fire steel and knife edges

[zignal_zero]

is it just me, or does using a firesteel causing little burned out chips in the edge of your knife?

i do not mean the brand "Firesteel" i just mean a steel fire starter.

the knife is was using was a BM Nimravus 154CM and it now has noticable spots burned away

 

[temp9]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you be using the spine of the knife, not the edge? That's how I always did it.

 

[RevDevil]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't you be using the spine of the knife, not the edge? That's how I always did it.

That is correct. Why in the world would you be using the cutting edge? Of course it's going to dull/ruin the edge. The sparks coming off the steel are around 5,500 degrees, your blade is probably heat treated to 1/4 of that.

 

[zignal_zero]

cool, i'll give that a shot. i thought i had and didn't generate nearly the sparks, though. i'll give it another whirl. yea, i was pretty unhappy. it's been sharpened 5 times, since then, and you can still see them. it sux cuz i'm quick to show off how sharp it is and people almost always say "wow, that is seriously sharp..... hey, what happened here?"

 

[RevDevil]

cool, i'll give that a shot. i thought i had and didn't generate nearly the sparks, though. i'll give it another whirl. yea, i was pretty unhappy. it's been sharpened 5 times, since then, and you can still see them. it sux cuz i'm quick to show off how sharp it is and people almost always say "wow, that is seriously sharp..... hey, what happened here?"

LOL. Well, the 90 degree edge of the spine of the knife should work, if not go to any hardware store and buy a key and have the clerk put a zig/zag pattern on it. It should be enough to generate some spark. :thumbup:

 

[Big Mike]

These posts always remind me of Brian Jones, a new Mora, and a good hangover.


Good hangover? ...Is that an oxymoron?



I like a piece of used hacksaw blade.






Big Mike

 

[GingivitisKahn]

SAK awl makes a decent striker too.

 

[PropThePolecat]

I tried striking a little firesteel with the blade once. I was at work and bored, and the knife was a Spyderco Tenacious. I wanted to see how bad it would be on the edge, and though not disastrous, it left small 2 chips in the blade.

You can use your blade in an emergency, depending on the steel, youll most likely cause the blade to chip.. Not all knives have a spine with edges sharp enough to strike a firesteel. My RC-3 dosent generate any sparks because of the coating, whereas my TAK does just fine (its coated too). So best thing is to carry a little striker with you, or use the back of the saw on your LM or SAK.

 

[KennyB]

I heard on "Dual Survival" if you have a knife with carbon steel you can strike the spine against a rock to produce sparks.

 

[Bill86]

These posts always remind me of Brian Jones, a new Mora, and a good hangover.


Good hangover? ...Is that an oxymoron?



I like a piece of used hacksaw blade.






Big Mike

Oh there is a such thing, it's the hangover that just has your head feeling a bit "off". A bad hangover is puking, migraine and looking like a zombie.