Custom/Handmade Box Elder Burl Fire Piston...

[J. Doyle]

I made this fire piston cased in beautiful, naturally two-tone box elder burl and have it up for sale. Brass piston and cylinder internal parts. Small rubber o-ring (easily replaceable in seconds, available at any hardware/plumbing/big box home improvement store).

This works with charcloth every time. Around 100 test lights with a coal produced each time. Two handed operation, hold the cylinder in one hand and the piston top in the other. Start the piston top into the cylinder until the o-ring is just seated into the end of the cylinder. Press rapidly and straight on the piston and remove quickly to produce an ember. No slamming on a hard surface required, in fact that is strongly discouraged and will damage the wood.

Length is 4 3/8" total. Diameter is 7/8". Octagon shape barrel and top.

Price is $125 shipped to the US. I accept paypal, check or money order.

Feel free to ask any questions. Post them, PM or email me.

 

[rustysocket]

I have never seen anything like this before. How does it work?

 

[J. Doyle]

I have never seen anything like this before. How does it work?

It's basically the same principle as a diesel engine. It works by compression, not by friction. When a given volume of gas, like the air inside the cylinder, gets compressed rapidly enough, the pressure increases and the molecules start moving much faster which gives off energy, heat in this case. With a rapid enough stroke, the heat can't dissipate fast enough and temperature increases to the point where a tinder such as charcloth, and certain natural fibers, like cotton or chaga fungus and others, ignite.

It's actually an ancient method of firestarting used in SE Asia, the Phillipines, and other areas. It likely predates even flint and steel. So you just put a piece of charcloth or other tinder in the built in 'tinder cup' on the end of the piston, start it in the cylinder just barely and give it one good fast push to the bottom of the cylinder, immediately removing the piston so that the ember you just created doesn't starve by using up the tiny amount of available oxygen in the cylinder.

At that point, you would carefully pick the glowing ember off the end of the piston and drop it into a birds nest of other prepared dry grass or material of your choice and blow it into flame.

there is just a bit of a technique to learn and some advanced fire skills are REAL handy but it's a good reliable way to start a fire. I used another fire piston I made exclusively on a week long canoe trip in the boundary waters in Northern Minnesota a few years ago. I had other back up just in case, but I was able to light all of the days and night's fires with a fire piston.

 

[rustysocket]

Interesting, given the name I assumed it was a form of compression but have just never seen it before. I'll read up on the history. Very cool and nice looking box elder.