Do All Steels Work On Fire Steels?

P

Peter La

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Mar 26, 2005
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I have tried using my Becker CU7 and cannot get a spark.

My main questian is, does INFI throw a spark?

Thanks for the help.
 
It doesn't have to be steel at all, but it must have to be some sharp edge. Even a piece of broken glass or a sharp stone works well. The BK7's epoxied back is not sharp enough to scrap the firesteel succesfully.
 
The sparks are thrown from firesteels by the shaving off of tiny little bits of the substance. The energy of shaving them off heats them up enough to ignite, making them burn. Anything with a sharp enough, hard enough edge should throw a spark. If you're having trouble with the Becker, it's possibly because the section you are using is not sharp enough, or you could be holding it at a funny angle. What I did was to break off about 3"-4" of an old hacksaw blade, and wrapped the first couple of inches in a few layers of masking tape. The masking tape makes a handle, and the BACK edge of the blade is plenty "sharp" enough to throw sparks. If needed, you can use the tooth edge of the blade to throw a LOT of sparks, or to saw on the magnesium block to quickly get shavings. I attached it to the block with a short length of ball chain.
 
"My main questian is, does INFI throw a spark?"

INFI works great with a firesteel.

--Mike
 
I use a P-58 (slightly larger version of the P-38 "John Wayne" can opener), works great, and can be attached to the fire steel. :)
 
Firesteels are not flint but a manmade mix that will throw sparks from nearly any edged metalic item even some stone.

Skam
 
Thanks everyone. Do you have any idea if the uncoated spine on a knife with a thickness of .150 or .178 will work?
 
If you mean a large choil like that on, say, a Howling Rat, I don't think it would, since you have competing needs. To use the choil as its meant to be used (putting your finger in it to choke up on the blade), you do not want a sharp corner on the edge of the choil, but this is exactly what you want to have to throw sparks.
 
The best striker I have found, better than a hacksaw blade for example, is the spine of a SAK's saw. It's a near-perfect 90* juncture and it works GREAT. On one strange instance, for example, I have actually lit a twig with a spark from this setup :eek:
 
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