Mike Ameling

If you are going to attach it to the wall, then look at some of the old Shutter Dogs in the books. You slide the door past, and then swing the "dog" down to hold it in place.

The only real problem is having to physically spin that "dog" back out of the way to close the door. Making one end slightly heavier would keep it hanging straight up/down. But then the door's weight would hold it in place when turned horizontal - if not TOO heavy.

The hardware stores do have those spring C catches for screen doors. When placed right, a simple push will click/hold it open. Yet a simple pull will also then release it.

Sorry. I don't have any pics scanned in on these ... infernal machines.

Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.
Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Here's a couple pics of the Cooper's Tools I made a couple weeks ago.



Cooper's Tools - used to make wood barrels. I made them for a friend to use up at Grand Portage National Monument in Northern Minnesota. The T shaped stakes are Rivet Set stump anvils - for setting the rivets in the iron bands (if using iron on the barrels). The large "hooks" get driven into a stump and you "hook" the barrel stave you are carving on under the flared end, then press down on the other end with your body and carve the future barrel stave with a drawknife. The D looped pieces are the Heading Vice. The ends are forged/filed into a wood screw. You screw that end into the head of your barrel to pull it up into place. Where you screw it in eventually is where you drill the tap hole for the spigot. The other pieces are scorps or in-shaves. You use them to scrape and smooth the inside of your future barrel.

I initially made a pair of scorps using some stainless pipe I had. But I couldn't get it to heat-treat and hold an edge like I wanted it to. They worked OK for simple scraping, just not for shaving the wood. So I forged up some 1080 for another pair. I did not put wood handles on them. Karl will do that to fit his preferences.

Ah, the little projects we ... play .... with.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. But it did kind of remind me of those Viking era wood working tools I forged up years ago for one of those Living History people. He just needed the blades, shaves, and spoon drill bits. He was going to do all the wood handles himself. Never did see and pics of the finished tools.

John Seymour's book The Forgotten Crafts isbn 394-53956-7 shows an early picture of a clog sole maker using a stock knife on a simple 4-legged workbench. It also shows drawings of a Stock Knife and a Gripping Knife.

I would also start with a large truck leaf spring. The "handle" will take a lot of drawing out, but that is what those "dumb assistant's" are for. The advantage of drawing out that long handle from the spring steel is to have the strength and flex of it, without too much extra bulk. Something of a trade-off there.

I've made a number of cooper's tools over the years, but no stock knife yet. The last batch of tools included two cooper's block hooks, a couple heading vices, and some inside scorps. I could have used Jay's big air hammer on those cooper's block hooks. Tapering one end and flaring out the other end of 3/4 square tool steel takes a lot of ... muscle. My little 25# Little Giant barely dented it. I ended up using the short-handled 6 pound sledge to do the major metal movement. (Used an axle from a farm disc, so probably was 1080.)

Good luck with your project. Can't wait for the pics!

Mikey

When you choose your wood block, try to get a chunk of oak. It tends to last longer than things like pine. Plus end grain also works better and lasts longer. Although, you can get some interesting textures from pine or oak when hammering hot iron into its side. The different layers of wood growth tend to "char" at different rates - leading to different levels in the final iron piece you hammer into it. It is a subtle difference, but still there.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Nice look and detail on the cross.

Roger Cook up in northern Minnesota always forges crosses like this from Wrought Iron if he can. He then works it a little "cold" when he is finishing them up. That "colder" work then has the wrought iron splitting/separating a little. This helps give some of that "wood grain" texture.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

The spark test is a better way to go. First grind a piece of regular modern mild steel - for a comparison. You should see medium length streamers, with some "twinkling" sparks - and fairly white-ish. Then grind the possible wrought iron. The streamers should be a lot redder and fly out longer. And there should be almost no or none of those twinkling sparks that fly out only a little ways before the twinkle out.

The twinkling sparks are the carbon in the metal burning. Wrought iron would have very little of it.

If the metal bar has been aged/rusted a bunch, you can then start to see some of that fibrous structure - like wood grain.

