I use quartz here too. The Mohawk valley here in NY is home of someone the worlds finest gem quality quartz. Known as herkimer diamonds.... I have buckets of less than gem quality that I use with a steel striker.... knife.... axe etc always throws an awesome spark
One thing of note, if you're gonna pressure flake it's a bad idea to do it in a place that isn't well ventilated. This is more dangerous with flintknapping but it can be a problem if you try to sharpen a lot at once. Always pressure flake in a place with a lot of circulating air, otherwise you might get rock dust in your lungs.
A large nail is reasonable for pressure flaking but it doesn't have the gripping ability that a copper ended pressure flaker has. It still works fine though. I have both a wooden pressure flaker I made myself with a maybe 3mm + thick copper rod in the end of it, and a 5 inch nail which is no longer pointed but instead is rounded in my flint knapping bag. A nail or a copper rod can both be easily cold worked with a hammer into a finer end if you want to take off smaller flakes, though a copper point is going to be worn away a lot faster than a mild steel nail point. For my 5 inch nail flaker I simply cut an appropriately sized piece of bamboo and slipped it onto the nail so the pointed end was sticking out of the end an inch or so. It seems to work fine.
Yeah can my striker edge be too sharp? When I ground the little fins off the sides of the file, the squared up edges are really sharp should I get rid of that?
The nail is a great idea. I bought an awl some guy made with a nail and a broomstick piece for $2 at a re-enactment. It’s one of the most useful tools I own. Put a wine cork over the nail when not in use. Because nail points are clipped and angular, it works great like a drill. Thanks for the educational video. I’m going to make one and try it.
Hey Dan, you teach easy to understand good skills and information of what is reasonably inexpensive for equipment that works for different tasks just as I like to do. Great video brother and keep up all your good work and effort!
I have also flaked off a bit of flint with the my striker. In the beginning I would miss the edge of my flint and strike the flint with my steel causing a bit to flake off. Its a good quick way to knock off an edge to make the flint sharp again.
I stumbled across how quartz throws a spark, pulling quartz boulders out of my creek for some building projects, and as they tumbled out of the wheelbarrow and off the stone sled, I could see at/after dark they throw sparks when they collide. I always wondered if those sparks were viable for bringing about fire. THANKS!!
I bought a box of rocks. Or I thought that's what I was getting, but I got the whole rock. A 3 lb rock. Now I have to find a hammer stone and learn about spalling flint. Too funny, but as usual educational. These videos are informative. Dan Wowak, you rock. : )
This guy makes grizzly adams look like sjw who spends his days in his moms basement trolling on twitter, broh... you are Amazing keep up the good work ! Macgyver has nothing on you.
MY FLINT HAS A SHARP EDGE BUTMORE LIKE A HACKSAW BLADE.. I FILED IT DOWN SMOTH AND STILL NO SPARK. 27 YEARS OLD PPURCHASED ON LINE AND COULD NEVEER GET IT TO NIGHT CHAR CLOTH. DOES FLINT GO BAD AFTER SO MANY YEARS? BOB
Great tips Dan! I hv not used flint n steel much... but I do hv a set, came in a lil burlap bag (tinder, if needed!). I really need to work on that skill!
I dont have flint in my area, but quartz is everywhere. Usually i can take a quartz rock and smash it to get a several pieces with sharp edges. Only problem is it doesn’t hold that edge very well and crumbles dull usually after only a few strikes. But, its everywhere here in nh. I have several pieces in my quartz 😜 n steel tin.
Thanks Dan. Appreciate the quick and comprehensive response. Got to admit I never thought of purchasing flint. I was more focused on trying to make what I find locally work. Enjoy your holidays.
flint is not cheap from experience. I have to buy it as it is not abundant in Australia, nor is chert or quartzite in my area. Smashing it up also only works somewhat as it really diminishes its size quickly. I think a bopper is the best solution overall, and learn how to knap the edges back to sharp.
My town sources their gravel from a quarry that evidently has a lot of chert in it. There's pieces of good, hard, spark-throwing rock on every trail and town parking lot within a 5-mile radius of me. 😁
Dan, I live in Mississippi, where I live we don't have sparking rocks. can you recommend a seller where I can but "a box of flint" as you suggest? Thanks!
Any rock harder than 5-5.5 chert, flint, jasper, quartz etc. Check any gravel pits, construction, railroad tracks, road bedding. Alot of gravel is brought in for building and concrete. Test everything!
That was awesome ! I've been trying to figure out how to sharpen my flints , and this popped up in my stream today. You are a good instructor. I actually learned, and it worked great. Thanks very much!
I saw your comment about selling strikers at your store, but I couldn't find it on your site ? Thanks for the video, I was looking for the same answers.
Very good. Thank you very much. Dan, Someone on Utube stated that granite will also produce sparks. I am a very experienced Soldier and backpacker, but new to bushcrafting. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it and even a "beginner" like me got sparks. The granite doesn't seem to work as well as the flint, but it does work.
Dan... Thanks for the video. Mucho helpful and informative. You have a nice way of taking some of the mystery out of it and make it understandable. Best wishes..... Ax
I'm 90 minutes east of you, in the Slate Belt. I haven't found anything that'll spark so I ordered a flint n steel set. Should I continue looking around for anything? Anytime in the woods is great, but searching gets frustrating because I can't find or make any sparks on what I try.