IIRC, a French patent was issued for the "Fire Piston" in about 1807, just before the "Safety match" was invented and became much more popular, and CHEAPER to use.
I bought a Fire Piston a few years back, to use as a teaching aid for my Hunter Safety courses. I bought one made from Acrylic, so that you could look through the trunk and actually see the ember produced as the result of the compressed air.
It does work, but I requires some practice, and knowing what tinder to use, and how to select dry tinder to get that ember going. I have made "fire" with the tinder fungus that came with my fire piston, and with charred cloth from my flint and steel kit, but used in the fire piston.
If I were to make one, or order another, I would want the trunk longer, and I would want a wider "top" to the plunger so it doesn't hurt my hand hitting it. I have large hands, that are wide, and my fire piston is almost too short to hold steady in my hand, while smacking the top of the plunger with the other. If you do a "google " search on fire pistons, you can find detailed drawings and instructions on how to make them. You do have to pay attention to the fine details however, if you expect to compress the air sufficiently to ignite your tinder.
For instance, unless you are using a milling machine to drill the hole, with an end mill bit, I recommend using a standard drill that is undersized, and then a separate REAMER to make a very smooth tube with finely finished walls to help you get that needed level of compression. If you are going to use antler, or wood for the trunk, then you probably will want to put some kind of grain sealer, or finish in that tube to close those open pores.
During the 1960s, the story goes that we had people training in the Philippines,and one day, a US helicopter pilot, flying over remote jungles, saw a camp of indigenous people. He landed the helicopter, met with the chief, and eventually traded for a fire piston the chief owned made out of water buffalo horn. It now rests in the Smithsonian Institute, In Washington D.C. according to the accounts I read.
At the time, everyone thought the fire piston was a " Primitive fire starting tool, because these people live in such a primitive manner. However, further study found that the tribe was not as isolated as first believed, and were known to Catholic Missionaries going back to when Spain owned the nation. Its likely that the natives learned about the fire piston 200 years ago, NOT 5,000 years ago, or more.
This more recent information has brought into question as to whether the "Fire Piston" is a primitive fire starting tool at all. There are 4 recognized primitive methods of starting fires;
Percussion, Friction,Refraction and Reflection.
Some primitive peoples in SE Asia have been found to have made fire pistons out of bamboo( a grass), and that is the reason the fire piston has not been ruled out altogether as a primitive method of fire starting.
Because bamboo is so ubiquitous, but also grows in climates where finding any artifacts is highly unlikely, the question simply has been left " Open", until some archeological evidence IS found. Right now, we can't find any evidence that the fire piston was in use in the 18th century or earlier. :thumbsup:
