# Fire Piston



## redneckacorn (Jan 14, 2009)

Do any of you guys own a fire piston? Did you make it or buy it, if you bought it where did you get it from and if you made it how hard was it to make and can you explain the process?


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## dpoole (Jan 14, 2009)

What is a fire piston ?


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## Nugefan (Jan 14, 2009)

I don't have 1 , I can make a fire with a flint and steel just as fast as with a fire piston ...

I believe Dawg2 has 1 .... maybe he'll be along shortly and tell us about it ...

check out this link dpoole , it uses compression to start your ember ...

http://www.wildersol.com/


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## Barehunter (Jan 14, 2009)

I have a fire piston that I made.  It was no problem to make as I have access to a lathe.  I guess you could say that I cheated since it is made of brass.  It worked the very first time I tried it.  Will try to post up some pics of it soon.


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## Barehunter (Jan 14, 2009)

Ok...here are some pics of my brass fire piston.  Will be glad to supply dimensions if anyone wants to build one.  Didn't have any char cloth with me at the moment or would have included a pic of it glowing.  My only attempt at a wooden one failed.  Need to get back on it.


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## redneckacorn (Jan 14, 2009)

thats cool, so you just used a metal lathe to work that up right? Could you supply inside and outside dimesions maybe, how tight does the fit have to be. I ordered one from the link above on Nov 30
but haven't received it yet, I talked to the guy just before Christmas and he told me he had a lot of unexpected orders and hadn't got to mine yet. Thats why I was asking they don't look that complicated to make. I wonder if you could make one out of wood with a drill press and some dower rods. Of course you'd have to have a hard peice of wood.


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## LJay (Jan 14, 2009)

I have some plans for a homemade one if I can round them up, I will post them here.


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## Barehunter (Jan 14, 2009)

redneckacorn said:


> thats cool, so you just used a metal lathe to work that up right? Could you supply inside and outside dimesions maybe, how tight does the fit have to be.



Length of plunger (excluding knurled handle) is 4.175". Diameter is 0.437". "O" ring groove is turned down to 0.357" and is 0.300" from the end. The groove is about 0.115" wide. Hole in end of plunger that holds the char cloth is about 0.300" in diameter and 0.200" deep.

Though not critical at all, the plunger handle is 1" diameter by 2" long. 

Barrel portion is 0.75" diameter and 4.75" long. Hole in barrel is 0.4375" (7/16") and is 4.272" deep.

Note that hole in barrel is about 0.097" deeper than the plunger length.  While not critical that it be 0.097" it does need to be in the ballpark of 0.1". 

"O" ring is .0390" od, .0242" id,  and .070 thick.  These are approximate.

While mine fits together quite nicely, I don't know that the fit has to be all that precise since it utilizes an "O" ring.


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## Barehunter (Jan 14, 2009)

dpoole said:


> What is a fire piston ?




Amazingly, ancient wooden fire pistons have been discovered in several different cultures.  How they happened to develop them is incredible.  

To use the fire piston, place a small portion of char cloth (like you would use with flint and steel) in the end of the plunger.  Start the plunger into the barrel a half inch or so and then slam it home!  Immediately pull the plunger out and the char cloth will have ignited (glowing red).  Transfer this to tinder bundle and blow to life.  I like to add the small glowing ember to a larger piece of char cloth. It helps to keep a little "bear grease" (aka vaseline) on the "O" ring. 

Mechanism is simply compressing the air to such a degree that it heats up to around 800 deg. F.  Plenty hot enough to start the charcloth.  Incredible that you can develop that degree of heat in 1/10 of second or so.


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## redneckacorn (Jan 14, 2009)

Yeah it's really an incredible thing going on especially since it's so old. It's amazing how smart people where back then, it's also a shame, we seem to have lost a lot of our ingenuity since we where created. Thanks for the dimensions I'm going to try to have one made. My son who is 15 is very interested in primitive fire techniques and survival fire techniques. He has become very good with flint and steel and the magnesium stick. The fire piston is a Christmas gift for him, he comes home from school every day and asks if it came in the mail. There is suppose to be some tinderfungus in the kit I ordered, do you guys know if that kind of fungus grows in southwest Georgia?


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## dawg2 (Jan 15, 2009)

Nugefan said:


> I don't have 1 , I can make a fire with a flint and steel just as fast as with a fire piston ...
> 
> I believe Dawg2 has 1 .... maybe he'll be along shortly and tell us about it ...
> 
> ...



