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Old December 3, 2006, 10:18 AM   #1
VaughnT
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 30, 2000
Location: Western SC
Posts: 663
Flint and Steel: addendum.

I was very surprised to see an article on F/S firemaking in SWAT. Totally happy with a bit of primitive technology making the mainstream, so to speak.

I mean no disrespect to the author, but I would like to add a few things that I feel needed to be mentioned.

1: You cannot strike a spark using the back of a knife. I know it's in all of the old books and the boy scouts teach it. That doesn't mean that it works.
Also note that 90% of those illustrations show the shower of sparks falling down onto a nest of tinder. This doesn't work, either. The sparks will be flipped up into the air, onto the topside of the flint where you're pinching the charcloth. This is simple physics.

2: A steel works because is it a high-carbon steel that has been hardened but not tempered. Knives, axes, and chisels have all been hardened, but are subsequently tempered to soften them up a bit to prevent cracks and spalling when used. I have not found any way to make a tempered steel throw a spark.

3: You really need to use a U-shaped or C-shaped steel to give as much protection to the fingers as possible. It takes some muscle to get a spark while holding that iron and even the littlest slip can see you running up on that sharp stone edge. The idea is to hit the stone with the steel, not the fingers holding the steel. I found out that bloody charcloth does NOT take a spark like dry charcloth! It didn't take me long to figure this out, but it did hurt!!

Making your own steel isn't difficult if you have access to a hot fire and some carbon steel. All you really need to do is take an old screwdriver shaft, something about 12" long and 1/4" in diameter and heat it in the fire. When red hot in the middle, bend it into a U. Place it back in the fire so the whole thing gets evenly red and quickly dunk it into a gallon of oil. Vegetable oil works as well as used motor oil.

You want a thick quenching medium, not thin like water. If you quench redhot steel in water, there is a very good chance it will crack rather explosively. Viscosity is your friend.

Once you have a U shaped, you can trim the legs to length by grinding them around the circumference and then snapping the excess off. I like my steels to be about three inches long.

Oh, a proper forge and anvil makes the job easier, but blacksmithing is a very addictive pastime.
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