pepperbelly said:
What is the reason to place a rag over the vent hole to prevent sparks?
Very often you'll load your rifle, go to take a shot and the flint doesn't spark...so you'll need to take a few seconds and knapp the flint...but since the rifle did not fire the main charge, the main charge is still right there inside that open vent. You want to cover the vent hole while knapping in case a spark is generated and accidently bounces into the vent hole, causing the main charge to ignite unexpectedly.
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Heres one way to knapp flints step by step, and for me s been easiest & fastest way to knapp a new razor sharp scalloped edge on a Black English Flint.
Two assumptions:
1) Person is right handed
2) Flintlock is loaded at the range
Open the frizzen and flip out/brush out any priming powder from the pan;
Bring the hammer to full cock;
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;
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)
Place the tip of the forefinger of the left hand under the lower jaw to steady things;
As a knapping tool, I prefer a brass (no sparks) rod the size of a wooden pencil, or the steel shaft of a short starter, the back of a hunting knife blade, etc (steel could = sparks which is why the rag is draped over the vent hole).
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;
This cause 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.
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Another way to keep BEFs working without having to knapp them at all is that I just flip them over every 10-12 shots when I stop to wipe off the lock with an alcohol rag...then flip the flint over 10-12 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 10-12 time 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.
