Hickory Fire Piston

This is a quality little piece of hardware, if you know what it is and how it works, then you know why you are hopefully never going to need one LOL If you do though, there is no replacing it. Quality build, tough construction, comes with instructions and a little bit of char cloth to try it out. I highly recommend this, whomever is making these is putting time and effort into them and it shows. Thank you!

Used it for a classroom demonstration. It takes some practice to get it somewhat consistently. I've found that you need to hit it quite fast and hard in order for there to be enough pressure to light the charcloth.

Ok, for starters, this thing is super cool. It's very small, portable, and most of all, it works. I'm only giving it four stars, however, because as far as I can tell, it does need to be semi-regularly lubricated with petroleum jelly or similar. I mean, it says as much in the instructions, so they're at least up front about it, but I do feel that this detracts from the usefullness of this product. I mean, in order to use it as a wilderness fire starter, you already have to carry three separate pieces. The two parts of the unit itself, and the baggy of char cloth. Now, you also apparently need to keep some petroleum jelly with you as well. Elsewise, there is too much friction, and despite my attempts, I was unable to get the char cloth to ember. Once I rubbed a little petrol. jelly on the stick end, within two or three "pumps", I had an ember.

Cool way to start fire, really easy to understand and use. Lots of fun.

Took a few tries. Found a good video on YouTube to get it working.

I couldn't get it to light a fire BUT it was fun to light cigarettes with

I knew the theory behind these, but was still surprised that it worked. Just realize it does require a strong "snap" compression move.

Can't get it to go.