Chert

[M. De Land]

Yeah, it’s true…the best knapping flint is fresh dug out of the earth.

Do you happen to know why this is?

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Do you happen to know why this is?

Water gets into the stone…freezes during winter and creates micro-fractures that affect the normal flaking of the stone. There’s a big difference between flint that is found on the surface, and flint that has been dug from the earth. You’ll dig your best quality flint from below the frost-line, or dig it in regions where winters are mild.

 

[M. De Land]

Water gets into the stone…freezes during winter and creates micro-fractures that affect the normal flaking of the stone. There’s a big difference between flint that is found on the surface, and flint that has been dug from the earth. You’ll dig your best quality flint from below the frost-line, or dig it in regions where winters are mild.

That makes sense and was the idea I had in mind when asking the question. I have how ever seen pictures of river cobbles on open ground reported to spawl and knapp fine as well so that confuses me a bit.

 

[burlesontom]

it would be nice if one day I learn how to efficiently bang these rocks together to make some good quality gun flints.

Yeah, it’s true…the best knapping flint is fresh dug out of the earth.

This guy makes it look so friggin' easy to do. The secret is the English flint he is using and yes its dug from under the ground. Wouldn't you like to have a hundred pounds of his rock?

 

[Rock Home Isle]

This guy makes it look so friggin' easy to do. The secret is the English flint he is using and yes its dug from under the ground. Wouldn't you like to have a hundred pounds of his rock?

You have no idea how many times I’ve watched that video…and others.

 

[burlesontom]

Have you been able to make any workable flints from the rocks you picked up around Georgetown?

You have no idea how many times I’ve watched that video…and others.

I am still looking for a Flintlock rifle myself. I think I have just about settled on a Pedersoli .45 caliber Kentucky rifle from Dixie. I like that the price you see is the price you pay. No added shipping or taxes.

 

[new2bp]

So here in N Florida we have plenty of chert/flint with our limestone. Heck, I got some at the end of my drive...

However, what is at the end of my drive is a big honkin' piece in the ground. Wife actually wants me to get out there with a sledge and break some of it down (it pokes up you see...) but I've talked her into believing that the wrong whack could in fact turn it into a rather nice sharp knife edge waiting for our car tires...

I may have some smaller pieces in the area I could easily get out, if anyone wants to give this stuff a try I'll try to grab some and if you'll pay shipping I'll be happy to send it.

Son was bored, so just sent him out to find a chunk. Test whack with a hammer did indeed flake off a piece and cause sparks. This chunk appears to be mostly limestone or a limestone wrapper around a small chert/flint node. Little bigger than my computer mouse.

 

[oldwood]

Years back Turner Kirkland sold chert in his catalog. It worked.

 

[Cvkotvkse]

So here in N Florida we have plenty of chert/flint with our limestone. Heck, I got some at the end of my drive...

However, what is at the end of my drive is a big honkin' piece in the ground. Wife actually wants me to get out there with a sledge and break some of it down (it pokes up you see...) but I've talked her into believing that the wrong whack could in fact turn it into a rather nice sharp knife edge waiting for our car tires...

I may have some smaller pieces in the area I could easily get out, if anyone wants to give this stuff a try I'll try to grab some and if you'll pay shipping I'll be happy to send it.

Son was bored, so just sent him out to find a chunk. Test whack with a hammer did indeed flake off a piece and cause sparks. This chunk appears to be mostly limestone or a limestone wrapper around a small chert/flint node. Little bigger than my computer mouse.

View attachment 155481

Get in touch with the Anthropology Dept. at University of Florida, or whatever university is closest by. Highly likely that there will be at least one flint knapper among students or faculty that would like to take a whack at it, in order to share the spoils.
DO NOT MAKE ANY FURTHER ATTEMPTS WITH A STEEL HAMMER. The chert is a higher hardness than the steel, and buried pieces offer limited starting places to begin the reduction process ( a complicated way of saying taking off a flake, and leaving a striking surface that will allow another flake to be removed.) The solid, shock-absorbing position of the rock increases the possibility of the hammer breaking by sheering or shattering, or rebounding in an uncontrolled way... Stone hammers are MUCH safer, and more effective.

 

[Cvkotvkse]

That actually looks like a fairly decent chunk of either Suwanee Formation or St.Marks Formation chert... Both spark well. The Spanish colonists were known to use broken points of it for strike-a-lights, and possibly gunflints.