Soft Spine?

E

El Gringo

Joined
May 14, 2009
Messages
174
I was thinking 'fire steel' when I filed / stoned the spine on my Izula to use as
a striker for a ferro rod. Almost all that I had read said to use the spine with a sharp 90 degree to strike sparks from the ferro rod rather than use the cutting edge.

So I prepped it; and no it doesn't throw a spark...the cutting edge will but not
the spine. I take it to mean that the spine is at a much softer temper than the the cutting edge area...which is cool by me.:thumbup: Shows that the heat treat is applied to the cutting area; as it should be.

Please don't fret the finish degradation as I still have a NIB sitting in my sock drawer. I kinda dig its 'use me baby' scars.:D
 
How sharp did you get the angles on the spine, make sure they are /\/\/\/\/\ and not rounded at the top. You should be able to do it with the spine of an Izula but I have never filed the spine on the Izula and tried it for myself so I'm not certain.
 
Maybe a member with more experience in throwing sparks could chime in, :D until then atleast you know you have some aggressive jimping.
 
Is it sharp enough to scrape some firesteel metal off ?

Is it possible to post a pic of your filing, because it is hard seeing what's wrong :)
 
No no...I kept the angles crisp. Just took off the coating and left a crisp edge
along a bit of the back ...spine. I'm not about to try my hand at jimping!:D
 
can you scrape some you shavings with it ? If not, your edge might not be sharp enough
 
Yep, it was a sharp edge. this is also the Izula that was magnetic...cool.
Anyhow here's some pics. Photobucket takes forever..my apologies.
filing004.jpg

filing003.jpg

filing002.jpg

filing001.jpg


I've 'rounded the edge' as I couldnt get it to spark.
 
What is your experience with firesteel ? Is new to you ? Just asking in case you might be scraping wrong. What is your method ?

How did it feel when scraping, rough or slippery ?
 
kta2402 said:
What is your experience with firesteel ? Is new to you ? Just asking in case you might be scraping wrong. What is your method ?

How did it feel when scraping, rough or slippery ?
Click to expand...

I had a 'sharp' 90 degree on the spine. I use a flint and steel with a bit of jute also sometimes.
That spine dont throw spark...mine anyhows.
I can imagine this is because of what I've read of heat treats. Just wanted to see if I was alone. I have others that are heat treated all the way thru and will strike a ferro off the spine.
I'm kinda happy that the RAT is a bit softer there.
 
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Well thats interesting, I thought RAT applied the same heat treatment throughout the blade, I have always been able to throw sparks from knife spines, some better than others.

Maybe the fact that it was magnetized is the reason :)

To be truthful I haven't use any RAT spines to throw sparks because of the coating, but on the other hand on the Izula, the edge worked fine. Maybe the suggested jimping might help, also I remember somewhere of Derrick Bohn, I think, that explained how to remove part of the coating on a RAT to scrape firesteel, if a good member knows the link to what I'm saying, that might be of some help.
 
kta2402 said:
Well thats interesting, I thought RAT applied the same heat treatment throughout the blade, I have always been able to throw sparks from knife spines, some better than others.

Maybe the fact that it was magnetized is the reason :)

To be truthful I haven't use any RAT spines to throw sparks because of the coating, but on the other hand on the Izula, the edge worked fine. Maybe the suggested jimping might help, also I remember somewhere of Derrick Bohn, I think, that explained how to remove part of the coating on a RAT to scrape firesteel, if a good member knows the link to what I'm saying, that might be of some help.
Click to expand...
Yepper, I'm pickin up what your puttin down...
I've used other blade spines to throw sparks.

I'm lookin at this as a good thing.
 
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