Flint and Steel kit.

[crosslandkelly]

You don't need to spend any money for an effective Flint and Steel kit. A broken file, and a piece of flint from the garden.


[video=youtube;g64OwBDVdzE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g64OwBDVdzE[/video]

 

[Mesquite]

Nice video Colin

 

[John Fenna]

Exactly how I start my kits
I find them more effective - and safer - if the sides are ground free of any teeth (more striking area) and all the sharp corners are ground smooth (saves you cutting yourself!)
Often files do not snap cleanly and take a fair bit of grinding to make usable without risk to the operator!

 

[barbourdurham]

where are good places to find flint in or near melton mowbray? i want to make this kind of kit.

 

[petrochemicals]

My understanding that the flint chips the steel and that's the bit that burns, not the flint, and MEGAWOODSWALKER has hsad sucess with quartz.

 

[Fraxinus]

My understanding that the flint chips the steel and that's the bit that burns, not the flint, and MEGAWOODSWALKER has had success with quartz.

This is correct, I have both flint and quartz in my kit and both work well.
I think that because the flint or quartz abrades with each strike more noticeably than the steel striker people think that it is the stone that sparks. The stone is harder than the steel so scrapes off a sliver of steel which is heated by the friction of the strike to a glowing temperature, thus a spark. The thing is that the harder a material is the more brittle it can be, tungsten is harder than steel but chips more readily, as does the flint.

@ barbourdurham, flint is commonly found in chalky areas but other sources are bags of ballast on building sites and bags of stones from garden centres. These need to be struck to create an edge, not like a knife edge but an edge that is under 90°, as it needs to scrape bits of steel off the striker.

Rob.

 

[John Fenna]

Our local quartz works well enough but wears a lot faster than flint. When teaching flint and steel to groups I find the flint outlasts the quartz by about a factor of 10.

 

[QDanT]

My understanding that the flint chips the steel and that's the bit that burns, not the flint, and MEGAWOODSWALKER has hsad sucess with quartz.

The sparks are a result of after forging of high carbon steel, old files are great, it’s heated up to above a point where a magnet will not stick to it for a few minutes, which causes the carbon atoms to flow together and grow it’s then quenched which locks the carbon in large (bits) ? so that a glancing fast strike across a sharp piece of Flint (which is harder) cuts a tiny sliver of Carbon particles off which ignite with the heat of the friction generated, and if you hold a piece of char cloth on top of the flint with a thumb in one hand and the steel between finger and thumb in the other hand and a fast flick passed trying to shave off the tiniest fraction, with practice one will land onto the char cloth and begin to smoulder. From:- http://teddytourteas.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/flint-and-steel-fire-lighting.html

 

[John Fenna]

If you get good quality OLD files the steel will be hard enough to throw sparks without any treatment - my rule of thumb is "If it snaps easily it is good to go - if it bends .. treat it to fire or bin it". Finding good OLD files at a sensible price is getting harder these days...
I place my file in my bench vice and cover it in a cloth (catching any shrapnel and stopping the broken end flying across the workshop) then twang it with a lump hammer. The file normally breaks on or just below the top of he vice jaws. Then - for safety's sake and a better spark - I grind all the edges smooth.
I live in a Flint Free area so my flint is brought to me by friends who live in or visit Flint Rich areas. The flint does not need to be good quality (as it does for knapping) - any old surface flint with plough and weather damage is fine. I roughly shape my flints by twanging the lumps with a hammer ... not what I do with knapping flints!
The OP's video shows the action of striking very well indeed

 

[tsitenha]

John go to a machine shop/garage, they/we throw used files all the time. Unless they recycle but ask any way.

 

[crosslandkelly]

The OP's video shows the action of striking very well indeed

Thanks John, high praise indeed. Your technique for breaking the file, is the one I used.

 

[John Fenna]

John go to a machine shop/garage, they/we throw used files all the time. Unless they recycle but ask any way.

A lot of modern files are case hardened toffee which does not last past the hardened surface.... "Antique" files are good all the way through!
Buck knives started with Chuck Buck getting old files from an aircraft plant... good steel in those days!

 

[Fraxinus]

Our local quartz works well enough but wears a lot faster than flint. When teaching flint and steel to groups I find the flint outlasts the quartz by about a factor of 10.

The bit of quartz I have is the same, quite friable, but it is a useful item to know you can use it if flint is not available. Oddly enough I found the quartz while digging in the garden, where it came from I have no idea, Kent is not known for its quartz deposits
Rob.

 

[Mesquite]

John go to a machine shop/garage, they/we throw used files all the time. Unless they recycle but ask any way.

Trouble is the majority of modern files are case hardened now and aren't any good for decent fire steels.

The best ones are older files that you pick up at boot fairs etc but still need to be sourced