fire piston does anyone build there own?

[DT400]

For survival fire starting I believe in redundancy. I carry BIC type lighter, waterproof matches and a magnesium fire-starter. Also have a small baggy with cotton balls rolled in petroleum jelly. Any temp, any altitude, wet or dry I can get a fire lit. This sort of thing is in my packs all the time...in the truck and camper I also carry fire-starter made of cardboard egg crate, sawdust and paraffin wax...these burn about 15 minutes each.
Worst case scenario, cold and wet, one little spark will easily get the cotton/petroleum jelly going and that will easily get the egg crate/paraffin going.
The egg crate stuff is a little bulky but works very well.

Many ways to skin this cat...as long as it works when you need it to it is a good idea....

Darrell

[danthman114]

i build my own. you can go to home depot or lowes and they have 3/8 aluminum rod there and tube that just fits over it. what you do is slide the rod into the tube then measure out how long you want everything to be, i usually make mine 6", and cut both the rod and the tube together. remove the tube and measurea bout 1.25" from the end. this will be the so called grip on the piston itself. then cut off about 1/2" off the end of the rod, this will be the bottom plug of the cylinder. mix up some apoxy and glue in the 1/2" plug in the bottom of the cylinder and glue on the handle to the top of the piston. next you drill out the hole (1/4")for the tinder on the piston. not too big and not too deep (3/16" deep) then take either a hacksaw blade, dremmel, rat tail jewelers file and make the grove for the o ring at about 3/8" from the hole where the tinder will go. you can smooth up all the cutting as needed. they look good and their tough. also, if youre in any kind of altitude, fire pistons are hard to use with low oxygen levels...
also some black powder ball starters can be used with some modification to the end...

[Trickrick]

Www.pennstateind.com
you can buy a kit from them I think
turn on a lathe

[cranebird]

I've used a 9 volt battery and steel wool in the past but I've been thinking of getting on ion flashlight fire starter to have on hand.

[Dragunov]

I use a Swedish fire steel, and keep a medicine bottle with petroleum cotton balls in it. I also use yucca wood for a fire spindle.

[savage300rum]

Want a fool proof firestarter? Doesnt break...no moving parts...works when hot/cold/wet/windy/at any altitude? First get a misch metal rod--the kind you scrape with a blade to give off wicked hot sparks. Then get some 100% cotton balls (not the synthetic stuff), and a a jar of vaseline. Now get a cotton ball and a gob of vaseline and work it into the cotton ball. Really saturate the cotton with vaseline and work it into the cotton. Now when you need a fire, get one of those cotton balls and fluff it up--tease the fibers apart and try to really fluff it up. Now strike the rod and aim the sparks onto the cotton. You can easily make it burn for 7 minutes!! If you want to extend the burn time, place it on a bottle cap from a beer/soda bottle so the melting vaseline can be trapped on the bottle cap--essentially making it like a candle. These things will burn when wet, windy, at any altitude, etc. Best of all, for $5 and a trip to the dollar store, you can have a life time supply of fire starters.

[ragsflh]

Great idea

[DT400]

Want a fool proof firestarter? Doesnt break...no moving parts...works when hot/cold/wet/windy/at any altitude? First get a misch metal rod--the kind you scrape with a blade to give off wicked hot sparks. Then get some 100% cotton balls (not the synthetic stuff), and a a jar of vaseline. Now get a cotton ball and a gob of vaseline and work it into the cotton ball. Really saturate the cotton with vaseline and work it into the cotton. Now when you need a fire, get one of those cotton balls and fluff it up--tease the fibers apart and try to really fluff it up. Now strike the rod and aim the sparks onto the cotton. You can easily make it burn for 7 minutes!! If you want to extend the burn time, place it on a bottle cap from a beer/soda bottle so the melting vaseline can be trapped on the bottle cap--essentially making it like a candle. These things will burn when wet, windy, at any altitude, etc. Best of all, for $5 and a trip to the dollar store, you can have a life time supply of fire starters.


This is one method I use. Works very well. The cotton ball/Vaseline will start with just a small spark from an out of gas lighter as well.