4 knives, firesteel test. Pics!

matthew krissak

matthew krissak

Joined
Nov 11, 2005
Messages
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Lets start off with, the firesteel is my first choice for making a fire in he woods. and since i have many different knives, i figured id try to see which made fire best, and made better shavings.

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I used;
Busse BATAC - INFI steel
Spyderco Fred Perrin - VG10 steel
Ron Post Custom - ATS 34 steel
Fallkniven F1- Lam. VG10 steel
and one Swedish firesteel

first i made some shavings with each knife, i used cedar for the wood.

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what i got out of the 4 knives, is that the Busse made the best shaving, then my Ron Post knife followed by my spyderco and lastly the F1. the F1 and the Spyderco made simular shavings, both still good, but not as thin or as nice as the Busse or the Ron Post.

Next was the fire test.

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As for starting fire, this one goes hands down to the F1!!! one strike and i had fire, which is also why its the knife i usually carry on my person. this was even with the poorer shavings.

next in line was the Ron Post, it took my around 7 or 8 strikes to get fire. followed very closely by the spyderco, which took 9 strikes. and dead last was the Busse. i stopped counting how many tries it took. but this was do to the coating on the blade, i removed some at the tip, and i got flames, but still took a bit of work.
 
Good pics!

When you're using the BATAC for the shavings, do you use the choil to choke up on the blade, or just hold the handle?
 
For use with a traditional piece of flint, you need to use carbon steel, because it's the steel being removed by the flint that's actually the "spark". With a firesteel, the sparks are bits of the firesteel being scraped off, so it doesn't matter what the material is doing the scraping.
 
samhain73 said:
Strange, I though it needed to be a carbon steel blade to use a firesteel?
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Any sharp edge will do from glass to Infi. The Fallknivens are purposely left at 90 degs to work with a (Swedish) Firesteel.

You do need carbon for a trad flint though, because in this case its shavings of steel coming off red hot rather than shavings of Firesteel.

Oops looks like Foxy beat me to it ;)
 
interesting reveiw...

a tip on the shavings...
if you shave the entire flat side of a stick of wood you will get much thinner curlier shavings almost guaranteed. if you shave on the corner you get more threadlike peices and there is more of a tendency to wedge. also, don't press too hard on the wood. control is more important for fine shavings.
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
For use with a traditional piece of flint, you need to use carbon steel, because it's the steel being removed by the flint that's actually the "spark". With a firesteel, the sparks are bits of the firesteel being scraped off, so it doesn't matter what the material is doing the scraping.
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Yes, and I understand even a scrap of broken glass will do the job.
 
Good note about the coating hindering sparks. I actually would have thought the VG-10 would shine at making shavings. I think I read the steel was developed for Japanese horticulturalists who wanted a very fine edge for plant grafts. Or did I just imagine this?

Nice test though. Makes me want to pick up an F1 even more. :thumbup:
 
Hey MK,

Overall, how do you like the Ron Post? I've seen him at the Toronto Sportsmens' Show and the Hunting Show in Toronto, a few times, and I thought he had very nice looking knives.

Doc
 
I have had a section of the spine on a couple of knives squared off to a sharp angle specifically for striking a firesteel, and it beats anything else hands down! :D

I agreee that the fallkies work best as supplied though!

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stuartyr said:
I have had a section of the spine on a couple of knives squared off to a sharp angle specifically for striking a firesteel, and it beats anything else hands down! :D

I agreee that the fallkies work best as supplied though!

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very cool pic :thumbup:
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Hey MK,

Overall, how do you like the Ron Post? I've seen him at the Toronto Sportsmens' Show and the Hunting Show in Toronto, a few times, and I thought he had very nice looking knives.

Doc
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Ive also seen them a few times at the Toronto Sportsmens' show. i ended up getting mine from his wife and step mother up north. (north of me and his step mother is pretty damn funny). over all the knife is nice. its great for skinning, which is no surprise since Ron is a trapper. really nice ergonomics. nice 4 1/2" re-curve blade. holds a wicked edge, and takes one nicely too. and of course it came scary sharp. his wife makes tough as nails leather sheaths for them too. best part is, they aren't overly expensive.
 
matthew krissak said:
Ive also seen them a few times at the Toronto Sportsmens' show. i ended up getting mine from his wife and step mother up north. (north of me and his step mother is pretty damn funny). over all the knife is nice. its great for skinning, which is no surprise since Ron is a trapper. really nice ergonomics. nice 4 1/2" re-curve blade. holds a wicked edge, and takes one nicely too. and of course it came scary sharp. his wife makes tough as nails leather sheaths for them too. best part is, they aren't overly expensive.
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Thanks, mk. I think I'll check them out more closely next time, because I need another knife :rolleyes:

Doc
 
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