Flint Striker

[Chris Waldon]

Today I attempted to forge a flint striker. (I recently visited Colonial Williamsburg, VA; and couldn't resist when I saw flint at $2 per hunk) It was made from the axle of a lawnmower blade, which I guessed would be high carbon. It seems I must have been wrong. The striker, quenched in water, chips away the flint without producing a single spark. Was I mis-informed about the necessity of high carbon steel? Or about the quench? I know that I chose questionable metal, at best. Anyone have a guess as to what a lawnmower blade axle might be made of?

I don't know how commonly known flint strikers are, so I decided to include a brief description:
A thin, long, square or rectangular piece of high-carbon steel that is curved into a tall "c". Designed to fit over the first three fingers of either hand, it is used by striking perpendicular to the edge of a piece of flint to produce a spark.

Thanks

[bigfootnampa]

My guess is that your steel was too low in carbon. Axle steels tend to be 4140 or some similar medium carbon steel. The Mower BLADES are often 1095 which should work as that is also commonly used for file making. Old files are a standard source of striker steel. I have done a few of these though and they are harder than they seem. It's easy to get them too brittle or not hard enough. BTW you don't really STRIKE the flint... the steel just rubs against a sharp edge of the steel... the flint actually shaves bits of the steel which produce the sparks. You hold a char cloth right on the flint surface so that the sparks can fall on it and start an tiny ember. Sorry if you already knew all this but some may not.

[pkrankow]

Find or make a thin edge on the flint. If your flint is a cube you may have to fire it so it can fracture. (campfire, couple hours, let cool in the ashes) Hold that in one hand, with the edge pointing slightly up. Hold the striker in the other hand, then practice buffing your fingernails on your shirt. After you are comfortable with that motion, apply the same movement to the edge of the flint. You are not striking the flint but barely scraping it. The sparks should form on the TOP of the flint as the hard metal is being pared away by the harder flint.

Did you file test your striker? A file should bite poorly or skate on the striker. The outer most layer is sometimes softer than 1/2 mm deeper.

There are several good threads on flint strikers with lots of pictures.
Phil

[VaughnT]

Did you temper the steel?

I have never yet seen a striker work if it was tempered. Hardened, yes, but not softened by tempering.

I've always used those cheapo screw-drivers you find at flea markets. You know, the ones with the brown wood handles that are everywhere!!

Lousy drivers, imo, but great stock for flint strikers.

[Swamptroll]

Go to a flint knapper site to find out how to drive a flake off. Try paleoplanet through a google search and there should be some info there and also where to buy or find flint/chert

[Dave Budd]

Even if the steel was ok and hardened correctly, there are a couple of other things to look out for.

Firstly the decarb layer; so grind a little off the edge before trying to get any sparks for the first time.

Secondly, the edge on the flint needs to be a sharp angle (any rounding or crumbled edges won't work very well)

Thirdly it could be your technique. have you ever used a flint striker before? you need to try and shave a bit of steel off your striker with the hard flint edge. Lots of people fail first time coz they just smash the flint up!

files are your best bet for strikers though. Don't even need to reforge them if you don't mind the shape and texture; just snap a bit off and grind the teeth from one edge

[Alec.S]

Today i made one out of a file ......had a lot of drawing down to do.......it works very well on any flint, hardened edge, i am happy with it......I will post pics soon!.


alec