firesteel strikers, what do you use?

Liam Ryan

Liam Ryan

Joined
Sep 26, 2005
Messages
3,516
I have done a few things, from apiece of hacksaw blade to the one that came with my light my fire, to filing the back of my moras and some other knives to a sharp 90 degrees. I like having something dedicated and attached to the steel though, preferably versatile for other tasks and small and light. The hacksaw blade was ok but a bit flimsy, I was thinking maybe a jigsaw blade, good for ripping up fatwood and other tinder, but I want to know what you guys use.
 
I tend to use the saw on a Leatherman Sidekick (the spine), or the the notch on the main blade (just before the edge) or the notch on a Bk11. Makes nice showers.
 
thumbgrooves on the back of a knife left at a 90 degree angle. No chance at misplacing it. :D


Vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpqx3zt02pk

Screencap of spark
Thumbgrooves-Firesteel.jpg
 
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I have had great showers of sparks using the leather awl on a SAK. I know it's not always on the firesteel, but it's always on ME!

DD
 
Gobspark. Best I've used.

Bought an Exotac Nano a while back, which is the most ridiculously well-engineered camping item I've seen in a while. But after a fair bit of use, the size of the striker is just way too small. It needs to be at least twice as big.

So I'm sticking with my tried and true, Gobspark. It cranks.
 
I have used my knives many times, sak awl and saw blade, etc. But I like having redundancy in my pack. If you are without a knife, and have just a firesteel, I suppose you could scour the ground for some flint, which may be hard enough to scrape a firesteel. A jigsaw blade with the back filed square is pretty small, the saw can be used for other things, you could even put an edge on the spine so you would have a tiny knife as well. I will try it out anyway, maybe post pics if anyone's interested.
 
I went from hack saw blade, not bad, but not good. Then backs of knives that I have modified. Not bad, not good. Then I bought a little Chinese Schrade Sharp Finger as a spontaneous buy from Crappy Tire. Good lord does the spine on that things screach out a spark shower ! I didn't even know that my cheap ferro rods could do that ! Then someone here on this forum mentioned the back of leatherman saw blade. Same thing, an excellent spark shower with longer lasting globs. This on the cheap Coughlans rods, of which I have 5-6. I keep my good LMF on my key chain. I will likely order 2-3 more LMF'S from MEC but I wonder if I really need to when I get super results from the cheapies. Using a correct striker with a very sharp shoulder has been night and day for me. I only clued into this in the last month or so.
 
I use a Bic. But Joe Teti included a magnesium firestarter with his new SURV TAC 7 knife, so that must be the best.
 
I usually use the edge of the file in my LM Squirt.

The notched thumbrest on the spine of my Spyderco Native throws tremendous sparks.
 
I use a cheapo, broken-off (by me) steak-knife. I broke the blade off about 3/4" from the plastic handle so it's quite rigid. The blade is super thin so the spine is nearly sharp enough to be a cutting edge and scrapes off a *huge* shower of sparks. Since it was a knife, it has a very easy to hold, full-grip handle so when if i'm really cold and have uncontrollable shaking it is still easy to get great sparks. This little striker weighs hardly anything and is in my fire-making pouch right next to my firesteel so i always know where it is.

In my use, I found hacksaw blades to not be as effective as i'd prefer. Also, i don't like to expose my knives to the heat from generating the glob-sparks (probably would cause no harm...). I have used the spine-edge of the woodsaw blade on my Leatherman Wave, through a hole in the handle of my Buck Pak-Lite Skinner and the spine of my various field knives, but prefer to use my dedicated striker - it simply works better in every regard.
 
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