striking sparks from a knife

[laurens ch]

hi could someone tell me if there is a particular method/technique to strike sparks with flint from a knife ,i have tried but have no luck.
I was using a high carbon frosts of mora by the way.

 

[OldJimbo]

You are in luck if you have broadband because Michel has a video out on just that. Details here:
http://bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=10407

 

[Longstrider]

I've seent hat video, and to be honest I think the method leaves a little to be desired. Holding one of my knives the way he holds his to strike against the quartz would result in stitches at the very least. OK, so I know he might know better, and the one time I tried to to the same thing with my only carbon knife I chose to hold the handle and promptly took the skin off the knuckle of my thumb with the edge of the flint as I struck down past it, but there must be a better, safer way to hold the knife than in the video?

 

[Topcat02]

Hi Laurens,

If I remember correctly your probably using either a Frosts or Mora. The spine sometimes appears a bit rough, and a few minutes with a flat file should get rid of the roughness, and give you a square edge.

If you dont want to bother with that, then you will probably find that the last inch or so of the spine at the point of the knife gives good sparks.

Just be careful of your fingers as it is quite easy to cut yourself, especially in the cold.

 

[laurens ch]

Unfortunately I have dial up connection so can’t watch that video. I’m going to try and get sparks with the last inch of the knife, I will grind it flat when I find my file. longstrider how did he hold the knife between his index finger and thumb? if so don’t think I’d want to try that method with cold hands either.

 

[OldJimbo]

Best to use the smooth edge of a file until you've had some practice. The harder steel will get results faster too.

 

[jason01]

Best to use the smooth edge of a file until you've had some practice. The harder steel will get results faster too.

As Old Jimbo said, practice with a file for a while and if you really feel the need to do it wih a knife try sticking the point in a piece of wood with the knife almost vertical, charcloth near the tip left hand on the butt, flint in your right hand and strike the spine, thats the safest way.

The shape of the spine shouldnt make much difference. Some knives have harder spines than others depending how it was made, a soft spine wont spark as easily. Knife will end up looking quite tatty quickly. Not my favourite method of making fire, if things are so desperate you need to resort to this youve probably got loads of problems

 

[Longstrider]

Laurens, in the video it seems that the guy holds the knife blade between his curled index finger and the ball of his thumb, striking downwards with the spine of the blade against the quartz he used instead of flint. This means that the edge of the knife would be pressed against the outside edge of the bottom of his index finger near the knuckle. Seems a pretty risky move to me. Try that with a shaving sharp edge on your knife and you'll probably put the coal out by dripping on it.....

Jason, you say that softer steel will be harder to get good sparks with. As you know, I have one of your lovely steels and it throws a great spark, but the steel seems a lot softer than my knife blades. I cannot get a good spark from my only non-kitchen carbon steel knife (Cold Steel Master Hunter) and the flint seems to hardly mark it at all, but the fire steel is visibly worn where the flint scrapes metal away with every stroke. What sort of hardness is the steel of your firesteels?
It seemed to me that the softer steel (within limits obviously) produced better sparks ?

 

[jason01]

Laurens, in the video it seems that the guy holds the knife blade between his curled index finger and the ball of his thumb, striking downwards with the spine of the blade against the quartz he used instead of flint. This means that the edge of the knife would be pressed against the outside edge of the bottom of his index finger near the knuckle. Seems a pretty risky move to me. Try that with a shaving sharp edge on your knife and you'll probably put the coal out by dripping on it.....

Jason, you say that softer steel will be harder to get good sparks with. As you know, I have one of your lovely steels and it throws a great spark, but the steel seems a lot softer than my knife blades. I cannot get a good spark from my only non-kitchen carbon steel knife (Cold Steel Master Hunter) and the flint seems to hardly mark it at all, but the fire steel is visibly worn where the flint scrapes metal away with every stroke. What sort of hardness is the steel of your firesteels?
It seemed to me that the softer steel (within limits obviously) produced better sparks ?

I couldnt tell you how hard they are tbh mate, I should think theyre around 60 RC but I only test them for sparking not for hardness. I would expect flint to be a good deal harder than any knife blade though.

There is certainly plenty of variation between sparking ability of different steels, grain structure and carbon content are quite important but silver steel has always worked well for me so I havent felt the need to explore lots of variations