Starting a Yule Log fire!

[Ringulf]

All the fire starting info that came from our new Friend Mssr. Le-Loup sent me scurrying over the plethora of information out there. I settled on a project that I can use for Chrismas presents as many of my friends and reletives love camping and some are even into Tolkien, larps and SCA. Most of them know of my penchant for dwarven gadgets and I felt that nothing would have been more of a dwarven gadget than a "Fire Piston" and Tinder Box" Those who smoke are getting one of my homemade pipes.

I made a few, or are in the process, one is complete anyway, so I figured I would give you a look. I know these are not new for most of you but I am fascinated by the whole subject now!




Though I loved the look of the bare copper cylender, I decided to make it a bit nicer with a bit of leather stitched with my "Ranger Thread" and I will put a rune on each for the recipient with the wood burner on the knob of the plunger.

I was surprised and elated when this bugger actually worked! I was even able to take the plunger and stick the lit ember into my pipe to start it smoking. (a little more sucking and puffing than using a match or lighter but hey, if you can get this kind of realism (fantasy realism) with a little more work it is all gonna be worth it when my freinds see me light a pipe or fire in short order without matches!

I think I will even add this to my marketing mix for Brandy and I when we do our merchanting at the Ranger moot in the spring!

[kaelln]

Ringulf, this is totally cool! I know there are numerous tutorials on the web for fire pistons, but maybe you could give us an overview of the materials and processes *you* used?

[Ringulf]

Hi Kaelin! I'm glad you liked it! I am going to experiment with another one that is smaller but made of different materials. I think the copper and wood is fine but I also saw one made of 1/2" Aluminum tube that the 3/8" plunger goes into with very close tolerance. It will be a bit more difficult to craft, but I think it will be very efficiant.
Stay tooned as I am in my experimental stage. I will give you a walk through as soon as I check the next type out.

[Peter Remling]

Looking forward to seeing the next phase.

[Ernildir]

Most curious. I have no idea how such a tool would function. Looking forward to your tutorial.

[Ringulf]

Just a quick rundown of how the fire piston works, till I can demonstrate further.

The fire piston is based on the same principle as an internal combustion engine, IE: Suck,Squeeze,Bang,Blow!

The cylinder is filled with air when the piston comes back, when it is thrust into the cylender it compresses the air in the cylinder, as the gas compresses the molicules are agitated till the molicules friction causes tremendous heat.

In an engine that would cause the spark or ignition (since there is fuel added in, and the "bang" is the combustion that sets the force in motion to turn the crank. (thats the blow).

In our fire piston the suck is the air in the tube or cylinder. the compression is acomplished by slamming down on the knob pushing the piston with the o ring gasket to compress the air.
Now on the end of the piston their is an inverted bowl carved into the piston head, that contians a small piece of char cloth. if this chamber is small enough, and the gaskets seal, the heat generated will ignite the charcloth.

You then pull back the plunger from the cylinder, (hopefully retaining the ember) and blow it to a glow while thrusting it into a small "Bird's nest" of flamable tinder. I have used shavings, dry grass, small bits of sisal or hemp or one of my personal favorites due to the area, dried, Spanish moss. (this stuff is remarkable and with the little tin can tinder box it is a snap).

Like I said the bowl of a pipe is in itself a little tinderbox of sorts and you can even light your pipe this way with some practice. But it is a very interesting way to make fire without matches or flint and tinder.

It has it's drawbacks to be shure, the almost complete dependence on the charcloth and the need to keep the piston and plunger (o ring) lubricated. which means extra little peices of gear to carry. So it is not "stand alone" in that regard but you could have it charged and lubed and ready for when it is needed giving you a start off without to much prep. And of course a bit of lube in a smal container could be easily carried along with some extra charcloth.

I am not really sure when this little puppy was invented historically, but I happen to have it on good faith that the dwarves have been using them for years, thinking the flint and tinder a quaint tradition that fathers pass down to sons to learn the old ways!

[Eledhwen]

Works like a diesel engine; compression ignition. I have a few of these wonderful tools. Masterful job there Ringulf.

