Will" got it mostly right, but there are a few additional things to be
aware of. I make museum replicas, very fancy ones, and they have to throw a
really good shower of sparks. I quickly learned that not all files are
created equal...and OLD files are my favorite material to make them out of.
I have made them from a variety of materials, including titanium, which
throws off huge intensely white sparks that can actually burn your skin, but
not nearly as many sparks as very high carbon steel does. I have a jpg image
of a titanium striker and a file steel striker that I made side by side and
it is difficult to tell them apart because the titanium will take on really
beautiful tempering colors, even brighter than steel.
Anyway, you want really OLD files. Files that are more modern are not just
plain high carbon steel but are special alloys and they do not throw nearly
as good a spray of sparks. Its the carbon that helps to make the steel
shaving burn brightly, not the other alloying elements. How can you tell?
The only way I know is to test each file for sparks. Also some of the newer
files are now case hardened, and they are worthless.
"Will" said not to temper them, but that only holds true if its a relatively
new file that is a modern alloy. Those will work without tempering just
fine, but the really old files have to be tempered. I should add that the
spray of sparks you will get with the new alloy files is not really very
good, perhaps a third as many sparks as the pure high carbon steel of old.
On the old files, if you don't draw the temper they will be so hard that
they will not throw sparks, but will do a dandy job of taking the edge off
your flint. Again, you have to experiment to see where to temper them to. I
use an oven and take them up 50 degrees at a time, starting at 250 degrees.
Let then "soak" in the oven for half an hour and then take them out and try
sparking them. If you find you have to hit really hard and only get a few
occasional sparks its still too hard. A good striker will throw a spray of
many sparks, and do it with a very light hit. You should be able to "catch"
the spark (on the char-cloth) on the first try almost all the time if its a
good striker. Don't be afraid to draw the temper too far. Just keep track of
where it sparked the best, and then reharden and draw it again at that
temperature. Also you will then know how to draw the temper for the rest of
the steel in that particular file, but only that file. I like to use a
marker to mark the temper temperature on the remainder of the file if I am
going to put it away for later use.
As to flints, real flint is the best stuff other than some of the harder gem
stones. If you have any big sharp edged diamonds laying around you have it
made....grin. Here in Idaho we have lots of agate and chert. Both will work,
and the agate (cryptocrystalline quartz) is the best substitute there is for
flint. It will not hold an edge as long as flint, but can be easily enough
resharpened by striking off the old worn edge. I include an agate chip, that
I pick up out on the desert, with strikers I sell and they serve very well.
I do not try to make the chips myself, although you could do so easily
enough. I would rather select smooth nicely formed chips that have lost that
"newly chipped" look.
Another good source for striker steel is old hay rake tines. You can
generally get them at flea markets, and they are straight high carbon steel
too, and work quite well. There are two different diameters of tines out
there, and the bigger ones are what you want, they are 1/2" rod, while the
thinner more common ones are about 3/8". I think the bigger ones are John
Deere tines, but not sure about that.
Another thing I would say about strikers is that its worth making them
carefully and doing a nice job. I use museum tracings of a variety of
shapes, including some really neat little mini-strikers originally made by
"GF Ainslie". I know that because the name is stamped right in the side of
the striker portion. They are a fancy "U" shaped striker and are 2" long by
1-1/4" high. BTW, its worth taking your sketch book along when visiting
museums. Most that I have visited have allowed me to access the item and
make tracings. This goes for other items besides just strikers too. If you
approach them nicely they are often very cooperative. The two little
"Ainslie" strikers I took tracings of were both in brand new never used
condition and in a superb private collection. I do not know the history of
those strikers, and I don't know when they were produced, but perhaps
someone on this group will have that information.
