help required!

[Dingo]

help please, my favorite companion is a Gerber folding lock knife with a carbon blade, the trouble is it doesnt like fire steels! has anyone got any idea's or do i have to either add a small striker to my steel or is there a certain fire steel which is a better performer on carbon steels?

any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance.

Adam.

 

[scanker]

Unless the steel's too soft, you should be able to file off the back of the blade to a square sharp edge which will preform better with a fire steel.

 

[Pete E]

Generally, carbon steels are good with firesteels, its stainless steel which can be very hit of miss...

What sort of fire steel is it?

Do you have a multi tool or knife with a saw? If so, using the back edge of the saw usually works really well..

 

[Silverback]

The back of the bottle opener on my SAK is the best steel striker I have ever come across

 

[stuart m]

I would try grinding the back of the blade with a hard stone, to make sure the corners are good and square... If you would like me to do it, cover the post and the grind is foc

 

[C_Claycomb]

File the back square, as has been suggested. Perhaps use a sharpening stone to ensure the corners of the spine are sharp.



From the FAQ thread
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8793

Will stainless steel work on a firesteel.
Yes. Anything that is harder than a fire steel and has a sharp edge will strike sparks. The chromium content of the steel, that which makes it stainless or not, is irrelevant.

My knife won’t cast sparks from fire steel.
There are only three things that this could be.
1. Your knife’s spine does not have sharp enough corners on the spine. Use a file or a sharpening stone to grind the spine square. You are trying to machine (mechanically cut into) the ferro rod. Its no different really from a high speed saw or grinder throwing sparks as it cuts steel.
2. Your knife’s spine is too soft. If your knife has had a differential heat treatment to give it a hard cutting edge and a soft/springy back it may not be hard enough at the spine to throw really good sparks. The Kellam Wolverine and all other Precision Tempered blades fall into this category, as might some customs that are differentially tempered or hardened.
3. Your blade has a coating. If your blade has a baked on coating, or laquer to prevent rust you will have to remove it from the area of spine you want to use for striking sparks. See No 2 above. If you want to have the knife spine bite into the ferro rod you need a hard sharp corner. No coating. Some coatings are thin enough (those on Falknivens) that they move out of the way all my themselves when the spine is applied to the rod.

 

[Dingo]

sorry guys, i have just searched the Gerber site and found out that the blade is a 420hc stainless blade, does this make a difference? to using a fire steel that is?

http://www.gerbergear.com/product.php?model=6069

 

[Goose]

sorry guys, i have just searched the Gerber site and found out that the blade is a 420hc stainless blade, does this make a difference? to using a fire steel that is?

http://www.gerbergear.com/product.php?model=6069

It can but the advice given still holds true. I use the back of my opinel out of choice, it gives amazing sparks and that is stainless.

 

[Dingo]

will give it a try tomorrow, thanks again, i will post results.

cheers Adam

 

[Pete E]

It can but the advice given still holds true. I use the back of my opinel out of choice, it gives amazing sparks and that is stainless.

I though Opinal had carbon steel blades???

 

[Longstrider]

Opinels are available with either carbon steel OR stainless steel blades these days.

As Chris points out, it really doesn't matter whether it's carbon or stainless, what matters is that the spine of the blade has a"sharp" corners. Filing or grinding the back of the blade so that it has a nice, square profile will give you the sort of corners that will scrape materail off the ferro rod properly.
Personally I prefer to carry a small piece of an old hacksaw blade with my ferro rod (if it's one that did not come with a striker) and use that instead of my knife. This means that not only are my fingers kept well away from the cutting edge of my knife (because I'm not using it) but I cannot be tempted to lay the knife down on the ground (leading to possible loss or accident) in my haste to "deal" with the small fire I've just lit.
With good tinder I'll use the straight back of the hacksaw blade to scrape the ferro rod, but if my tinder is poorer I can use the teeth of the hacksaw blade and produce sparks like nothing else I've ever tried will do. Using the teeth like this does tend to wear down the ferro rod quite quickly though, which is why I use the back of the blade when I can.

 

[oops56]

I just got a #8 opinel folding one carbon steel i leave it folded when i use it works great my 2 cents

 

[Dingo]

finally found the problem!

the firesteel had a coating on it which stopped the sparks forming, doh i feel thicker than i look now! and thats saying something, thanks for all the help people its greatly appreciated.

Adam.