kUKUURI flint striker ?

[Sylvrfalcn]

Gentlemen, break out the flints and let me know what happens.

Just tested three Dave, no dice, flint's chewing 'em up, but no sign of a spark. No big woop, I'll get around to replacing them soon enough, chakmas are good rainy day projects.


Sarge

 

[Big Bob]

An old pair of scissors and flint? That would be interesting to try. You could probably get good results with scissors and the metal bar on the magnesium firestarters. I'm going to have to look for another Boy Scout sparking rod (?) and a cheap/old pair of scissors.

Bob

 

[Yvsa]

You could probably get good results with scissors and the metal bar on the magnesium firestarters.

Bob

Bob what are the Boy Scout striking rods?

A short piece of hacksaw blade with the teeth ground off makes for a nice magnesium shaver.
You need the fully hardened blades, not the ones with just the teeth hardened.
The hacksaw blade makes for a good striker on the ferrocium striker rods as well.
If the hacksaw is cut from the end of the blade you have a lanyard hole for tieing it to your magnesium or ferrocium rod.

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Bob what are the Boy Scout striking rods?

A short piece of hacksaw blade with the teeth ground off makes for a nice magnesium shaver.
You need the fully hardened blades, not the ones with just the teeth hardened.
The hacksaw blade makes for a good striker on the ferrocium striker rods as well.
If the hacksaw is cut from the end of the blade you have a lanyard hole for tieing it to your magnesium or ferrocium rod.

The old Boy Scout fire strikers are pretty much the same as a "Swedish fire steel". Just checked BSA's official storefront, and they don't carry 'em anymore. My guess is too many kids drove too many scoutmasters nuts by running around the woods showering sparks from the dang things.

Sarge

 

[munk]

Just checked BSA's official storefront, and they don't carry 'em anymore. My guess is too many kids drove too many scoutmasters nuts by running around the woods showering sparks from the dang things. >>>>>>>>> Sylvrfalcn

This is in keeping with the modern trends- the firearms courses disapearing, etc etc.

You can't trust people with Life, because they may misuse it.




munk

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

This is in keeping with the modern trends- the firearms courses disapearing, etc etc.

You can't trust people with Life, because they may misuse it.

munk

Know what you mean Munk, seems that all suffer because of some. I remember as a young scout that our summer camp used to have a rifle range.
One day while firing prone position at 50 meter targets, I heard a bang that couldn't have come from our single shot .22s. Seems some yahoo of an "adult" had packed along an old style single action revolver, and yup, dumb barstid had all six chambers loaded. Yahoo number one decided to show off his "hog leg" to yahoo number two, who proceeded to neatly drop the weapon onto the concrete floor of the range shack. "Bang" went the pistol, "Ouch" went yahoo number one, as blood proceeded to spray from a nice through & through wound in his right forearm. As usual, instead of the powers that be simply dealing with the idiot responsible, they extrapolated the "hazardous potential" to apply to us kids, and next summer camp there was no rifle range. :grumpy: (dumb barstids)

Sarge

 

[jamesraykenney]

The old Boy Scout fire strikers are pretty much the same as a "Swedish fire steel". Just checked BSA's official storefront, and they don't carry 'em anymore. My guess is too many kids drove too many scoutmasters nuts by running around the woods showering sparks from the dang things.

Sarge

The Boy Scout ones are MUCH smaller than the 'Swedish fire steels'

I just bought another four of them a few weeks ago at my local Boy Scout store, so they still have them... They are cheap and work great...


BUT
PEOPLE..... fire steels, are ferrocium rods NOT flint!!!
The magnesium fire starters have ferrocium rods imbeded in them, but they are also NOT flint...

Ferrocium rods produce sparks themselves!!
Flint produces sparts by shaving off pieces of steel...
A fire steel(ferrocium rod) is called that because it acts AS the steel would when struck against flint! The steel, in this case, acts as the FLINT...

Flint >>>> Steel >>>> fire steel(ferrocium rod)

You can also use flint on a fire steel and get some amazing sparks!!!
But then almost anything with a hard, sharp edge can produce sparks from ferrocium!
Ferrocium is a material with a LOW ignition temp. but a HIGH burning temp...
That is why it is easy to get sparks from it, and why the sparks can light other things so well...

About magnesium...
Magnesium is HARD to light because it has a HIGH ignition temp. ...
It is usefull because it has an even HIGER burning temp...
If I remember correctly, you can use it to ignite iron(thermite anyone???), and diamond(it IS just carbon, after all, despite all the 'Diamonds are Forever' stuff)...
You scrape the magnesium into a pile and you ignite it with the ferrocium rod.
You do NOT produce sparks from the magnesium itself...It is WAY to soft for that... But DO be carfull if you are cutting it with a saw, you CAN ignite it from the friction that way, and a piece of magnesium that big on fire is not a nice thing to have around...