Mikey

My first thought would have been decorative leather work. With a lot of use, the other end would get that "hammered" look from all the stamping done. The next thought was decorative TIN work. Stamping designs into sheets of tin. Most people think about the decorative punch-through or chisel-through work on tin, but lots was also done by just tapping in a design using stamps.

Mikey

The sheet iron I start with for my sheet iron pipes is the rectangular cut-outs/drops from making steel household doors. The piece is cut out to form the hole for the Mail Slot. So I salvaged a bunch of the drops. After sanding/grinding the paint off of them, it's good sheet iron for cold forging.

I also use a lot of push lawn mower blades. They are generally made from either 1084 or 5160. They make up into good flint strikers, knife blades, and draw knives or scorps for wood working.

I also use a lot of "agricultural" steel. So much of it is made from 1080 carbon steel. Like plow shares, cultivator points, disc blades, mower knives, hayrake teeth, etc. How to use the stuff is limited only by your imagination.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

I've seen your pipes here (I think?) before, very cool objects!

Do you know if they are seen elsewhere in the world other than the US? I'm guessing Holland for some reason, but not being a smoker I haven't thought about them before.

Well, they were made for trade to the Indians here in North America. So they would have originally been made over in Europe somewhere. The ones that were found down in the Tunica Indian village sites on the Gulf Coast were associated with a French colony and traders. Those found up at the Seneca Indian sites were trading with both France and the Dutch out of their colony of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island - before the British conquered it and renamed it New York. Around the Great Lakes was mostly French trade goods - even after the British won the 7-Years war and took over Canada from France. They still use French trade goods, or made their own based upon French goods. So the Dutch/French/Flanders areas are the most likely original source of them as "trade goods".

Now, I keep hearing stories about them also being "sailor's" pipes. Don't have any specific documentation, but I hear it often.

Early 1600's on up into the early 1800's is a long time for them to be traded here in North America. Yet they never were as popular or wide-spread as the various clay pipes.

Another little ... detail ... lost to history.

Mikey

The foot print of my "shop" (a very charitable description) is 15 x 18 feet. Of that I only really use an area about 9x10 for forging. The rest is mostly "storage". But my "shop" is just 6 sheets of old roofing tin nailed to some scrap 2x4's held up by a couple posts setting on the ground, and with plastic tarps coming down the sides mostly to the ground. It keeps the rain off, and the snow out - mostly. But I've also got less than a hundred bucks in it. I don't know what I'd do in a REAL shop?

24x18 for 1400 or 24x24 for 1800? The best advice I could give is to scratch up that extra 200 each and go with the bigger building. In the end you will be far happier with the extra room.

The "hard part" of a shop building is keeping the ... storage ... usage under control. Stuff just accumulates. And the creeping loss of usable floor space is hard to notice/realize.

Steel materials storage above in the rafters is nice, but requires more planning. As in the extra STRENGTH of the roof system to handle the added weight. And the problems with access to it - first to haul it in and get it up there, and then to get pieces back down to use. Plan for a "short stock" storage area right away - for those cut-offs, odd lengths, and scraps. It is very hard to throw them away for most normal blacksmiths. But you also don't need them under your feet while working.

So I would echo what others have said. Build as big as you can for the money you have on hand - and bigger if possible to arrange. Available "space" gets et up faster than common bar stock.

Just a few humble thoughts to share. Take them as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. If you can, think about where/how an addition to your shop might be built right now before you start the main shop. A good spot for the main shop might be better shifted a few feet to one side when it comes time to put an addition on - such as a lean-to along one side.

p.p.s. Also look into what it might cost to extend the roof/rafters out a couple feet to the sides. Extending them out 4 to 6 feet gives you a lot of "outside" storage. Like, for example, a wall-mounted steel storage rack under roof, and with a plastic drop tarp to protect it from the weather.

I've never looked at golf clubs - either new or old. So I would not know how they were originally made.

I see "golf" as a 4-letter word. Know why they called it "golf"? Because all the GOOD 4-letter words were already taken!

