I just made and used my first"fire piston" as described in an issue of backwoodsman magazine.and it WORKED!! for a total price of $4.11, and a bottle of my wife's fingernail glue,I completed the whole thing in less than 30 minutes (not including glue drying time). it uses a 6"x1/2" copper stubout,(a plumbing piece) a 1/2" wood dowel, and an "o" ring.I used a mini tubing cutter to scribe the line for the groove that the o ring sets in,and the point of my knife to carve the little depression in the end of the dowel for a tiny bit of char cloth to be crammed in.a bit of vaseline to lube the o ring,put the dowel carefully in the stubout,hold the copper stubout in both hands with the dowel pointing down, and SLAM! it down on the deck railing...carefully pull the firepiston apart, and there's a glowing bit of charcloth in the depression!I just love firestarting methods,and this one is "trick"!