My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

On Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:04:20 +0000 (UTC), Eli the Bearded
wrote:

My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

You sure it isn't a rod of flint encased in a plastic molding?

Eli the Bearded wrote:
My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

Possibly something containing this springs to mind
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praseodymium

On Jan 23, 2:04*pm, Eli the Bearded wrote:
My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

Just a guess, titanium, maybe? Grind that and you'll get a lot of
sparks.

Stan

Eli the Bearded wrote:
My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

Probably pot metal with ferrocerium mixed through it.

--
Steve W.

Means your kid needs to lose 300 pounds, the scooter is bottoming out?

Probably something with Ronsonol flints that touch the asphalt.

Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

"Steve W." wrote in message
...
Eli the Bearded wrote:
My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

Probably pot metal with ferrocerium mixed through it.

--
Steve W.

On Wed, 23 Jan 2013 15:17:10 -0800 (PST), Stanley Schaefer
wrote:

On Jan 23, 2:04*pm, Eli the Bearded wrote:
My brother-in-law gave one of my kids a Razor brand sparking scooter
last month. I've looked at the sparker thing and it appears to be a
solid block of some soft metal. It isn't as brittle as sparker flints.
It works really well at giving large trails of sparks along the
sidewalk. I'm curious what the sparker is and if it could be used for
simple home-made pyrotechnics (like sparkers from lighters can be:
pull out the "flint" heat it in a flame until glowing, the spring
from the lighter is good for holding the flint in a flame, then dash
against a hard flame-proof surface: explosion of sparks).

Elijah
------
presumed metal content

Just a guess, titanium, maybe? Grind that and you'll get a lot of
sparks.


From the writeup on Amazon.com selling them:
"Spark Cartridge containing 5 flint pads for 20% more sparks than
other brands on the market."

--
The door of opportunity is marked "PUSH".
--anon

In rec.crafts.metalworking, Steve W. wrote:
Probably pot metal with ferrocerium mixed through it.

Reading the article on ferrocerium at wikipedia was enlightening.
Seems like cerium (a rare earth metal) is really good at making
sparks, and mixing other metals helps change the brightness,
brittleness, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocerium

Elijah
------
wondering how likely these scooters are to start fires