Firesteels: more fun with homemade handles

[vestlenning]

Why buy expensive, boring firesteels when you can get cheap rods and make nicer handles yourself?

These are a birch sphere I had laying around, a piece of round pine and some leftover oak and pine, finished with linseed oil and wax. My girlfriend made the one to the left, that's the reason for the pink paracord. She then talked me into using pink on the sphere as well - this black loving guy is on his way to colour hell...

I attach pieces of hack saw blades to all my firesteels, it's nice to always have a striker at hand. The serrated side of the blades are blunted, and the other side has got nice 90 degrees edges.

Good folks, show us you home handled firesteels!

 

[Disco1]

Nice work both of you, but the pink turns out purple.

 

[vestlenning]

Purple it is, don't know where I got pink from, now corrected...

 

[Goatboy]

Yup definately purple They've turned out really nicely. A mate of mine does similar things and they make great presents.
Good job :thumbup:

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[woodsorrel]

They really look nice!

- Woodsorrel

 

[rorymax]

Vestlenning,

Nice idea, no limit to the wood types and designs you could try for the handles, and something I want to do.

Where are you buying your rods from and what adhesive are you using for gluing them to the handles?

 

[Dark Horse Dave]

Nice work. I've been thinking of having a go at this myself and this might push me into actually doing it!

 

[Wayland]

The thing I have noticed over the years is how easy it is to lose something black or "natural" coloured when you are out in the woods.

Bright colours on small objects actually makes a lot of sense.

 

[vestlenning]

Where are you buying your rods from and what adhesive are you using for gluing them to the handles?

I buy the rods from China via the bay (they work the same as expensive trademarked stuff). I normally use two component epoxy glue, but on the last two I tried some general purpose one component glue to see how it works.

 

[Monikieman]

Look really nice. Will post a pic of my home made one tonight maybe if time permits. There must be more home maders out there?

 

[Joonsy]

There must be more home maders out there?

mine are not pretty but boring though just as functional as any, I just shove a bit of tight fitting thick-walled rubber hose over the rod, it holds very firm needs no glue and provides very good grip.

 

[Macaroon]

Here's my 8mm with an antler handle, bought a couple of years ago from the bay; pictured alongside a scraper and sheath I bought here from Rancid Badger, one of the best buys I've made The knife is an Eagle from HillBill included for scale.

I use this set-up almost daily and there's hardly any wear to the rod itself, one of the advantages of using a larger one is that you don't need to scrape a lot from it to get a good spark and so it stays in shape to fit the loop for a lot longer.

 

[Stevie777]

Here ya go...The Biggy

 

[Goatboy]

Here ya go...The Biggy

Wow! That must be like fireworks night when you spark that beauty up in the dark.
I take it you've never failed to light a fire with that monster?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[Mick721]

Here's one I made last year. Much more ergonomic than the LMF style rods. Far easier to use too.

 

[Monikieman]

Antler topped with rams horn with a Raker knives damascus striker. Not sure if Raker are doing the strikers any more but I found this one whilst looking for the name again

http://www.survivaldepot.co.uk/product/damascus_firesteel_striker

 

[Stevie777]

Wow! That must be like fireworks night when you spark that beauty up in the dark.
I take it you've never failed to light a fire with that monster?

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

Never with the correct tinder....

 

[Baelfore]

View attachment 35404

Antler topped with rams horn with a Raker knives damascus striker. Not sure if Raker are doing the strikers any more but I found this one whilst looking for the name again

http://www.survivaldepot.co.uk/product/damascus_firesteel_striker

That's a lovely striker! i just use old hacksaw blades or the back of my knife.

my current one is apple wood and reindeer antler on a scout sized steel.

have a broken hacksaw blade with a tine handle for striking, but it bends more than anything else, as i ground the tang to thin when mounting to the handle. try to get pics later today.

Atb,
Ste

 

[Monikieman]

I had 240 strikers to make last year for a base at camp. Bundles of blades cut into 4 lengths and one edge taken off with the grinder. Puts a sort of burr on the edge and takes off the paint. I leave the teeth as is to use as a tinder scraper. The hacksaw blade edge wears down I find.

 

[Hunkyfunkster]

These look great.

i bought a cheap firesteel from eBay just to try, as i'd never had one before. really difficult to spark and after only one day of playing around with it it's half scraped away already. However, it was a tiny wee thing. After seeing these pics tho, i've just ordered some larger rods, and i think i'll have a go at making some handles.

Thanks for the inspiration

Alex