firesteel striking with a knife question

S

skitertank

Joined
Jun 12, 2009
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i was using the spine of my knife today to strike my steel just to see the comparison of how well it works compared to actual strikers.i probably used the spine to strike about 30 strikes or so and as always there is the burn residue and chunks left on the bottom side all the way up and onto the edge.now with over 5000 degree sparks/chunks coming off the steel and sticking to my edge my question is,do those burning chunks burn the temper out of the edge? just curious
 
I wouldn't think the chunks would have sufficient mass to transfer enough heat to do that kind of damage. Just curious---is it one of the mischmetal firesteels that throws the larger sparks?

Hopefully Ray Laconico will see your question because I've watched him do a lot of firesteeling with the knives he makes.

DancesWithKnives
 
skitertank said:
i was using the spine of my knife today to strike my steel just to see the comparison of how well it works compared to actual strikers.i probably used the spine to strike about 30 strikes or so and as always there is the burn residue and chunks left on the bottom side all the way up and onto the edge.now with over 5000 degree sparks/chunks coming off the steel and sticking to my edge my question is,do those burning chunks burn the temper out of the edge? just curious
Click to expand...

I haven't had any customers complain about anything like that, so I doubt it is an issue. They burn hot, but probably not for nearly long enough to affect the temper of a knife.
 
No effect what-so-ever. You need a large amount of HEAT to change temper, not a small amount of high temperature material that has nowhere near enough heat energy to change temper.
Have a good one
Chris
 
What Chris and Rick said. The sparks are real hot but they are tiny and won't get the blade hot enough to lose temper.
 
yeah, no worries there! You can remove the slag on the blade pretty easily with just the touch of a fine stone too.
 
I’ve found that on some of my ferro rods that I actually have to act as though I’m slicing a sliver off the rod, not just scraping the knife down it, to get a good fire ball. It does leave some residue on the blade, but nothing to worry about thus far. I was more concerned about burning/damaging the very edge of the blade, which hasn’t been a problem. I’m sure it doesn’t affect the heat treating of the steel.
 
i use both mm and lmf rods and its the lmf that seem to leave the most slag. even though it comes off relitively easy,i was just wondering.thanks for the info!
 
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