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Post by runswithbeer on Jun 16, 2008 18:27:21 GMT -5
Thank you for All the remarks at the intro, South africa, Your IT. This is what I want to do. I saw a strike a lite on EBAY shaped like a fish, I have a bunch of steel leg hold traps, The way I see it, is I can get two of these from 1 spring. What I need to know is, Will this make a good striker, And what do I need to do to the metal for more spark, Because in its present state it only throws a little bit of sparks, But it will work, Any input would be appreciated ;D ;D
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Post by beaudro on Jun 16, 2008 20:22:01 GMT -5
If you have ever heard of Mike Ameling he is probably the foremost expert on fire steels. www.angelfire.com/journal2/firefromsteel/ I have looked at several books i have but have not come up with a picture of a steel shaped like a fish, but there are thousands of styles and shapes. As far as using trap steel for making one, i would say yes, but it may depend on the trap. Many modern traps only use a carbon steel for the spring and the rest of the trap wouldn't have enough carbon steel to do much good. Go for it if you can find the high carbon in parts of the trap. I use a magnet to temper mine , heat it up with a forge, or torch until the magnet no longer sticks to it. Then quench it in water quickly. I have often had to do this more than once , if your sure it's carbon steel and can't get it to throw a spark, try it again. After a few times I'll give up and try a different metal, but usually it works.
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Post by Buckskin Billy on Jun 16, 2008 21:33:02 GMT -5
me and grizz made one out of a file. it's not shaped like a fish but we made it in about 30 minuets or so. we just cut it to the length we wanted, heated it up with a torch to bend to shape, took it to the grinder to smooth out the edge and started a fire soon afterwards
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Post by phoenix1967 on Jun 16, 2008 21:58:59 GMT -5
What makes a good firesteel is just the opposite of what makes a good knife. for a firesteel, you need to hold it at above non-magnetic for 5-10 minutes to allow the grains to grow large. WITH A KNIFE, YOU WANT FINE GRAINS, SO YOU QUENCH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. WITH A FIRE STEEL, YOU WANT IT TO SOAK AT TEMP FOR A WHILE. FILES AND TRAP STEEL BOTH WOULD WORK WELL. Sorry for yellin, just noticed that I fat fingered the caps lock.
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Post by runswithbeer on Jun 17, 2008 6:28:10 GMT -5
Thanks for the replys,Im using the large flat springs, Im going to give it a try. Question, So harder is better for throughing sparks?
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Post by phoenix1967 on Jun 17, 2008 6:55:16 GMT -5
Yup, Harder is better for makin sparks. Just ask the missus...
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Post by beaudro on Jun 17, 2008 7:40:59 GMT -5
yes, harder the better. The sparks that you see are carbon , your removing it from the steel. I hope you got to look at Ameling's website, he is a great blacksmith and has done his homework, each one of those steels he has made are good replicas of originals. I was really surprised the first time i seen an original 200 year old steel. It was very small, the first ones i had made i assumed they were about as big as my hand , the originals were about half that size. It made sense when i found out that steel at one time was hard to come by. Iron was expensive, steel was rare, but brass and copper was common. It was common to take a file back to a smith and have him re-groove it. In the colonies we didn't have enough steel to provide for the growing country we started, we relied on England to support our needs. Most knives were stamped out and shipped to us without handles. Fire steels made for the indians called "trade steels" or "brite ovals" were stamped out. try to post a pic of your steel and let us know how it's going.
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Post by runswithbeer on Jun 17, 2008 19:02:58 GMT -5
THANKS for the help WhenI get it done Ill send Pics.
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Post by runswithbeer on Jun 18, 2008 19:25:58 GMT -5
Thanhs beoudrow, Isaw and read the link you sent. Great site I think it will help alot
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