Make a Fire Piston!

I used some left over materials from the penny whistle project to build a fire piston!  You can use a fire piston to compress and heat air, lighting your kindling on fire.  You can then use the hot ember to build a bigger fire.

Comments

[Orion_13]

Will vaseline break down the o-ring over time? I ask because I was told that vaseline is petroleum based and since you never know if your o-rings are natural rubber or some other material that it is always safe to use a silicone base lube over a petroleum based one. It would be sad to have this neat tool stored away and at the very moment you need it the o-ring is damaged.

[robolimbo]

Crazy! Same theory as a diesel engine! Now I must build a piston fire starter! Thanks!

[Samuel kos]

For the rickguver series maybe a flare or some kind of radio transmitter but that on the illegal side of things hey but it the apocalypse!

[rickosgood]

These are both good ideas. I had thought of a radio transmitter but I've had trouble coming up with a way to build it using parts that the average Joe might have laying around the house. I hadn't even considered a flare before but I like the idea...

[tim_n]

Brilliant! I've got a metal fire piston which whilst great, is too small (and occasionally painful!) to use.

This looks like a fun project to do with my scouts.

[rickosgood]

Thanks! This is the only fire piston I've ever used so I can't really compare it to anything else. I'm not sure it will be as reliable as a store bought fire piston, but as you can see it does at least work. It usually takes me a couple of tries to hit it just the right way to get the kindling to ignite though.