Best Way to Touchup a Flint

[MikeC]

Never had good luck doing this. What am I doing wrong. I've used little hammers to screwdrivers.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Just lift the frizzen up enough so that when you manually lower the cock, the edge of the lfint will strike the bottom of the face of the frizzen. Use your side of your left thumb to hold the frizzen open in that position, cock the hammer, and pull the trigger. The flint will strike at this steep angle, and knapp an new edge squarely across the entire width of the edge.

This method is quick, sure, and always knapps a new edge the full width of the flint. That insures contact across the entire width of the flint edge with the face of the frizzen for good sparking.

 

[roundball]

Never had good luck doing this. What am I doing wrong. I've used little hammers to screwdrivers.

There are several ways...here's an easy, fast way I use to knapp a new razor sharp scalloped edge on a Black English Flint.

Two assumptions:
1) Person is right handed
2) Flintlock is loaded an 'kerlatched'

1)Open the frizzen and flip out/brush out any priming powder from the pan;

2)Bring the hammer to full cock;

3)Lay the rifle down on it’s belly on the carpeted shooting bench in front of me with the muzzle pointing downrange / away from me;

4)Drape a rag across the pan and over the breech plug so the vent hole is covered (to prevent an accidental spark from entering the hole to the main charge)

5)Place the tip of the forefinger of the left hand under the lower jaw to steady things;

6)As a knapping tool, I prefer a brass (no sparks) rod the size of a wooden pencil, or the steel shaft of my short starter, the back of a hunting knife blade, etc (steel could = sparks which is why the rag is draped over the vent hole).

7)Bend forward slightly over the rear of the rifle so you're looking down on top of the flint lock assembly and very lightly tap-tap-tap-tap-tap down from above onto the leading edge of the flint moving from left to right (or vice versa)...more of a 'downward' impact on top of the very edge of the flint than 'into' the front of the edge of the flint...lightly as if you're trying to just barely crack the shell on a hard boiled egg;

8)This causes the flint rock to "flake" off tiny little scallops of flint from the bottom of the edge when you hit it correctly on top of the edge, so the edge ends up looking like the blade of an electric knife...scalloped/serrated on the bottom side but basically still flat and straight across on the top edge...just very light little pecks with the brass rod...just need to cause tiny scallop shaped flakes of flint to flake off the underside of the flint's edge...only takes 10-15 seconds.

=================================================

Another way to keep BEFs working without having to knapp them manually is that I just flip them over every 12-15 shots when I stop to wipe off the lock with an alcohol rag...then flip the flint over again 12-15 shots later again, repeat, etc...they tend to sort of self-knapp them selves that way. Note: works best with "flat-top" shaped flints than with "hump-backed" flints.

By alternating the top or bottom of the sharp edge as it hits the steel frizzen every 12-15 shots it is flaking off scallops on the under side of the edge...when you flip it over, the frizzen impact starts flaking off scallops on the other side...and alternating the edge every so often essentially lets the impact on the frizzen itself keep the edge sharp.

Anyhow, thats how I do it...

 

[MikeC]

Thank you guys. I'll give it all a try.

Mike

 

[Black Hand]

I put the flint at full-cock and use the back edge of my knife.

 

[ol vern]

Just lift the frizzen up enough so that when you manually lower the cock, the edge of the lfint will strike the bottom of the face of the frizzen. Use your side of your left thumb to hold the frizzen open in that position, cock the hammer, and pull the trigger. The flint will strike at this steep angle, and knapp an new edge squarely across the entire width of the edge.

This method is quick, sure, and always knapps a new edge the full width of the flint. That insures contact across the entire width of the flint edge with the face of the frizzen for good sparking.

Allways empty the priming charge and plug the touch hole before trying this or any knapping
method. The gun can go off! Don't ask me how I know
:redface:

 

[Johnny Tremain]

I change out the flints.

Then take them home and knap them on my bench.

No hammering on my Chamber's lock

 

[roundball]

"...take them home and knap them on my bench.
No hammering on my Chamber's lock..."

Never heard of that before...are Chambers locks not built well enough to knapp flints in them?

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

On my Caywood Wilson I've had the best luck with the method I believe Paul V. expouses. That is to hold open the frizzen a bit and put the cock to full cock. HOLD the cock and pull off full cock as if it were to 'fall' but hold it on the way down, but PAST the fly or 1/2-cock position.

Now with the flint aginst the frizzen, move the frizzen up and FORCIBLY push the flint against the extreme BOTTOM or heel of the frizzen, or what was really called the 'hammer' way back when.

PUSH the cock against the frizzen so the flint cuts to the alignment of the frizzen. By keeping the flint clean (wipe every 10 shots or so) and then doing this, I believe I average > 80-100 shots per flint, if not more.

Oh yeah, I keep an assortment of thin and THICK leather pieces in my kit, some with 'holes' and some without. I pick the thickness AND style of leather that keeps the edge (I only shoot bevel down) just off the frizzen face.

Works slick for me!

 

[tg]

I use a knife or turnscrew to level up the edges when shooting and tap lightly across the whole width when it gets dull, later I put the flint with the edges staight up in a wood v block kind of jig and strike down at the proper angle ( this is the key whatever method is used) on a soft steel rod to knock of larger flakes from the bottom side giving a new sharp edge along the whole flint, often by this time a 7/8 flint is short enough to use in a Siler.

 

[Tumblernotch]

Cut the point off of a 16 or 20 penny nail. Grind or file about halfway across at the end for a distance of about 1/4 inch.

