the glow driver, and flip it the right way (I like to keep my prop so you feel the compression at about 1 O'Clock). If, the engine starts, great, but if it kicks back too hard, or if it kicks and runs backward, then re-prime, and try a backward flip (but when flipping backward, be sure to let the stick slide off the end of the prop because once it catches, it's coming back in the direction of the stick!).

I tend to go with the borrow someones starter idea too. Otherwise, use Mikes method.

I have good results with a similar technique for 4-strokes. Throttle just above low idle, no glow driver, finger over end of muffler, turn engine over several times until it makes squishey sound, install glow driver, lay fingers on- not around prop and spin prop back against compression, it normally fires right up. I have the prop positioned so that when turning CW it hits compression at the very bottom. I use this with an inverted 91 and a sideways 100.
FB

With recent talk about shedded fingers, I've started using a gasoline engine starting glove with my 4-stroke engines. This is a heavy leather glove with extra padding over the first and middle fingers; I think I got it from B&B several years ago.

This glove may be overkill, but it may give that extra margin of security when learning to flip-start.

--Bill