Dose any one use the. Spine of their knife to strike a spark

dogwood dan

dogwood dan

Joined
Aug 19, 2011
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925
Dose any one use the spine of thear knife as the steal part of a flent and steel? If so do they need the spine to have a sharp courner or dose rounded spine work

Thank

Dan
 
Yes of course, even my custom camp knife has gouges in it from striking. square spines work best. rounded not good.. some people file out a curve the shape and size of their flint to pull it through. but this still has squared edges.. you want some bite.. and carry some other form of fire start :) or at least some gauze or cotton soaked in vaseline.. gl!
 
You need a sharp angle on the spine as rounded won't work. I tend to use the striker that came with the steel or a cut section of hacksaw blade.
 
Edit: I didnt read your post close enough.:o I now see you were refering to flint, which I dont use. My response was in reguards to firesteel.

Yes I do use the spine of my knife. As the other two members said, you need to have a sharp angle on your spine. When I first got a fire steel, I was practicing in my back yard. I was using my Seal Pup (rounded spine) and not having any luck I switched to my Field Pup (square spine) and sparks flew.

I prefer using the spine of my knife as opposed to the striker, I feel it produces more spark and puts more of it to the material that you are trying to ignite.

sp2.jpg
 
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Yep, I do it all the time. I generally have a spare striker in my bag but prefer to just use my knife.
 
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I've used the firesteel but I haven't used flint. A square back on the knife works well. If you use one of the magnesium fire starters the square back also shaves the magnesium.

Dakota firepit 2.jpg

I filed a double notch on the back of this knife to help in striking sparks and shaving magnesium.

IMGP0546.jpg

A short piece of old hacksaw blade works real well.
 
Yep, sometimes I have to. Though I don't usually, sometimes it's the only thing readily available for me to use.
 
I use my bushlore all the time. It looks like it got dragged behind a truck, spine first. It definitely bitess up the spine. You can strike with the knife, steel not moving, or vice versa. The other interesting method I did was drag a speed bowie on the back of a quartz to create a shower of little sparks. I haven't tried to light anything with it but it looked cool. I'll have to bring some char cloth out there later.
 
If you are referring to using the spine in a traditional flint and steel use as in throwing sparks via striking the spine with a piece of flint (or vice versa) then in my experiences the sharpened edge helps the flint get better cut and a larger spark. Heat treating also plays a really big part. Differential heat treats with softer spines don't throw sparks as well as a spine with a higher RC so it seems like it's a bit of a trade off in that the harder and more brittle the spine the better the sparks, but there may be some indications that a high RC in, and the chipping away of, the spine combined with extreme cold conditions can shorten the life span of the knife significantly. Rick has done some studies in how low of an RC will still throw decent sparks but the numbers escape me at the moment. All I know for sure is that some knives I've had that were Cold Steel's Carbon V through some really good sparks and some knives I've had that had the spines drawn back didn't throw sparks as well. I think it is a cool technique to remember and that learning if your knife will throw sparks is a good thing, but long term repeated use is a good way to ruin a good knife.
 
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I do it now and then. A carbon Mora will throw a decent spark. Even a good old carbon folder will throw a spark.

Here's a short video I did on "strikers" a while back showing the two and a couple other methods.

[youtube]0nbJ0BwVyyI[/youtube]
 
Yes, that is pretty much all I use. Obviously the knife has to be high carbon to flake off a piece of steel in the form of a spark and as such a squared spine seems to work best. For the rock, anything with high glass content will work including quartz. While quartz normally won't make a good cutting tool, it will work with flint/steel.

Here is how I hold the knife, VERY TIGHTLY I might add. Below that is one way to bust rock for a sharp edge. Good luck.

[video=youtube;OsyBoqakK74]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsyBoqakK74&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

[video=youtube;77TucCtMDy8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77TucCtMDy8&feature=channel_video_title[/video]
 
thank for the info, would a shape in the spine help especially with a firesteel? I am an apprentice knife maker working on my first designs so any advice on this point is appreciated.

thank you for you time advice
 
Just a good 90 degree edge on the spine. Anything else is just a place for the blade to fail at during use.
 
abo4ster- I'm curious what was your little "sandwich". The flint and.. something soaked? It became an ember nice and fast.. :D
 
dogwood dan said:
thank for the info, would a shape in the spine help especially with a firesteel? I am an apprentice knife maker working on my first designs so any advice on this point is appreciated.

thank you for you time advice
Click to expand...
Yes, you need to leave the spine squared to strike a ferro rod. I've used stainless steel blade spines to strike ferro rods.
Scott
 
I generally do except when I am working with my sons. I want them to learn to use a striker as I believe it is safer for younger hands that do not have as much grip strength.

Simultaneous control of hot sparks and sharp edges is something I'd rather not try to teach at this point;)
 
I have had better luck with a squared spine. Below is a picture of my Charles May 'lil friend scandi 1/8" spine, S30V stainless steel.


DSC_0641.jpg
 
dogwood dan said:
thank for the info, would a shape in the spine help especially with a firesteel? I am an apprentice knife maker working on my first designs so any advice on this point is appreciated.

thank you for you time advice
Click to expand...
Dig around in the forum archives and find the "Bushcraft knife challenge" thread from earlier this year and check out my entry. I think you will find what you're looking for.
 
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