Best type of Steel for Firemaking?

N

nguyen

Joined
Nov 13, 2005
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What's the best type of steel to strike a firesteel with?

Anyone know of a website with such information on it?

Thanks

Nguyen
 
Foe use with a FireSteel, any hardened steel works. For true flint and steel, you need a hardened high carbom steel, like O1 or 1075.
 
If subject is "swedish firesteel and Co" any steel will be Ok, you just need a pretty aggressive angle. Softer steels might slightly dent.

If subject is getting sparks from flint and steel, then steel should be very hard, preferably carbon, steel.
 
nguyen said:
What's the best type of steel to strike a firesteel with?
Click to expand...
A good striker for the Light-My-Fire Swedish Firesteel is a section of hacksaw blade. You can use either the square spine of the blade or the teeth side of the blade, depending on how much you're willing to chew up the Firesteel with the striker.

Some forumites report having very good luck using the back of the saw blade on a Swiss Army Knife (SAK) as a Firesteel striker.
 
Howdy,
Got to go with the hacksaw on this one. One little trick is when using is, don't strike with the steel, get close to your bundle and pull with your flint or sparker. If you just strike your sparks will fly all over, when you put your sparker into your bundle and pull, your steel will reflect the sparks, where you want them.
 
i like the Boy Scout striker (available at Boy Scout stores and online.)

phxbigdog, glad you mentioned that technique, i see people striking the rods and also knocking their tinder bundles apart and getting frustrated. as you said, set it up near the tinder, pull the rod back against the saw blade. trick is not moving the blade hand.

dhawk
 
I get a fantastic amount of sparks from the can opener on my SAK. I also square off the backs of my stainless Mora SWAK knives and they spark really well. Mac
 
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