Put a piece of char cloth in the end of the plunger (it is hollowed for this), ensure the 'o' ring is greased (in my case flax cording wound around it), insert plunger into tube of main body, sharply and swiftly slam the plunger home. It compresses the air in the tube and causes ignition on the char cloth. Pull the plunger back out, place glowing ember into bird's nest (or in Ringulf's case, into a pipe of tobacco) and proceed from there.

Once you have them down they are quite reliable to use, and are quite ancient to boot. There was an article on them in the Journal of Primitive Studies some time back.

Again, excellent work, Master Ringulf.

Eledhwen

[Jonathan B.]

Great work Ringulf.

"Fire pistons have been used in South East Asia and the Pacific Islands as a means of kindling fire since prehistory. They are found in cultures where the blow pipe is used as a weapon and this suggests they may have developed out of blow pipe construction. Their use has been reported from Burma, the Malay Peninsula, Indo-China, Borneo, Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, the Philippines, Madagascar [2] and South India.[3]

An 1876 New York Times article[4] reported the discovery of the earliest date of its use in the west. It reports an address by a Professor Govi that claimed a book written by Father Boscovich, of Rome in 1755, De Litteraria Expeditione per Pontifican Ditionem, (The Clever Mechanism) makes the claim that the fire piston was invented in 1745 by Abbe Augustin Ruffo. This report also claims that the modern fire piston was reinvented independently in the west through experiments with the air gun and not modeled after Asian designs.

It is recorded that the first fire piston made its wider debut in front of scientists in 1802 and was patented in 1807 simultaneously in both England and France. Fire pistons, or fire syringes as they were called then, were popular household tools throughout Europe during the early nineteenth century until the safety match was invented in 1844.

The fire piston may have inspired Rudolf Diesel in his creation of the diesel engine around 1892.[5][6]

The device is still crafted and sold in the west by a few individuals who also supply larger survival and bushcraft companies"

The above is from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_piston

[Eledhwen]

LOL That's a direct copy of part of the article on them in the Journal.

Eledhwen

[Ringulf]

Wow very cool Johnathan and Eledhwen! Thank you for the info I was going to have to start my documentation process for the Art/Sci part of the SCA if I wanted to show this, and you have given me a great head start!
I made one last night simular to the first, with a bit more ornimentation and also a slightly better plunger.
This ones tolerences are better and the plunger pushed the piston back a bit when you smack it, so it's a bit better seal. Here is a pic:

[Jonathan B.]

LOL That's a direct copy of part of the article on them in the Journal.

Eledhwen

Not surprising since wikipedia is user editable but at least it means this wiki has validity.Ringulf glad to hear that I was of some help and that you are already improving on your design.

[Ernildir]

Thanks for the rundown. Very interesting indeed.

[Ringulf]

Greetings Rangers!

I just thought I would give you an update on how this project is comming!

I decided to make these fire pistons for all my family for Christmas, (the ones I knew would appreciate them.) and I have been working on some prototypes to be able to decide what I want to do.

I felt that the two versions I have are both very nice, both work and can be individually customized as gifts. The larger one is copper with a wood plunger and the other is all aluminum and as you would think is a bit more expensive to build. Here is a picture of the two side by side:



This shows the plungers extracted from the tubes:



And the final picture shows the plunger end and the depression used to hold the Charcloth or Charcord. It also shows the flange in the tops of the two tubes that meet up with the wooden handles when you slam the plunger down to light it. These are to keep the "O" rings from getting chewed up when you initially insert the plunger:



Let me know what you think about these two. They both work well, though the tolerences in the aluminum are supurb, the copper is less expensive to build and it works well too. Both can be decorated with the same wood knobs and the same stitched leather, or brushed and left bright with a coating to preserve it, or not and let it go natural.

I plan on giving them in a set with a cylindrical tin can, about the size of a small soup can, with a lid. the tin will also have a leather wrapping and a hole and bung in the side. Inside will be a flemmished coil of char rope, a tea light candle to sustain flame, and it will be stuffed with dried Spanish Moss. (a fantastic tinder and obtained locally.) This set up makes a great tinderbox storage unit and the piston fits right in.

I would appreciate any comments questions or suggestions you may have!

[kaelln]

Really cool stuff, as I have come to expect!

[Eledhwen]

They look good. Keep up the good work!

Eledhwen