Fire Strikers???

[drogo]

I have been trying for a while to make some Fire steels. I just can't get them to work I've tried everything from iron to high carbon steel, difrent heat treats and diffrent pieces of flint. How do you make one? I'm going nuts here

thanks in advance

[civilwarblacksmith]

I make strikers from coil spring and when finished quench in oil. Make sure the front striking area is smooth. I also make strikers from old files. These I quench in water. I don't have a problem with them breaking as there really is no stress on them.

I also use 2 different type of stone. 1 is flint and the other is quartzite, which to me throws a better spark.

[Black Maple Forge]

I've heard that high carbon steel works best, and the striking edge should be sanded or ground clean and tempered to a straw colour.

Also, try this: YouTube - How to Forge a Steel Striker for Flint and Steel
It covers just about everything you need, I think!

[Frosty]

I've used most any medium or better carbon steel.

After hardening I check the spark and temper till I get big fat long lasting low yellow sparks, they seem to do the best job of lighting the tinder / char cloth. At full hardness you can get hissing white hot sparklers that are exciting to watch but don't light fires so well.

Another thing is make the striking face fairly narrow as a wide face doesn't shave nearly as well. The spark is caused by friction as the flint or other hard sharp stone shaves thin layers off the striker. A narrow face shaves better than a wide face.

The stone needs to be sharp to shave too.

Frosty

[drogo]

Thanks guys...Ill try it and get back to you all!!

[Finnr]

On my strikers I water quench, I use both files and coil spring. I quench only the face ( the part I'm going to be striking the flint with ) and don't draw any temper. Usually get nice long hot yellow sparks.
Finnr

[Don A]

Ditto to Finnr. I'm a big fan of old files.

Try this as well...

after you finsh forging and are ready to harden, clean the striking edge to bright, removing all the scale. Just hit it a lick on a belt sander/grinder, or just a wire brush and some sand paper if that's all you have. Scale / decarb can act as an insulator, so get it good and clean before you heat and quench it.

Like Finnr said, heat to non-mag and water quench... no temper.

Then, clean the edge to bright again before you try it. You shold see some serious sparks. If not, you've either got some bad steel or bad flint. I have done this dozens of times and have never had a failure.

Let us know how it goes,

Don

[drogo]

Hey Guys,

IT WORKED!!!

used an old file and quenched it in water(made sure it was clean first...thanks Don A). Nice big sparks

Thanks a bunch