BUSHMANtz is ti me?

[allenko]

All I have a BUSHMANtz that I am having trouble getting the volume of spark out of a fero rod along the thickest part of the blade spine near the shoulder.

However I do manage to produce a huge shower of sparks towards the drop point about an inch to inch and half from the point itself. I have read that it could be due to the hardennig process.

Has anyone had a similar experience and what is the fix? worried that the blade has been compromised

Cheers,

Paul

 

[aarya]

Getting a spark from a ferro rod, is only about the sharpness of the edge you are using. From what i gather, the knife in question is probably sharper on the back, out on the point, than it is closer to the handle. Sparks from ferro rods have nothing to do with the hardening of the knife itsself. If you look at the back of your knife, you will probably notice that the squared back seems sharper closer to the point, than towards the handle. To remedy this, sharpen the back of the knife. Or get a dedicated striker.

 

[Draven]

Getting good sparks from a ferro rod relies on sharpness of the spine and hardness of the steel. If it's a differentially hardened blade, the edge will be hard and the spine soft, except near the tip where the spine will be hard as well. If that's the case, nowt much you can do about it other than use the tip or use a striker instead. If it's hardened all over, it's just a matter of filing/grinding the spine square so there's enough of a corner to strike sparks.

Laminated blades can also have issues, but I don't see that getting better near the tip (except the VERY tip) unless there's a swedge.

Pete

 

[alpha_centaur]

I have the same problem with my Helle knife. The solution I carry an opinel with me as well. It doesn't weigh much more than a striker and produces an amazing shower of sparks.

 

[allenko]

Cheers all!
I've dug out the old opinel number 8......... still not happy that one part will and another wont produce showers of sparks. I've checked down the spine and it is uniform and square on

 

[maddave]

Might be a poor quality ferro rod. I can get a decent shower of sparks from mine with a bit of glass or try a bit of old hacksaw blade

 

[Tye Possum]

I've tried to strike one on the spine of my Kellam wolverine which has a differential heat treatment and it didn't work, also tried it on the spine of my swiss army knife blade and it didn't work there either, though that one might be because it's not square enough, I don't know, but it worked on the SAK awl, but it wasn't exactly a shower of sparks. Worked great on the filed spine of my mora clipper.