Would this work for a hand grip?

[Jayrocko]

So a co-worker and I was talking today about hand made knives. He said that he wanted a survival knife made of a certain type of steel that is absurdly hard and a wooden handle. This got me thinking of a few basic survival needs: means of fire is huge, and cordage for many, many uses. So I was wondering if this idea would work or if it would fail: On one side of the of the knife tang is a removable flint like substance. Other side is a "striker" steel. If needed you can disassemble and light tinder. Not made for all the time use just a survival situation. All this wrapped in a paracord. (paracord alone is too thin and not much to hold on too)

Sorry for the crude picture but its a quick idea that I been pondering.

[Marksnagel]

Give it a try, take pics as you go and let us know how things turn out.

 

Mark <><

[tantrum86]

I use the back of a blade as a striker when I have flint, and a solidly handled blade is essential in a lot of survival situations. Flint and other survival items can also be integrated into a sheath fairly easily without compromising the blade in any way. Just something to think about and my 2 cents.

[Chinobi]

im not going to bother with a link, but the Swedish knife manufacturer Mora has partnered with Light My Fire and beat you to it =/

 

google up 'mora light my fire' or something containing any combination of those names and check it out.  It has a 3.75" blade with a removable flint inserted into the pommel such that the knife is still comfortably useable even with the flint detached.  used the spine of the blade (intentionally designed thick and with sharp corners) as the steel.  I bought two and have used them camping and have not been disappointed.

 

with respect to your intent to put paracord on/around the handle, if you feel that one layer of paracord is too thin try doubling it up, or putting down a base layer (cord or otherwise) and then a decorative second layer (I don't know the correct terminology but the archetypical open diamond shaped wrapping popularized on Japanese sword and knife handles comes to mind).

 

I would also refer you to check out Stormcrow's (member here) website, specifically his article from May 7 2012: Why I build what I build the way I build it. and head down to the 'post heat treat' part of the article about 2/3 down where he discusses handle treatments.  I also used to think that it was a good idea to keep cord on the handle in case of emergency, but it does make more sense to keep the handle permanent and solid on something that you are preparing to depend on to keep you alive in an actual survival scenario.  no sense planning to change your nice comfortable easy to hold knife grip to be smaller and have a different surface texture when you actually really need to use it!

[Loneforge]

You may try hidden pins with Neodymium magnets embedded into the scales. The scales will pop off to light fire and quickly re-attach. The hidden pins will hold scales in place. Just a thought. Pictures of finished project are a must...we love pics.

[Jayrocko]

Well as of right now I am not a knife maker. I plan on it one day for sure! Just seeing for future reference. I was thinking of just a slide lock system, but your idea of the neodymium magnets sounds great LB. Wouldn't have thought of that. Hmm maybe combine both ideas so it is somewhat locked in and held down if the cord is being used. This will be in the to do list when I become better with my skills.

My co-workers main concern was that there will be "hot spots" when the knife is used. This in turn will effect the knife's performance.

[ThomasPowers]

Look at the "metal match" system where you could drill a hole in the tang and mount the removable sparker

[Chinobi]

hot spots? as in areas of increased temperature of sufficient magnitude to affect the temper of the blade resulting from using some part of the knife as your striking steel?  pretty sure you are ok on that count.  Don't plan to use the blade as your striking edge though, use the spine.  this will prevent unnecessary physical wear on your cutting edge.  personally I wouldn't go out of my way to attach a second piece of medium carbon steel to the handle of an existing piece of medium to high carbon steel to facilitate striking.  plus, if you are striking on part of the handle, what are you holding onto while you perform said striking :blink:?

[Jayrocko]

Not too sure what he meant by the hot spots tbh. I will have to clear this up with him. The 2 pieces of handle are removable and used in combo to make a fire. Not using the handle itself. maybe put magnesium and a flint so there is some thing to catch the spark. I will have to hit the books more on this before I start the build. Thanks for the input all. :)

[SimonW]

I think your coworker meant areas on the handle that would cause irritation and eventually blisters. It quite literally feels like a hot spot on your hand, and you can usually find a red sore patch of skin to match. It's a warning, work any more like this and you are in trouble!