Have you ever heard of a fire piston? Western society’s history came incredibly to this being a common household term.
The story goes that British or American sailors observed natives of the South Pacific making fires with an ingenious tool. A practiced user could make a fire as fast or faster than a person using flint and steel with a tool that can be used wet or dry.
A fire piston is a handheld cylindrical device with a short, round shaft that tightly fits into a hole, creating the eponymous piston. Just as a diesel engine piston does, the fire piston uses quickly compressed air to ignite a small piece of tinder (as opposed to liquid fuel, in the diesel engine) creating a coal from which a fire may be kindled. The user slams the top of the piston sharply against a hand, a leg, or the ground to instantly compress the air, heating the tinder to ignition.
My fire piston kit with chaga, additional tinder, and tools (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
