Fire Pistons

[bluemountaingunworks]

Hello,
I recently read an article in Backwoodsman magazine about a device called a fire piston. Apparantly, tiner is held inside a hollow body and a piston is rapidly shoved down inside of this body that compresses air, causes friction, and then heat which lights the tinder. Does anyone have any experience with these gizmos and if so, where is a source to purchase from? I am intrigued, but also a little skeptical! Thanks and God Bless! Jerry

 

[Eric_Methven]

Jeff Wagner makes them. He's a member here so PM him - and he's on your side of the big pond too. And yes, they do work, brilliantly!

Eric

 

[British Red]

I pictured one in my post on firemaking recently if thats any help

Red

 

[DavidW]

Jerry,

I have pasted below several links to various fire piston sites I have saved to different word documents as I searched for more information about them. The links are in no particular order , just listed as I found them with comments I made about them as I found the links mostly cut out - hope the links all still work, they were collected over several months , and that you find what you're looking for :

David

I FIRST FOUND THIS ABOUT the INDONESIAN FIRE PISTON

http://www.kolumbus.fi/bjorn.corander/firemak.htm

SEEMED Cool - so I did the search below


Google Search for "Indonesian Compression Firestarter" turned up what is called a FirePiston:
( maybe a better google search would be indonesian fire piston or just fire piston)
YES A Search for Indonesian Fire Piston gives much better results - see links below ===

http://www.onagocag.com/piston.html
how to make Char Cloth -
http://www.onagocag.com/fire.html
LOOKS WORTH 2nd LOOK - http://www.onagocag.com/primlinks.html

Fire Piston Steve - pricy pistons, kit with no price listed
http://www.firepiston.com/

Additional thread on bushcraft - could be good leads
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/search.php?searchid=585869

An excellent subthread - nice pics too
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=14108&highlight=fire+piston

Malay barrel making, perhaps same technique to make firepiston
http://www.papuaweb.org/dlib/bk/wallace/timor.html
==================================
Google _ indonesian fire piston --
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/osullivan/fire_piston.htm

http://www.survivalschool.com/products/fire_starting/Fire_Pistons.htm

From same site - $55 demo kit - clear tube to shown ignition flash , video - looks really great for Scout Demos.
http://www.survivalschool.com/products/fire_starting/Fire_Piston_Classroom_Demo_Unit.htm

Kits, including one or two aimed at Scouts -
http://tribaltrades.com/fire_pistons.html
http://tribaltrades.com/pro83356.html
http://tribaltrades.com/pro83358.html

http://tribaltrades.com/fire_piston_demo.html

M4040 - made one that works - BUT found them VERY HARD TO USE - says stick with Bic.
http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Skills/Fire/Fire.htm

Midwest Native Skills Institute Inc. P.O. Box 31764 Cleveland, Ohio 44131 ( Toll Free) 1-888-886-5592
http://www.survivalschool.com/articles/Fire_Making/index.htm
Many KITS - Accessories at a price
http://www.campstoreonline.com/default.asp?S=E3&Document=FIRE+PISTONS&NID=2778937

or here
http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/fire_pistons.htm
http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/index.html
http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/bkspt.htm
http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/woodsmoke.htm
Woodsmoke video 3 is about the fire piston $25.

Some other interesting links
Charles law , volume and temp is constant, decreasing volume = increased temp
http://itotd.com/articles/508/fire-pistons/

Experimenter , with plastic fire pistons -- nice pics and notes of attempts to improve assy
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/firepiston/rbresearch/RBfirepistonresearch1.html

Wikpedia , always lots of info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_piston

Man made fire , firepiston to match
http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/webprojects2001/osullivan/index.htm


http://outdoors-magazine.com/s_article.php?id_article=284

http://possibleshop.com/fire-piston.htm

Here a fire piston is referred to as a fire syringe -- maybe google this term !!http://www.phys.ufl.edu/demo/4_Thermodynamics/B_HeatandtheFirstLaw/FireSyringe.html
http://www.phys.ufl.edu/demo/4_Thermodynamics/B_HeatandtheFirstLaw/

http://www.primitivefire.com/kit-fire-piston-p-18.html

http://www.campfiredude.com/campfire-pistons.shtml
http://tribaltrades.com/pro83358.html

Hello,
I recently read an article in Backwoodsman magazine about a device called a fire piston. ....Does anyone have any experience with these gizmos and if so, where is a source to purchase from? I am intrigued, but also a little skeptical! Thanks and God Bless! Jerry

 

[bluemountaingunworks]

Thanks to all! These things look really neat! I think I'll give one a try. David, great list and I'm grateful for all the info. Take care and God Bless! Jerry

 

[Glade]

I'd never heard of them either until recently. There are a couple of videos (only a few hundred kB) on this page, where you can see them in action:

http://www.firepiston.com/

 

[Galemys]

Here's some more:

An old overview article on the use and distribution of fire pistons in South East Asia in their original tribal setting by Henry Balfour (unfortunelately without the pictures):
http://www.firepiston.net/balfour/balfour.html

PatrickM's selfmade piston, a thing of beauty:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=17071&highlight=fire+piston+elder

If you use the search engine on this site you'll find loads of information about fire pistons.

I've made a few fire pistons out of metal tubing from the hardwood store and use wooden plungers with a rubber o-ring. You have to make sure the wood itself is absolutely airtight (non-porous). If you don't have a lathe you can make the circular groove by placing the wooden plunger in an electrical handdrill (like a drill bit). You can now make a very even groove for the o-ring with a file while the wooden plunger is spinning.

Tom