Custom Ferrocerium Cap Project

Diomedes Industries

Diomedes Industries

Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
7,443
Okay - so I decided to whip up, with my newly acquired lathe skills, a few Ferro Cap's. I ordered 5 Ferro sticks from this site that measure 4 inches b 1/4 inch in diameter.

First - I grabbed an old left over bar of aluminum from the scrap bin. It originally measured 1" in diameter. So I turned it down to 0.750 inches (+/- .005)

FerroCapProject001.jpg


Then I knurled the outside diameter and cut parted off 0.500 peices. Due to a bent rod during parting I had to settle to ban saw off a bunch.

FerroCapProject005.jpg


Then I quickly put them in the mill and faced them at .500 (+/- .010).

I sanded them with some emory cloth to give it the 'brushed' look.

FerroCapProject006.jpg


I had planned to drill out the center while on the lathe - and did so with 3 or 4 - but that did not work out for all. So over to the mill and a .500 2 flute end mill for the ferro stick to rest in and then a 4 fluted center cut end mill for the fob hole and VIOLA!

FerroCapProject002.jpg


FerroCapProject003.jpg


FerroCapProject004.jpg


The knurling is .050 deep and works very well for strikes anywhere matches. I just need to epoxy (as threading did not work well) them in place. I did not get a chance to drill all the fob holes.

But - I have a working prototype.

Add an annoyingly bright fob with silly skulls on them to look EXTREME! and you have a cool Christmas present.

FerroCapProject.jpg


Thoughts?

TF
 
Last edited:
TF, are these designed to be stand alone firesteels, or the caps for your match case project? If the latter, are you planning on threading the cap, or using a friction fit and )-ring?


Edited to add - They look great TF gotz skillz!
-- FLIX
 
These are just a stand alone. I want to make a more comprehensive fob that will look cool but allow you to loosely attach it to your wrist - so when you get a good spark and need to blow lightly on your tinder nest - you can simply drop the Ferro stick and it will not be lost.

Honestly, these were just for fun and to experiment with the knurling and make some cool gifts for Christmas. I may have 3 or 4 left over when I am done - so I may sell them here to recoup the costs - but they will come complete with the fobs and HOPEFULLY they will be anno'd. I am looking into hard annoing for these.

However, J Williams - I may just make a match safe where this is basically the lid. I will simply make it larger and turn it for O-rings. I think it would be cool - but I think that safe would have to be about 1.25 inches in diameter when all done to hold the Ferro stick and the matches.

TF
 
Now we need in hand pics- I wonder how well it holds in hand. The knob looks disproportionate to me but I am sure the extra size allows better grip. Red anodized would look great- and match my Crawford survival staff.
 
Kris - now that would be cool. Make a threaded cap with one of those LARGE Ferro sticks in it.

Pics you requested. I made it a little larger in diameter than I could have - it made sense to stay with GROSS motor rather than fine motor:

FerroCapProject007.jpg


FerroCapProject008.jpg


FerroCapProject009.jpg


FerroCapProject010.jpg


TF

p.s. The fob on my Mora is designed to hold on my wrist and give me needed cordage in case I need it.
 
Man, I like those. If you have any extras, I would totally be interested in one. As far as your matchsafe, I think it is a very cool idea and look forward to seeing it all come together!!
 
These are pretty cool!

My only suggestion would be to make the knurled knob/handle about twice as long as it is now to provide a little better grip.
 
I am hearing you Jerkee:

I will turn some more of these - It only took me about 4 hours to make 10. It goes MUCH faster once I know what the hell I am doing. ;)

TF
 
very cool looking gear there.

i like that the knurling works for matches too. my strikers wear out all the time and i have to replace them every four to six months on my homemade matchsafe. i like the everylast striker.
 
j williams said:
+1 one the longer handle, where did you get those skulls??
Click to expand...

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-Bone-White-...yZ134567QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Check out that link. THey are all over ebay. EXTREME huh?

I make my own fobs and stuff all the time:

www.survivalbracelet.blogspot.com - however - I learned from Erik on this forum - so I don't wan't to cherry pick.

How long and wide of a handle are you guys thinking?

Would it be cool to make a fob that was long enough to attach a hack aw blade portion and also look nice?

TF
 
I think an inch or an inch and a half would be tits. The hacksaw blade sounds like an awesome idea to bro.
Yeah, thos skulls are pretty sweet. I ordered 7 cast pewter skull beads from knifekits for laynard making and the dang things were tiny. You could just barely thread a sewing thread through the hole in them. I was hacked majorly when they arrived. I had originally ordered 3, but somehow it rang up as 7 and I said whatever I will use them for something, now I have 7 useless skullbeads......
 
Jwilliams:

I always use the word EXTREME to poke fun at the idea that today everything has to be EXTREME. I do think the skulls look cool though.

They are cheap - but they can break from time to time.

Check out this kit:

http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/FirestarterProducts.htm

I had not seen that until last night when someone else pointed it out I can see the longer cap looks good too.

It looks cool - a little overkill - but cool.

TF
 
Man, you've really done those up nicely. Man, though, aluminum is a pita to machine, huh? I used to hate working with it.
 
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