Finding flint/chert

[rich pierce]

A general rule to follow is to go to local museums that have Native American artifacts and note what the stone looks like. Then go find some that looks like that. Doesn’t work where obsidian is common though, as it’s poor for gun flints but great for points.

 

[Paul Nelson]

I did try an obsidian flint once. It sparked and fired a few times then stopped. Not worth the effort.

I’ve also tried obsidian, I couldn’t get it to spark consistently enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe it was just me.

 

[hanshi]

I’ve also tried obsidian, I couldn’t get it to spark consistently enough to make it worthwhile. Maybe it was just me.

No, it wasn't just you. Obsidian is just a lousy flint.

 

[smo]

SMO, quite a number of years ago one of the rangers at Russell Cave Park told me that native Americans traded in a superior flint used for arrowheads that came from the general area where you live. That is if my memory serves me well. I carried him some from Indian Camp Creek at a later date fromwhich he removed a large flake and proceded to produce a point. He said ir was similar to Dover flint, what ever that is.
Dave

I’ve heard of such trading myself and knew one. Local to you mussel diver who found a fluted Clovis point years ago if memory serves me he called it Greenstone… not common too the Shoals area apparently.

Here is the cache you are referring too…

The Duck River Cache…

These were dug in the 1890’s approximately 25 miles South of my location.

Here is a statue that came from the same location a little later… he had a female with him at the time.lol

Here are a few that a friend of mine made from different type stone.

The darker gray points he made was from flint we picked up below Wilson Dam.

The broken larger point on the top right and the one on the far left center came from the Jacksonburg area out of Columbus “Tump” Miles cotton field back in the early 60’s.

The bottom right hand corner one was from the same area… back then they were plentiful.

The rest in the case are modern man made….

Indian Camp Creek, Goose Shoals, Bailey Springs and Keithly Creek all local too you are excellent flint locations that I’m sure you are very aware off..

 

[smo]

Dave,

Dover chert is what’s found around my place.
Or so I’ve been told.

The large points found in the cache I posted were made from what known as Ft Payne chert.

From what I’ve read this chert forms in thin layers , thus making the longer points possible.

The largest blade in the cache was 28” I believe.

 

[.36Rooster]

Go to your nearest university, find the main office of the department of geology, and explain our hobby and your interest in obtaining chert. They will put you in touch with a professor of geology who's job it is to be familiar with the sedimentary layers and outcroppings in the lands of your state. He, or she will be able to tell you. And a large proportion of geology phds are interested in this kind of stuff.

While you are at it, drop by the archeology department. And try not to get them started on indian history and artifacts. They might not let you ever leave. Especially once they find out you actually have a flintlock and are interested in the history of the land around you. Good way to make a new friend or two, and a good friend or two to have...

 

[bigted]

Lotsa good reply's. Thanks all. I will check with the University and see what I can stir up.

Again thanks for all the reply's. Great reading!

 

[buckleymarka56]

Well now I been thinking again. Thinkin bout finding and chippin flint/chert for my flinters. I can make the guns(kinda) make my powder but caps and flints got me dependant on others.

Which brings me to the point;

If a feller lived in Oregon(and I do) and wanted to cast around lookin for sparker stones (and again I do) and learn to chip em into something that I could tighten into the jaws of my flintlock and make her shoot like it do with the good ol English flints ... where in my area would a feller look?

Id purely like to get a bit independant with my flint acquisition without a middle man. Might just decide it be too much trouble ... however I would purely admire the thrill of pickin it up offa the ground ... chip it to proper form ... and prime my pan an fire it with my own hunted and refined fire stone.

Any hints?

Here's what I would do.
I would buy a steel strikers, and a medium copper bullet, test the rock and see if it sparks. If it does,pick it up and try it.

I can't get to central or south Texas to find the chert. But I want to.

 

[LonestarShootR]

Here's what I would do.
I would buy a steel strikers, and a medium copper bullet, test the rock and see if it sparks. If it does,pick it up and try it.

I can't get to central or south Texas to find the chert. But I want to.

Ironically this morning I decided to walk a creek bed here on my South Texas ranch to look for chert rock as I am brand spanking new to flintlocks and it has "sparked" my interest making my own. Googling brought me to this post.
Chert and petrified wood is literally found on the ground everywhere. I don't think the later is good for anything but could be wrong.

