on_the_edge
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2006
- Messages
- 11,801
This forum, and a recent issue of The Backwoodsman, recently sparked (no pun intended) a significant interest in fire pistons. At first, being independent minded and fairly good with my hands, I thought Id try to make one myself, but after looking around, I was able to find exactly what I was looking for.
If you have ever looked into buying a fire piston for yourself, you have no doubt been met with prices that the average guy would call eye openers. I certainly saw my fair share of those. However, upon a recommendation of a friend, I looked into some inexpensive pistons offered by ebprimitives on an auction site. When I saw the pistons, they looked nice enough, but I was still apprehensive as they just seemed too good to be true. I asked the seller how he could offer his pistons so cheaply when others offered pistons for $65 on up. This was his response:
Here's why I can offer these pistons for less than the competition- 1.-The process that I use to make the pistons is very, very efficient and I can probably turn out three pistons while the competition is making one. 2.-The competition has to rely on suppliers for raw materials, such as exotic woods. The materials that I use in the manufacture of my pistons (bodies and shafts) I secure myself, as I live in the Catskill Mts. Forest Preserve. As far as comparing quality, the pistons that I sell in all probability will still be firing 50 years from now as I concentrate more on the durability of the mechanics like the efficiency of the brass liner compression tubes and the long wearing, adjustable seal.
Offered for about $30 depending on which model you wanted, I decided to give it a shot. A week later (today), the piston landed on my front doorstep. The box was larger than I expected and it quickly became apparent as to why. I did not get just a piston, but a boatload of igniter, extra seals, lube, a piston cleaner, big bag of tinder, functional/practical tinder box, and 3 pages of instructions. The use of the piston itself is not complicated, but the instructions are thorough enough that nobody, and I mean nobody, should have any complaints.
Upon inspection, fit, finish, design, and overall quality of my Mega Fire Piston was spot on. It came with an adjustable seal, but it did not need any adjustment out of the box. It was also pre-lubed and essentially ready to go. It had a small leather strap and was small/light enough to fit in a pocket or would hang comfortably off of a necklace. And while aesthetics and convenience will get you so far, the rubber hits the road when it comes to functionality. Without that, you just have another worthless gizmo.
I want to preface this by saying that I have never tried a fire piston in my life before. Even seeing what I had in my hands, I still wasnt sure I would be able to get this little contraption working. I loaded up the tip of the piston with a little igniting material and then came the moment of truth. Bam, pull piston out, and damn if there wasnt a coal!!!!! Unreal. It could not have been easier. Thinking that maybe it was dumb luck, I recreated my little miracle a second time, and finally a third. Each time it worked the first time. What an awesome little device.
I tried hitting the piston a little off-center to see if the piston shaft would break with a clumsy operator. Again, it just kept working without a hitch, as good the last time as the first.
While I did not try to ignite the tinder in the tinder box, it looks to be a functional little add-on that will help one to get a fire started even more easily. It has a removable top and a concave indentation in the side with slits shaped like a large X. A little igniting material in the X will light the tinder inside once the top is removed, and will then provide a more substantial source of ignition to whatever you are burning rather than just a coal. Once you have got your campfire going, you can put the lid on the tinder box, cover up the X with a leaf or something non-flammable, and reuse many, many times over.
FWIW, the model that I got, the Mega fire piston, comes with a hollowed out area at the top of the piston shaft. It appears to be waterproof (though I have not yet tested this) and is supposed to serve as a place to carry your ignition material. How slick is that???
All in all, I cannot recommend ebprimitives and his fire pistons highly enough. He makes an incredible product for an incredible priceagain, I paid just over $30 delivered for my setup. If you ask me, this is about as good as it gets for deals. For $30, I can guarantee that you will be satisfied.
One last thing worth mentioning. I can probably count on both hands how many times in my life I have been moved by a product to the point where I will sit down and write about it. This is such a product. I dont care how good you are with your hands or what tools or materials you might have access to. These pistons are priced so well that it really doesnt pay to try and make one yourself. But for the self-initiated with time on your hands, maybe you want to try it anyway. Personally, Id rather take the time to learn about knots or some other aspect of survival. And if you have to ask, let me state for the record--I dont know this fellow (his name is Emil Banks), have never met him, and neither want nor will I accept anything for this review. It is simply me calling it as I see it. And if you DO get one of these, chime back in here and let us all know what your thoughts are as well.
