Iron Burning – Upon contact with the air, a shower of tiny iron particles spontaneously catch on fire.

铁的燃烧-一旦接触到空气，一阵微小的铁粒子自发着火。

Starting a fire with flint and steel (the steel is also known as a “firesteel”) brings to mind the image of self-sufficient mountain men in the wilderness.

用燧石和钢(钢也被称为“火钢”)生火让人想起在荒野中自给自足的山地人的形象。

A rite of passage that ties you to wilderness travelers through the millennia, the ability to use flint and steal is one of the basic survival skills everyone should master.

使用打火石和偷窃的能力是每个人都应该掌握的基本生存技能之一，这是一个将你与千年来的荒野旅行者联系在一起的仪式。

But how does flint and steel work? More specifically, what causes the sparks when you strike a piece of flint with steel? The answer may surprise you!

但是打火石和钢是如何工作的呢？ 更具体地说，当你用钢打火石时，是什么引起了火花？ 答案可能会让你大吃一惊！

The following information will help you understand what it takes to make fire using flint and steel or flint and FireSteel. It will change the way you look at flint and steel as a fire making tool and perhaps even make you a better flint and steel fire maker.

下面的信息将帮助您了解如何使用燧石和钢或燧石和火钢生火。 它将改变你看待火石和钢作为一个火生产工具的方式，甚至可能使你成为一个更好的火石和钢火生产商。

Survival Topics believes that if you know the fundamental reasons why survival gear and survival techniques work then you are in a far better position to use them to best advantage.

生存主题相信，如果你知道为什么生存装备和生存技术工作的基本原因，那么你在一个更好的位置，使用他们最好的优势。

The Secret of Flint and Steel for Making Fires火石和钢制造火的秘密

Outwardly the answer seems obvious; striking flint with steel produces hot sparks. However, dig a little deeper and you will find there is a lot more to it.

表面上看，答案似乎显而易见; 用钢打火石会产生火花。 然而，再深入一点，你会发现还有更多。

It all revolves around a little known fact about iron and some other metals that revolutionized the way people started fires thousands of years ago; pyrophorics.

这一切都围绕着一个鲜为人知的事实—- 铁和其他一些金属，这些金属在数千年前彻底改变了人们燃烧火灾的方式; 火焰图案。

Flint and Steel – Simply by carrying a piece of iron (steel) and a hard, sharp object such as a piece of flint rock, you can start a fire whenever you want.

燧石和钢-只需携带一块铁(钢)和一个硬，锋利的对象，如一块燧石，你可以在任何时候想要生火。

Pyrophorics are substances that spontaneously ignite below room temperature, which is about 70°F (21°C). By spontaneous we mean these substances will simply catch on fire of their own accord without you having to do anything such as light it with a flame. This is also known as autoignition.

焦焰物质是在室温(大约21摄氏度)以下自燃的物质。 我们所说的自发性是指这些物质不需要你做任何事情，比如用火把它点燃，就会自动燃烧起来。 这也被称为自动点火。

What many people do not realize is that iron is a pyrophoric material; in the presence of oxygen, iron catches on fire automatically! It just starts burning.

许多人没有意识到的是，铁是一种可以自燃的材料，在有氧气的情况下，铁会自动着火！ 它开始燃烧。

“But how can this be?” you may ask. “I can hold a chunk of iron in my hand and it does not burn me”. The answer lays in the fact that the portion of the iron object in contact with the air and your skin is not pure iron. Rather it has developed a thin coating of iron oxide, or rust, immediately upon contact with the oxygen in the air. This serves to seal off the iron inside from exposure to the air and reduces the rate of further rusting.

“但这怎么可能呢? ” 你可能会问。 “我手里握着一大块铁，它不会烫伤我”。 答案在于，铁物体与空气和皮肤接触的部分不是纯铁。 相反，它在与空气中的氧气接触时，立即形成了一层薄薄的氧化铁，或称铁锈。 这样可以密封里面的铁，防止暴露在空气中，并减少进一步生锈的速度。

Rusting Produces Heat生锈产生热量

Iron, whether man-made objects or naturally occurring in rocks, will rust upon exposure to oxygen in the air. The act of rusting is actually an exothermic reaction called “oxidation”, which is a fancy way of saying when iron touches the oxygen in the air a reaction occurs; the iron rusts (turns into iron oxide) and gives off heat. In other words, it burns.

