WANTED firesteels striker

[Tengu]

Since i never seem to have anything suitable on hand...

 

[Man of Tanith]

what sort?
sparkstick or traditional?
might have few lurking about

 

[Tengu]

I was thinking of the tag of metal that goes with the light my fire things

 

[g4ghb]

back of the knife is as good as anything - you get a good handle to hold however it may need 'flattening off' a bit if the spine is rounded.

 

[Man of Tanith]

got some lurking about send me your address and i will dig them out

 

[Whittler Kev]

You know I make them. If you've got anything special in mind PM me

 

[wingstoo]

I just use a broken hacksaw blade, even has a hole in one end for a chain tag to go through.

 

[Martyn]

Since i never seem to have anything suitable on hand...

Broken pot? Brick? Pretty much anything works.

 

[DaveBromley]

I just use a broken hacksaw blade, even has a hole in one end for a chain tag to go through

thats all they come with anyway aint it? good idea though

Dave.

 

[wingstoo]

thats all they come with anyway aint it? good idea though

Dave.

Some just come with a piece of flat steel, some with a "V" cut in it.

 

[Tengu]

yes, thats it.

I wouldnt use the back of my knife, too fancy for that

 

[ged]

Since i never seem to have anything suitable on hand...

I was thinking of the tag of metal that goes with the light my fire things

The best thing I've found is a broken hacksaw blade, which has already been mentioned. Normally I have one slipped in a pouch somewhere, it's five or ten grammes. The best ones I've used are HSS ("High Speed Steel"). You can easily tell which ones they are because they're usually painted blue, green or grey and probably say HSS on them. When they break they break like glass, with no bend at all in the broken pieces, and the broken edges have very sharp corners so they're perfect for strikers - although the toothed edges are pretty good too. The cheaper (and usually black) hacksaw blades aren't so good. There are also expensive bi-metal ones, the main part of the blade isn't so hard as HSS so they'll bend rather than break. I don't know if they're any good for strikers because I've never broken one (famous last words... ) but I doubt they'd have such sharp edges as all-hard blades.

If there's a local engineering firm or college they'll probably have a few in a bin somewhere, or look for them when you're going around the boot sales.