Making fire with flint & steel

[SeekHer]

Try roughing up the face with a file...temporary but works...have used a hard rock when file not handy...you just don't have any surface to catch the flint...

also you might want to try getting one from a good blacksmith instead of those tourist kit sets that are available at major historic sites...don't get me wrong, they're OK, they just don't last long due to the hardening that they receive...

unless you have done it before DON'T try hardening on your own...

if you have gotten a nice, new, blacksmith made striker, than you might want to practice on heating the old one...you need a certain colour, a deep cherry red, before you quench it in a liquid...

some of the stuff they used in past...old wine, vinegar, beer, urine, sheep was the best and especially when mixed with honey...each gave a unique hardening to the steel...