 

[bldtrailer]

you can make a lot of the tools you need for knapping flints(chert)steps to find out what will work as gun flints:
1 try to scratch glass with rock (glass hardness 5 flint 7

and diamonds 10)
2 use a file (Smooth side and see if it sparks)
3 see if rock cleaves into usable shapes
4 put in gun lock and see if the rock shatters (use safety glasses ) if it passes the above might be worth your time and effort.
expect a lot of waist

I make my chert/flints from blade cores I make from goergetown texas chert

 

[bldtrailer]

come to the Kempton Gun makers fair in July Kempton Pa and I do knapping demos for them

 

[buckleymarka56]

Ironically this morning I decided to walk a creek bed here on my South Texas ranch to look for chert rock as I am brand spanking new to flintlocks and it has "sparked" my interest making my own. Googling brought me to this post.
Chert and petrified wood is literally found on the ground everywhere. I don't think the later is good for anything but could be wrong.

I'll go with you next time, if you don't mind. I have to drive from Ft Worth though

 

[IanH]

Georgetown is actually flint, it's formed as nodules in chalk deposits. It doesn't really matter flint or chert is essentially the same stuff on the inside, just different grades of it. LOTS of different grades. Good thing is it all makes good sparks, just some is much easier to work into gunflints than others. The stuff that is widely available all over the countryside and creeks/rivers where I live is about 10 basic kinds of chert and very little of it is suitable for making blade cores so I make mine out of flakes and short blades chipped opportunistically from whatever shape the rock gives me.

 

[deerstalkert]

just a funny aside.
i got some georgetown nodes to make flints and blades.
spalling one in my lap opened a pocket of water trapped . wife accused me of wetting myself.
i didn't know whether to drink the water or go running screaming to the doctor. always wondered what little buggies might have been in it!

 

[IanH]

That was probably the most pure water on the planet...before it got on you!

 

[BillinOregon]

Ted, there are lots of jaspers in Oregon -- green, red, maize-colored -- that can be worked and might well make a great flint, but the stuff is incredibly tough -- the opposite of all that abundant obsidian. The paleo community for years has held a knap-in around spring break at Glass Buttes out between Bend and Burns. I am sure you would find the information you seek among the wise ones that attend the knap-in from across the continent. It can be cold in the High Desert in March!

 

[Eric Krewson]

If you collect arrow heads you will have found a ton of broken ones along the way, broken ones often make great gun flints. This one sparked like crazy, I trimmed the width a little to fit my lock jaws.

 

[Cvkotvkse]

Go to your nearest university, find the main office of the department of geology, and explain our hobby and your interest in obtaining chert. They will put you in touch with a professor of geology who's job it is to be familiar with the sediment

If you collect arrow heads you will have found a ton of broken ones along the way, broken ones often make great gun flints. This one sparked like crazy, I trimmed the width a little to fit my lock jaws.

View attachment 280819

ary layers and outcroppings in the lands of your state. He, or she will be able to tell you. And a large proportion of geology phds are interested in this kind of stuff.

While you are at it, drop by the archeology department. And try not to get them started on indian history and artifacts. They might not let you ever leave. Especially once they find out you actually have a flintlock and are interested in the history of the land around you. Good way to make a new friend or two, and a good friend or two to have...

For those of y'all along the coast, near old ports, ballast dumps can be a great source of European flint nodules... English, French amber, etc. They show up as rock piles in the shallow water, or in old shipwrecks. English and Spanish colonists in the Southeast kept chunks of it around to make strike-a-lights for in-home use. Broken points, if fairly unpatinated, were also used effectively. Florida, the northern half of it at least, is one huge limestone reef, with LOTS of exposures of chert nodules from various formations. With the right edge angle, it all sparks...

 

[stikshooter]

used to live in Pine Island NY and picked up a lot of different points/hammer stones and decorative pcs and used to make my own ,even killed some squirrel/birds /Ed

 

[Rifleman1776]

SMO, quite a number of years ago one of the rangers at Russell Cave Park told me that native Americans traded in a superior flint used for arrowheads that came from the general area where you live. That is if my memory serves me well. I carried him some from Indian Camp Creek at a later date fromwhich he removed a large flake and proceded to produce a point. He said ir was similar to Dover flint, what ever that is.
Dave

Yes, indeed. I have read and heard many times that often the best quality knapped points are found in areas where flint is not naturally found. That is because the natives of the day traded far and wide for the flint and, thus, it was highly valued. They made the most of it. This practice to just the past couple centuries on our continent. I once read a highly accurate historical fiction a couple thousand years BC in South America where young men risked the hazard of the jungles walking great distances to trade flint for potteries because where they lived had flint but no clay suitable for making pottery. Today we buy English and French flints in exchange for American dollars. BTW: If I were starting this game today I would buy a jewelry makers rock saw and make my own flints from purchased jade, agate and flint. This is because knapping gun flints is impossible. I know, I have tried.