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Here's all of the flint strikers I've made so far. The very first one being at the bottom and you can see it has chipped where one of the small scrolls are.
The reason it chipped is because of the fact the striker has been made from high carbon steel that has been quenched and not tempered.
I've actually taken to tempering the little arms of the striker by heating up a pair of flat jaw tongs in the forge until they are red and then squeezing the arms. The actual surface where the flint grates off little chips of steel should remain absolutely hard.
The third one is brand new made the same day I am posting this.
The reason it chipped is because of the fact the striker has been made from high carbon steel that has been quenched and not tempered.
I've actually taken to tempering the little arms of the striker by heating up a pair of flat jaw tongs in the forge until they are red and then squeezing the arms. The actual surface where the flint grates off little chips of steel should remain absolutely hard.
The third one is brand new made the same day I am posting this.
Category Crafting / All
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 4000 x 2664px
File Size 1.37 MB
I like your style.
Okay, anything that is curly and swoopy is for decoration, the functional part of the striker is the length of flat area.
The way these work is you take a piece of flint, hold it in your non-dominant hand, take the striker in your dominant hand and work your fingers through the curly bits (they do actually present some sort of practicality, since it offers grip area) and hold with your thumb.
What you want to do is have a piece of flint that has a lot of sharp angles and edges. You want to angle the piece of flint in such a way that one of the edges point up at the air in an sort of angle that allows it to have an upwards facing cutting edge.
You take the striker in your hand and bring it down in an arcing fashion, do not bang the striker against the flint. What you are literally attempting to do is to rapidly scrap the piece of steel down onto a sharp angle of the flint. What happens here is the flint cuts a very small grating of steel that gets ignited by the friction of quickness the entire action.
If a piece of high carbon steel is not extremely hard, the gratings will be too large and will not heat up from the friction.
In total, think of this sort of like a bench grinder. The sparks from the wheel are not from the stone, it's the steel being removed rapidly.
Okay, anything that is curly and swoopy is for decoration, the functional part of the striker is the length of flat area.
The way these work is you take a piece of flint, hold it in your non-dominant hand, take the striker in your dominant hand and work your fingers through the curly bits (they do actually present some sort of practicality, since it offers grip area) and hold with your thumb.
What you want to do is have a piece of flint that has a lot of sharp angles and edges. You want to angle the piece of flint in such a way that one of the edges point up at the air in an sort of angle that allows it to have an upwards facing cutting edge.
You take the striker in your hand and bring it down in an arcing fashion, do not bang the striker against the flint. What you are literally attempting to do is to rapidly scrap the piece of steel down onto a sharp angle of the flint. What happens here is the flint cuts a very small grating of steel that gets ignited by the friction of quickness the entire action.
If a piece of high carbon steel is not extremely hard, the gratings will be too large and will not heat up from the friction.
In total, think of this sort of like a bench grinder. The sparks from the wheel are not from the stone, it's the steel being removed rapidly.
That is entirely more interesting and enlightening than a search would have been. I am of course familiar with flint and steel, but never had it explained in that manner. I had no idea the metal is what was sparking off. I never really wondered before, either.
As for the technique, getting that angle for the strike must be a trick. I had a magnesium stick with attached flint and steel back when I was a kid and that was fun even though I only started about 1 fire with it.
As for the technique, getting that angle for the strike must be a trick. I had a magnesium stick with attached flint and steel back when I was a kid and that was fun even though I only started about 1 fire with it.
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