Flint Striker

[matt87]

Arbalist. What you are doing is slicing off thin shavings of the striker with the flint. A smooth surface will work far better than a rough one , Zippo not withstanding.
Finnr

Zippos and their like don't use flint, they use a 22-odd-element alloy known variously as ferrocerrium, Mischmetal and various other names -- it's like those rods you can get from Light My Fire, the Swedish Army, BCB etc. The steel wheel grinds bits from the 'flint', whereas in a real flint-and-steel the flint shaves off bits of steel, as you say.

[oakwoodironworks]

There is a good tutorial on Making a Striker for Flint and Steel Fire Making by Buster Grubbs at Ocmulgee Blacksmith Guild :: Home . Go to the site and look under Tutorials/How To's.

[hammerkid]

Thanks Oak. I plan on making a few out of some fills and some coil spring , to see which i think does better. Where is a good source to get the flint??

[hammerkid]

flint strikers......either you be lucky or you be better than average......I can't get consistent sparkers.... so I would like to buy some from those who have the talent....PM me please....oh and I have a bunch of flint for trade...but I need good strikers

Rt look at that Link Oak posted. I printed the bp off , cause I wanna make some flint strikers. I was reading the tips and it said to forge it in a coal forge cause if you forge it in a gasser cause it wont throw as good as sparks as if it was forged in a coal forge.

[Frosty]

I've never noticed a difference forging strikers in gas or coal. Some folk will attribute anything to back up their dislike of one tool, system, etc. or another.

There should be some sources of flint in Tn, if not chert works well. Check the yellow pages for a rock shop and ask them about the local gem and mineral society. The shop will probably be able to sell you some and the rock hounds will be able to tell you where to find some or trade you for something custom like a hand forged pry bar, rock chisel, etc.

Frosty

[Quenchcrack]

Does anyone make and sell the char cloth to go with the strikers? Is there a way to make a bunch of it quick and easy?

[rfdecarter]

Simply cut squares of cotton cloth and put them in a closed container with an exhaust hole (small) punched in it. Toss it in a fire...when flame and smoke from the exhaust hole remove from fire and plug hole with a toothpick.... let cool and you have char cloth


some candy tins have nice fitting lids and make good char tins

[dablacksmith]

Thanks Oak. I plan on making a few out of some fills and some coil spring , to see which i think does better. Where is a good source to get the flint??

you shouldnt have a problem getting a rock to work as flint ... check with some of your local reinactors for a source ..if you cant find anything let me know ive got a few pounds of it ... any steel that hardenes up will probably work for striker . if you wonder it a piece will work harden it then hit it with a grinder if you get a lot of sparks it works! it is the same thing your doing with flint your scrapeing steel off the striker at enuf speed to cause it to burn! I quit useing files cause they end up to be more work to make and are a bit brittle.ive probably made 5 -7 thousand strikers over the years ..In the past 10 years or so ive been useing garage door springs as the stock is cheap and works well .. have fun!

[rthibeau]

Quenchcrack...pm me your address if you still need some char cloth.......I've made a bunch to put in fire starter kits.

[oakwoodironworks]

I make my char by using an old 100% cotton towel cut up in to 2 in. squares and put them in an old Altoids can that I drilled a small hole in. Build a small fire and put the can in it and leave it until no more smoke comes out of the hole (this process is the same principle as making charcoal) Let it cool and you should have some char cloth ready to use with your flint and steel.
Mike

[Quenchcrack]

rthibeau, thanks for your generosity. I suppose I should learn how to do it myself, though. Biggest problem is finding a tight-fitting container to burn it in. I have seen small brass containers that were said to be used for the striker, the flint and the cloth. However, how delicate is the cloth once it is burned? Wouldn't the abrasion of the flint and striker tend to break up the cloth into tiny bits? What else would be useable in place of char cloth? Maybe a tiny, authentic leather bottle of Scout Juice? :-)

[rthibeau]

I put the char cloth in small tins, about one inch or so in diameter, and put that tin into a larger one, 4" dia, with the flint, steel, magnifying lens and a length of hemp for use as tinder. Char cloth is rather fragile and that protects it. Could just wrap it in paper or something. Some people use lint like from the clothes dryer instead of char cloth.

[belargehair]

We use altoids tins, on top of a one burner camp stove. Works great. Then we pack the little squares in little zip-lock baggies

[Arbalist]

Denim (old Jeans) makes good Char Cloth I'm told. :)

[dablacksmith]

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.

[oakwoodironworks]

Real nice strikers! If they could talk, just think of the stories they could tell.

[divermike]

Reading through this thread got me to thinkin, I have never made one of these, so while my wife was enjoying the present I got her, (A Mama Mia DVD) I snuck out and got the coal forge going, after burning up the first small file, and burning the end off of this one, I got down to this one, not great, but it sure satisfied the cravings, and now I have a greater appreciation for what a pain they are until you get used to doin them.

[garbear]

I have used old denim for char cloth and it works great. I made some fire kits but ordered the strikers before. I was wondering if anyone has used any other steel other files and garage springs. I have old rail road spikes disks from farm equipment can I use those to make strikers. also I have seen strikes that are knives was wondering if anyone can direct me to a tutorial on how to make a striker knife.

Edited May 13, 2009 by garbear

[dablacksmith]

I have used old denim for char cloth and it works great. I made some fire kits but ordered the strikers before. I was wondering if anyone has used any other steel other files and garage springs. I have old rail road spikes disks from farm equipment can I use those to make strikers.

harrow rake tines and a lot of things in the 60-95 points carbon range rr spikes wont get hard enuf . not sure about discs but it would not be a convienient source (hard to get into a size useable)most springs will work .. and theyre are a lot of different things that use coil springs . good luck!

[wolfshieldrx]

I've made them from hay rake tines and tire tools...both work great. Recently acquired a coil spring of appropriate diameter...not sure what it came from. I plan to try it my next forge session. After you make one, take a walk along a railroad track. Try the striker with any likely looking stone...my experience is that you will find a "flint" in short order. bart

[Yance]

I went the file route with a couple but now use only broken garage door springs. Have a couple of different diameters. I forge the stock square first, then either spread and scroll or taper and scroll. I've made some double scrolled ends that look right sharp. Don't have a pic of one since they went to friends but it's a small tight full turn, then turned back on itself. The taper makes a "graduated" scroll very easily.

As for charcloth, I've had great luck with old T shirt material. Just cut into rough squares small enough to fit in an Altoids tin, ( have a wire loop around it in case the lid decides it wants to warp open), and toss it over on the "cool" area of my coal forge. There's enough vent because of the hinge cuts that there's no need for a vent hole. Once the flame and smoke stops, just lay it aside to cool. Want a LARGE quantity at one time, just use a (new) quart paint can from Lowe's of Home Depot (after burning off the plastic lining). This one will need a vent hole punched with a fairly large diameter nail like a roofing tack. Keep the nail handy for when the can comes out of the fire.

[Mike Ameling]

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.

[Mike Ameling]

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. Edited May 14, 2009 by Mike Ameling

[dablacksmith]

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

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 ...

[garbear]

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?