If you have ever looked into buying a fire piston for yourself, you have no doubt been met with prices that the average guy would call eye openers. I certainly saw my fair share of those. However, upon a recommendation of a friend, I looked into some inexpensive pistons offered by ebprimitives on an auction site. When I saw the pistons, they looked nice enough, but I was still apprehensive as they just seemed too good to be true. I asked the seller how he could offer his pistons so cheaply when others offered pistons for $65 on up. This was his response:
Here's why I can offer these pistons for less than the competition- 1.-The process that I use to make the pistons is very, very efficient and I can probably turn out three pistons while the competition is making one. 2.-The competition has to rely on suppliers for raw materials, such as exotic woods. The materials that I use in the manufacture of my pistons (bodies and shafts) I secure myself, as I live in the Catskill Mts. Forest Preserve. As far as comparing quality, the pistons that I sell in all probability will still be firing 50 years from now as I concentrate more on the durability of the mechanics like the efficiency of the brass liner compression tubes and the long wearing, adjustable seal.
Offered for about $30 depending on which model you wanted, I decided to give it a shot. A week later (today), the piston landed on my front doorstep. The box was larger than I expected and it quickly became apparent as to why. I did not get just a piston, but a boatload of igniter, extra seals, lube, a piston cleaner, big bag of tinder, functional/practical tinder box, and 3 pages of instructions. The use of the piston itself is not complicated, but the instructions are thorough enough that nobody, and I mean nobody, should have any complaints.
Upon inspection, fit, finish, design, and overall quality of my Mega Fire Piston was spot on. It came with an adjustable seal, but it did not need any adjustment out of the box. It was also pre-lubed and essentially ready to go. It had a small leather strap and was small/light enough to fit in a pocket or would hang comfortably off of a necklace. And while aesthetics and convenience will get you so far, the rubber hits the road when it comes to functionality. Without that, you just have another worthless gizmo.
I want to preface this by saying that I have never tried a fire piston in my life before. Even seeing what I had in my hands, I still wasnt sure I would be able to get this little contraption working. I loaded up the tip of the piston with a little igniting material and then came the moment of truth. Bam, pull piston out, and damn if there wasnt a coal!!!!! Unreal. It could not have been easier. Thinking that maybe it was dumb luck, I recreated my little miracle a second time, and finally a third. Each time it worked the first time. What an awesome little device.
I tried hitting the piston a little off-center to see if the piston shaft would break with a clumsy operator. Again, it just kept working without a hitch, as good the last time as the first.
While I did not try to ignite the tinder in the tinder box, it looks to be a functional little add-on that will help one to get a fire started even more easily. It has a removable top and a concave indentation in the side with slits shaped like a large X. A little igniting material in the X will light the tinder inside once the top is removed, and will then provide a more substantial source of ignition to whatever you are burning rather than just a coal. Once you have got your campfire going, you can put the lid on the tinder box, cover up the X with a leaf or something non-flammable, and reuse many, many times over.
FWIW, the model that I got, the Mega fire piston, comes with a hollowed out area at the top of the piston shaft. It appears to be waterproof (though I have not yet tested this) and is supposed to serve as a place to carry your ignition material. How slick is that???
All in all, I cannot recommend ebprimitives and his fire pistons highly enough. He makes an incredible product for an incredible priceagain, I paid just over $30 delivered for my setup. If you ask me, this is about as good as it gets for deals. For $30, I can guarantee that you will be satisfied.
One last thing worth mentioning. I can probably count on both hands how many times in my life I have been moved by a product to the point where I will sit down and write about it. This is such a product. I dont care how good you are with your hands or what tools or materials you might have access to. These pistons are priced so well that it really doesnt pay to try and make one yourself. But for the self-initiated with time on your hands, maybe you want to try it anyway. Personally, Id rather take the time to learn about knots or some other aspect of survival. And if you have to ask, let me state for the record--I dont know this fellow (his name is Emil Banks), have never met him, and neither want nor will I accept anything for this review. It is simply me calling it as I see it. And if you DO get one of these, chime back in here and let us all know what your thoughts are as well.
