Sparking a Fire Steel with a knife

Z

Zip06

Joined
Mar 2, 2003
Messages
76
I have several firesteels and have no trouble sparking using the back of my Air Force Survival knife but when I try to use a the back of a Mora stainless steel or any stainless steel I can't get a spark. Is this because it takes carbon steel to spark? My friend cannot get the fire steel to spark using a Becker Companion which is carbon steel. Is it technique; lack of skill or the wrong metal?
 
Most likely it is either the sharpness of the back of the blade, or the hardness of that back edge. It is possible that the blade has a differential hardness making the back edge softer than the cutting edge, but more likely it is simply rounded over to some extent, and is not sharp enough to break off the small particles needed to spark..
 
It is my understanding that any hard SHARP edge will do, even glass, or stone, to get the small falkes of metal to shear off the rod. It is the friction caused by their being scraped from the surface that actually lights the flakes of metal on fire.

In my experience with my knives and steels the back of many of the baldes is not sharp enough on some. My best scraper is the back of the serrated blade on my Leatherman Wave. This is certainly stainless steel. It has a very sharp edge though and hits the rod at just the right angle. Mac
 
Strike with a 60 degree angle towards direction of strike... use the back of the blade that's squared... moras are typically "rolled" Also, coated blades reduce friction thus will not scrape ferrocerrium well.
 
I used some pliers to break off a 5" long piece of a hacksaw blade, then wrapped the first few inches in tape for a little cushioning. Works like a charm to scrap flints, and since hacksaw blades have a hole in them already, it's easy to attach.
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
I used some pliers to break off a 5" long piece of a hacksaw blade, then wrapped the first few inches in tape for a little cushioning. Works like a charm to scrap flints, and since hacksaw blades have a hole in them already, it's easy to attach.
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Yeah that's what I do as well, and it works great. I just got Cody Lundin's "98.6..." book, and he's doing the same.

Cheers,

David
 
Moine said:
Yeah that's what I do as well, and it works great. I just got Cody Lundin's "98.6..." book, and he's doing the same.

Cheers,

David
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Yes, but did you see his section on knives -- to the effect that carbon steel knives are always softer than SS - softer being better? Otherwise great book by a guy who knows the very minimum about knives.
 
I use the back of a Case Sodbuster ss blade and get very good results. The back is squared off very sharp at the corners, I've also had great results with the can opener blade on my Wenger SAK.
 
I've tried every blade I own with the Kershaw firesteel and the BSA Hotspark. The only one that will not spark a steel is my Mora 2000. The best sparks came from using the awls of my SAK and German issue utility knife.
 
longbow50 said:
I've tried every blade I own with the Kershaw firesteel and the BSA Hotspark. The only one that will not spark a steel is my Mora 2000. The best sparks came from using the awls of my SAK and German issue utility knife.
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Is the German knife the one with the green scales and saw/can-opener?
 
Fred A,

I'll second the can opener on a Wenger SAK, the thing works about the best as anything I've ever tried. Mac
 
The sharp spine of my Fallkniven F1 worked fine. The rounded spine of the Sebenza did nothing of course, but the thumb-rest grooves on the Sebbie worked as good as the Fallkniven.

Ted
 
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