Scrape the flint w/ your only blade?

[bodydamage]

I usually strike my firesteels with the back of my blade, but how bad does it dull your cutting edge to hit it with the sharp side instead??

 

[pedropcola]

Badly. Use the spine or carry the little hacksaw blade that comes with it.

Pete

 

[RescueRiley]

why would you use the edge at all if the spine works...Also a little hack saw blade isn't a bad thing to carry anyway...

 

[DocArnie]

but how bad does it dull your cutting edge to hit it with the sharp side instead??

It's bad. Don't do it!
I can poke around in wood with my Mora for hours (literally) without any significant damage to the edge. But a few strikes with the ferro rod make resharpening necessary.
I'd rather try a sharp stone in a survival situation, before I risk damaging my knife.

 

[jacktrades_nbk]

not to forget the temperatures that the rod produces, and putting that thin steel edge there...bad idea

 

[siguy]

don't do it. i've experimented with that before and it bites a chunk out of some knife edges if they are thin. if they aren't too thin it still dulls the blade quite a bit.

the spine works so don't worry about using the edge. or carry a dedicated striker.

 

[Bill Siegle]

On some of my blades I will actually flatten a section of the spine so the corners can be used for firesteel striking. I mostly use a small section of hacksaw blade though as it is easy enough to carry with the firesteel and works better than most other methods of striking I have used the edges of knives before just to see what it would do. It looked like I had tried to cut a file! No notches from the scrapping but certainly killed the edge in that section.

 

[bodydamage]

Yup figured as much.. Thanks..

 

[bearthedog]

JK Knives, Breeden Knives, Gossman Knives, and Tramontina Machetes all strike well with the spine.
Nothing beats the SAK saw or Tram machete, but like J Williams will tell you, I eat bugs so disregard everything I say!.
-RB

 

[Jeff H]

On some of my blades I will actually flatten a section of the spine so the corners can be used for firesteel striking. I mostly use a small section of hacksaw blade though ....

Same here on both counts.
More often I actually "sharpen" the spine nearer the tip for this and ease the edges where my tumb might lie when working. The hacksaw blade is king because you can scrape inner bark into shreds and tease out fluffs of your jute. Tie it right to the firesteel if you must but have one on you and at least another in a fire kit in your pack. One cheap hacksaw blade yields two strikers with ready-made lanyard holes.:thumbup:

 

[myright]

I've never tried striking my steel with the blade. I've always used the striker that came with it.

I have tried to use the spine of my RC3 and it didn't work very well at all. I did not try using the spine of my folder through, i bet that would have worked a bit better.