Gold & Silver Forum - The Fire Piston

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- - The Fire Piston (http://goldismoney.info/forums/showthread.php?t=256255)

Some of you may already be familiar with this fire-starting tool, but I just came across it for the first time about a month ago and thought it was perfect for survival situations.

It is a simple tool which requires no flint, fuel or friction of any kind to create fire, but rather relies on heating air by quick compression to the point that it lights a piece of tinder.

From wiki:

Quote:

A fire piston consists of a hollow cylinder ranged in size from around 3 inches to 6 inches (7.5 cm to 15 cm) long, sealed at one end and open at the other. A piston, about a quarter inch (ca 0.64 cm) in diameter, can slide into the cylinder forming an airtight seal with the cylinder wall. The piston has a handle on the end to allow a firm grip to be applied to it and can be completely withdrawn from the cylinder.

Native, and modern versions, are made from wood, horn, antler and bamboo. Lead was used to cast fire pistons in both modern and native versions. Other metals have also been used in modern versions. The piston has a notch or recess in its face into which a piece of tinder is placed.

The piston must be rammed rapidly into the sealed cylinder with a single stroke. The compression of the air causes the temperature to rise rapidly to 260 degrees Celsius, or 500 degrees Fahrenheit. This is hot enough for the tinder on the piston face to ignite. It can then be withdrawn and transferred to a larger mass of kindling to create a fire.

Some related sites and videos:

http://www.firepiston.com/

http://www.onagocag.com/piston.html

http://www.wildersol.com/

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If you already own a fire piston, I'd like to ask your opinion of it and what you think the best type of wood or other material might be for making one.

TIA

Re: The Fire Piston

Cool, nope, I've never seen one. And archeologists think primitive people are stupid.

sb

Re: The Fire Piston

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squirrel Bait (Post 1060224)

Cool, nope, I've never seen one. And archeologists think primitive people are stupid.

sb

Exactly. Turns out this device preceded and might have inspired Rudolph Diesel in his design of his famous Diesel engine.

Re: The Fire Piston

Fire pistons cost about as much as a deisel engine. I'd like to have one but mag and flint are about 20% of what a fire piston costs.

Re: The Fire Piston

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floyd (Post 1060264)

Fire pistons cost about as much as a deisel engine. I'd like to have one but mag and flint are about 20% of what a fire piston costs.

Which leads one to wonder...who made it in the first place?

If a man made it, so can any other man with a little ingenuity and persistence.

Re: The Fire Piston

True true G-edge. This is my obstacle. I need to hold in my hand a working example. The seal material and pressure required I'd like to see\feel.

Re: The Fire Piston

Re: The Fire Piston

I've seen them, but I've had good luck with friction and generally stick with that (pard'n the pun). If you can carry a fire piston, odds are it would be easier to carry a bic lighter instead. I've managed to light a fire with friction in the middle of a snow storm using nothing carried (making a string out of icy bark in the middle of winter is fun, I highly recommend it ... right after a beach sand hi-colonic) ... the things I'll do to win a bet ...

Re: The Fire Piston

It's kind of interesting that it works, it's a nifty science class demonstration, , , , , -but I'm not sure how useful it really is.

Seems to me that if you could remember to carry that thing around, you could just as well carry a magnesium/fire steel thingy, that is mechanically simple and works WAY better--and isn't damaged from getting wet, either.

-end-

Re: The Fire Piston

Put it in your carryon bag and it looks like a flashlight without batteries.