Quote:
Originally Posted by Freeshadow
you forgot the guy with the firepiston  |
Nah... I have a firepiston too, and it's a pain in the butt to use! The spark cup is the size of a small BB, so when it's heated, the time you have to get that coal into your tinder bundle is very, very, short. The only fuel that works well in a fire piston is tinder fungus as it burns very slowly, and then, only when properly prepared. That's hard to get when the world is frozen. But with a good flint and striker, you can use a nice piece of charcloth, which is very easy to make and can be much larger, so the spark can stay healthy for 30-60 seconds instead of 3-5 seconds with the fungus.
I think this is one reason why fire pistons were never the norm in ancient Europe and North America. I think that they really had their place in more tropical regions where flint wasn't readily available.
I will concede that the fire piston is tres cool.
Stitchawl