If you make them for sale you can get a lot more if they are done in a fine
workman like fashion. My strikers sell for between $20-$35 each, and I can
easily sell all I can make. Compare that with $3-$5 for most of them that
are available, but are very quickly and poorly made. A good well made
striker will have chamfered edges and will have very finely formed and
tapered scroll ends where appropriate. It will not have any sharp edges to
abrade the hand, and will be clean of all scale and nicely finished. I like
to leave the differential tempering colors on the striker. The scroll end(s)
are tempered to a purple/blue as you don't want them breaking off. I temper
the whole thing in the oven and then put the striking edge in a shallow pan
of water while to further temper the arms with a torch. It will take a
third of a day to make a fine striker and 10-15 minutes to turn out one of
the cheap ones you see in black powder shops. There is no comparison in how
they feel in the hand, nor how good a shower of sparks they will throw...as
I said, not all files are created equal. I know of one new smith who was
making and selling strikers, on location at a flea market that I frequent,
and he was hammering them out of 3/8" mild steel rod! I asked him if they
would throw a good shower of sparks and he said he assumed they would. He
was less than amused when I explained what he was doing wrong, especially
after he tried to make one spark and it wouldn't. A number of the strikers
were returned to him and he did make good ones to exchange. He just didn't
know about steel types yet. He was an honest man and is a good friend of
mine now. I gave him a tracing of the Ainslie strikers and he has made a lot
of money selling them in northern California and eastern Oregon.
BTW, its not worth the time to make a titanium striker unless you are doing
it just to say you did, and to have one to show off. They are quite a
surprise to people when you pull one out and show it off, both due to its
very light weight, and also because of the nature of the sparks. They are
very hard to make, and you have to be careful about the kind of titanium you
use. Some kinds of alloys put off poison gasses that will give you "titanium
fever", so be careful. When you work it don't heat any hotter than the
"brown powder scale" range. You will know what I refer to the first time you
put the titanium in the fire. Any hotter and you will damage the metal. And
don't cold hammer it or you will damage your anvil and your hammer. Draw
them dead soft, which is still very hard.
Well, that is probably a lot more than you wanted to know Sal, but perhaps
will be of value to you. And no, I don't make lots of strikers, mostly by
request.
Yours,
Ron
Golden Age Forge
http://www.webpak.net/~rreil/Forge.htm
E-Mail: rreil@micron.net
Boise, Idaho
<Evidence without certainty is called science>
<Certainty without evidence is called religion>
"Will Hutt" <iwbarotk@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:8kqcp7$eml$1@uranium.btinternet.com...
> Salut Sal!
>
> Sal <sal@webpipe.net> wrote in message news:396b3b34_1@corp.newsfeeds.com...
>>
Does anyone know of a book that covers "how to make a striker". I need
> > some information on how to make a striker for starting fires. I need
> > something more than find some tool steel, get it hot and cool it in water.
>>
>
> Right, you need a steel with lots of carbon in it so tool steel is good or
> even better, an old worn out file!
>
> Forge it, shape it ( here I can't resist pointing out that the striker was
> the emblom of the Dukes of Burgundy especially that of Charles le Témeraire
> who tried to rebuild the kingdom of Lothringinen post Charlemagne and then
> to be become Holy Roman Emperor. He was the richest prince in Christendom
> and ruled modern Belgium, Holland, French speaking Switzerland, Alsace,
> Lorraine, Savoy, Burgundy & Franche Comté [pet subject!!!!!]).
>
> Quench it in water, or oil if water quench produces cracks. Don't temper
> it. More importantly don't drop it, it's glass hard!
>
> Easy bit that! but I'm a smith. Next, get a flint stone with a sharp edge.
> They occur usually as a very rounded deposit so put it into a couple of
> plastic bags and smack it one with a big hammer. Again not too difficult.
>
> Now the difficult: find a very, very fine cloth of linen or cotton. Take a
> tabacco tin and place a pile of rectangles of this cloth within. Make a
> small hole in the top with a compass point. Next, heat the box from below
> with a blow torch or on a gas cooker.
>
> As soon as it is heated a bit, light the gas coming out of the small hole on
> the top then continue heating below until the flame goes out. Leave it to
> cool.
>
> The cloth is now reduced to carbon and should be excellent tinder.
> Hold a folded sheet of this tinder next to the surface coming off the sharp
> edge of the flint. Strike the "briquet",or steel striker against the flint
> and have prepared a match 'cos once the spark is caught on the tinder cloth
> you need to get this to flare by using a match.
