best steel for sparks

[Nativearizonan]

I ran across a dead Cottonwood tree and peeled off a bunch of the inner bark. Twist and smash it a bit to get the fibers to separate and it makes a great tinder to wrap a glowing bit of char cloth in. Blow on it a bit and it explodes into flame.

I just finished reading and see blackhand already posted that.

 

[Nativearizonan]

That's funny. I posted to a thread about the best tinder and my post ended up in a thread about steel.

Either the mods are busy this morning or I need another cup of coffee.

 

[Gene L]

As for a striking steel, a few years ago I bought a kukri, and authentic one that's very old. Anyway, it had two mis-matched extra tools with it, one of which is pretty heavy. The sheath also had a leather pocket which I think contained flint and tinder.

The knife is from Nepal back in the BP muzzle loading days, about 150 years old.

So last night I got to thinking about the heavier of the two tools and tried to strike a spark with it. It worked fine!

I don't know how long it's been since a fire was started with this old tool. But some things never get too old.

 

[Dibbuk]

One good source of tinder no one seems to have mentioned yet is dryer lint with a little paraffin mixed in.

I take a bit of flint with me to flea markets and garage sales to test files with. I look for broken ones, which usually go cheapest.

 

[coloradoclyde]

One good source of tinder no one seems to have mentioned yet is dryer lint with a little paraffin mixed in.

Because neither are historically or period correct...... :nono:

 

[Bo T]

I'm thinking dried cotton balls of off the cotton plant would work for starting a spark. At least my wife's cotton balls worked 20 or 30 times for starting my wood stove when I was practicing the skill.

I was lucky in that a gent with the monicker of Ohio Rusty gave me the instructions for making a good striker from a garage door spring. I've made several (none as good looking as his) but they all sparked. One thing that I have noticed is that different strikers seem to require a slightly different orientation to the flint to optimize the sparks. I watched one blacksmith by the name of Pawnee make a striker from 1095 and the heat treatment was very similar to the one gifted to me. I do not believe that the steel was quenched to martensite but to course pearlite. Leaving a striker that would be less prone to breakage.

 

[LRB]

Have you ever tried a striker HT'ed to coarse pearlite? I don't think it would spark enough, if at all by hand power, but that's only my opinion. A striker face has to be pretty hard to throw decent sparks from a hand held flint. Frizzens can be softer than a fire striker, but a good striker needs to be harder than a frizzen.

 

[Bo T]

This is tough to say. The 2 step HT is heat to yellow and hold for several seconds to promote grain growth. The quench in water comes at a deep red. Seems to be just below coalescence. But eyes are finicky so... If I get some time from my paying job I'll hammer a couple out and try it again. Another problem that some have is forgetting to clean the scale before trying for sparks.

 

[KentSmith]

Tinder - strip off cedar bark or birch bark. Cedar bark you can rub between your palms to form a ball and then spread out in a "bird's nest" to hold your char. Should be on all your how to video's and books. Dried grass, wasp/hornets nests, bird nests, just look around in the woods and find what you need.

Steels - i mostly use hay ray tines, have used old files but they are getting hard to find. Heat to the point they aren't attracted to a magnet (good and glowing red) quench in water. Most will produce great sparks if you don't try to hammer them like a mad man but slice the pieces of steel off - which is what a spark is.

Most guys showing off their great sparking steels actually are showing off their great spark producing strokes on a good piece of hardened steel.

 

[LRB]

If you quench in water, or brine from a deep red, you are going to produce coarse martensite. Do that same thing in a medium speed oil and you might get coarse pearlite. Sounds like a weak structure either way from coarse grain.

 

[Bo T]

Maybe dark red is a better term. I might be catching the nose on the way down as I don't have to temper to reduce the brittleness, like needed with mostly martensite. I need to make a couple down the road and see if I am quenching just below the transition temperature.

 

[Gene L]

Well, it takes practice to start a fire...at least for me. And since my knapping skill is almost non-existent, I'm stuck with shards I knock off a larger spall, if that's the right term.

I'm getting good sparks and sometimes I'll catch a spark on my first or second time and feel pretty smug, but usually it takes a few strikes (several strikes) to get a burn going. I think next I'll 'speriment with the angle I hold the flint, since most of the sparks seem to go forward of the char.

 

[smoothshooter]

If you will pinch the char against the top of your flint with your thumb so that the edge of the char cloth is right near the sharp edge, when you strike with the steel, the sparks have almost nowhere to go except right into the char cloth, and it's an extremely short trip for them to boot.

 

[Gene L]

Yeah, I do that. It doesn't take a lot of pressure to make copious sparks, but they seem to go ahead of my char. I think the char cloth might be suspect here!

 

[Mickc01]

ff Frankly, I have nothing to add to the discussion so maybe I should keep my fingers silent so forgive me for saying....it's really nice to see something here other than pipes and tobacco....Mick

 

[larryp]

Would a piece from an automobile leaf spring make for a good striker? I have a broken rear spring from my '92 Wrangler ( hit a hidden pot hole hard last winter)that I'm trying to find a way to salvage in some form. Hate to throw out all that metal if it can be used for something.

 

[LRB]

I just don't like working with mystery steel, but that's just me. There are quite a few different steels used for automotive springs. If you want to try, I would suggest you cut a sample section off, then harden it and see how it sparks using a flint. Bring the sample up to a red-orange, then quench in a generous amount of warmed cooking oil. Then see if you can get good enough sparks. My guess is that it will not spark as well as a striker made from a file or piece of really high carbon steel, but may do well enough. Oh, after you harden, grind off any scale from the area you will be striking with the flint.

 

[Black Hand]

I have a broken rear spring from my '92 Wrangler (hit a hidden pot hole hard last winter) that I'm trying to find a way to salvage in some form. Hate to throw out all that metal if it can be used for something.

Might make an OK tomahawk or axe after inserting a bit of high-carbon steel. This way, the important part is made of a known good quality steel and the spring makes up the remainder of the head.

 

[Bo T]

It isn't so important with the striker, but you'll build up your arm muscles and use up fuel hammering everything to shape. Much more efficient to use a piece of garage door spring.
These leaf springs often have micro fractures running in the steel so the use for a striking tool could wind up with bad consequences. So it isn't a good idea to use it for the body of an ax.

 

[MOwoodsman]

5160 steel, Leaf springs need to get hotter than simple carbon steels in order to forge, but will make great strikers. I've made two so far and both spark great. Also, they make great knives.