铁，不管是人造的还是天然存在于岩石中的，一旦暴露在空气中的氧气中就会生锈。 生锈的行为实际上是一种被称为“氧化”的放热反应，这是一种奇特的说法，当铁与空气中的氧气接触时发生反应; 铁生锈(变成氧化铁)并释放热量。 换句话说，它在燃烧。

The simplified chemical reaction can be expressed as:

简化的化学反应可以表示为:

Fe2 + O2 = Fe2O3 + heat

Fe2 + O2 Fe2O3 + 加热

Or in simple English:

或者用简单的英语:

Iron + Oxygen = Rust + Heat

铁 + 氧锈 + 热

Rusting (oxidizing) is the exact same thing as burning, but unlike a campfire usually you will hardly notice it. Because of the relatively size of a typical iron object, the heat it gives off as it rusts dissipates too quickly for the heat to accumulate and be of much use.

生锈(氧化)是完全相同的事情，但不像一个营火通常你几乎不会注意到它。 由于一个典型的铁物体的相对大小，它在生锈时散发的热量太快，以至于热量积累起来没有多大用处。

While holding an ordinary iron object you are unlikely to feel any heat as it rusts, since the heat is absorbed by its surroundings as fast as the oxidation process produces it. However if you can increase the rate of oxidation you can cause the iron to spontaneously give off a large amount of heat very quickly.

当你拿着一个普通的铁制物体时，你不太可能感觉到它生锈时的任何热量，因为热量被周围环境吸收的速度和氧化过程产生的速度一样快。 然而，如果你能提高氧化速率，你就能使铁自发地很快地散发出大量的热量。

Small Particles Have Larger Surface Area – As can be seen in this illustration, the total surface area of the smaller cubes greatly exceeds the surface are of the cube taken as a whole.When a tiny particle of fresh iron is broken off from the main mass, the surface area of the particle is very large in comparison to its total size.Upon contact with oxygen in the air, the tiny iron spontaneously ignites (also known as rusts or oxidizes) and glows red hot.

小颗粒有较大的表面积-正如可以看到在这个图示，总表面积较小的立方体大大超过表面是立方体作为一个整体。 当一个新鲜的铁微粒从主体中分离出来时，这个微粒的表面积与它的总大小相比是非常大的。 一旦与空气中的氧气接触，微小的铁就会自燃(也称为生锈或氧化物)并发出红热。

How do you increase the rate of oxidization of iron? One way is to give a fresh un-oxidized piece of iron more surface area in contact with the air. More oxygen touching more iron will cause more oxidation which will give off more heat in a given amount of time.

你怎样提高铁的氧化速度？ 一种方法是让一块新鲜的未氧化的铁与空气接触时有更多的表面积。 更多的氧气接触更多的铁将导致更多的氧化，这将在一定的时间内放出更多的热量。

Increased oxidation can be accomplished by breaking off smaller particles of iron from a bigger piece. The smaller the iron particle is, the greater its surface area compared to its total size.

增加氧化可以通过从较大的铁块中分离出较小的铁颗粒来实现。 铁粒子越小，它的表面积就越大。

Now you know the secret to using flint and steel to start a fire.

现在你知道用燧石和钢来生火的秘密了。

Have you ever used a metal grinder or seen one in action on a piece of iron? Notice how thousands of glowing hot sparks fly off the wheel as it removes tiny bits of fresh iron off the chunk of iron being worked on. These tiny bits of iron are actually spontaneously catching on fire as they are exposed to the oxygen in the air.

你是否曾经用过金属研磨机或者见过一个正在使用的金属研磨机？ 请注意，当车轮从正在加工的铁块上除去微小的新鲜铁块时，成千上万的炽热的火花从车轮上飞溅出来。 当这些微小的铁块暴露在空气中的氧气中时，它们实际上会自发地着火。

If you can create a small enough particle of fresh iron, upon contact with oxygen in the air the iron particles increased surface area will oxidize faster than it can dissipate the heat formed during the reaction. The result: the particle of iron spontaneously becomes so hot that it glows as it oxidizes – and can be used to catch tinder on fire.

如果你能制造出足够小的新鲜铁粒子，那么当铁粒子与空气中的氧气接触时，表面积增加的铁粒子氧化的速度要快于它散发反应过程中形成的热量的速度。 结果是: 铁粒子自发地变得很热，当它氧化时就会发光，并且可以用来着火。

In a nutshell the process of using a flint and steel to start a fire works like this:

简而言之，用燧石和钢点火的过程是这样的:

• Find a piece of high carbon steel, which is about 98% iron and 2% carbon (a hard, relatively brittle steel). 找一块高碳钢，含98% 的铁和2% 的碳(一种硬而相对脆的钢)
• Find a piece of flint or other hard sharp object such as quartz. 找一块燧石或其他坚硬的尖锐物体，如石英
• Strike a sharp edge of the flint a glancing blow with the high carbon steel. Doing this just right takes practice. 用高碳钢掠击燧石的锋利边缘。 做得恰到好处需要练习
• Very tiny particles of fresh iron fly out from the steel. 新鲜铁的微小颗粒从钢中飞出
• Upon contact with oxygen in the air, the surfaces of the iron particles spontaneously ignite and give off heat as they oxidize (rust). 当铁粒子与空气中的氧气接触时，其表面会自燃，并在氧化(生锈)时释放出热量
• Because the surface area of the iron particles is so large compared to their volume, the particles quickly heat up and glow red hot. They become sparks. 因为铁粒子的表面积与其体积相比是如此之大，所以这些粒子很快就被加热并发出炽热的光芒。 他们变成了火花
• Catch the sparks in prepared tinder and use it to start a fire. 在准备好的火绒里抓住火花，然后用它来生火