Set the end of the nail on the edge you want to knap. Let the long end that remained after you ground it hang down in front of the flint. The step part will touch the top. Lightly tap the nail with whatever you're using for a hammer. If you only need a light dressing just let the very edge of the nail contact the flint. Work your way across the flint until everything is even.

I didn't explain this very well so I hope you can understand it. I was shown long ago how to do it and didn't have to read it. All I can say is if you grind the nail right, from a side view it will look like it was split in half for the last 1/8 to 1/4 inch or so and one half was cut off.

====-

 

[Fishhog]

What I have been doing is using a small length of brass rod 1/8 and with the hammer back just pressure flaking from left to right,really don't need much pressure at all..It takes off very tiny scallops of flint and takes a few seconds at most,always hated hitting it to hard and having a chunk breaking off screwing up my flint ..Always can re knap it better at home in a vise,been actually re grinding the bevel back in older flints of mine with a mizzy wheel,diamond honing a little then re touching the edge again with the brass rod to give it that final sharp edge..Ray

 

[Tumblernotch]

That's what I like about using the nail. Very light taps directed at very small contact points. Actually, you could imbed the nail, or a brass rod as you use into a hard wooden handle and either tap it with a hammer or use it as a pressure tool depending on the condition of the flint.

 

[paulvallandigham]

When you create a jagged edge on your flint edge, it cuts grooves in your frizzen. Then, only the high spots between the groove will be struck by subsequent blows with a straight edge to the flint, and you get fewer hot sparks. That makes you hammer away at the edge, again, removing more flint, and making NEW teeth in the edge, which may not line up with the existing grooves. You get even fewer sparks, until you get disgusted with the gun and stop shooting it all together. I have seen several locks brought to me to be fixed that only needed to have their frizzen faces ground down flat and smooth again. I then tuned the frizzen spring, frizzen cam, the mainspring, and smoothed bearing surfaces on the internal lock parts. FINALLY, I INSTRUCTED THE SHOOTERS IN HOW TO SET THE EDGE ON A NEW FLINT, AND HOW TO USE THE HEEL OF THE FRIZZEN TO GET A NEW EDGE. Sometimes, the hammer has to be bent so that the flint edge, bevel up, strikes the frizzen at 60 degrees. At that angle, the flint SCRAPES steel nicely from the frizzen, and does not gouge the frizzen. At that angle, the edge of the flint is broken off a small bit with each shot, so that you have a new sharp edge for each shot. There is no need to knapp the flint edge with a separate tool after that.

The method you are choosing only create more problems than they solve. Please, think about this, and be observant of what your kind of " knapping " is doing to the face of the frizzen. If you want long flint life, my way is the better way to do things with any flintlock. I learned how to tune flintlocks from my late friend, L. Don Latter, of Urbana, Illinois, in exchange for teaching him how to tune Percussion locks. And, an article I saved from a Guns & Ammo Black Powder Annual magazine published back in 1979 on Tuning flintlocks is still my basic guide. The expert interviewed for that article was a Robert Traurig, of St. Paul, Minnesota, described as being a personal friend of David Ripplinger, the owner of Track of the Wolf. I don't know if Robert is still with us, but he gave out extremely detailed and accurate information on tuning locks.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I'm having no problems at all! When I knap the flint in this way, I get better fire than by any other method I use. I don't leave "teeth" on my flint since I very carefully chip off any small projections. I then put my thumb on the back of the frizzen to keep pressure against the flint. While holding it in place I release the trigger while holding the cock and let it go forward slowly and let the mainspring pressure flake off any minute projections at the same time checking that the flint is square with the frizzen face. Works great!

 

[roundball]

I've used brass hex rods (or the steel shafts of my short starters) for flint knapping ever since I started shooting Flintlocks, teeth are often apparent on the new flint edge, my ignition couldn't be better and I get great flint life...this is all from actual first hand experience over the past several years and thousands of shots, not theory...

 

[Tumblernotch]

I like the "teeth", if I have any, to be as small as possible because I want every part of the flint to be scraping that frizzen. But we all know that every time we shoot, little pieces of flint come off along with the shavings of steel. So, in reality, there's almost always "teeth" present on the flint. There are always "soft spots" on about any flint and a chip flying off now and then are inevitable. So, if the flint is gouging deep grooves in the frizzen, somebody needs to re-temper their frizzen.

The methods you and I use work so well because we are able to trim the flints with pinpoint accuracy. I've been using it for a long while and get much better flint life and fire than the old methods I used. I've watched guys knap their flints using a knapping hammer (and yes, I've done it myself) and break off too much with a mis-lick and then have to keep chipping to get things even and then they wonder how come they only got 20 shots out of it. From time to time I'll use that method if I'm in a hurry, but that's rare.

And using brass for the tool is of course much safer with a loaded gun. A nail is dead steel so it's not likely to spark, but it can happen.
:thumbsup:

 

[jtmattison]

I use a small brass knapping hammer I got from TOW. Just a few taps and it's nice and sharp again.

HD

 

[graybeard]

Roundball: Bevel up or down? graybeard

 

[reddogge]

One unspoken comment so far. Everyone should learn to touch up their flints in the rifle cradled in the left arm if right handed and pointed safely down range. Comes in handy at shoots, competitions, etc. You can't be fiddling around with benches, carpets, vises, hammers, grinders on the shooting line and changing flints on the line is a PITA.