Black Scout Tutorials - The Fire Piston

In this episode, we demonstrate how to use a primitive fire starting technique called the fire piston. Hopefully this will help those whom have never seen or used the device gain a better understanding of it's potential. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for watching!

Twitter: @Black_Scout

[melvindeweese]

HA - Surprised me ! I AM THAT " Navy guy " ! "Mtn Mel " - Deweese, Ret. 59-82 USN PR1-PJ, Senior SERE - POW Inst. ( 12 yrs. at Det. W. S., Calif.) / Para-Rigger / VN Advisor / P.I . JEST Inst. ( 3 great yrs of UNIQUE duty, learning and sharing with our Negrito troopers and my Native American wife Sharon and 7 yr old son Charlie ! Yes, the FIRE PISTON was my surprising discovery, THANKS to our good friend Pepe, our # 1 trapper. He called it the " Sol-Poc " in reference to the sound it made when pulled apart, I presented it and the "Bamboo Fire Saw", along with the "Fire Plough" to Larry Dean Olson & Richard Jamison. the creators of the first " Rabbit Stick Gathering ". 1978, in Diamond Fork, Canyon, Utah . Larry O., Richard J., and people like Jim Riggs ( the true ABO man, ha. ) have passed now but they got me into the primitive skills, teaching me the Bow & Drill, Hand Drill, etc. methods. Richard wrote a chapter in his " Woodsmoke " book and made a super video of the jungle fire techniques which I learned from our amazing Troopers at NAS Cubi Pt. training . Note - Gunny and Magno were our Guides, both having been contacted to assist the US Marines and Army against the Japanese in WW-II . Sad to say, but they never were totally paid and every OIC at JEST tried to for

[syaifulbahri]

Very long time ago Malay people made this fire piston aka 'Gobek Api' from buffallo horn.

[Ireland]

A fire piston can come in very handy when it's windy. Also, I like how he hits it 3 times before he looks instead of hit, look, hit, look, hit look, etc. It's also a good idea to light a bigger piece of char cloth to enhance your probability of getting your fire started.

[janmorse]

Amazingly effective device.  Check out the book "Wildwood Wisdom" by Ellsworth Jaeger. It was first published in 1945, and he has details in there on how to build a fire piston from bamboo. If memory serves me, he called it a "South Seas Fire Maker" or something along those lines.

[desperado]

Just found this video. I've got a cheaper fire piston with and aluminum barrel it works okay. I've definitely noticed it works better if you do like you did and hit it multiple times then pull

[jomac]

Reading old Australian newspapers the first mention I found of a fire piston was from 1927, referenced in an article on different ways to make fire.

[BlackScoutSurvival]

Yeah I know, charred is much easier for a sure fire method..i.e..raining for extended periods and what not. But your right, most things that will take a spark from a flint and steel. Thanks for sharing!

[BlackScoutSurvival]

Yeah chaga works well and some people use it as an herbal supplement. How did you rate the numyth against the other? I had trouble with it being consistent.

[TimothyRyanFisher]

Fire pistons thrive when it's very windy which hinders a Bic or ferro rod. They are great for wet conditions where they were developed thousands of years ago. In some ways they are more rock solid than anything else if, you know how to use them, and work well in adverse conditions but take practice. Get spare O rings they are cheap.  Char cloth works the best as tinder and is fun and easy to make.

[Bassghost]

I had a similar fire piston and also the one from numyth. They work well with chaga as a tinder too. Chaga seems to not gunk up so much. They could be a life saver especially if it's the only thing you have. There just a lot of trouble to me having to pick out the ember and such...

[mahamahatair]

malay old traditional maker fire call ' Gobek Api

[noahlanger]

What's the "charred material" that you're stuffing into it?

[landonpatterson]

Nice video I have never heard of that method before

[BigFish]

How often would you say the ring and piston be lubricated?

[UrbanSurvivalcraft]

you can use it with dry tinder not just charred material.

[Snarky]

+Black SS: -- Could you, without a modern lathe, no recent technology like O rings, lost in the woods mebbe a century ago, could you still come up with a fire piston???

[jrifter]

i just found the website myself. i got to say its about as dated as this video is. with that being said, they got some good stuff on this site. i booked marked this fire piston for my next order and added the site to my collection.

[Bassghost]

I liked the numyth alot better. Way more consistency. Constructed from a solid piece of aluminum which just make the tolerances better of course. And aesthetically I liked it better to.

[earthworkr]

wonder what the natives used for a seal?  rubber O rings havent been around THAT

[tomjeffersonwasright]

I like your content a lot, but I find myself forwarding past the initial blare of noise. I probably miss your commercial doing that. I wonder how many others do that.