Ive loved making these things..The late great Mike Ameling's work and research prompted me into this..Now my wife makes and sells them as well..They have actually become a decent portion of her business..

 I think they are a fine medium for artistic work..A blend of form and function as it were..Just thought id post a few pics..Cant find some of the nice ones like a seahorse, etc..

 Anyone else like making these?

 

Cool. I really like the coiled one that looks like it was from a file with scales. I also enjoy making strikers mainly the bright ovals and C style with shoulders. In fact I may be teaching someone both tomorrow and another person on Sunday to make them.

Thanks for posting

Havent thaught about Mike Ameling for a long time

This brought back great memories of past get togethers

He was a great smith and a master at making strikers..

Have you tried all of the strikers you made to make sure they work?? I've had a booger of a time sometimes. I've left some so brittle they were like pure glass and they still wouldn't spark. I local smith(sorry I'll give credit when my old brain can remember his name) showed me a trick of grinding off a thin layer of   metal from those that don't work and BINGO the "good" layer is exposed! Don't know why.

I make a fair amount of them too. Those look very good indeed! 

 

I like the ones from old files. The steel is very good for a firesteel and leaving the teeth on looks nice too! 

 

Keep up the good work!

 

Andy

One of my favorite things to make. My favorite steel is old hay rake teeth. I have a lot of friends that fish, hike, hunt, camp, etc and so I have given a bunch of them away to them. I *always* start a fire with one before I give it away. I pack flint, steel, some char cloth and jute twine in an altoids tin before presenting them ad birthday, Christmas presents, etc. Almost always brings a smile. PS, I miss Mike too although I only knew him through this site.

I make a fair number of them, too.  I ususally use garage door springs.  There are some interesting eastern European ones on ebay.  There is an interesting display of various styles of firesteels used in N. America at the Museum of the Fur Trade near Chadron, NE.  If I can figure out how to get a photo of the display off my old computer and on to my lap top I'll try to post it here.  There are also illustrations of Spanish style ones in a book on SW Spanish Colonial Ironwork co-authored by our own Frank Turley.

 

I always give away a piece of flint with each firesteel because it is no fun if you can't play with it right away.  That's like getting half of a pair of tongs.

 

Strikingly,

George M.

We make all of ours from either recycles (good) files, 1095 or W1 just because we have a lot of it..Leave them dead hard after quecnhing in parks 50. Then grind the face smooth to remove decard..

 Just funt o make..Id like to have a bunch of dump rake teeth..Ive seen a spec analysis on some that came back just like file steel..About 1.27% carbon..Good stuff.

so.....how much for a dozen???

so.....how much for a dozen???

I like making them too much to make a dozen of the same thing..Besides, Im just a hobby hammerer.

I like making them too much to make a dozen of the same thing..Besides, Im just a hobby hammerer.

Same here. Just a hobby smith. Every now n then I'll do a small "custom" project for coal money :-)
Mostly I just give stuff away to family and friends. No threat to you guys that do this for a living...you guys produce more in a day than I do in a month.

Just went to a flea market and found a bunch of "snus" cans and turned them into striker kits with the char cloth and flint. I had a pile of char cloth that apparently caught a grinder spark at one point and I saw it at the end of the day pretty little pile of ash sitting on the table. I only edge harden mine in water and they work out pretty good.

Beautiful work!  I've always been impressed with flint strikers and the myriad of forms they've come in over the years.  I think they are great projects for beginning smiths, and are a great way to start the forging session.  I think I'll even start a new folder on my computer with nothing but pictures of the strikers, these included, so that I can remember to try my hand at new styles.

 

Here are two of my favorites from other smiths.  I would never have thought to try these techniques if I hadn't seen them on the net first!

 

http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=25558

 

http://forums.dfoggknives.com/index.php?showtopic=23131&hl=%2Bflint+%2Bstriker#entry217525

One of mine:



Thanks for looking.

