• Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Flint knapping help

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

User_Dan

40 Cal
Joined
Sep 15, 2019
Messages
268
Reaction score
400
This flint for my bess has dulled, how do i fix it to get more shots. I can tap the leading edge of a flint and get a few shots out of a new one but now the leading edge is a dull 3/16" and doesnt spark and my tap doesnt knock off enough for a sharp edge.

Ive tried watching videos and still struggle.

discussion, great video links, throw it away?

1000006304.jpg
20240823_194324.jpg
20240823_194443.jpg
1000006304.jpg
 
Tapping straight into the edge will dull the flint, knapping is when you put the tool to the edge with pressure then move the tool to the flat. Watch a video on pressure flaking to better understand how.
 
This flint for my bess has dulled, how do i fix it to get more shots. I can tap the leading edge of a flint and get a few shots out of a new one but now the leading edge is a dull 3/16" and doesnt spark and my tap doesnt knock off enough for a sharp edge.

Ive tried watching videos and still struggle.

discussion, great video links, throw it away?

View attachment 344056

I am not flint knapper, used flint touch up yes. What I know about knapping takes a antler and pressure to flake the flint. A real pro could fix that flint for some more use. That flint is beyond touch up. You and I need to pitch it. JMO
Larry
 
DSC03195.JPG
DSC03238 (2).JPG
you might be able to pressure flake or hold in a vise (leather wrapped) and chip a new edge with a step Knapper tapped with a small hammer
 
Bldtrailer I have a brass rod similar to your lower left one that I built to fix the leading edge of flints.

Guess I am curious about the next step to take more material off?
 
Go through this guys videos. More than one style and technique to pick from and tutorials on how to make points that show how to remove material to make desired shapes that translate to this. However, it may just be time for a new flint.

 
This flint for my bess has dulled, how do i fix it to get more shots. I can tap the leading edge of a flint and get a few shots out of a new one but now the leading edge is a dull 3/16" and doesnt spark and my tap doesnt knock off enough for a sharp edge.

Ive tried watching videos and still struggle.

discussion, great video links, throw it away?

View attachment 344056View attachment 344057View attachment 344058View attachment 344056
It's getting pretty short but you can grind them sharp with a green wheel (for carbide sharping ) on a standard bench grinder. Grind in short segments and keep it cool by dipping in water. I do it in my bare fingers so I can keep the heat down.
Pressure flaking is the best for sharpening a shaped edge until they get this blunt and short .
 
As blunt as the "sharp" edge is you are going to spend a lot of time trying to get it in workable shape again. Looks more like the back edge of a knife blade versus the cutting edge. Depends on what your time is worth? I would toss it.
 
Learning to touch up flints is an art that can take many years to perfect.
Must be more to it than I realize. A few taps and mine are back in service. Now if I had to make a rifle flint from just a chunk, I wouldnt know how to proceed. I once attended a "knap in" where everyone sat around in a barn knapping different products. Seemed to be a real art requiring much skill. But just sharpening one couldn't be much easier.
 
Must be more to it than I realize. A few taps and mine are back in service. Now if I had to make a rifle flint from just a chunk, I wouldnt know how to proceed. I once attended a "knap in" where everyone sat around in a barn knapping different products. Seemed to be a real art requiring much skill. But just sharpening one couldn't be much easier.
Id love to learn how at a knap in. Near me in Missouri there is white chert that can be fashioned into gunflints.
 
DSC03192.JPG
sparks great very hard to knap Richard P. use to make them from flakes and people loved them ( I could never re-edge them once dull ,but they took a long time to dull)
 

Attachments

  • DSC03192.JPG
    DSC03192.JPG
    576.3 KB
Back
Top