[TheForge] Re: fire piston

[John Husvar]

On 6/8/06 6:27 PM, "robert hensarling" <rhrocker at hilconet.com> wrote:

> Hi again John  :o)
> 
>  I believe you!  But "WOOD"??!!  I'm having a problem with anyone making one
> out of wood and sparks.  Now someone mentioned the pine tar, and that made
> sense.  Use it to stick the shavings or cow pies or whatever on the end of
> the plunger, and maybe put extra on the sides, to both help seal it and to
> let the tar outgas a little.  I'm thinking the Aborigines may have made the
> first gas powered pogo stick (there was one you know).

You might have something there! :)

But, yes, they were made of wood. The heat's pretty localized after all.
With the ones made with the socket in the plunger, most of the time the
tinder stuck there. Some folks made sure to have a pick handy in case the
tinder fell off the plunger though.

All the ones I've heard about didn't need pine tar or anything but the
tinder to work. It probably took a pretty decent carver to make them with
adequate fit.