Using a Light My Fire with your knife?

Whiskey River

Whiskey River

Joined
Sep 13, 2007
Messages
1,598
I got a new LMF and with the attached scraper, the thing throws TONS of sparks... looks like it will work super! I was going to make an attachment for my sheath to hold just the LMF, not the scraper but then I "tried" the back of my blade and WT?? Nothing...... I couldn't get a spark to save my butt!

What gives? The knife is a San Mai bladed custom...... now with some gentle marks on it! ha ha

So..... does it take a certain type of steel to fire these or is it because my knife didn't have a sharp enough top edge to scrap properly? I actually tried it with a Busse GW too.... edge seemed sharp enough, but no luck!

Help... I see all kinds of sheaths with the Firesteel loop so it must work.
 
So in a life/death situation, the edge of the blade "should" work just fine, right? Not that I'd want that... but in a pinch.

My San Mai Custom has a slight rounding on the top edge... that's not gonna work I guess. So.... maybe I'll end up getting a Fiddleback of some sort.
 
The squareness of the spine, the steel type, and the type of heat treat are all factors that can effect how well a spine throws spark. A differential heat treat that softens the spine can cause the spine not to throw good sparks except out at the tip, Some stainless and alloy steels don't throw sparks that well, and some companies break the edges on spines because any sharp angle constitutes a weak point in a design. The edge always throws the best sparks so when I really need a fire and am using a fire steel I just use the edge.
 
I found a rock that has a perfect shape for the steel to fit in it. It works wonders for me. (The rock was actually found by my nephew, so it has meaning to have)
 
You can try different areas of the spine or try holding it at an angle. My Mora 510 wouldn't throw sparks for me unless I held the spine at a pretty steep angle. I've since flattened it on a diamond plate in one area.
 
You can use the choil on the Busse GW with a firesteel - it works.

The spines on factory Busses are not sharp enough to throw sparks unless you have one with the thumb notches (i.e. SAR 3).

A really sharp 90 degree spine can cut you - I sliced my thumb on a Fiddleback Forge knife by running it down the spine too hard. :o
 
Raining said:
You can use the choil on the Busse GW with a firesteel - it works.

The spines on factory Busses are not sharp enough to throw sparks unless you have one with the thumb notches (i.e. SAR 3).

A really sharp 90 degree spine can cut you - I sliced my thumb on a Fiddleback Forge knife by running it down the spine too hard. :o
Click to expand...

Wait what :confused:
The spine can't trow sparks because it's not sharp enough.
The choil, where you are meant to put your finger at times, is sharp enough to trow sparks.
That can't be right, can it ?
 
Hawkings said:
Wait what :confused:
The spine can't trow sparks because it's not sharp enough.
The choil, where you are meant to put your finger at times, is sharp enough to trow sparks.
That can't be right, can it ?
Click to expand...

A Busse Game Warden's choil is too small for any finger (unless you're an elf ;)) - it's more of a sharpening notch. And yeah, it's sharp enough close to the blade to throw sparks.
 
Whiskey River said:
....What gives? The knife is a San Mai bladed custom...... now with some gentle marks on it! ha ha

So..... does it take a certain type of steel to fire these or is it because my knife didn't have a sharp enough top edge to scrap properly? ....
Click to expand...
It's the sharpness (ie squared edges) & hardness of the spine that's the important thing.

Have a look at the following videos.

The first one shows three different stainless steels (2 of them are laminated, AKA San Mai blades) being used to strike a Misch metal rod.

[youtube]WvLt7Evafm0[/youtube]


The second shows a different stainless steel blade to strike a LMF firesteel :thumbup:

[youtube]4SHjFsAcDpM[/youtube]


Hope this helps.




Kind regards
Mick
 
What I would do in your case is go ahead and make the sheath for your knife, with the holder for the "light my fire". Keep the striker attache to the ferro stick with a lanyard and secure it to the sheath with a ranger band cut from inner tube (to keep it from flopping around.

That way you can use your knife for knife duties and your firestarter to start fires.
 
I have a CS Tanto in San Mai that throws showers of sparks. But, the edge of the spine is nearly sharp enough to cut. Yep, the choil on a Busse works fairly well. I have a BM that the choil is the only sharp edge in addition to the primary edge.
 
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