Mikey

Mike, do you have any pictures of Roman strikers from the 1st Cent BC to 1st

I posted a bunch of pics in my Gallery in the Album called Roman Flint Strikers. All but one pic are of originals.

I only had a few reproductions on hand at this time. I need to make more.


These are the "sled" style - because they resemble the profile of a dog sled. But these also are now being sold as original Colonial American era "musket" or "flintlock" combination tools/strikers. They claim that the tail is a screw driver, and the prow point was a vent pick.



These C shaped strikers show some of the variety. Form barely over and inch long to 4 inches in length. From 1/16 inch thick to over 1/4 inch thick. And the treatment of the ends varies also - from both ends left fairly straight to both ends having extra little curls on them. But most tend to have some sort of "peak" in the middle, and are made fairly symmetrical.



The Ovals vary quite a bit as well. The center opening on some is barely more than a slit, while other are open enough to stick your fingers through to hold them. And the thicknesses vary just like the C's.


Decorations can be very simple/plain, or they may have chiseled in decorations. The one P style I thought had been made from a file when I saw the cross hatching marks on it. But once cleaned up a bit more, those markings are only on one half of each side. Clearly just decoration. The one squared up oval striker has half-moon decorations chiseled/stamped into it.

And you can also see some of the ... wear pattern ... on the striking surface of some of those originals. They were used a LOT to wear in that "step" in the striking surface.

You can see how some of the C shaped strikers could easily be passed off as original Colonial American flint strikers. The shapes have not changed very much over all the centuries. But some of the "details" tend to point towards those early Roman times: the "peak" in the middle, and the symmetrical treatment of the ends - either each end left straight/pointed or each end with an extra little curl.

I really like the "coiled snakes" style - each end is drawn/tapered out and then folded back/forth on itself until the ends finally meet at the top. It's actually fairly hard to get them to come out even! You have to measure out from the center, and then make each bend the same on both sides - starting with both ends tapered out the same way and distance.

I've tested a bunch of mine out as flint strikers. They still work, and work well! I usually carry one of the P style or the dog sled style with single loop and prow point. I like the feel of carrying and using such an old tool to start my humble campfires.

So check out the pics in my Album in my Gallery. Lots of ... inspiration ... in there.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. That chain on the one P style was made out of full WELDED rings bent in half and then hooked through each other to for the chain - with the last one connected to the striker with a simple jump ring. Yeah, those tiny rings were WELDED!

I had never heard of this - and was surprised that there is no Wikipedia entry on it! I had thought that Wikipedia covered almost everything. Guess not.

You can find a bunch of info about that tool chest and its contents on the Viking Answer Lady's web site. I think the address still is The Viking Answer Lady Webpage but a web search would lead you to it otherwise.

Spoon drill bits are a fun project. They do work very well for wood - if you can get them made up true/even/balanced and keep them sharp. A few years ago I made up versions of most of the wood working tools in that old Viking era tool chest, plus a number of the blacksmithing tools. I even made up several of the forging hammers from just wrought iron without any steel face welded on. They hold up very well in use - if you only hammer HOT iron. But the head does slowly start to swell/mushroom out - which just adds to the historical look of them.

Years ago I picked up the book on those tools from Centaur Forge. And Norm Larson Books also used to carry it. They have good black/white photos of the tools, but also very good detailed drawings, and also measured descriptions. It's one of those good ... reference ... type books to have around for inspiration.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Alot of people have mentioned the obvious metals to make striker; files, coil spring, etc. Any type of tool or spring steel will work.

Not all "tool" steels will work well for making a flint striker. The key point is the carbon content. When you mix in other metal alloys, it affects the heat-treating and how "available" the carbon is for the sparks. So you would need to test some chunks of any unknown or "other" tool steels to see if they will properly heat-treat and work for sparks with flint.

That's why lots of people try to stick with the plain carbon steel - of 70 points carbon or higher.

