In my experience, char cloth torn in half, and stacked on the edge of Quartz with the ragged thready edges facing the sparks is the best presentation to get ignition. That's not what our very unscientific experiment showed today. By far, the single layered thready edge ignited much quicker than the other 2 types of edges. You can't really figure it out from a quick experiment like this because there's so many variables: 1) Each piece of char cloth has varying amounts of reactivity.
2) The Quartz I used does not have the same sharpness throughout... With each strike you sometimes get crushed dull edges or the crushed edge my come out sharp and renewed.
3) Great hot sparks may fly off... but in the wrong direction, etc.
*** I get a lot of comments when I do flint and steel videos about all the sparks that go downward. People wonder if my stone is dull or why I'm not holding the stone at more of an angle. Those would be good explanations except for the fact that so many of the sparks you see going downward have bounced off ... been deflected by the char cloth itself. Then again so many of the sparks that are going upward don't show up on video because they are washed out by the light colored skin on my hand.
I didn't really prove anything in this experiment but I hope it encourages you to go and practice some Flint and Steel to see what works for you. Please follow the LINKS below and SUBSCRIBE Thank You!!!
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Making A (Flint and Steel) Steel Out Of A File And Trying It Out!
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