A fire piston is an ancient device used to create embers for starting a fire. It’s usually made out of wood or metal, though in the distant past people even made them from bones.
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The principle behind it is adiabatic heating, where air is compressed so much and so quickly that it heats up to over 800 degrees, igniting the tinder (usually something that lights easily, like char cloth). What’s great about a fire piston is it’s essentially a lighter that never runs out of fuel and doesn’t easily break.
You can purchase a fire piston online, but if you like DIY projects and/or want to save a little money, you can make your own. In the video below, GoingPrepared explains how to make a fire piston from a Maglite Mini Incandescent Flashlight.
You can watch the full video below.
It seems that people are so full of themselves that they forget what it’s really about! By the way it would be the rooster that came first. The chicken lays an egg that has to then be fertilized by the rooster. Then an embrio grown to a chicken.
So your saying the rooster does it with the egg??
That’s not how it works. Chickens don’t lay an egg and then have it fertilized by a rooster. The Rooster mates with the hen and then the Chicken will lay the fertilized egg…
Can’t you put the tinder in the bottom of the tube first?…and then just shake it out when its on fire?
You can try, but like he said, the pieces of tinder could get stuck in the piston or tube (or between them).
Actually… the dinosaur came first.
Yep, got the fire piston now but can you give us a sure fire way of making char cloth.
cut a cotton shirt into 4″squares- put in a metal can with a lid, roast in a fire until black.
which came first the chicken or the egg?
The chicken. Any other questions?
It was the egg actually
Correct!! The chicken, of course!! The egg hasn’t hatched yet and the chick has to grow up 1st, to get to the self-awareness of the grown up chicken…
That depends on whether you’re a Creationist or an Evolutionist.
Put pieces of denim or finished cotton (like pieces of a white T-shirt) into any metal tin i.e. Altoids, whatever, punch a tiny hole in the top and hold over a flame. Smoke will start to exit the hole, once this starts just light it and if it burns blow it out and repeat until it doesn’t burn, then you have great char cloth. Char cloth will only hold a spark though. Useful, but dryer lint holds a flame, is free and plentiful and bursts into flame from a single spark. Both are good to have though, just in case.