Roman striker shapes/sizes? I will see if I can scan in a pic of some typical ones. They vary quite a bit in size, thickness, and shapes. I've seen C shaped Roman strikers that were over 1/4 inch thick, and also some that were less than 1/16 inch thick. And over 5 inches long and under 2 inches long. So much depends upon what the original smith wanted to make that day. Plus, once you start looking at some, you start to see the little ... variances ... in the forging - like poor symmetry, uneven tapers, kinked bends, fudged chiseling of designs - all those normal little problem details.

Cotton or linen for charcloth seems to work best when it has been washed many many times. All that "wear" just seems to fluff up the threads/fibers so they catch a spark better. That's why old blue jeans and T shirts work so well.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

What part of Iowa are you in? I'm up in the NE Corner.

Check out the UMBA web site - Upper Midwest Blacksmith Association. They have regular meetings/hammer-ins south of Cedar Rapids in the little town of Haverhill. And another "chapter" meets over near Davenport all the time. Plus the guys working at Living History Farms down west of Des Moines can usually point you in the right direction.

The big gas/steam engine swap meet near Waukeee (west side of Des Moines just off the big loop around freeway) is coming up Memorial Day Weekend. There should be near a dozen different anvils being offered for sale there. A number of years ago I picked up a 125# large T stump anvil there - about 2 foot high by 3 foot across from point to point. Tapered round on one long horn and tapered square on the other. And a year later I picked up a smaller stump anvil - 65# around 15 inches high by 12 across the horns. It has a big 3 and little 1 stamped on all four sides just above the fullered collar around the base above the tang --- really old English markings for 3 stone and one pound. The long tang has a hole/slot punched through it 6 1/2 inches down from the base of the anvil. This would be consistent with slipping it into a tapered hole in a beam and then pegging it so it would not come out. So ship-board use of possible a traveling forge anvil.

So you never know what might show up at one of those gas/steam engine swap meets.

Also ask the owner when you stop into an antique/junque store. Many times they have one, just not out on display. One shop I know had 2 in the basement. They just didn't have a good spot in their showroom to put them.

Just a few possibilities. Anvils on farm sales/auctions are about over with. It used to be that every 3rd auction or so had an anvil. Then it went to one in ten. Now they are kind of rare to see on a farm sale.

Hope this helps.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

I don't have a caliper or feeler gauge, but the original sheet iron is around 1/16 inch thick. The scraps measure 2 1/8 by 8 5/16 inches. Out of each piece I can cut 3 pipe bowl patterns, or two regular length pipe patterns, or one long-stem pipe pattern. The long-stem pattern is the same as the regular stem pattern, just extended out the full length of the metal piece. The regular pattern runs from each end and runs up to where the flair for the bowl starts on the other pattern piece. So you only really need one pattern. Just cut it off for the length of pipe you want to make. 2 1/2 inches long for just the pipe bowl, 6 1/2 inches long for the regular stem pipe, and 8 1/4 inches long for the long stem version.

Here's the thumbnail link to that pattern pic.


Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. And here you thought ... larnin history ... ended with grade school.

I ran across these sheet iron and sheet brass pipes while searching for other historical fur trade era iron work to replicate. Like so many things, once I found one, I started to find others in books and museums. Yes, they are in the same general shape as those clay pipes so many people are familiar with in Living History circles. But they started showing up in the early/mid 1600's down in the Tunica Indian village sites along the Gulf Coast of Georgia and Alabama. Then I found some brass examples in a museum in Upstate New York - from a mid/late 1600's Seneca Indian village site. And one still had remnants of cattail leaf wrapped around the stem! Then there were examples in Maryland dated to 1725, around the Great Lakes from the late 1600's up into the early 1800's, late 1700's in the upper Ohio River valley, and even an account in Minnesota near present day Mankato at a Fort Huiler dated 1700. Some French officer was trying to negotiate a truce/treaty between two Indian tribes, and brought ... presents.

I make these up from some "scraps" of about 20 gauge steel. The "scraps" are from the cut-out on a steel house door for where the mail slot goes. I use the sanding/flap disk on my angle grinder to sand/grind off the baked on paint coating. So the sheet ends up being slightly thinner than 20 gauge by the time I get down to bare metal on both sides. The scraps are free, and work well. I cut the pattern out using a Beverly B-2 shear, clean up the sharp edges, and then start hammering. Yes, they can and do rust. But they also develop that nice old iron patina with time and handling.

