If you’re into traditional outdoor living or even a modern-day prepper looking for ways to improve a bug-out bag you have more than likely heard of flint and steel.

For everyone else, if modern heating conveniences ever get disrupted then this will be one of the ways you’ll start a fire for heat.

Flint and steel are two separate components that are traditionally used together to start fires. Flint is a rock that is struck with a steel striker to generate sparks that can be caught using tinder.

Historically, flint has been mined by various indigenous tribes all across North America and Europe. They used it for various tools as shards of flint can be quite sharp to the touch.

Flintknapping is still a practice today and is commonly how tools were created. It is a labor-intensive love that can leave the “knapper” with bleeding hands and sore fingers.

But how did flint and steel become known for their fire-starting capabilities? How does striking one thing against another cause the energy needed to ignite tinder?

Keep reading and learn a little bit more about the relationship between flint and steel.

How Does Flint And Steel Cause Sparks?

To figure out how this dynamic duo creates sparks we need to turn to the wonders of science.

Iron and carbon are what make up steel and give it such a dense hardness. Iron is known as a pyrophoric substance in that it will ignite when exposed to oxygen at room temperature.

Now iron does not spontaneously combust if you hold it and that’s because it has a thin layer of oxidation that prevents it.

However, if you were to chip away at that oxidation and expose the iron then pieces of it would ignite as the air got to it. That is the big secret about using flint and steel to light a fire.

Striking the high carbon steel striker against a hard rock-like flint at the right angle will chip away the steel and cause the iron inside to produce a spark as it burns up in the air.

You can do this with any rock that is hard and has a sharp edge. Examples of rocks you can use are:

• Quartz
• Jasper
• Chert

Iron is naturally very soft so having high carbon steel will produce a brittle metal. This combined with a hard and sharp rock will produce the hottest and best sparks for starting a fire.

Where Can You Find Flint?

Flint is a resource that you can easily stock up on and have the means to start a fire for the rest of your life.

Tracking it down isn’t too difficult and there are some pretty easy methods for finding some flint in your local area.

Start by using these tips to help you on your next flint search:

• Look along beaches and beach cliffs
• Check construction sites as they get a lot of their rocks from rocky rivers
• Look along the shores of lakes, creeks, and rivers. Anything with chert and shale around it
• Old quarries are a great place to check out flint availability

How To Spot Flint In The Field

It’s easy to spot once you’ve found it a few times and you’ll usually find quite a lot when you stumble across it.

Look for either round, smooth rocks that are very dark gray to almost black. They are much darker than their counterparts, chert.

Often you’ll find it splintered or in jagged shapes which is perfect for using it as a fire starter.

Once you’ve found a suspect piece of flint, have a look at it. Does it appeal matted or glossy?

If it’s matted or has a lack of luster, take some sand and give it a good rub, if you reveal a glossy surface then you have the right rock.

Since flint is an extremely hard rock you should be able to scrape it along something and see if it leaves a mark.

A common test is scratching it along a glass bottle, if it leaves a mark on the bottle you are in luck.

Otherwise, simply try it against your steel striker and see if it’ll produce a spark.

Let’s Talk About Steel Strikers

The steel striker is generally made of high carbon steel and is shaped in a variety of ways.

This includes a shape similar to that of an iron knuckle where it curves around the middle knuckles of your hand.

Other variations include a piece of hardened steel that has been bent so that there is a hole for your finger to hold the steel instead of it going around your entire hand.

The idea is that you want the steel alloy to be hardened but not so much so that impact with the flint won’t produce sparks. You want the flint to shave off micro-fractures of steel which then combust.

The best steel strikers are ones with high carbon content, such as W1 or W2.

A lot of folks use old steel files and grind them down into the desired shape. It is due to their high carbon content that files are one of the best sources of material for this kit.

A Short Guide On Using Flint and Steel To Start A Fire

Flint and steel require some finesse and technique to successfully pull off. You will need an additional piece of kit, something like char cloth or tufts of jute that can hold the spark that the steel gives off.

Here are some step-by-step instructions on using a flint and steel.

1. Holding the flint in one hand and the steel striker in the other, hit the flint at a downward angle with the striker.
2. The sparks should be angled downward into your tinder pile. Keep striking until you see an ember forming on tinder.

Tips On Using A Flint And Steel

Hold The Tinder On The Flint

If you are using char cloth you can hold the tinder by wrapping it around the flint.

When you break through the fragile material with the striker the spark will ignite the cloth around the area.

Make Sure It’s Not Windy

A tiny ember is completely at the mercy of the elements and is prone to be extinguished by the smallest breeze. You will need to strike a balance between airflow and fuel to grow your fire.

Troubleshooting

There are many reasons that you could not be generating sparks with your flint and steel.

Add that to the basket of reasons why your tinder isn’t lighting and you could have a conundrum on your hands. Here are some of the basic reasons that your flint and steel attempts keep failing.

Change Your Angle

If you suspect the angle of your flint is the culprit, then switch it up until you start seeing sparks. The ideal striking angle would be 45 degrees

Add or Remove More Force When You Strike

Sometimes you just need to strike the flint harder to coax some sparks out of the metal underneath.

If you’re missing the flint when you strike then you might want to dial back on the strength.

Use a Different Edge on the Flint

The sharper the edge the higher the possibility of sparks. If you’re not seeing anything after several strikes, find or make a sharper edge to the flint and try again. Sometimes you just need to try a different side of the rock.

Final Thoughts

As a fire-starting tool, it is a no-brainer that should be in everyone’s kit. The steel striker will last several years and flint is a near infinite resource for the individual.

The technique is refined over and over as you use different types of rocks or strikers and you’ll soon find your rhythm.

The post What Exactly Is Flint And Steel? appeared first on Survival Sullivan.

By: Perrin Adams
Title: What Exactly Is Flint And Steel?
Sourced From: www.survivalsullivan.com/what-is-flint-and-steel/
Published Date: Tue, 06 Sep 2022 16:00:00 +0000

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