crazy compressed air idea

[Paul Wheaton]

When starting fires in the morning with some wood that is a little on the green side, nothing helps like a bit of air blowing on the flames.

A hair drying is too much air in too wide of a stream - smoke billows out.

An air mattress pump is okay - kinda noisy and there is some billow.

What is perfect is "canned air". I had a bottle of this on my desk for four years and I finally used it to help with starting fires. It is excellent! Quiet, and just the right amount of air! Plus, you can quite accurately aim the air in a tiny stream. Just the right amount of air. (probably an excellent stocking stuffer - not practical to buy for starting fires, but very fun!)

So now I'm thinking ... it would be cool to have some sort of canister that holds compressed air that I can refill with an air compressor once in a while.

Anybody know of such a thing?

[Cabin Fever]

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton

So now I'm thinking ... it would be cool to have some sort of canister that holds compressed air that I can refill with an air compressor once in a while.

Anybody know of such a thing?

Yeah, it's called a tire innertube....

[poorboy]

Putcha a torch stem onna empty propane bottle and remove burner and adapt to air fittings so yo can refill..

[Windy in Kansas]

Since everyone has been in the spirit of giving----PM me your mailing address and I'll send you one similar to this: http://www.cyclecolor.com/id57.htm or http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=1102

BTW, they do come with the straw tube for directing flow.

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by Cabin Fever

Yeah, it's called a tire innertube....

Kinda hard to aim ...

Wasn't there a kind of paintball gun that used compressed air? Maybe the canister could be rigged with a sprayer thing.

Hmmmm .... maybe that's the ticket - a sprayer that is empty ... but with a straight metal straw like thing on the tip.

[Windy in Kansas]

An alternative would also be an airbrush compressor which doesn't put out a lot of volume nor pressure.

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

Since everyone has been in the spirit of giving----PM me your mailing address and I'll send you one similar to this: http://www.cyclecolor.com/id57.htm or http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=1102

BTW, they do come with the straw tube for directing flow.

That looks like exactly what I'm looking for!

Address sent! Thanks Windy!

[gone-a-milkin]

What is wrong with the old fashioned way?

http://www.elitedeals.com/fibe.html

[Paul Wheaton]

Originally Posted by gone-a-milkin

What is wrong with the old fashioned way?

http://www.elitedeals.com/fibe.html

I once had one of those. It was easier to just blow on the fire.

[Windy in Kansas]

What is wrong with the old fashioned way?

Not a single thing, but we boys like our toys.

[gone-a-milkin]

Okay, boys who like their toys...I SHOULD know that.

Must need a nother cup of coffee.

Be careful w/ that compressed air aroud your fires though. That propellant isn't really good for you either...
(Moms like to warn boys about safety).

[Paul Wheaton]

Blowing on the fire helps some. But the canned air thing seems to use about ten times less air than my blowing and is probably 10 times more effictive.

In fact, maybe that would be an even better contraption: something like a belows or something that would be blown into, but it just has that little straw on the end that focuses it so well.

[highlands]

It would be better to increase the draft.

[Valiantone]

try a "blowpoke" they kick butt.

My dad made one for the fireplace when I was a kid. Just a piece of copper tube about 4' long (could be shorter I guess) with a fitting on the end that narrowed down kind of like a pencil point. The tip had a small hole drilled in it.

Just blow in the big end and point the little end at the coals. That think rocked! We could make white hot coals easy.

C

[Valiantone]

something like this

http://www.gascoals.net/Accessories/...0/Default.aspx

[gone-a-milkin]

An aluminum tent stake with the tip hammered almost flat works as a blowtube too.

[Windy in Kansas]

Hm, brass Blowpoke. Kind of like a brass curtain rod but several times more costly.

[Old Vet]

Put a regulator on your air compressor and use the gadget that is for blowing on the end. You can control the air and will give you another toy to have.

[gone-a-milkin]

I am not letting DH read this thread. He was never a Boy Scout and is pretty bad at starting fires. I can imagine coming home one day to find the air compressor from his workshop installed as a new coffee table in the middle of the livingroom.

As it is he uses a weeks worth of kindling to start one fire...I guess it could be worse.

[homesteadforty]

Originally Posted by Paul Wheaton

Blowing on the fire helps some. But the canned air thing seems to use about ten times less air than my blowing and is probably 10 times more effictive.

In fact, maybe that would be an even better contraption: something like a belows or something that would be blown into, but it just has that little straw on the end that focuses it so well.

I use a 1/4" dia. 36" long piece of flexibe copper tubing. You can stich the end right where you need to get air... just remember to take your mouth off the tubing before you inhale for the next blow.