We make all of ours from either recycles (good) files, 1095 or W1 just because we have a lot of it..Leave them dead hard after quecnhing in parks 50. Then grind the face smooth to remove decard..

 Just funt o make..Id like to have a bunch of dump rake teeth..Ive seen a spec analysis on some that came back just like file steel..About 1.27% carbon..Good stuff.

 

I have a dump rake that was partially crushed by a falling tree. If you're interested send me a private mail and we will work something out.

 

Bob

On the last striker that looks snail like. What's the rivet washer thing? Iron and steel? Decoration? I'm feeling it. Nice job

I've made a few and like low alloy high carbon steel, RR rail works a treat. I draw a temper till it sparks long lasting orange sparks, as quenched makes white sizzlers that don't last long enough to start even char. A red spark will work but . . .

 

Now I'm thinking about it I had an idea some years ago to make one "S" shaped with a spiral basket on the struck side to hold the char or tinder so I wouldn't burn my oh so delicate fingers.

 

Frosty The Lucky.

KYBOY: I make my strikers REALLY hard like you do,BUT some still won't strike a spark at all!!!! You mention grinding the edge? Is there something remaining on the edge after quenching that keeps tool from sparking??? Is my question clear? Thanks, Eric S.

Eric the most likely culprit is decarb of the steel from the forging process.  Grinding off a few thousandths gets back to hard steel... the same thing occurs with knives and other edged tools.  Thus the old advice to forge thick and grind thin!  

Thanks Bigfoot!!! Guess I never gave the reason for "the old saying" much thought! I've thrown a bunch of the darn things out! I'll try the grinding soon!!!!

A little more on fire steels. I took a photo of two pages appearing in "The Art of the Ironworks in Mexico" * Seeing these decorative steels leads me to theorize that they were made for caballeros, well dressed gentlemen of leisure. I suspect that the steels were carried in the vest pocket much as we formerly carried our pocket watches. The steels exhibit chiseling, carving, filing, abrading, and possibly drilling. There is some nice natural patination that took place plus the possible use of non ferrous metals.

 

Although the steel was called a chispa (spark) in New Mexico, the true Spanish name for it was eslabon, which also translates as a link, a chain link. This makes one wonder whether the earlier, simpler form was in the shape of a chain link.

 

Query. If the steels are dead hard, are they easily broken because of brittleness, or do you perform a differential hardening, just heating and hardening the business edge? I've also heard of "taking the snap out of a tool" by boiling in water after hardening.

 

*published by Grupo Financiero Bancomer, 1994, ISBN 968-6258-48-5                  

330Trapper here,

I've used strikers for 45 years...just started making my own. I use file Steel and a Thick conduit pipe to keep the heat in...propane torch, hammer and vice  grips.  I had one last night that being crude but fit well in hand- wouldn't spark. I got on here and read.  

Heated it up three times more letting  it cool naturally ( hard to wait ) after the fourth heating I quenched it in water.  Sparks like a mad Banchee Now!   . Thanks for the advice.

Scott 

I'm sure most of the posters on this thread are using good/high quality flints or chert(another word for flint) for good sparks.  For the beginner, low quality flints/cherts will not yield good or any sparking.  I've picked "identical" pieces out of a chert rock pile; one would spark like crazy, the other...nothing.  Same striker.  Test all you like to cull out the collection.

Welcome aboard Trapper, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you'll have a much better chance of hooking up with members living within visiting distance.

One of the tricks making strikers is generating the right kind of sparks. Dull red lasts a while but isn't hot enough to reliably kindle a fire, sizzling white sparklers don't last long enough to kindle. Fat orange sparks last plenty of time and are hot enough to kindle reliably.

When I first started making strikers I was having trouble getting the hardness just right. Then it occurred to me to over harden deliberately and draw the temper down to just right. I even tried drawing the temper holding the striker with vise grips and testing it with flint as it drew. 

Before long you can read the temper colors and stop the temper where you want it. 

I was using primarily coil spring but simple 1045 or better steel works better. 

Frosty The Lucky.