Survival Fire Pen Aluminum Fire Piston Review

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(More customer reviews)Just wanted to write a review to offset the other, very negative review this thing's gotten.
The product is an aluminum tube with an aluminum plunger. There is a knurled (brass?) screw set into the bottom, and three bands machined around the tube for a grip. The seal for compressing air is achieved by an O-ring, and this seal is sufficiently air-tight to require the knurled screw, to make a relief valve. The relief valve has its own, small O-ring. Vaseline is recommended for lubricating the O-rings, so they must be made from something other than rubber, maybe Maglight-O-ring-material. Despite Les Stroud's endorsement, his name does not appear anywhere on the product, which is good, because he whinges.
In operation... well, it's a fire syringe. You push the plunger, it heats the air. I was able to get the char-cloth supplied with the thing to light after a couple of tries, and since the O-rings are rubber and lubricated with vaseline, I did not need to re-lubricate between attempts. The char-cloth supplied is rather loosely woven (denim?), and will go out it not blown on---I've made better from tee-shirt cotton---but that's not the fault of the product, and easily remedied. I can see the O-rings as a wear item, the large one from repeated plunging and the small one from compression if the fire piston is stored improperly, with the screw tightened; one spare large O-ring is supplied, and I expect that a dive shop will have the right sizes if needed. It can be a little hard on the palm plunging such a skinny piston, but if it were less compact, it wouldn't be as compact, right? If a lot of practicing seems indicated, bracing the bottom against something solid and putting a concave piece of wood or some thick leather under the plunging-hand palm might make it less painful. Again, you can't get something this compact without making it this compact.
Is a Zippo lighter more convenient? Is a disposable Bic more convenient yet? You bet! This is why we use those to light our cigarettes/barbecues/etc. these days rather than fire syringes! But this thing does work as advertised.

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Wilderness Solutions Fire Piston fire starting tool is now available in the compact, light weight Survival Fire Pen. The Survival Fire Pen has been completely redesigned for 2010 and now feaures an aluminum piston shaft and a pressure relief valve. Its slim profile and aluminum construction offer the ultimate in light weight carrying convenience and its high compression seal permits ignition of natural tinders like cattail fluff and decayed wood. All this in a package no larger than an ordinary pocket pen.

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