Flint & Steel (and guys with eye patches)

S

Scott Free

Joined
Sep 15, 1999
Messages
3,319
I've had some flint laying around for a while. A few days ago, I finally picked up a forged steel striker. Today I put the two together to see if I could at least get a few sparks. I did. But now I'm wondering about all the guys in old movies who happen to be wearing eye patches. Were eye patches more common long ago because people had to rely on flint and steel to start fires? (joking. at least partially. :)) Little stone pieces seemed to be flying everywhere (although, at least this time, none of them hit me in the face. I guess what I'm really wondering is—should I be wearing safety glasses??? (It would seem rather untraditional. :)
 
While not a bad idea to wear safety glasses, I never have. That includes doing flint & steel and flint knapping. Some rock just has more fractures than others or is harder and flakes more where it can hit you. I find this particularly true with the quartz in my area which I used for flint & steel.

Some hard core folks into flint knapping use glasses and even face masks, as the dust from knapping over time can cause silicosis.

You make like this video I did on Flint & Steel since you are just getting into it.

[video=youtube;F7BWJAGoJlA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7BWJAGoJlA[/video]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top