Striker for flints made out of an old file

I was given the idea for this a few months back by Keith Burgess.

Ystranc said:

I was given the idea for this a few months back by Keith Burgess.

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that's a nice piece of work

I just need to get the technique right now or the whole bloody thing will have been a waste of time. It seems to work best when the Flint has a good sharp edge.

Excellent job mate, love the size and the shape.....hope you get the technique in the bag

1 shot willie said:

Excellent job mate, love the size and the shape.....hope you get the technique in the bag

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So do I, we're on clay here so I have to beg for flints from family. Luckily FiL is a geologist and lives up in the East Riding.

There are some useful vids on YouTube , I think one by Paul Kirtley , it’s all in the wrist apparently

"By George I think I've got it!"

Nice piece, also because it has quite some substance compared to "traditional" striker-irons.

How well does your flint work? Seems rather small and blunt to me (edge-wise).

The flint is way too blunt to give a consistent spark but it does work if I catch it just right. I'm a little wary of trying to re-knapp the flint into a sharper edge because it's all I have. I'm waiting for a visit from family who have promised to bring some raw flints for me to practice knapping.

Yeah, I thought so.

What I can recommend from my rather modest experience regarding knapping is to maybe switch from the black flint to the brownish chert-type of rock. I found some both in Scottland and Ireland at coastlines (you should be able to find white pebbles that seem as if they were covered in flour), so maybe there can be some found in forests close to the sea, too?

In my experience they work better as they do not break with totally "smooth" edges (I mean straight, blade-like edges) but rather with a more raw edge featuring tiny teeth/grading.

I'll look into it Rathwulven, thank you.

Is this a historic design or a modern idea?

Did they dig this tool out somewhere?

And how large is it ???

This is a copy of a historical design based on a photograph of a striker belonging to a man called Keith Burgess