Best Flint and Steel最佳打火石和钢材

Iron by itself is relatively soft and tends to bend rather than chip under the stress of a hard blow on a piece of flint. To make iron harder for use in industry, it is made into what we call steel by adding some carbon. However by making it harder, the steel is also becomes more brittle.

铁本身相对较软，在燧石受到重击的压力下往往会弯曲而不是破碎。 为了使铁在工业上更难使用，它通过加入一些碳来制成我们所说的钢。 然而，通过使其变硬，钢也变得更脆。

The harder a piece of steel the smaller the pieces of iron broken from it will be when struck against a hard sharp object. As discussed earlier, smaller pieces of iron will spontaneously burn hotter due to their increased surface area.

一块钢越硬，当被锋利的硬物击打时，从钢中断出的铁块就越小。 正如前面讨论的那样，较小的铁块由于表面积的增加，会自发地燃烧得更热。

Another way to get hotter sparks is to break off smaller pieces from the steel by striking it against a harder, sharper object. This is why you need to keep the edges of your flint very sharp for optimum creation of hot sparks when striking the steel.

另一种使火花变热的方法是用更硬、更锋利的物体撞击钢铁，使其断成更小的碎片。 这就是为什么你需要保持你的燧石的边缘非常尖锐的最佳创造热火花时打击钢。

In short, harder steel and sharper flints give better sparks.

简而言之，更硬的钢铁和更尖锐的火石会产生更好的火花。

Flint isn’t the only mineral that will cause sparks when steel is struck against it. Any hard stone with a sharp fracture can be utilized as long as it can break off very small pieces of steel.

打火石并不是唯一一种会在钢铁碰撞时产生火花的矿物。 任何有尖锐骨折的坚硬石头只要能折断很小的钢片就可以利用。

Advantages of Flint and Steel打火石和钢的优势

Flint and steel has been used in starting fires for centuries. In the days before matches were invented, flint and steel offered the ability to start a fire without having to carry a hot coal wherever one traveled, and worrying about losing it or having it go cold.

几个世纪以来，人们一直用燧石和钢来点火。 在火柴发明之前的日子里，燧石和钢具有生火的能力，不用随身携带滚烫的煤炭，也不用担心丢失或者冷掉。

Starting a fire using flint and steel takes a more expertise and preparation than simply striking a match, however many survival experts feel this disadvantage is overcome by the fact that a wet or damp flint and steel can still be used to start a fire, and that a flint and steel can start many thousands of fires without wearing out; both very important attributes when surviving in the wilderness.

然而，许多生存专家认为，湿润或潮湿的火石和钢材仍然可以用来生火，而且一块火石和钢材可以在不损坏的情况下生成成千上万个火堆，这些都是在野外生存时非常重要的特征。

Try carrying tens of thousands of matches in the wilderness or stockpiling thousands of matches in your disaster preparedness kit! Even if the shear weight and volume of your matches do not discourage you, you are also faced with the problem of keeping them viable from dampness or the ravages of time.

试着在荒野中携带成千上万的火柴，或者在你的灾害管理里储备成千上万的火柴！ 即使你的火柴的剪切重量和体积不会让你泄气，你也面临着保持它们不受潮湿或火凤燎原伤害的问题。

Flint and steel overcomes these problems and provides the survivor with means of starting a fire that is more reliable than matches – if he is skilled enough to use it.

打火石和钢铁克服了这些问题，为幸存者提供了比火柴更可靠的生火方式——如果他有足够的技能使用火柴的话。

Modern Flint and Steels现代燧石和钢材

Some FireSteels contain a mix of metals that more readily oxidize. Typically in rod form, this type of firesteel produces a massive shower of very hot sparks by simply scraping it with the flint, This makes fire starting easier than when using traditional FireSteel but the principle is virtually identical.

有些耐火钢含有更容易氧化的金属混合物。 这种类型的火钢通常以棒状的形式，只需用燧石轻轻一刮，就能产生大量的火花，这比传统的火钢更容易点火，但原理几乎是一样的。

FireSteel.com offers very high quality firesteels that are highly regarded throughout the world.

网站提供高质量的火钢，在世界范围内受到高度重视。