Fire Pistons

[Ogri the trog]

Welcome Browndrake,
May I be the first to wish you the best of luck in making your own firepiston. I went through several tries before hitting on a design that worked, though I haven't tried it for a while now, I have one of Jeff's that works every time, he is uncannily good you know.

All the best

Ogri the trog

 

[browndrake]

Well, I didn't get a lick of work done all day. I played with fire pistons in various stages of development. Ruined my first, drilling it out. ....But, it was pretty...even if only good for kindling (oh yes, and the education it gave) I think that is the most difficult thing for me, getting a nice, clean bore.

Whoever thinks that Jeff, or anybody else, is charging too much hasn't built one himself.. If I charged my regular shop time, for one (at the rate I built mine today) I could buy several of Jeff's, and his would all work.

I did get one ember. One out of many, many, many trys.

I am not sure what the problem is. It may be my tinder. It may be my compression isn't quite good enough. I don't know.

I will go back to the drawing board and start over. Much easier to make a fire with bow drill than with my fire piston.

All of you experienced piston people, if you have any other hints, secrets, experiences, etc that you are willing to share (to make the learning curve a bit nicer, or to avoid common pitfalls) I am always willing to listen carefully and follow directions..

Thanks for all that everybody has posted thus far. Without it, I doubt I would have ever gotten a spark. (and probably not the blisters on my hand either...from slamming that poor piston so many times.)

Here are some pics of my first fire piston (not counting the two I made Friday out of porous wood)
I suppose This fire piston has reached the peak of its career and will retire today...

 

[oops56]

there is one way that i know its called lapping it just like you hone a brake cylinder well that's how i would do it where i use to work we also lap in gears with turkey bone real fine maybe that's how its done lapping it to make smooth you need a hard dowel little smaller the the hole wet the dowel put some fine grit of some kind turn it in out as you go by hand little at a time i think that's how would do it or a reamer mite do it mite be to rough for wood or a steel rod red hot in and out to get the fuzz smooth or just very hot

 

[Ogri the trog]

Well it looks to me as though you have the skills to get it going, now comes the difficult bit - getting it reliable

Well done by the way.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Ha...the secret to making a round piston shaft without power tools is not so difficult, but it is time consuming. After having bored the hole in the cylinder, cut a square piece of wood of the correct length and width to become your shaft. Using a file, remove the four corners to create an octagonal shaft. Sanding or filing away the corners of the octagon leaves a shaft that is pretty much round. Continue to remove wood until you can start the shaft into the hole in the cylinder. Now it becomes a process of fit and try. By removing the shiny contact areas each time, you will eventually have a perfectly fitted shaft that is straight and round to within about 0.003 inches.

 

[browndrake]

Just a quick update:

I made another fire piston. This one works better than the first. I think that my greatest obsticle now is getting/making some good tinder.

Just to try it out, I used some make shift charcloth.I got around a dozen embers. Three or four times it lit the first time I hit it, but a few times I had to do it 2 or 3 times to get a spark. A couple times I got nothing until I switched out my tinder

My piston could probably use some work (the only ones I have seen thus far are those I have made and those you all have online.) Also, I think that I need to use a larger string for the gasket. It seems that perhaps it should be a mite tighter.

I am quite certain that my tinder is lacking. Does anybody know where one can purchase tinder fungus? I dont believe that we have any in these parts. I guess I could go out to the woods and find something that works well though, or make up some good charcloth.

Being that I am the only person that I have ever seen use a fire piston (except for a couple of short video clips online) I'm not sure how my technique is. It could perhaps use some coaching also.

All in all, I have had a wonderful experience thus far. My kids have all been waiting for me to get the piston working well so that they can try it out. Tomorrow will be a fire making day. We will be using fire pistons and bow drills.

Thanks again for the help. Any further tips, hints always welcomed. I really want to get this thing perfected. Perhaps I'll have to save my pennies and buy one from the master fire piston crafter to see what I have done right and wrong.

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Muddy Duck - You can see my lighting techinique here. Also take a peek at the hand drill clip. For those frustrated by the bow drill, I think this is easier to accomplish.

http://www.wildersol.homestead.com/HowTheyWork.html

 

[browndrake]

lol, thanks for the link. I will have to give the hand drill a try. I have been using bow drills my whole life and am quite proficient, yet I have never attempted a hand drill.

As far as technique, I seem to be doing the same as you. As for my gasget, yours appears to move as easily as mine (though difficult to assess by video). Today, I will find or make some good tinder and see if that makes the difference. I am not at all unhappy with last nights results, but would like to learn more and get better.

BTW, allthough muddy ducks are wonderful and make a good nick and fun time, my name comes from the little creature that entices large trout up to my line.

 

[Jeff Wagner]

Ah...sorry for the confusion. I tie a mean Adams myself.

 

[jason01]

Ahhhh a useful project to make on my new lathe Can someone tell me the diameter fof the cylinder bore and the piston rod and the rough overall size, I have no idea what sort of size these things are.

 

[browndrake]

I read somewhere around here that 3" deep and 3/8" diameter would work. That is what I made mine, perhaps a mite deeper, and it seems to be working pretty well. MIne is 4 3/4" overall length.


Good luck with it. I have been having a blast. Half the people at school want one now....and the other half thought it was a pot pipe.

Having a lathe would be tops for doing this. You should have fun.


take care.

 

[jason01]

I read somewhere around here that 3" deep and 3/8" diameter would work. That is what I made mine, perhaps a mite deeper, and it seems to be working pretty well. MIne is 4 3/4" overall length.


Good luck with it. I have been having a blast. Half the people at school want one now....and the other half thought it was a pot pipe.

Having a lathe would be tops for doing this. You should have fun.


take care.

Thanks Browndrake, actually I just mixed you up with Firemaker, doh, I posted a pic of my fire piston efforts at the end of his piston post in a seperate thread

 

[browndrake]

your pics look pretty good. I hope that you can get the lathe working to finish them.

Thanks for the compliments on mine. No, I dont have a lathe, BUT, I was turing them. Ihave built furniture and cabinets all of my life, so I have a shop full of tools. I could just never justify a lathe. There are, however, ways to work around most problems. I jimmy rigged to turn mine, but cant turn and drill at same time.

good luck...and carefull: I have found out that this is very addictive.

 

[jason01]

your pics look pretty good. I hope that you can get the lathe working to finish them.

Thanks for the compliments on mine. No, I dont have a lathe, BUT, I was turing them. Ihave built furniture and cabinets all of my life, so I have a shop full of tools. I could just never justify a lathe. There are, however, ways to work around most problems. I jimmy rigged to turn mine, but cant turn and drill at same time.

good luck...and carefull: I have found out that this is very addictive.

Cheers Browndrake! My situation re lathes was similar to yours then I got this one at a price I couldnt resist I fancied a pole lathe but dont really have the space to set one up and while theyre good for turning spindles theyre not so good for boring and changing chucks etc and its nice to have a bit of power too. I guess a pole lathe with a big heavy flywheel would be a good bit of kit though.