I have two of them  Man, those things are cool.  I HIGHLY recommend them.  Most folks will just stand there trying to figure out how they work

I just got the Coco Bolo Model. 

Here is the link: http://www.wildersol.com/files/FirePistons.html

FYI: they have to stay lubricated or they do NOT work though.


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## dawg2 (Jan 15, 2009)

redneckacorn said:


> Yeah it's really an incredible thing going on especially since it's so old. It's amazing how smart people where back then, it's also a shame, we seem to have lost a lot of our ingenuity since we where created. Thanks for the dimensions I'm going to try to have one made. My son who is 15 is very interested in primitive fire techniques and survival fire techniques. He has become very good with flint and steel and the magnesium stick. The fire piston is a Christmas gift for him, he comes home from school every day and asks if it came in the mail. There is suppose to be some tinderfungus in the kit I ordered, do you guys know if that kind of fungus grows in southwest Georgia?



I have a couple different "fungus's" drying.  I will be trying them once they are dried to see if they will work.  I'll bookmark this and keep everyone posted.  I just use char-cloth right now.


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## redneckacorn (Jan 23, 2009)

Ok guys just wanted to let everyone know I got the fire piston from Wilderness Solutions , havn't actually tried it yet as it's a Christmas present for my son. He got the cocobolo model and I must say the craftsmanship is very nice the fit seems to be exceptional. It was worth the wait I'm sure. I'll let you guys know tonight how it works...


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## dawg2 (Jan 23, 2009)

redneckacorn said:


> Ok guys just wanted to let everyone know I got the fire piston from Wilderness Solutions , havn't actually tried it yet as it's a Christmas present for my son. He got the cocobolo model and I must say the craftsmanship is very nice the fit seems to be exceptional. It was worth the wait I'm sure. I'll let you guys know tonight how it works...



Good deal!  Hey, it takes a few tries to get the hang of it.


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## rutandstrut (Jan 24, 2009)

These things are pretty cool. Does anyone have dimensions for a wooden one. I would like to make one or two of these to try them out! 

What are you calling a fungus? It looks like on the videos he is using Punky wood.


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## redneckacorn (Jan 25, 2009)

OK after a few trys with the charcloth only it works great for him. He just had to figure out the best way for him to slam the ram home, once he got that down he can do it every time. I beleive you can get the finish it yourself Kit just like the one I have from WIlderness SOlutions for about half the price of a finished one. I think the bore  has to be very smooth. I can't fine a tape measure to measure it right now will have to go to the barn. But you could probably use the ones from above.


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## dawg2 (Jan 26, 2009)

rutandstrut said:


> These things are pretty cool. Does anyone have dimensions for a wooden one. I would like to make one or two of these to try them out!
> 
> What are you calling a fungus? It looks like on the videos he is using Punky wood.


They call it "tinder fungus."  It usually grows on Birch trees, but I was told you won't see it in the southeast.

http://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/tinder/tinderfungus/index.html


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## Fireman26 (Feb 1, 2009)

Im looking to make one out of wood, any suggestions on wood type? or does it matter?


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## Barehunter (Feb 1, 2009)

Fireman26 said:


> Im looking to make one out of wood, any suggestions on wood type? or does it matter?



Lots of them are made from cocobola.  Main thing is it has to be a very hard dense wood.  I would think osage orange would do great.  I tried to make one from a birch dowel and it was a failure.  Need to try again with a different wood.  So many projects so little time!


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## Fireman26 (Feb 3, 2009)

*Fire Piston Material*

I went by HD today and they have alot of red oak stock, including 2" blocks, oak dowels, aluminum dowels and o-rings.  I think what Im going to do is use an oak block for the bore, and make two pistons, one out of oak dowel and another out of aluminum rod stock to see which works better.  I will post some pics on here when I get started.  
Jason


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## Bagpiper (Feb 17, 2009)

Osage orange .....hmmmmmm, what would a man be willing to trade for some osage orange wood......lol


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## jfinch (Feb 19, 2009)

I have been playing with trying to get a wooden one to work.  So far all I have gotten is a wisp of smoke.  I don't think oak will work.  I have to bores one made out of Osage and one out of Lignum Vitae.  I used Cherry for the piston but it seems too porus to work it leaks past the o-ring along the wood pores.  I sealed it with super glue and that helped but it still seems to leak down and not build the needed compression.  If you use wood it will have to be a very dense tight grained wood or you will have to seal the pores somehow.


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