Absolutely, just keep knapping them back till the flint doesn't fit in the hammer vise any longer. It's amazing how small you can get them to work. Go to youtube and search for flintlock, and knapping you should have a multitude of videos and several methods to knapp the flint. I usually give the worn out ones to kids at the range.
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Can you Fix bad Flints...?
- Thread starter cschibi
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I also use Paul's method of knapping a flint, one of the many things I picked up from him while he was here on the list. If I recall correctly that is called "Hammering the flint". It is quick and simple and faster than any other way you can try. I also have a deer antler in my shooting bag, which I used to use for touching up my flints. I haven't used it in years now - should probably remove it from my shooting bag.
Another thing that I learned from Paul that will drastically change the performance of your flints is to adjust it back and forth, flip bezel up or bezel down, whatever it takes to get your flint to strike your frizzen at a 55° to no more than 60° angle. If you have it hit at too much of an angle, it hits on top of the flint and that can break your flint quickly.
More commonly, people set it up to strike at less of an angle (40° to 45°) and that will dull your flint quickly because it is smashing the tip of the flint into the frizzen (crushes the edge and dulls the flint) instead of slicing along the face of frizzen. When you get it right at the 55° angle (or close to it) the flint slices at the frizzen not only producing a LOT of sparks but also self-knapping itself as you use it. This is where you start getting into the neighborhood of up to 100 shots off of one flint.
That one bit of info I got from Paul about the angle of the flint is probably the single most important thing to developing reliable performance in your flintlock. Thank you Paul! :bow:
Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:
Another thing that I learned from Paul that will drastically change the performance of your flints is to adjust it back and forth, flip bezel up or bezel down, whatever it takes to get your flint to strike your frizzen at a 55° to no more than 60° angle. If you have it hit at too much of an angle, it hits on top of the flint and that can break your flint quickly.
More commonly, people set it up to strike at less of an angle (40° to 45°) and that will dull your flint quickly because it is smashing the tip of the flint into the frizzen (crushes the edge and dulls the flint) instead of slicing along the face of frizzen. When you get it right at the 55° angle (or close to it) the flint slices at the frizzen not only producing a LOT of sparks but also self-knapping itself as you use it. This is where you start getting into the neighborhood of up to 100 shots off of one flint.
That one bit of info I got from Paul about the angle of the flint is probably the single most important thing to developing reliable performance in your flintlock. Thank you Paul! :bow:
Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:
White Fox is right on the money about keeping your flint clean. I do Rev War reenactments where we will fire 30 to 40 blanks during an engagement on a good day. Firing blanks fouls your gun much more that live firing with patch and ball. After about 20 shots you will have significant fowling.
One of the things that was pointed out to me early on was that the flint will build up fouling underneath the edge of the flint, essentially dulling the flint if you don't clean it off. In fact that is the most common cause for misfires for me - not a flash in the pan but that terrible "clack" sound. It's really easy to fix though. I keep a strip of patching material hooked onto my brush and pick hanging on the strap of my shooting bag. I just put the end of it in my mouth and soak a bit of saliva into it and then rub the bottom and top of the flint with it to clean off the fouling.
Be really careful when you do this. I try to rub from the body of the flint to the edge. If you rub along the edge, you will quickly find out why flint tools were so effective butchering meat. If you flint is in good shape and just dirty, that edge will be extremely sharp - consider it a knife edge. You've been warned!
There's an old saying about flintlock shooters, "There are only two types of flintlock shooters - those who have cut their thumbs on their flints, and those who are going to cut their thumbs on their flints." Same thing can be said about dry-balling of course... :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2:
Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:
One of the things that was pointed out to me early on was that the flint will build up fouling underneath the edge of the flint, essentially dulling the flint if you don't clean it off. In fact that is the most common cause for misfires for me - not a flash in the pan but that terrible "clack" sound. It's really easy to fix though. I keep a strip of patching material hooked onto my brush and pick hanging on the strap of my shooting bag. I just put the end of it in my mouth and soak a bit of saliva into it and then rub the bottom and top of the flint with it to clean off the fouling.
Be really careful when you do this. I try to rub from the body of the flint to the edge. If you rub along the edge, you will quickly find out why flint tools were so effective butchering meat. If you flint is in good shape and just dirty, that edge will be extremely sharp - consider it a knife edge. You've been warned!
There's an old saying about flintlock shooters, "There are only two types of flintlock shooters - those who have cut their thumbs on their flints, and those who are going to cut their thumbs on their flints." Same thing can be said about dry-balling of course... :shocked2: :shocked2: :shocked2:
Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:
Sure Shot 2
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I've heard. Sometimes you can trade dull flints off to those who shoot flint pistols. Three to one is the usual trade I guess.
mike garner
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your friends trick worked! i just tried it on a dull flint and it worked very good.
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twisted_1in66 said:
all too true, especially the last bit ... the scar is barely noticeable, and you have to know where to look...
:redface:
Make good smoke!
I can honestly say I have never cut my thumb on a flint. However please don't look at the rest of my fingers too closely. :shake:
I bought a set of diamond-embedded files at Harbor Freight for less than $10. I believe there's 8 or 9 small files in the set.
A few quick swipes with that very hard diamond-embedded file and the nose of the flint is sharp again and I lose very little off the "nose" of the flint. It's a quick job because you don't have to remove the flint from the jaws and you can sharpen both sides of the flint if ya wanna for even better sparking.
I also wipe off the "nose" of the flint after each shot just as I wipe out the frizzen pan. That seems to help the flint spark better as well.
Strength & Honor...
Ron T.
A few quick swipes with that very hard diamond-embedded file and the nose of the flint is sharp again and I lose very little off the "nose" of the flint. It's a quick job because you don't have to remove the flint from the jaws and you can sharpen both sides of the flint if ya wanna for even better sparking.
I also wipe off the "nose" of the flint after each shot just as I wipe out the frizzen pan. That seems to help the flint spark better as well.
Strength & Honor...
Ron T.
