Rite I've been looking at fire pistons recently, both on this site and on the web. I've seen the various attempts made by people on this site and what little i could find els-ware, and have seen how difficult they are and precise they are to make. Frankly I cant be bothered with all that drilling and sanding and tinkering, so I started idly wondering if there could be an easier way.
First I thought what about just taking a piece of elder and sanding down the inside, but all the elder I could find had a hole down the middle witch wasn't round.
Then I thought what if I got a piece of elder with a big hole then filled that with pine pitch and drilled a hole in that, but then I realized that drilling pine pitch would cores it to heat up and melt.
So I thought why not make a plunger as round and strait as possible fix this in place down the middle of a elder stem then fill up around that with pine pitch from the bottom, but then how would I get the plunger out? there mite be some sort of lubricant that would work but I don't know, will have to do some experiments. Also the heat generated by the action of the piston mite melt the pitch as well.
Then I had a sudden thought :thinkerg: , what if I got a round strait stick of some kind of wood that has a bark which can be slid off easily like willow, do the same as above filled up around it with pitch but then you could slide out the wood and leave the bark behind to leave a smooth strait hole and a plunger that fits perfectly. It would only work with green wood so you would have to put the plunger back in while it dried. With any luck the pitch would keep the bark intact and stop it splitting and the plunger would shrink inuf to allow you to put a gasket on it.
Is this a crazy off the wall notion that will never work , or am i an genius ? My bets on the pryer most of my ideas are , but you never know . Im going to give it a try and let you know how it go's, but do tell me if im being wildly over enthusiastic .
First I thought what about just taking a piece of elder and sanding down the inside, but all the elder I could find had a hole down the middle witch wasn't round.
Then I thought what if I got a piece of elder with a big hole then filled that with pine pitch and drilled a hole in that, but then I realized that drilling pine pitch would cores it to heat up and melt.
So I thought why not make a plunger as round and strait as possible fix this in place down the middle of a elder stem then fill up around that with pine pitch from the bottom, but then how would I get the plunger out? there mite be some sort of lubricant that would work but I don't know, will have to do some experiments. Also the heat generated by the action of the piston mite melt the pitch as well.
Then I had a sudden thought :thinkerg: , what if I got a round strait stick of some kind of wood that has a bark which can be slid off easily like willow, do the same as above filled up around it with pitch but then you could slide out the wood and leave the bark behind to leave a smooth strait hole and a plunger that fits perfectly. It would only work with green wood so you would have to put the plunger back in while it dried. With any luck the pitch would keep the bark intact and stop it splitting and the plunger would shrink inuf to allow you to put a gasket on it.
Is this a crazy off the wall notion that will never work , or am i an genius ? My bets on the pryer most of my ideas are , but you never know . Im going to give it a try and let you know how it go's, but do tell me if im being wildly over enthusiastic .