Lesson learned about forging fire steels

So I whipped up a couple fire steels out of garage door spring I had lieing around.
Hardened them up like the dickens... tempered the handle all the way down.. left the striking part hard.. and they didnt' work for crap...

Looked at the one I bought on line.. the whole striking surface was ground smooth and shiny.. and the edges of the striking surface were slightly rounded.

Looked at mine.. the striking edge was wavy lumpy, square and covred in forge scael

Went and ground mine smooth, no lumps, rounded the edges (careful not to let it get to hot to touch, or change colors) on both my steels, now they spark better than the one bought online!

Booyah!