Ferro sparks... no joy!

I

IndianRoc

Joined
Jan 31, 2021
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I have a HELLE 'Kamigami'. It doesn't throw sparks from a ferro rod although it has the word "carbon" imprinted in very small letters on the blade.
I also have a Ahti with a carbon steel blade. It also will not spark. It still has the dark forging scale on the blade although repeated attempts to spark a ferro rod has worn some away, showing shinny metal beneath.
The HELLE is a laminate and may just have a carbon middle. That could be the issue. Still surprised the Ahti doesn't spark. Thoughts?
 
All you need to throw sparks from a firesteel is a sharp edge. A sharp spine works great. You dont need any carbon, since whats burning is the ferro rod material when it contacts oxygen in small bits, this is how you get the sparks. :) You can prove this by using your knife edge, but itll dull your edge a little bit.

Its a myth that you need something high carbon to use a firesteel. People get confused because you do need high carbon to use flint and steel because in that case, whats burning is bits of the knife blade (or any carbon steel) when hit with something harder than it is (flint), and it chips off metal (the sparks). :)
 
Just use a file and sharpen a short section of the blade back. Even my SAKs will spark a ferro-rod (I use a sharpen edgeon the awl). I've done this with several of my user/backpacker puukko and Helle.
Of course there is always the alternative of a Bic lighter. ;) I always carried one in a small zip lock bag in my pocket.
Rich
 
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The best knife I have for striking a firesteel is my old Spyderco Native with the square jimping. Strike the firesteel with the jimping and you have a huge shower of sparks. That blade is S30V.
 
IndianRoc said:
I have a HELLE 'Kamigami'. It doesn't throw sparks from a ferro rod although it has the word "carbon" imprinted in very small letters on the blade.
I also have a Ahti with a carbon steel blade. It also will not spark. It still has the dark forging scale on the blade although repeated attempts to spark a ferro rod has worn some away, showing shinny metal beneath.
The HELLE is a laminate and may just have a carbon middle. That could be the issue. Still surprised the Ahti doesn't spark. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
I have the helle wabakimi which is the smaller version of the temagami and it does strike sparks once the black coating on the ferro rod has been scraped off.
 
I have an Exotac NanoStriker. The old striker is 440C at 60HRC. The new striker is Tungsten Carbide at 72 HRC. It works much better. You can distinguish between the two as the 440C is slightly attracted to a magnet.
 
I gave it another try and it just isn't working for me. Even tried the new Woods Jewel and all it did was scrape off metal from the ferro.
I have one of the older Cold Steel Master Hunters in Carbon V and that thing sparks like the Fourth of July!
 
Maybe it's the ferro rod? I can make sparks using a piece of broken glass with any of my Light my Fire rods.
 
The Carbon-V CS Master Hunter has a full hard blade where all surfaces have been ground, and the grind goes all the way to the spine, so the spine edges are less than 90deg. Hardly a surprise it is better at scraping a ferro rod than something less hard, not ground, oxide coated and 90deg at best.

It is fairly common to hear people having problems getting sparks from a ferro rod using laminated, differentially hardened and coated or oxide-finish blades. I am not just talking about people new to knives and ferro rods. A buddy of mine used to be the UK distributor for Kellam and we saw how each factor played a part in how easy it was to get sparks. Filing the spine, at least square, will help. Some people file so the working edge has a 85deg bevel, making it a little sharper than 90.

A good technique for using the ferro rod is shown here at 2:50. All sparks happen in the same place, no risk of scattering the tinder with the knife hand, easy to put as much pressure as needed.
 
IUKE12 said:
Maybe it's the ferro rod? I can make sparks using a piece of broken glass with any of my Light my Fire rods.
Click to expand...
Sounds about right. All I've ever needed (after a lot of frustration and experimenting) was a sharp square spine on pretty much any knife. The backs of Leatherman multi tool saw blades are usually great for this, straight from the factory. I have squared off a lot of knife spines in one small area for rod use. I also ran into a doo hickey called a Speedy Sharp. I have 3-4 carabinered to magnesium chunks etc. They are small and supposed to be an emergency knife/tool sharpener. They work really well.
 
IUKE12 said:
Maybe it's the ferro rod? I can make sparks using a piece of broken glass with any of my Light my Fire rods.
Click to expand...
Sounds about right. All I've ever needed was a sharp square spine on pretty much any knife. The backs of Leatherman multi tool saw blades are usually great for this, straight from the factory. I have squared off a lot of knife spines in one small area for rod use. I also ran into a doo hickey called a Speedy Sharp. I have 3-4 carabinered to magnesium chunks etc. They are small and supposed to be an emergency knife/tool sharpener. They work really well.
 
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