Back to flint and steel... The easist way to use it, is to put a bit of char cloth just behind the sharp edge of the flint and hold it there with the thumb of the hand holding the flint... The with a FAST motion, strike down on the flint with the steel, making SURE your hands are NOT going to hit the flint(which can be sharper than ANY steel knife can be). The burning sparks from the steel are guided by the back edge of the flint right into the char cloth, igniting it... You then place the char cloth(it burns slowly so you can usually grab it by one edge, or just shake it off the flint where you want it) into your tender pile(or birds nest as the good types are called), hold the tender pile ABOVE your face(so as not to be choked by the smoke) and blow into the pile...If everything is done correctly, it will burst into flames, and you will want to QUICKLY transfer it to your firebed...
I carry a flint, steel and charcloth in a little tinderbox that I always have in my left pocket... I amaze people all the time(not just that I know how to start a fire with it, but that I actually HAVE one on me at all times!!!) by demonstrating it(just to the lighting the char cloth stage) whenever a conversation moves to the outdoors, fire, or just old ways of doing things.
And it just fasinates the kids when I show them how to start a fire without a lighter or matches...

 

[munk]

Sarge,
I was just talking to the teacher of our one room school house. We have grades kindergarten through the 6th grade in one room- all 12 students.
We can do a lot in that School. I brought my khuks in once for a demonstration. We have a nativity play at Christmas.
I'm planning on giving my 9 year old his first pocket knife. Trouble is, he's a forgetful dreamer of a kid and will probably leave it in his pants pocket sometime and go to school.

"Is it OK for Carter to carry his pocket knife to school?" I asked hopefully.
"No, he can't do that." The Teacher told me sadly.
"I carried one from the time I was eight or nine all the way through to highschool."

"Not any more." She said.


munk

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

Sarge,
I was just talking to the teacher of our one room school house. We have grades kindergarten through the 6th grade in one room- all 12 students.
We can do a lot in that School. I brought my khuks in once for a demonstration. We have a nativity play at Christmas.
I'm planning on giving my 9 year old his first pocket knife. Trouble is, he's a forgetful dreamer of a kid and will probably leave it in his pants pocket sometime and go to school.

"Is it OK for Carter to carry his pocket knife to school?" I asked hopefully.
"No, he can't do that." The Teacher told me sadly.
"I carried one from the time I was eight or nine all the way through to highschool."

"Not any more." She said.


munk

In high school, we had to disect sharks one day, little bitty sharks, I believe the species was dogfish. Anyway, the crappy tools they gave us were just tearing at the skin, not cutting it without considerable effort. At that point you could hear jack-knives clicking open all over the class room as us boys set to work on our sharks and then assisted our female classmates. Teacher never batted an eye. Back then it was understood that disputes that couldn't be worked out by talking were settled with fists like "gentlemen".

Sarge

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

I carry a flint, steel and charcloth in a little tinderbox that I always have in my left pocket...

Uh, yup

Sarge

 

[jamesraykenney]

Uh, yup

Sarge

That one is WAY more fancy than mine!!!
Mine is one of the small plain 'C' steels but the flint seems to be a good one...
The only problem is how black the char cloth makes your fingers... The stuff I have in the tin right now is the shredded stuff, but I really like the char cloth you get from cutting up a 100% cotton t-shirt into little squares and baking that... I have to make more of that soon... It will just sit there for a LONG time glowing until you blow on it, and then it glows white hot and burns FAST and HOT...

 

[Steely_Gunz]

When I was in highschool in the mid and late 90's knives were pretty much forbade...unless they liked ya It also depended on what you brought. We had a kid that thought it would be "okay" to bring his $9.99 chinese bali to school. We didn't see that idiot for a week. I, on the other hand, was generally well thought of and liked by the teachers. I always carried a small lock back folder or a small SAK with me pretty much every day. The same thing happened to me as happened to Sarge. We were disecting cats in advanced biology. My teacher was trying to remove the plura from around the lungs with the old scary rusty scalps that we had. Soon enough he was impatiently frowning holding out his hand to me for my knife. Who'd a thunk that you could unzip a cat so quick with a Super Tinker? The year I graduated the school shootings and what not happened then a couple years later 9/11. Now, last i've heard, metal detectors, zero tolerance, etc. Even the ever-so-handy Jake would be deep trouble. Sad times to be growing up. Good old fashioned skills are now seen as the deadly arts.

Jake

 

[munk]

Back then it was understood that disputes that couldn't be worked out by talking were settled with fists like "gentlemen". >>>>> Sarge

And I remember when one said, "give", it was over, and no one got the boot. IF you kept attacking after the surrender, you were considered a low dog.



munk

 

[Sylvrfalcn]

That one is WAY more fancy than mine!!!

Thanks James, glad you like it, but don't know how fancy I'd call it. The striker is one I made out of an old file, the "flint" is just some local chert I flaked into a handy size, the leather and coyote claws for the pouch were donated by friends, and the tinder box is an old Altoid's peppermint can. The strip of leather in the tin protects the char from the flint and steel, and keeps things from rattling around. Good rig, but I'll probably make up something nicer for going to rendezvous.

Sarge