Yes, they can get HOT in use. But so can the clay pipes just like them. So you do need to develop your own method of holding them. A friend puts that "sailor graffiti" on them - fancy knot work and needle hitching. It works well to insulate things, and makes them really stand out. Others just put a couple wraps of leather thong around the stem by the bowl.

The other thing friends keep mentioning to me is how they DON'T BREAK like the clay pipes do all too easily when you drop them on the stone floor!

I sell them for: $20 for the pipe bowls for use with a reed stem, $25 for the regular length stem pipes, and $35 for the long stem versions. Kyle Willyard the knife maker usually has a number along when he goes to the CLA show (Contemporary Longrifle Association). And he also has them on his web site - but for a higher price. Last year he sold out the first day. I offer dealers a $5 per pipe wholesale discount on quantity orders - from my normal retail price.

In my photo gallery, I have another picture or two - including one with the simple pattern. I ain't worried about any ... competition ... on these. I know the work involved, and anybody willing to do that work has my blessings. Plus there's no great secret to them. Most anybody can figure out a pattern for making them with a little thought and tinkering. Plus you can't get a Patent on anything so old.

But I do need to pick up some brass sheet, and start making a few from that. Of course, I expect to have to anneal the brass at least once, if not more often during the hammering to shape.

It's a fun project. And this November I will be talking some participants through hammering up their own version - at the annual NAVC Fall Conference near Madison Wisconsin - North American Voyageur Council. I hope I know what I'm getting myself into ...

Just another little item to help keep me from having to ask you if "... you want fries with that?"

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Here's a pic of the latest batch of sheet iron pipes. These were hammered up cold using a V-shaped trough in the end of an oak block to start them. And then hammered around a re-worked punch for an inside mandrel to true up the bowl portion. I form them as a long tapered cone, then bend the bowl part and trim the edges. The tricky part is to bend the bowl enough to narrow it down to help keep the tobacco in it, while not kinking it too tight so that it pinches off the draw. The seam up the side is not soldered. I gave it an initial bead of elmer's glue to help seal it. In use it will gunk up naturally from the inside, and seal itself.



They are a fun project to ... tinker with. And historically they date from the early/mid 1600's on up into the early to mid 1800's - in sheet iron and in sheet brass. You can see the clay versions at most Living History events and sites, but seldom see the sheet iron versions. In use they do heat up a bit, but not much more than the clay pipes.

The little ... projects ... we play around with...

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

Something few people think about is using two sections as a version of a treadle hammer or power hammer. One section becomes the bottom - sticking straight up with the end being the "anvil". Another becomes the striking "hammer" - again using the end for the hitting surface. To clean things up and gain "clearance", cut the flat T section back from the bulbous "rail" portion. The rest of the flat T portion gives you lots of options for mounting it in place.

Just an option.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Yes, railroad track right-o-ways are considered company property, and any "iron" on them is railroad property. Picking anything up would be viewed as theft. The railroad companies have contracts with various companies for such "scrap". And merely walking on the road bed can be considered Trespass.

I've made several "plate holders" in the past. Trying to come up with a design that doesn't look mass-produced or just welded together bars is a challenge.

For several, I made them up to look like the old fireplace Scotch Broiler. It is in the shape of the upside down U omega shape, with several cross bars riveted on, and a short "shelf" across the bottom but up about an inch. These originally would have been set in front of a fireplace, with a leg from the top sticking back to prop it up. You would them lean a hunk of meat or piece of bread on it, resting on that "shelf", and heat it up and roast it in front of the fire.

For the plate holders, I made them without the back prop/brace, and with a couple holes to mount them to the wall. The bottom "shelf" stuck out a little farther, and was also lipped up a bit to help hold a plate on it. When sized right, they made a good display for a large pottery platter.

So something similar but larger could be made up to hold those ceramic blocks. From the front they would be barely noticeable. But from the side or back you would be able to see any "fancy" work.

Just an idea.