>
> A match is most easilly made by taking a fine wood spill and then throwing
> up some burrs with a knife along the edges then finally dipping it into
> molten sulphur.
>
> Many damp evenings I have laboured at this fire making process, but once,
> just once, a sublime once, in front of television cameras I did it in 20
> seconds flat!
>
> The secrets are to keep the tinder & match dry and choose a sharp flint, the
> steels are easy!!!
>
> I've a load of pictures of steel strikers if you want them. Some use a case
> hardened low carbon steel. These are only good until this case hardened skin
> is worn away but then the case hardening process needs doing again.
>
> Good luck,
>
> Will
>
>
From: David (mmdcl@aol.comatose)
Subject: Re: Strikers (long)
Newsgroups: alt.crafts.blacksmithing
Date: 2000/07/17
Message 2 in thread
View this article only
Ron,
Great informative post, thanks. Perhaps the jasper and chert in my area will
work after all. I must have been using a bad file; as well as the source that
informed me that only true flint would work.
Dave
In an effort to create a FAQ, and based on an email I got, I'm tossing
this out to the group for consideration. Many of you are far more
skilled than I (hey I'm a hobbiest) but the FAQ needs to start
somewhere. I'll also post a followup, incomplete article on
firestarting for any of you who want to try the striker out.
HOW TO MAKE A FLINT STRIKER
by Roy Parker (aka "Muffin")
Ok, here's the write-up I promised. If you ever wanted to make your
own striker, here's the information. I intend this to be the first in
a series of articles that will eventually become a buckskinner FAQ,
Standard Disclaimer
This article is copyrighted by the author, October 8, 1996. This
article may be freely distributed or posted on a web page as long as
the entire document is unchanged. Contact the author for commercial
publication permission at rparker7@ix.netcom.com. Comments and
criticism appreciated.
I'm a hobbiest blacksmith, so take what I say for what it's worth. I
make a lot of small things, and strikers are one of them.
I make two types of strikers, public grade (usually at demos and Boy
Scouts) and buckskinner grade. The public grade actually work quite
well, are very simple to make, but really aren't the sort of things
most 'skinners would carry around. The trick here is to find the
right steel which is 5/16 or 3/8 garage door spring. Cut off a coil
of spring about 7-8 inches long, heat it to a even color, bright
cherry to orange, on all links, grab the end of the spring with a pair
of pliers, drop the coil over the handle of the leg vise, and walk
backwards. The steel unwinds like line off a fishing reel. Drop it
on the ground and let it cool. You now have 8-10 feet of straight,
OK-grade striker material. (Disclaimer-I have yet to find a spring
that didn't spark, but YMMV.)
Whack this up in about 5 inch pieces. Heat to orange and taper both
ends. Reheat, and form in a C shape. Reheat to bright orange and
quench using my secret formula and technique ;), Done. Not fancy,
but they work well, especially when you have to make a few to give
away to the audience.
For buckskinners I start with either files or old harse-drawn hay rake
tine (yes, you can find it if you really look-I have about 20 in my
garage, but haven't found a replacement source yet). Great stuff, but
hard to work until you get it hot enough, then you have to worry about
burning it or decarbonizing it. Most of the old horse drawn farm
equipment was made of high carbon steel. Modern bed frames often are
good steel too. Best way to check for high carbon is to put it on
your grinder. If it throws a steady stream of sparks, it's probably
mild steel or a strange alloy. Use it for something else. If it
throws starbursts of sparks, it's likely good carbon steel for
strikers.
If I'm using a file, I start by grinding the teeth off the face that
will be the striker and part of the teeth near that face to reduce the
risk of cracking during hardening. At this point, regardless of the
steel type, I like to work it down into a bar that is 3/16-1/4 inch
wide and 5/16-3/8 inch thick. Draw out one end to a taper maybe 1/16
thick. This is going to be one of the curves.
