[TheForge] fire steels

[osan]

Peter Hirst wrote:
> I finally saw one that was made at the site and is used in their 
> education program.  There is a thin strip of steel, perhaps .010" set 
> into the 1/4" striking edge.  It is impossible to tell how deep the 
> steel goes, as the insert is sealed by the iron at each end.  I can 
> tell you however, that it works, and that this particuar steel has 
> been used hundreds of times in demonstrations, with apparently plenty 
> of steel left. I was able to duplicate the effect by forging 1/8" 
> music wire almost  flat, slightly tapered to one edge, and inserting 
> it thick edge first into a slit in 3/8 square.  Closing the slit -- no 
> welding -- holds the steel tight and forges the finished size to 1/4 x 
> 1/2.  The LH  museum explains that they are reproducing a VERY early 
> colonial period, when it was against  British law for the colonists to 
> make any finished goods of commercial value and therefore they were 
> alloted no materials -- steel in particualr -- in any quantity. They 
> were expected to trade furs to England for virtually everything they 
> needed.   Iron had not yet been produced in the New World. The forge 
> was almost exclusively a repair shop, and only a few necessities could 
> be squeaked out around the law.  The Williamsburg of today is of a 
> much later period, by 125 years or more.  Tariffs were in effect and 
> imports were taxed, but the manufacture and trade in many crafts was 
> well established.  AN all steel striker would not have been the 
> extravagance of the earlier period.
No doubt that this can be done.  The question is, why?