Plus any manner of vines with leaves and tendrils to hold up and "grasp" the stones/blocks would look nice. Kind of like the vines taking over and growing up/around the stones.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

A lot depends upon the whims of the people coming through.

One of the simplest things to show/do/sell would be forged nails. Nothing very fancy, just a basic forged nail. With a little practice/experience they can be made very quickly - so people's attention span isn't taxed too much. And for a buck a piece, you will be amazed at how many "souvenirs" get picked up every day. One friend at a 3-day weekend event sold $400 of just nails! And he was just ... tinkering around a bit. But he did have a bunch pre-made to refill his bowl if he was not keeping the production up to meet demand.

And most everybody can think of a use for a hand-made nail - usually as a tacked in coat hook.

For a bit of flair, you can always curl the end of that forged nail, and turn it into a necklace.

But mostly it meets so many of the requirements of a demonstration. Something that can be made in a pretty short amount of time, can serve a purpose the people can see, and can still be inexpensive souvenir of the visit/experience.

I've also turned standard horseshoe nails into small keyring hooks. They can be done cold. Just hammer the head flat to spread it out. Then use scrolling pliers to put a tiny curl on the end and the bend the rest of the nail into a hook. Now use a small drill to put a hole in that flattened head. With a small nail or screw, you can then mount that keyring hook wherever they want.

S hooks for hanging plants are also a nice item. A quick taper and small scroll on each end, and that larger hook/bend in opposite directions on the ends finishes the project. Vary the lengths - from 3 inches total up to one foot long "bar" hangers. And you can always make up a number of the S hooks, and then link them together with the ending loops tapped tight - to form short (or long) lengths of decorative chain. 3/16 inch square or round stock works very well.

Hope these few humble rambling thoughts help.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

I have another question. I have 30' of cable off my line truck/crane truck when I was working in the oil field. My understanding is the cable is high carbon steel. I am planning on trying to build som knives and tomahawks from it but got thinking I might work as a flint striker. Any help please? also the cable is covered in crude and dirt wil that make a difference? how can I clean it up so I can use it?

The cable probably has enough carbon content in it.

But the question to ask is WHY use it to make a flint striker?

The reason to use cable to make a knife is to get that random "damascus" pattern in the finished knife blade. The several different steel alloys react differently when "etched" by acids - to show off those differences in the finished blade.

But is all the extra work of forge-welding that cable into a solid billet, and then forging it into a flint striker worth it?

Before you start heating/forging your cable, check out its construction. A lot of cable has a fiber/rope core. That will need to be removed before you can weld it up. Some people use gasoline, kerosene, or de-greasing fluid to clean the gunk off of cable. Others just "burn" it out - either in a wood fire or in their forge. And the rest of the "gunk" generally gets cleared out by the borax flux during the welding process.

But the best place to ask about this would be in the Knife Making part of the forum. Those guys have the experience with cable to share.

Mikey

well.... i did talk with the guy and strikers wernt all he had there ... i dont think these were the roman ones (i have a couple of those) the provenance was pretty good ... he had them as part of a collection of antiques from a single party he had hi graded the really good stuff and was selling the stuff he wasnt interested in keeping... the other items in collection fit the time pereod and had a original "feel" . Ive been checking out antiques for a long time and can generally spot scammers...also he wasnt asking a arm and a leg for um ... i do understand there are a lot of scammers out there tho and it is why i no longer collect old beads .. they are getting real good at ageing them to make um look old...anyway this stuff was the real thing as far as i could determine ...

Oh, I have no doubts about them being old - just from looking at the pictures. That ... old iron been in the ground a long time ... look. The C shaped strikers are the hardest to really judge the age of. That C shape crosses all the centuries from very early Roman times up to the present. But there are little ... differences ... that tend to set them apart by time periods. Of the several other shapes/styles he had in those pictures, they never were made/used past about the 5th century, possibly 6th - early Middle Ages. They just do not show up in the books and museums. And they were NEVER over here in North America - until a few years ago.

