This just arrived from an eBay seller, D&B Primative Forgeworks. I have wanted a firepiston for a long time....ever since another member nearly burned his house down with one from Wilderness Solutions. I have one from Jeff Wagner on order but ran across this fellow on ebay and got lucky with my opening bid winning the package.




This is a cocobolo piston with a built in hand drill device. The piston body has a hole in the end to hold a piece of mullen, then a shaft (or arrow shaft) is inserted in the body and you have a hand drill....unique. He supplied the fireboard, fungus, mullen, string and lubricant too.

My first attempts with the piston did not give me a coal, but I changed out my piece of fungus and got a coal on the next whack. Of course, I picked out the coal on top of a magazine wrapped in plastic on my desk....not exactly the sort of fire lay I should have had...smoked my magazine a might but fun.

I am off to play......

I love the smell of Tinderfungus in the cube space...

Get this straight he didn't set his house on fire but his dog.

But man please do experiment and give full report.

Ahh the unfortunate Dog....of course.

Maybe I was thinking of the doghouse where he resided after the piston <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Well I have seen Fire Pistons and I have seen Hand Drill Sockets, but I have never seen a Fire Piston that doubled as Hand Drill Socket. That is unique... and a simply great idea as well! I have seen Wagner's stuff but not in a long time. IIRC his pistons are beautiful. I thought I remembered him doing a plexiglass one also but I may have him confused with someone else too.

I think the plexiglass ones are someone else. Jeff's site only lists wood and buffalo horn versions.

This combo device is a neat idea. Hopefully I can do a handdrill fire too.

I practiced with the piston last night and I found that the choice of tinder fungus made all the difference. My pieces of fungus have both a hard outer bit and a punky inner. I get a glow and coal with one whack of the piston if I choose a punky bit of fungus. It glows and holds heat for a long time with just the small piece that fits in the piston well. The harder crusty fungus pieces do not light as easily for me.

I did not build any fires last night, just produced about 10 coals.

This is a very nice piston and even though I had whacked it about 25+ times it was still comfortable to use. I tried the Jeff Wagner crunch and the high velocity hand whack....both worked and right now I cannot say which I found easier...selection of fungus seems to be the most important aspect.

I brought my tin of char in today to see what else I can smoke at my desk

I like this device, and it was quite a good bargain.

Schwert: Try to scroung up some milkweed fluff or something similar that we might find in the bllessedly dry southwest. I have been interested, but never wanted to be limited to the tinder examples I have seen quoted.

Around here the Tinder fungus from Birch trees is unavailable, even though I have enough to last many years, I want to explore a few other tinders.

The maker advises that the Mullein pith works and of course char cloth...both I have yet to try.

In many ways this firepiston is just a fun device and I cannot see it becoming a first line firemaking tool for me. However, it certainly is working reliabily and I may change my opinion after more experience. Over the last few years I have wanted to master traditional flint and steel and the bow or hand drill. I have the flint and steel down and now this device opens up incentive for the hand drill.

Fire making tools are just good fun, and the additional style added to the process with sparks or friction or compression just adds to the enjoyment. The other advantage of these methods is a natural inclination to watch the environment for things like natural tinder fluff, fat wood, cedar bark etc. This both makes a walk more enjoyable and more interactive even if I am not planning on making a fire. I have incentive now to identify mullein a plant that I must have encountered and ignored.

Yes, it was I <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />Fire Piston Story . The dog survived the incident <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> (has since died of old age), but retained the blanket for the new dog we adopted from the shelter. I too, have purchased from this Ebay seller and have been very happy with his fire piston as well.

By the way, this seller occasionally hand forges nice survival kits with a variety of components including arrow heads, spears, knives, strikers, etc. and then adds tinder and other items. I have no direct connection with him, other then being a satisfied customer.

Pete

Yes, Pete, that was the story. I owe my recent purchase AND an order with Wilderness Solutions to you.

I would be interested in seeing Darryl Aune's kits...he apparently is a knife maker as well as a piston maker. I have seen a traditional flint and steel plus various pistons on his ebay site but must keep my eye open for any of hit other work. He participates in a bushcraft site in the UK.