something i just learned.

[Angus]

My favorite knife is one made by Sammi People in Finland, with a ferro rod on the sheath.  Razor sharp right out of the box, lightweight, not too big, and easy to grip with gloves....but!  The ferro rod/blade combination won't yield a decent amount of fire.  I purchased a different, larger rod and an inexpensive Condor Bushlore knife so I'd have a full tang knife around, and discovered that the metal in the Wood Jewel knife is too hard to really get great results out of the ferro rod!  The Condor kicks them out like gangbusters!  So while I prefer the Pukko style of knife, I'll have to switch.  It was really interesting to see the difference the change in blade composition made on the ferro rods!

[NY Yankee]

It's not about the metal in the knife. You can strike a ferro rod with a broken beer bottle or a cat food can lid. Even a sharp rock will work. The point is having something with an edge on it. Take any decent knife and carefully file a sharp 90 degree flat on the spine. The point is to get a sharp 90 degree surface. Anything like that will strike a ferro rod. The reason a ferro rod makes sparks is you are shaving fine shards of the metal off the surface. These shards ignite when they come into contact with the air (oxygen) and they glow hot, which is what we see as sparks. Some ferro rods are not as good quality as others and my not throw off good sparks. You have to go out and practice with your geer to be sure.

[Angus]

I can start a fire with flint & steel, but the knives I like best won't give off much in the way of sparks from the ferro rod.  I checked their backs, and you might be right; I might be needing to square them up.  They're all blackened blades though, not Parkerized, but treated in the forging process.  I'll play around with them more!  Thanks for the advice!

[WESTBROOK]

The Wood Jewel knives use blades made by Lauren Metalli in finland....they are a stamp/die cut blade. The spine does not have a good sharp 90* edge so you need to draw file the spine flat. Then they will throw sparks like crazy!!