I've seen enough strikers form ALL time periods to have those in the pictures just ... scream ... Roman era flint strikers to me. So 1800 years old instead of 200 years old. And I do have the 4 known reference books on flint strikers, plus around a dozen more with flint strikers covered in parts of them.

So either that seller changed their story/history, or the guy he got them from made the change and he "believed" it. Or the guy before him. And we are then back to that old story - "that's what the guy I got them from told me". The ... provenance ... of the whole collection would now be in question because of those few questionable items. And all because early American artifacts sell for more than early Roman artifacts.

Just my humble opinion. Take it as such.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

i was looking thru some pictures i took this summer and figured this would be a good place to post um. a guy at the rocky mountian primatives rondezvous had these antiques for sale ...i asked if i could take pictures he said sure! so here are some pictures of a few original strikers mostly 18th and 19 th century.

LOL And so another evil-bay scammer strikes again! Yes, he was peddling old original flint strikers. But they are far older than his descriptions. He bought them off of evil-bay as original 1st to 3rd century Roman artifacts for 5 to 10 bucks a piece, "creatively" re-wrote their history, and jacked the price up several fold to sell them as original 18th century American flint strikers - for 60 to 80 or more bucks a piece!

As Colonial American flint strikers, they sell for much much more than as the original early Roman artifacts they actually are - mostly coming out of the Balkans. A lot of scammers are doing this right now on evil-bay. It started about 2 or 3 years ago. When you ask them about it, their usual response is "that's what the guy I got them from told me". If you do a search on evil-bay for "roman fire" you will generally see a number of them listed at any one time. Then do a search for "flint striker", and then see the claims some sellers are making.

Once you have studied flint strikers throughout the centuries, you then can see the problems. Many of those early styles/shapes went out of fashion and use well back in the Middle Ages or before. A sad commentary of some sellers, and what they will do ... just to make more money.

I've also had several of the flint strikers I make/sell get bought and then re-listed as originals in VERY GOOD condition! But it also isn't too hard to artificially "age" iron/steel. In a few weeks time, I could make a new-made flint striker look like it is 200 or 2000 years old. It ain't hard, just very unethical.

Also check out the one message thread I started down in the Sculpture section - on flint strikers as art. Lots more examples of shapes/styles of flint strikers to try to make.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. Be careful about using "old" files. Recent files can be made from soft iron that has been case-hardened. So only the teeth and a few thousandths of an inch have the high enough carbon content to make into a flint striker. Many of the Chinese imports are like that. But Nichoson's are still good.

Lots of "agricultural" iron is made from 1080 carbon steel. So most things will work for strikers (and knives). Things like plow shares, cultivator points/shovels, disc blades, and the new version of hayrake teeth. I pick up the new hayrake teeth at the local Farm Fleet for around 1.30 each. By the time you straighten them out, you end up with around 30 to 36 inches of 1/4 diameter steel rod. Cheaper than buying new drill rod. And the yellow/green/orange paint burns right off. A 5 inch length makes a good classic C striker. I square/flatten them up, run them under the flatter, and the taper/curl the ends and form my strikers. They have worked out very well for me.

But chopping up a bolt-on replacement plow share can be fun. You get a lot of metal for the price, but working it down to usable sizes takes time/effort. Still less than buying a piece of sheet 1080 steel that size. Yeah, buying a finished product costs less than buying the new steel. Go figure ...

I also have very good results using old push lawn mower blades. You can generally pick them up for free. They are usually made from either 1084 or 5160 steels. Again, the hardest part is cutting them up into more usable sizes. Plus working around the part numbers stamped into some of the steel.

Garage door springs. Yes, they can work well. But they can also create some problems. They can vary a bit in the actual alloy content. Recent ones tend to be re-melt, and are made to a minimum mix standard. So you can run into sections that can have quite a difference in the actual metal alloy content. This can then lead to problems heat-treating.

Hope this helps.

Mikey - that grumpy ol' German blacksmith out in the Hinterlands

p.s. In my Gallery pics, I have examples of a number of flint striker shapes/styles. There are literally dozens of possibilities - based on original artifacts from very early Roman times B.C. on up to the present.