firesteel, will this work?

[Goose]

A question for any blacksmiths out there, will a firesteel made from mild steel then heated and dipped in carbon make a spark?
I work in a college and had a couple of students stood round for a while so got them to bend mild steel into a basic firesteel, then heated it to cherry red and dipped in carbon, plan is to do this a few times to harden the steel then to heat and quench in oil/water.
Don't know the proper terms, but the steel is a basic 8mm bar stock that is used in college for just about any metalworking.
Am I wasting my(ok students )time with this or will it work?

As you may tell I am not a metal work tutor!

 

[Hawk Hawkins]

A length of keystock bent in the form of a "C" and then heated to cherry red (make sure the keystock is completely cleaned off of any coatings as some keystock is galvanized) and case hardened with Kasnite...or Casenite will make a pretty nice flint striker. My friend said he helped his son and his sons cub scout troop make thier own when he was younger.
Another way ive heard is put some bone and bits of leather in a sealed container with the item (much like you would to do charcloth), and heat it til the can is is glowing red then move it aside til it cools over night. This is a primative form of case hardening.
Hawk

 

[jdlenton]

Never tried case hardening a fire steel give it a try see what happens i would use 01 tool steel, silver steel, or an old file with the teeth ground off if i was going to make a steelJames

 

[ESpy]

It'll work... Briefly.

Bear in mind the case hardening (especially with Kasenit) is only a very, very thin skin - it'll be quickly worn off in use.

 

[Goose]

I have an old file that I have to get round to shaping, but this was a spur of the moment experiment using steel that is easier to work, will be able to finish it next week and will let you know the results.

 

[Hawk Hawkins]

Yeah I was told today kasenite only hardens up to about .01 of an inch.
I remember an article where a guy bent a heated a chainsaw file into a flint striker shape. He then ground the teeth off...the article said that the striker took about 50 or so good strikes with a flint to make it spark.
Hawk

 

[Goose]

Finished it today and Espy was spot on!
I made two just a basic U shape then heated and dipped in carbon(casenite?) twice then heated again and dunked in water. One gave a spark straight away the other didn't, both had been treated exactly the same and were from the same bar so I don't know why the different results.
But as Espy said they only worked for a short time, after trying the one out that worked you could see where the carbon had been removed and I had to find a new place to strike.
When I struck the flint the steel worked well giving excellent sparks but only until the surface carbon was removed.
After a little bit of playing I reheated and allowed to cool then heated again and dipped in carbon again with a final heating and quenching in water to harden, this time both worked but again I am assuming the limited life.

It was an interesting experiment but not really a practical way to make a firesteel, will have to get the file heated and shaped to try again.

 

[Wayland]

Most of the "steels" from archeaological sources that I have seen seem to be case hardened iron or steel so it must have been a process that was repeated from time to time.

It would be easy to think of this as "recharging" the striker but they probably had a much more down to earth concept of what was happening.

 

[ESpy]

"True" case hardening for those would be done over a long period of time, resulting in carbon being absorbed to a far greater depth...

 

[Jeff Wagner]

This may be of interest.

http://www.regia.org/ironwork.htm

 

[Goose]

This may be of interest.

http://www.regia.org/ironwork.htm

I met this group a couple of weeks ago, some interesting characters! Tried to barter my five year old with "the slave trader" for a firesteel and a reindeer skin, but no luck!