Fire Piston

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dabull24

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Nov 19, 2008
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Hey guys, Just wanted to show you guys how my first fire piston turned out... Made it out of a beautiful piece of cocobolo. I am new to the lathe so I experimented around with coves and grooves and such. Let me know what ya think!
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It creates an ember by compression. You put some tinder in the end of the actual piston part then slam it in the hole and pull out, thus heating up the air which turns the piece of tinder into a smoldering ember to start a fire.
 
Nice work, it looks good and if you got it to ignite, they you got it very precise. I've made and sold a few. Be careful if you sell them, they are very tricky to keep operating properly. Too much grease on the shaft, damp tender, negative attitudes, full moons, high temp, low temp, breeze, no breeze and about anything at all can keep them from working properly. One of the people I sold to felt that for the price he paid that he should get something as dependable as a .99 Bic lighter.
 
Tim,

First off, very nice job on the fire starter. I saw these some time ago on this forum and did some research on them. I even bought one on ebay.

I had a few questions if you don't mind.
1. What are the dimensions of the bore and the piston?
2. What kind of tolerance did you hold on the both?
3. What was the dimension of the tinder holder recess - diameter and depth?
4. From the pictures, the bottom picture looks like the piston is a very dark color. Are the pictures of the same piston or did you make multiples.

I realy like the coves and grooves, as I think that it not only makes the piston look good but it gives the person using it a better grip. I have read articles from people that use these and often times they complain about not having the grip.

Can't wait to see the video.

Very nice job!

Dan
 
Dan,
The hole is 3/8" wide and I drilled it about 3.5 inches in and left about .5" on the end to prevent blowout. I made the actual piston a little larger than 3/8" then sanded it down so it barely fit in the hole. This is the most important part of the process. Also make sure that the piston itself is less than 1/16th of an inch from the bottom of the hole when inserted, anything more will not generate enough compression. All the pics are from the same piston. Hope that helps!
Tim
 
I was just gonna say that Survivorman should use it.....but Skye beat me to it. I am going to have to try making one of these....do you think they have to be so thick, or could you make one that is just thick enough not to break on compression? I'm thinking in the woods, I'm gonna want to pack light, and big honkin' chuck of cocobolo might be less than ideal.
 
They make thin fire piston pens...Jeff makes em all at wilderness solutions.. Just type in fire piston in yahoo. Its not made from wood, but if space is what you lack then a fire piston pen maybe ideal.
 
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