Figure out how much you need for the striker section, plus another
tapered section, and cut the striker loose from the bar. Now taper
the other end to match the first taper. Ya really gotta be careful
with your heating at this points. Those thin tips are awfully easy to
burn or melt. If you pull the striker out of the fire and it looks
like one of those 4th of July sparklers, it's burnt. Throw it away.
The carbon is gone, so it will never spark.
Now heat one of the tips to cherry, and bend it back toward the side
you've decided will be the striker portion. This bend should be about
3/8 inch long. This will be the little curly tip that reverses at the
end of the C shaped striker. There's two ways to make this bend. The
first is to start it with a pair of needle nose pliers, then tap it
with a hammer. The other is to hold it at 45 degree angle over the
side of the anvil about 3/8 inch, and tap it with a hammer. Then put
it on the anvil and finish the bend. I use a small 8 ounce crosspein
hammer (my kids named it "Dinky") for such delicate work.
Now it's time to make the big bends. Heat to orange, being very
careful not to burn those thin tips. Pull the striker out of the fire
and quench about 3/4 inch of the tip in water for no more that a
quarter of a second. Lay the striker face up across the tip of the
horn and start the bend with a tap near the horn. When you get it
bent 30 degrees or so, lay it on the anvil with the tip in the air
and start pounding on that tip to finish the curve. When the tip is
parallel to the striker face you can put it back on the horn to smooth
up the curve if you want.
The tip was quenched because I'd planned to pound on it. If it wasn't
quenched, it would have been deformed when making the C bend. Do the
same to the other end. Don't work any part of the striker once it
gets into a dull red color. It's too cold. Reheat if you need to.
Heavy hammer blows are not needed. Several light taps in the right
spot are a lot better than one big blow that misses. One way to tell
good blacksmithing is to look for hammer marks. If there are none,
it's pretty good.
Make sure the striker lays flat on the anvil. Reheat and take out any
warps or twists. Put the striker in a vise and file the face smooth.
Small imperfections can catch a flint and break the striker later.
OK, now for the 'secret' hardening techniques.....
You now have to heat the striker to a bright orange, and you have to
do it without burning the carbon out of the metal. That means you
have to heat it evenly and slowly high in the fire so that there is no
oxygen left in the fire draft. Stick the striker face down in the
fire and start your heat.
It takes some practice to tell if it is hot enough by judging the
color alone. Until you get the feel for it, stick a magnet on the
forge. Using very lightweight tongs (duckbills work great) hold the
striker near the magnet. When you can just barely feel some magnetic
attraction, quench the striker in vegetable oil (Kroger corn oil is
fine) for 2-3 seconds without moving it (beware of flare-ups!), then
swish it around until cool. Vegetable oil leaves the surface cleaner
than motor oil, and that's why I use it.
Over the years I've done away with the magnet and quench by color
alone. However, I've learned the hard way to put all those strikers
on a pizza pan, stick them in my over at 500 degrees for an hour, turn
off the heat, and let everything cool overnight. This doesn't hurt
the surface hardness, but does anneal the metal to reduce the
brittleness.
The End.
I have used 1095 steel. You can find hay rake teeth (about 5 feet of
3/8" round 1095) at flea markets for abou $2 to $3 each.
Quench in warm water as before. If you get cracked steel after
quench, discard. Then quench in warm oil. While not the best, used
non-detergent motor oil works for me. When heating for the quench,
I've found using a magnet to know when to quench works well. When the
magnet no longer attracts the striker, it's time to quench.
Do NOT temper. The striker wants to be very hard. Usually
brittleness is not a problem. I have also found that if you make the
part of the striker that the flint hits square, the shap corners
produce more reliable sparks.
The best steel I've found for making fire steels is W-1. It's high
carbon (95) and water quenching. No tempering necessary. Make your
striker, heat to critical (non-magnetic) and drop it in the water and
start on your next one.
Now, with regard to your garage door strikers not giving off many
sparks: Are you using a coal or gas forge? I've found that fire
steels made in gas forges, expecially ones that are running a little
lean, have their surfaces decarbourized a little. Try grinding or
filing the edge down a little bit and see if the sparking improves.
Dave Brown