Campfirepiston Hickory Fire Piston

Will it make an ember, well yes but you have to smack it hard. No, no, you don't understand. You have to hit this thing with every ounce of power that you have to get an ember and then it is 1 in 3. Put the piston head down, grab the barrel with BOTH HANDS and smash it on to something very hard using all the speed and strength that you have. Ware some gloves or you will get blisters on your hands. Be sure to lube the O-Ring inside and out BEFORE you put it on the rod and don't leave the O-Ring on the rod for extended periods of time as it will malform the O-Ring and make it less effective.Update: Jan 14, 2018.It lights much, much, much easier if you make your own char cloth from some old blue jeans. Get a shoe polish can, clean it out, leave the twist opener on it and use a large nail to punch a hole in the lid. Put it on a camp stove empty first to burn all the paint and junk off of it. If the jeans have fabric softener in them, wash it out! Cut about 6 in off the end of the leg, cut the seams out then roll the two remaining strips. Four rolls will fit nicely into the can. Put the can on a gas burner, high heat, and leave it until no more smoke comes out of the hole. You are finished, open the can with the twist opener and see how easy it is to get an ember. I don't know what they used for the char cloth that came in the package but it is very hard to light.

Roll the o-ring down to the groove, lubricate the piston once (I used a sanitary petrol-gel lubricant), put a pinch of the provided char cloth into the concave end of the piston, hold the piston upright with the wood end on a firm object, grib the cylinder in a fist and slam it down. The air cushion of the compression will keep it from getting all the way down, but keep the fingers and web of the hand holding the piston out of the way. You'll pull the cylinder off and be greated by a glowing ember in the piston cavity you can lever out with a knife point.Works right, first time, every time.Yeah, you can't store the piston in the cylinder because it seals so well. So what. Or roll the o-ring back up, your call, but I don't like messing with, it reduces ring life. I keep mine in a sealable sandwich bag, along with the provided bag of char cloth and provided bag of spare o-rings.

Camp fire piston: Pros: - Small - Good Quality - Came with spare O-Rings and charcoal cloth - Was able to get it to work the first timeCons: - Once the O-Ring is on the piston you can't store the piston in the piston chamber. The compression will hold it out. I remove the O-ring and pushed it up to the top of the piston to store the two together. - Vaseline or some type of oil is needed. Just know you'll need to find some when it arrives.If you choose not to order this item I would look for a Fire Piston that has a storage compartment for spare O-rings and a release cap for the piston cylinder so that you can store the two together without compression or having to remove the O-ring.

I ordered this product because I have wanted a fire piston for over 15 years, and it is by far the cheapest one I have ever seen for sale. When I got it (3 days earlier than expected delivery date), I immediately applied some vaseline or petroleum jelly to the o-ring and found a hard, stable surface to push the piston down upon. I slammed it down rapidly (careful not to damage it by pushing at an incorrect angle). I managed to get an ember on the first try. I then showed my family a successful ember about 7 times in a row. It worked first or second try, every time. I have just tried it using my hands only, but no success as of yet. I will practice it. This is an awesome product at an awesome price. I would seriously recommend it to anyone considering purchasing one from CampfirePiston.com There may be more primitively constructed ones out there, but they come at a much higher cost. The wooden body of this one covers up the metal piston and cylinder and it looks far more appealing than most of the artificial looking ones on the market, although the clear pistons must be neat to observe the flash within once the air is compressed.

Took a few practice tries, but since then works great everytime!