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This fire steel would be struck with a flint to make a spark to ignite tinder and start a fire. Dates from the eighteenth century.
This fire steel would be struck with a flint to make a spark to ignite tinder and start a fire. It is of the type in common use from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and dates from the eighteenth century.

1 fire steel

MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'Ever since man acquired the art of smelting iron, the flint and steel method of obtaining fire has been in use. This was the method used in connection with the tinder box, in which the necessary material consisted of a well tempered piece of iron and steel, a piece of flint and some tinder. As the flint is struck against the steel a small fragment of white hot metal falls onto the sensitive tinder, igniting it. The actual fire was obtained by the aid of a sulphur match. // This fire steel which is perfectly plain and completely free of ornamentation is 3.9 inches long and is .35 inches thick. It consists of a striking part which measures 3.5 inches in length by 1.0 inch, its outer edge having been worn down with frequent use. At the back of the “n-shaped” steel is the hand hold, the tang at the tip is twisted to form a single coil. This is of a type in common use in England from the 16th to the 19th centuries, although most of them were probably 18th century in date.', Victoria & Albert Museum No. M366, 1917.

1700-01-01 - 1799-12-31

Eighteenth century