quartz vs flint, with flint and steel

[Wave Man]

here I do a head to head comparison with quartz and flint

 

[Boogers]

You can really see the difference.

Have you tried using anything man-made as a substitute? I read that ceramic (from old wash basins, toilets etc.) can work, but I can't find much else.

 

[Wave Man]

No mate I never tried anything man-made, I never even knew that was possible. If I get the chance I certainly will give it a shot.

 

[Wave Man]

spark testing some quartzite I recently got off my old man

 

[Boogers]

You get some real good sparks with that steel. It's a pity quartz chips so easily, but it does give off a decent shower.

I still haven't tried making char cloth, but I saw David West made a video on how to make char cloth easier to spark by protecting it from the hottest part of your tin. You might find it interesting:

Spoiler: link

 

[Wave Man]

thanks mate, both those strikers are among the best sparkers I have and are my go to's when I want to 'put on a show'.

I like David's videos and have watched most of his stuff. He's insightful about fire related subjects.

 

[silver_capsicum]

I'm not sure what this stuff is but our front garden beds are full of it, sold as "rainbow stone". I assume it's some kind of quartz. Pretty fiddly with it being so small but thought I might as well give it a shot, and can get sparks off a 1084 knife spine but no ember yet. Might make a little striker next time I fire up the 2 brick forge.

It does chip pretty easily but there's plenty more where it came from!

 

[Wave Man]

from the pic it does look like quartz, but I am no expert.

 

[Wave Man]

more rock testing, another lot from my old mans, some good stone, sparks well

 

[Wave Man]

a discussion on quartzite, and my observations

 

[Wave Man]

spark testing more rocks today