I always see Ray Mears on his videos striking sparks off this fire stick using the back of his knife. Whien i try this with my knife, it just skids off and does nothing. How can i make the back of my knife efficient for striking sparks? 
fire stick and knife
- Thread starter jon r
- Start date
-
Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.
It has been my experience that if the spine of the knife isn't completly flat and square to the side of the blade then the spine wont spark well. By this I mean the spine and side of the blade must make a sharp edge, approx 90 degrees so when you use the spine and spark rod the knife spine is sharp enough to scrap the rod well
Pretty easy to fix, use a sharpening stone or sandpaper on a hard flat surface and lightly sand the flat of the spine until it is flat and makes a sharpish joining with the side of the knife.
Sorry cannot really think of how to explain this, I am sure someone else will be along to better explain this.
Geoffrey.
Pretty easy to fix, use a sharpening stone or sandpaper on a hard flat surface and lightly sand the flat of the spine until it is flat and makes a sharpish joining with the side of the knife.
Sorry cannot really think of how to explain this, I am sure someone else will be along to better explain this.
Geoffrey.
look at the back of your knife.
are the corners sharp or rounded?
you need sharp corners to throw good sparks. square off the spine of the blade and you should see an improvement.
are the corners sharp or rounded?
you need sharp corners to throw good sparks. square off the spine of the blade and you should see an improvement.
Carbon steel tends to be easier to spark than stainless steel, so what your knife is made from makes a difference.
Do what I do. Cheat. The saw blade in a Swiss Army knife is rather easy to spark from.
Do what I do. Cheat. The saw blade in a Swiss Army knife is rather easy to spark from.
I've no doubt that the saw on a SAK would throw a good shower of sparks... IF you didn't mind ruining the saw blade on your SAK in pretty short order! Many more SAKs have a fish scaler than a saw blade (the fish scaler usually has a ruler scale along the spine and a "V" in the end to use as a hook disgorger) If I didn't mind the excessive wear on the firesteel I might use the fish scaler, but the saw is too good a tool to risk ruining it when the SAK has so many different blades that would do the job with little or no harm done to them.
If the spine of your knife is too rounded to throw sparks well and you don't want to alter it, simply pack a 2 or 3 inch length of hacksaw blade along with your firesteel and use that. Very few things will throw sparks like a piece of hacksaw blade and a firesteel, and the hacksaw blade even comes with a hole already in it for attaching a length of string to tie it to the firesteel so they stay together (assuming that the firesteel is not kept in a loop on your knife sheath) A little piece of blade like this weighs next to nothing and has no-end of other uses whilst out and about too.
If the spine of your knife is too rounded to throw sparks well and you don't want to alter it, simply pack a 2 or 3 inch length of hacksaw blade along with your firesteel and use that. Very few things will throw sparks like a piece of hacksaw blade and a firesteel, and the hacksaw blade even comes with a hole already in it for attaching a length of string to tie it to the firesteel so they stay together (assuming that the firesteel is not kept in a loop on your knife sheath) A little piece of blade like this weighs next to nothing and has no-end of other uses whilst out and about too.
I haven't tried it (yet), but he might mean the back of the saw blade, rather than the toothed edge. It looks square and is a lot thinner than the knife blade so it might work well.
If you have a pen knife with a can opener use the "sharp" bit of the can opener, it works really well and is safe too.
using the back of any non locking folding knife blade is not going to be a go idea any pressure will try and fold the blade shut on the hand holding the knife!!!!!!!!
Kirruth said:Carbon steel tends to be easier to spark than stainless steel, so what your knife is made from makes a difference.
Do what I do. Cheat. The saw blade in a Swiss Army knife is rather easy to spark from.
This must be the one of those myths that is hard to get rid off. With firesteels, the steel type is NOT a variable. The only thing that counts is the hardness of the material and the sharpness of the spine. As a matter of fact, I have created firesteel sparks from stuff as weird as rabbit teeth. You could also use glass.
The saw and file blades on a swiss army knife are made from stainless steel.
-Emile
eraaij said:
True
If anyone still has some thoughts about it, then have a look at these threads:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=335
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=945
Or have a look at this post on BB by Martyn, it sums up some materials with which you can produce a satisfying amount of sparks
http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showpost.php?p=39169&postcount=5
Martyn said:
with regard to the blade closing, yes that would be messy. i suppose it all depends on what part of the blade you scrape with, if you use the tip i aggree it would be a problem, i tend to use the part of the blade near the handle, as such, it requires a not inconsiderable amount of force to shut the blade, unless of course i've just got weak wrists 
the scraper that came with it? i thought that was a handy name tag
best regards
sc
the scraper that came with it? i thought that was a handy name tag
best regards
sc
If you want to use the back of a folder (like I do) why not use it closed. My opinel throws sooooooooooo many sparks it works everytime.
And being closed makes it super safe too.
And being closed makes it super safe too.
D
Don'tkillbill
Guest
Well I did a quick test with a brittle hacksaw blade. First test is with the smooth side, second with the teeth side, and lastly with the end snapped off (bare metal exposed; doesn't have the protective coating)...
Spark Test Video
Spark Test Video
Similar threads
