Flint, Steel & Tinderbox.

Stony Broke said:

Every now and then I get the urge and make up a handful of steels for some of the local club members here. I take some pretty good sized files, and break them up into 3 or 4 inch pieces. A good file will break easily...just put it in a vise with a few inches sticking up from the top, and whack it with a hammer (then you go pick up the piece across the room). I grind down the edges to get rid of all the teeth of the file and smooth up those areas pretty good with a sanding wheel. I heat the steels to a nice dark red color, and drop them into cool water to harden them up even more....plain old brittle is pretty good. Never have had a problem with getting some really good sparkers this way.
I don't know much about types of steels, but the files do a good job..

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Stony Broke said:

Every now and then I get the urge and make up a handful of steels for some of the local club members here. I take some pretty good sized files, and break them up into 3 or 4 inch pieces. A good file will break easily...just put it in a vise with a few inches sticking up from the top, and whack it with a hammer (then you go pick up the piece across the room). I grind down the edges to get rid of all the teeth of the file and smooth up those areas pretty good with a sanding wheel. I heat the steels to a nice dark red color, and drop them into cool water to harden them up even more....plain old brittle is pretty good. Never have had a problem with getting some really good sparkers this way.
I don't know much about types of steels, but the files do a good job..

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Sicilian Longhunter said:

Stony,
I've heard it said here that making steels from files requires the file being"old" because they have more carbon ?
Have you found it to be true or will any file work ?

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Le Loup said:

I have never found this to be the cast SL, I made up a heap of steels for a local Scout group some years ago using chainsaw files, & they work just fine.
Keith.

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Sicilian Longhunter said:

Le Loup,
Very Nice!!
I hadn't considered using a round file.
Thanks for sharing that idea and the pics

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Stony Broke said:

I've run into one or two imported files over the years that didn't seem to have a high enough carbon content to spark as well as I thought they should, but most do just fine. When I want some, I usually can find worn ones at a local flea market for 50 cent to a dollar apiece, and they will make multiple steels from each. I made up about a dozen for a local scout group a couple years ago, and they are still doing just fine. I gave them some large chunks of good old Texas Chert that I had picked up on a hunting trip here and it sparks just fine.

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