Savvy About Survival: Survival Gear Review: Clickspring Fire Piston

In today’s prepping survival marketplace there are many choices of fire starting tools. Fires can be ignited by using a variety of these available tools by using many different techniques. The bottom line though is to have a reliable fire starting implement that you can count on to get you a blaze started under all kinds of conditions. This tool can do that.

By Dr. John J. Woods, a contributing author to SHTFBlog & Survival Cache

Brand new to the market to the point that sales packaging is not yet even complete, the Clickspring Fire Piston actually uses old school technology that has been around for some time. In this new tool fire starting is delivered by a precision machined tool constructed of aluminum and brass.

The Origin of Clickspring

If you want a lot of background information on this new product, your search may leave you with more clickspring_fire_piston_shtf questions than answers, but that does not impact the quality or function of the Clickspring Fire Piston.

The company or founding name Clickspring oddly comes from a home shop project development machine shop whose primary focus is on clock making. The proprietor “Chris” creates the home shop project videos that you can watch on YouTube.

Firing up the Clickspring

You’ll need access to a computer or device that can dial up the YouTube video that shows you how to start a fire using the Clickspring Fire Piston. The package I received for this product review contained no written instructions, no owner’s manual or a parts list. All that is described in the video. I can only assume once the final packaged product hits the market it will contain the necessary written information to learn to use it.

Also Read: DIY Firestarter

Though I could not ever get the sound working on the video thank goodness it came with subtitles, otherwise I would have been lost. It is not an intuitive use tool, primarily because it is a specialty precision engineered device. I had to watch the video several times to get the full orientation on it.

The fire piston uses a forceful thrust of air that is heated by a fast pump on the piston inside the chamber tube or body of the tool. There are seals forward and aft on the end of the piston rod that allows the pressure to rise as the rod is thrust forward down the tube. Apparently this rise in pressure creates the heat that ignites the tiny piece of pre-burned char cloth inserted into the forward end of the piston rod.

Once the piston rod is quickly thrust down the tube this ignites the char cloth which then glows red as an ember. The end of the rod with the ember is then held to the remaining piece of the char cloth to ignite it. Then this glowing char cloth is inserted into a wad of quick fire starting fodder such as a wad of dry grass, leaves or other materials that will start to burn. From there the fire is tended and built up as usual.

Tool Shop Specs

The Clickspring Fire Piston is milled or precision turned from brass and aluminum. Both end caps are brass. The tube is aluminum. The threaded brass end holds a small liquid filled compass which is a handy item. This cap is drilled though to hold a piece of lanyard material that is 700mm in length and a sliding brass keeper to tighten around the wrist or other holding spot. This threaded cap end screws down onto the threated end of the tool body or tube.

The opposite end of the tube is where the brass piston rod with recessed dimple in the end of the rod holds the clickspring_fire_piston_review_survival_tool char cloth fits. This is inserted into the tube and held in place by the pressure created by the seals when the screw on end is in place. Caution here. If the opposite end screw cap is screwed down tightly, then the piston rod will not insert because of the pressure created by the seals on the rod. Once you handle it a few times you will quickly get the hang of how it all goes together and works. Again, watch the play-by-play video.

The overall length of the Clickspring Fire Piston is just 5.35 inches long. The outside diameter of the assembled tube unit is 0.75 inches. It weighs a mere 5.6 ounces. The entire unit is quite compact and easy to store in a Bug Out bag, vehicle glove compartment, backpack or cargo pants pocket. The Clickspring Fire Piston retails for $89 and can be ordered on Amazon.

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