quartz............

[fish]

ive just read that you can make sparks with a striker and quartz same as flint,anyone tried it? does it make as hot a spark?

[JEEP]

Not as hot - nor as easily - as with flint. But it does work.

[luresalive]

Both flint and quartz are a 7 on the Moh's scale and provided you get a piece of quartz with a good crystalline structure (not Quartzite) then it will throw sparks equally as good as flint, so will jasper and chert..as a matter of fact apart from Amythest (which you can buy cheaply at most local museums) chert throws the best sparks I've ever seen...But of course that will also depend on your striker! see below for chert an jasper.

http://buzzardbushcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/hard-rock.html

[AdrianRose]

I agree with Jakob. I've experimented with quartz and iron pyrite but the sparks were so vague that it would be a real struggle to make it a viable method of fire lighting as opposed to using flint.

As a side note, my wife and used to own a shop selling thousands of different types of crystals and minerals and we still have a HUGE stock of them in the loft, so if anybody wants some quartz, amethyst, citrine etc etc to practice on let me know and I'll sen you some out.

Ade

[JEEP]

I agree with Jakob. I've experimented with quartz and iron pyrite but the sparks were so vague that it would be a real struggle to make it a viable method of fire lighting as opposed to using flint.

As a side note, my wife and used to own a shop selling thousands of different types of crystals and minerals and we still have a HUGE stock of them in the loft, so if anybody wants some quartz, amethyst, citrine etc etc to practice on let me know and I'll sen you some out.

Ade

Yes, please :)

[paulthefish2009]

Yes please as well. Paul

[Adam Savage]

ive just read that you can make sparks with a striker and quartz same as flint,anyone tried it? does it make as hot a spark?

Ash used the very same striker I gave you on some quartz at the Autumn meet. Seemed to throw some pretty good sparks then :)

[AdrianRose]

Ash used the very same striker I gave you on some quartz at the Autumn meet. Seemed to throw some pretty good sparks then :)

I think your right.

It's the striker that makes the difference as opposed to the quartz, flint etc based on the fact that its the striker that sparks and not the stone.
I've tested my striker, which was made for me by Andrew Kirkham (who makes all the strikers for sale by Ray Mears) and it throws a good spark on quartz but the same piece of quartz when used with Pyrite is very poor.
Admittedly the pyrite is the Spanish cubic form which is quite crumbley.

Ade.

[Adam Savage]

The key is making the steel nice and hard, but keeping the striking mineral (flint, chert, quartz, etc) even harder. Steel will strike on anything that is harder than itself, given the correct application of friction and pressure. That's why an exhaust will throw off a shower of sparks when dragged on tarmac, when it falls off its hangers.

[FishyFolk]

We do not have flint in Norway, that is you can find some rock fling in the far north in Finnmark, and in the very south on the beaches. But thats it.
So I had only used quartz until I bougtht the Jungle hammock from Tony, and he kindly added some pieces of Flint when he sent it :-)
Quartz is the most common mineral on the planet, and around here it's found in abundance. I can pick it in my own driveway...

It is more brittle than flint, so it does not last as long. That makes it a little more difficult to get a spark from it, but the parks I get catch a charcloth just the same.
Here is a vid where I use it. Quartz and steel from 02:25


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLITZ_L01mE&feature=g-upl

Please do not look at my casting. I am rubbish at it...lol

[fish]

theres nowt wrong with the striker and i get a shower of sparks every time with flint ,i was just suprised about the quartz as i didnt realise other stones work.

[OakAshandThorn]

theres nowt wrong with the striker and i get a shower of sparks every time with flint ,i was just suprised about the quartz as i didnt realise other stones work.
Same here - something I have got to try now :).

[fish]

i wonder of the wife will notice her amethyst is missing....

[AL...]

LOL Only one way to find out :D

Cheers
AL