Fire steel using stainless steel knife

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Khumbu8000

Member
Mar 27, 2011
12
0
Marlborough
Hi I've been noticing that I can get far less sparks with my stainless steel mora than my older carbon steel clipper. Is this to be expected? Clipper has a slightly battered edge which may help when scraping fire steel. Any idea? Ed
 

Dave Budd

Gold Trader
Staff member
Jan 8, 2006
2,895
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Dartmoor (Devon)
www.davebudd.com
the material doesn't matter, what counts is a sharp corner ;) If your carbon steel one is burred and the stainless one is not then it will certainly work better.

That is of course you mean sparks from a ferro rod, not flint? If its proper flint then the carbon stell willwork while the stainless likely won't, but then you would be far better off with a proper steel rather than a sharp soft knife
 

Stroller

Need to contact Admin...
Sep 27, 2012
31
0
London
The best striker I've found is the back of an old hacksaw blade. Works a treat with flint as well. I nice compact solution for the bottom of an Altoids tin. :)
 

demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,694
712
-------------
Its just the shape of the spine that makes the difference.
Sharp corner on it = good sparks.
Rounded corner= crap sparks.
 

MalIrl

Tenderfoot
Nov 25, 2004
51
0
West of Ireland
Hi Ed,

As others have pointed out, it's not the type of steel, it's the profile.

Fast solution to this issue is to square the back of your Mora blade with a file. I've had to do this with carbon Moras too, where the back of the blade was a little rounded.

Slán,
Mal
 

rancid badger

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
The key is indeed a square edge.


But to be honest, I'd advise not using the back of a knife for scraping a firesteel anyway, as its potentially quite dangerous.

Each to their own of course but you might be better off with a large flat scraper, like this:
[video=youtube;sgwYlGHZPlY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgwYlGHZPlY&list=UURdd L3mkjOvJ3tAtVHpW-XQ[/video]


Admittedly more to carry but much better than having to deal with a sliced finger or hand etc.

good luck

Steve
 

Niels

Full Member
Mar 28, 2011
2,582
3
26
Netherlands
I think if you grab the ferro rod high enough, you can't cut yourself. I've used one for years to start my fires and the only time I cut myself with it was when it broke because it had worn out so much.
 

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