Fire Piston

[ScoutMasterSurvival]

Hello all,

I just joined this group. I found it while trying to do some research on how to make a Fire Piston.

I am a Scout Leader for a Boy Scout Troop. My Troop is an active troop that likes to do primtive type camping. I try to teach the boys how to survive in the wilderness with primitive items.

I would like to know if anyone in this community can provide me with details as to how to make a "Fire Piston". I would like to teach all the boys in the Troop how to make a Fire Piston. This item could come in handy for survival situations such as everyone could face in a weather related disaster like hurricanes and tornadoes like what we have here in Texas.

Thanks in advance for your help, the boys will enjoy seeing one of these things work.

Scout Master

 

[Longstrider]

Hi SMS and welcome to the forum. I can't help much on the "how to" but there's no doubt that others on here will be able to give plenty of info on the matter. Try doing a search for Fire Piston as there have been threads all about making the things. They're fun to use and pretty effective once you have the technique (and the right tinder to put in them).

Have you tried fire by friction with your Scouts? Bow drill or hand-drill can be very effective "primitive" methods of making fire. (Bow drill is easier to master in my opinion) If you have suitable materials growing in your neck of the woods you could look at a fire saw too. Good sized bamboo is an excellent thing to use for the fire saw, I'm looking for some to try with myself at the moment.

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hi ScoutMasterSurvival,
Welcome to the forum.
Having made a working piston a year or so ago, I don't think it's the type of project you could teach youngsters to make. Fire Pistons are accurate instruments and need quite a lot of time and effort to build.
Mr Fire-Piston, (Jeff Wagner) a member of this forum from NY makes very fine examples, even "Scout models" which can be finished by the purchaser

Bow drill firemaking is hard work but immensely satisfying when achieved.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[firemaker]

Thought Id replied to this already. Losing a little of my memory with age I guess, among other things, lol.

Well the true of it is fire pistons are actually quite easy to make and do not take much time at all. Once you get it figured out, it can take under an hour to complete a simple model, start to fire. And the hardest model under two hours easily. More time than that though if you want to hand carve one. I probably would look into making models that do not require the use of a lathe of course, primitive style. But unfortuately, there is little history or information on how the natives did it. Also with children, drilling an accurate hole may be difficult. They do make awesome demostration pieces though, particually the acrylic ones.

Good luck.

 

[rich59]

With scouts - learning that compressing air makes it hot and releasing it makes it cool can be a good exercise in itself. The bicycle pump valve is a good example of heat. Releasing air from a tyre, a football or even a CO2 canister (care!!) can be examples.

Making them is an exact science I think. I have tried on and off and not made much progress. Others have made it into an art form on this site.