@AusTac But thats as far as I am going. Im not going to start looking for two rocks that i can hit together to make a fire. Sticks are much easier to find 
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I call that type of wood BullSh!t wood I hate it when I take the chainsaw out to a fallen tree make the first few cuts only to find its all eaten out or all soft and squishy. I still have to cut the dam stuff up but in longer lengths and take it to the bonfire for burning.
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I have used both water & oil, I have not had the oil catch fire doing this. If the oil was hot it could catch fire, or if you only had a little oil it may catch fire. Easier to anneal or soften a piece of metal file. File off the teethe on the edges. Reheat to cherry red & quench to harden. This will make a good fire steel.
I made a heap of these for a local Scout troop from old chainsaw files.
Another one I made from a piece of metal file. Some originals were like this.
This is the steel I carry with me when trekking, this is an original 18th century fire steel that was made from a metal file as many of them were.
Some rocks work better than other, some rocks are harder than others. Agate is harder than quartz, but quarts still works okay. One problem I have found with some pieces of quartz is that it has fracture lines & tends to break easier than other rocks.
Quartz.
Agate.
This could be Green Chert, it was found by one of our group members in Nundle NSW.
Igneous Rock.
Keith.
I don’t use charred cloth, flint can be found out bush as can other siliceous & igneous rocks & I can make fire & prepare plant & fungus tinders without a tinderbox. But I stand corrected, I did not realise that “Fat Wood” could be obtained from native Australian pines, good to know, thank you.
Regards, Keith.
Your pretty resourceful keith, at the end of the day whatever works works 
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Piercings, Mohawks and Misfits t-shirts are also a good indication of punk wood!
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Especially in the morning, morning pierced punk wood. The woodiest.
Pretty sure that’s called a Prince Albert
@sungazer.
Basic hardening regime is heat until non-magnetic and then heat a bit more. Quench in canola oil. Time in quench depends on mass of the piece. You want a bit of heat left left in the piece to complete the martensitic transformation. The trick is to get through the critical phase (roughly defined by the losing and regaining of magnatism) very quickly. You have about 2 seconds to achieve this or you will not get complete good hardness.
I have never set oil on fire. I think that is due to too much heat in too much mass and removing from quench too soon.
I also quench in water but you do risk stress fractures.
After quench, chuck it in oven for a couple of hours at 200c (two one hour cycles are better). This will temper it back and remove any brittleness.
Remember the steel has to have enough carbon to harden. Mild steel will not harden.
With all due respect, and I truly mean that as I have an enormous amount of respect for what you do, the skills you have and your commitment to maintaining and promoting those skills (as a self employed person with two young kids, I wish I had the time to follow your lead). However, I call bullshit on your statement that unprepared/ill-prepared people will fall to a stone age lifestyle. In the event of a major meteor strike we’re all screwed anyway. As for smaller SHTF scenarios, there will be mass chaos and a huge mortality event, but things will eventually settle down. We simply won’t lose all knowledge of what we are capable of building/achieving even we don’t know exactly how to do it. That’s a huge advantage that the Neanderthal and early modern humans, or even any indigenous culture that had lived an isolated existence until the last couple of hundred years simply didn’t have. In the event of a major solar flare or some other event that completely screws over our ability to generate electricity and the loss of all the technology that goes with it, we won’t be living in a cave walking around in animal skins without the inherent knowledge that it’s possible to farm animals, grow crops and live a better than cave man existence. It’s not like we won’t know the concept of working steel, and it’s not like there won’t be an abundance of it laying around to rework into useful things. Let’s be real, the biggest risk is a short term SHTF crisis that most people simply aren’t prepared for in any way at all, or mad hatter preppers that think they are prepared for the end of days.
All that aside, I love what you do and have immensely enjoyed your videos. Please keep 'em coming.
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That’s exactly what it’s called.
Not going to ask how you two know that. 
The Joseph Style of Flint & Steel Fire Lighting.
Detail of the altarpiece of the Saint Georges church in Haguenau, Bas-Rhin, France.
In this lower image Joseph is holding flint & tinder in his left hand, & is about to strike downward against the flint with the steel held in his right hand. Below you can see an open wooden tinderbox & some spunks/sulphur headed matches/splints/tapers.
Keith.
No “charcloth” Flint & Steel Fire Lighting.
Charcloth is as far as I know a modern term, before the 20th century it was simply known as charred cloth or tinder.
Keith.
Making 18th Century Spunks.
Keith.
Gunpowder Fire Lighting.
One of the added advantages of carrying gunpowder.
Keith.
Field Preparation of Plant & Fungi Tinders in the 18th Century.
Keith.
Firelock Fire Lighting.
One of the advantages of carrying a flintlock.
“…he was left to amuse himself all night a long side his fier which he made with his gun.” ~A. McKenzie, 1804.
Keith.
Had to watch just to learn what “Spunk” was. Interesting where do you go to buy sulpher these days?
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I purchased mine from a chemist years ago, but if they no longer sell it, you can purchase sulfur from a gardening/nursery supplies.
Keith.