Fire Piston/ Hand Drill

[Schwert]

This just arrived from an eBay seller, D&B Primative Forgeworks, Darrel Aune from Minnesota. I have wanted a firepiston for a long time..... I have one from Jeff Wagner on order but ran across this fellow on ebay and got lucky with my opening bid winning the package. This is his image:

This is a cocobolo piston with a built in hand drill device. The piston body has a hole in the end to hold a piece of mullen, then a shaft (or arrow shaft) is inserted in the body and you have a hand drill....unique. He supplied the fireboard, fungus, mullen, string, instructions and lubricant too.

My first attempts with the piston did not give me a coal, but I changed out my piece of fungus and got a coal on the next whack. Of course, I picked out the coal on top of a magazine wrapped in plastic on my desk....not exactly the sort of fire lay I should have had...smoked my magazine a might but fun...the odour was growing so I swept the coal into my tea cup before my workmates investigated another strange occurance from my cube.

The hand drill aspect will have to wait until this weekend or so however. This will not be as easy is my guess. But having two neat-o tools in one is sort of fun and from what I can tell the maker did a nice job on this. Once my Bushcraft model arrives from Jeff I will be able to compare.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Schwert,
Thata a pretty neat looking set you have there. Does the seller have any more like it?
I hope it performs as good as it looks.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[firemaker]

Hmm...I read an email similar to this tonight. Well yes, I know this seller has them all the time. Because I am him!!!! Just click on my name and go to my homepage (ebay store) and there ya are. I have a couple to list soon so keep a look out.

I have been posting in the edged tools forum here but I check this one often. Ive been here a couple of weeks, invited by one of your moderators, who also ran across the Drill Pistons on Ebay. Making knives is my passion but who can resist fire! I have had to stomp out more then one accidental fire in my shop, my car, my house, my dog, and my wife still loves me.

I came up with this idea after learning how to make fire from a hand drill and I was looking at one of my pistons at work during my lunch break. Thats when some of my best ideas come to me, of course at a time when I cant run out and do something about it.

It is always nice to hear my stuff works for other people. Can't wait to hear how the drilling works out. I find the extra weight from the piston helps hold the drill end in the hearth board when you shift your hands.

Schwert, You can get more help with the drill on the "secrets of the hand drill" thread. Also thank you for the great feedback.

You know that chaga is also good as a tea also

 

[match]

How does the shape of the piston part help in hand drilling? One of the big problems is that the hands tend to move down the stem as you rotate it - do the finger grooves prevent this? Or do they add to the blisters?

 

[Mr_Yarrow]

Waht would postage to the UK be on one of the fire pistons?

Ta

 

[Jeff Wagner]

The hand drill aspect will have to wait until this weekend or so however. This will not be as easy is my guess. But having two neat-o tools in one is sort of fun and from what I can tell the maker did a nice job on this. Once my Bushcraft model arrives from Jeff I will be able to compare.[/QUOTE]

Working on it now. Those hand drill mullein stalks server double duty by the way. If you run out of tinder fungus you can also use the pith in your fire piston.

 

[Schwert]

Nice to meet you firemaker. This piston has a good feel and looks great (a deeper red than the photo). It is smooth and nicely shaped for a good hold. The piston shaft and gasket are well done and while tight, very smooth. I had some more fun with this piston last night.

I practiced with the piston quite a bit and I found that the choice of tinder fungus made all the difference. My pieces of fungus have both a hard outer bit and a punky inner. I get a glow and coal with one whack of the piston if I choose a punky bit of fungus. It glows and holds heat for a long time with just the small piece that fits in the piston well. The harder crusty fungus pieces do not light as easily for me.

I produced about 10 coals in my trials last night and even though I had whacked it about 25+ times it was still comfortable to use. I tried the Jeff Wagner crunch and the high velocity hand whack....both worked and right now I cannot say which I found easier...selection of fungus seems to be the most important aspect.

I brought my tin of char in today to see what else I can smoke at my desk and I may try the mullen pith too.

I like this device, and it was quite a good bargain.

 

[firemaker]

Hey great I'm glad your having fun! Yes the quality of the fungus does make a differance. So does its mositure content. One of the first pistons I made ended up getting whipped out into the woods behind my shop cause I couldnt get the thing work. Then I tried a piston I knew worked and had the same problem. Turned out my Chaga was damp from humidity. I spent the next hour and a half searching for it. So in short, keep your Chaga dry.

I charge $8.00 for shipping and handling out of the US. I put a lot of care into the packaging so that is arrives safe, dry, and working well.

Your hands don't contact the piston. Your twirling is done on the shaft inserted in the hole of the barrel where the piston rod goes in. (Make sure you use a wood arrow or other wood spindle shaft, not aluminum to avoid wear.) It works similar to Jeff's spindle socket. (Look at the attached pics.) I think that blisters are a nessesary evil in order to bring out the true respect for the art of fire making.

 

[ZDP-189]

I know this seller has them all the time. Because I am him!!!! Just click on my name and go to my homepage (ebay store) and there ya are.

Hiya.

Just for clarification - you have them in stock and ready to ship?

 

[firemaker]

Yes I have a few in stock . If you want to avoid ebay you can email me direct. I can send pics and prices.

 

[firemaker]

This is my well needed week off of work so I'm going to be busy making stuff and enjoying it.

I'm going to start my first forge fire with a hand drill one day and a piston the next, flint & steel on the next few, just to keep the skills. Sadly, I cant go out and practice in the real wilderness beyond my swamp covered acreage so this will have to do. Finally the time of year for thistle down and lit some up in my piston. Found you have to have a pretty tight ball of it if you want your coal to last. Not my tinder of chose though, whapped my hand too many times against the thistle head and still feeling the pain, It does work though! any how Cheers

 

[match]

Sorry - wasn't being clear before.

What I meant was that you presumably use the barrel part of the set to do the twirling on for the hand drill... doesn't the grip shape of the barrel cause extra problems with blisters etc when used as a hand drill?

One advantage I guess is that you can at leat use shorter sections of good hand drill materials than if you had no barrel part.

 

[firemaker]

Hi match No you do not twist your hands on the drill piston. You insert a shaft in to the piston body , think of it as a sleeve that joins the two, the shaft & the spindle end together. You then have the option of carrying a much smaller kit, then you would if you had a full size hand drill set. You can have your piston-drill hearth board and spindle ends in a pouch or pocket, and when needed you can cut a shaft from what ever you have around at the time. The shaft doesnt need to be good for fire making, or dry, it just needs to be straight.

 

[firemaker]

Match heres a detailed tutorial to show you how it works.
http://www.primalconnection.com/tutorialpiston.html

 

[match]

Right - that makes sense now - thanks!

Sounds like a convenient way of doing what a lot of primitive people do - use a long straight piece of wood from a plant that isn't very good as a fire drill spindle, and attach it to a smaller piece of wood that makes a good spindle but doesn't naturally occur in long or straight pieces.