A Fire striker is a piece of high-carbon steel used for striking a spark, usually kept in a tinderbox together with flint and tinder.
From the Iron Age onwards, the use of flint and steel was the one of most common method of fire lighting along with the Fire piston, prior to the invention of the friction match. More recently the term 'fire striker' has become synonymous with so called 'artificial flints' which are metal rods of varying size composed of ferrocerium, an alloy of iron and mischmetal (itself an alloy primarily of cerium) that will generate sparks when struck. Iron is added to improve the strength of the rods. Small shavings are torn off the rod with either a supplied metal scraper, a piece of hacksaw blade, or, commonly, the back of a knife ground at a suitable angle. These shavings then ignite at high temperatures, and they are much more effective than their historical equivalent.
Traditionally a flint and steel were used; however, the flint was not the important part. Any hard, non-porous rock that has a sharp edge, or even petrified wood, can be used to create sparks. The spark comes from chipping small pieces of steel off the striker; finely divided metals ignite immediately in air, with steel burning at yellow-white heat.
Charcloth is usually used as an intermediate step between the striking and the tinder, in order to more easily catch a spark.
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