Homemade Firesteel Strikers

D

dogstar

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Jan 23, 2011
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I know you can sharpen the spine of your knife and use a hacksaw blade. What other inexpensive, common can you mod for this purpose? I'm looking for something that can be worn around the neck. Here are some ideas:

Razor blade
Screwdriver tip

Anything else?
 
Dog tag?

US Army P38 or P51 can opener?

If you have a broken SAK (or similar), perhaps you could salvage one of the tools such as the can opener or nail file?
 
Dog tags might be aluminum, which is pretty soft. I think hardened steel will serve the purpose better.

I like the can opener idea.
 
Last edited:
dogstar said:
Dog tags might be aluminum, which is pretty soft. I think hardened steel will serve the purpose better.

I like the can opener idea.
Click to expand...

Sorry, should have made myself a bit clearer; I meant something that size/shape. In fact there's a 4 in 1 survival "tool" that you can buy, which has a sharpened edge with a rubber protector.

Also Scott Gossman makes a fire steel striker that's small enough to wear around the neck and is unsharpened and knife shaped.
 
Pilgrimuk, thanks for your replies. I'm looking for common items that are super inexpensive that will do the job. I could have ordered one from goinggear when I order the misch metal blanks, but I forgot. It will be $4 to order one now. Just wondering what substitutes I can use for less than that price.
 
You can buy a small firesteel with striker at the boy scout shop (if you have one locally)for 2.99 or 3.99 and have a spare (small) firesteel. I would just go with the hacksaw blade.
 
I've found that the a hacksaw blade works as well as anything I've tried. The first 3/8" inch usually has "smaller" blank or starter teeth that work great on mischmetal rods by Goinggear.com.
Just enough 'bite' to throw those gobs of sparks with a built-in hole to boot. I usually snap off mine to appox. 1 1/4" sand off the paint and round-off the corners.
 
Hi Dogstar,

Just had another thought; you could always go the other way! Get a scraper from an old firesteel and see what you could modify that into? I'm a Bushcraft Instructor and have a few spare scrapers, so if you want to go down that route drop me a PM or email and I'll pop a couple in the post to you, free of charge (I'm in the UK so they may take a day or two to get to you though).

atb, John
 
If you are a carpenter or know one, there's always a worn out blade from a reciprocating saw that works well. They are cheap and plentiful in construction and easy to come by. All you would need to do is remove the paint so you have a sharp spine and maybe cut it down to what size you need. Makes a more sturdy striker than a piece of hacksaw.
 
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