AY Honors/Camping/Fire/Compressed air

In the Pacific Islands near the Philippines, there is a fire building technique that uses compressed air to ignight a small piece of tinder. The technology to do this is similar to a diesel engine and is called a sulpak by the islanders or fire piston by the rest of the world.

The sulpak is usually made out of a water buffalo horn or very dense wood. There are two parts to the device, a piston with a pad on the end, and a cylinder. The piston has a small divit in the end of it that holds a piece of tinder (char cloth works well) Also there is a small groove near the end of the piston that is wrapped with thread to create o-ring. The piston is normally lubricated with pig fat, but crisco, and vaseline work well.