History
From the Iron Age forward and prior to the invention of the friction match, the use of natural flint and steel was one of the most common methods of fire lighting.
More recently the term "fire striker" has become one of the names used for artificial flints, metal rods of varying size composed of ferrocerium, an alloy of iron and mischmetal (itself an alloy primarily of cerium) that can generate sparks when scraped with a sharp, hard edge. Iron is added to improve the strength of the rods. Ferrocerium is also used for the "flints" used in cigarette lighters.
When natural flint and steel were commonly used, the fire steel was often kept in a metal "tinderbox" together with flint and tinder.
Read more about this topic: Fire Striker
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