Fire strikers

Striking fire with steel and flint is all about a few things:

• Hardened steel
• Dark flint with a good edge to strike against
• The angle of the striking
• Taking good care of the spark when it lands

The firestriker should be made from quality steel and thoroughly hardened. Sometimes a part of the handle is tempered, but be careful not to temper it too much.

The spark produced holds very limited energy. To light the fire from the spark it's useful to make sure it lands on something that easily produces a glow. I've cut pieces of linen fabric and placed it in a sealed box the owen for some time to turn it into coal. If I manage to land a spark on one of these coal cloths it's possible to slowly add increasingly large flamable stuff (like the inside of daffodills or similar) until you can start adding thin sticks of wood.