Using the back of a knife on ferrocerium rod

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chris_irwin

Nomad
Jul 10, 2007
411
0
35
oxfordshire
I see a lot of people using the back of their knife on their Ferrocerium rod or firesteel and getting good sparks, but mine just doesn't seem to work. It gives a small shower of sparks but nothing compared to what I can get with the supplied striker. I'd rather not have to carry the striker if I can help it, is there any way that I can get better sparks with my knife?

I'm using a Mora 780, I think the problem is that the back of the knife is obviously a flat surface therefore I it won't spark as well. Has anyone sharpened/ground the back of their knife for this purpose?
 
You need to file a sharp 90 degree angle onto the back of your knife. Moras don't have these sharp angles straight out of the box.
 
should I file/grind this angle just on one section of the knife?

It's upto you and your technique. The whole of my blade except the thumb ramp has sharp edges as it is useful for stripping bark and scraping too. You average Woodlore style bushcraft knife has the whole spine ground like this.
 
Interesting....my first ever fire steel 'striker' broke the instant I tried to use it - my Clipper (straight from the packet) created a very usable shower of sparks :)
 
You may get a few scratches, but thats about it, unless you constantly spark for a few hours and heat the blade enough to ruin the temper, but i should think it would take some real effort mate,
 

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