Flint shortages

[Many Klatch]

I just talked with Mike Lea. He now has 30,000 English Flints in stock. He contacted the fellow that bought the business from Tom Fuller. They will be moving their shop to another location and won't be producing for at least a month. The maximum number of flints that they can turn out is about 800 per day. Mike bought up all the musket sized flints that they had on hand, so at this time he is the only person in the US with a stock of musket flints.

Just wanted everyone to know that flints are still available and there is a new hand making them.

BTW, the current crop of flint is so good they aren't getting much scrap. So Mike also bought up all the flint shards that they had on hand. No one else will have a supply of this item soon. A word to the wise, get your fire starting flint while you can.

Mike has a big advertisement coming out with prices for flint by the dozen or by the bag of 100. He will not be selling single flints.

Many Klatch

 

[roundball]

Who is Mike Lea?

 

[tg]

well if push come to shove there are lots of good flints laying around the ground in this country, right Rich?

 

[sniper68]

Many Klatch, when you say "Musket Flints", what size or sizes are you reffering to? Is that 1" and or 1 1/8".
sniper

 

[trent/OH]

"No one" is a big phrase.

I predict that some enterprising American will decide he can make a living knapping gunflints, and will do so. 800 flints at 25 cents each is $200 a day. Minus the cost of Band-aids.

 

[tg]

" 800 flints at 25 cents each is $200 a day. Minus the cost of Band-aids'

when I was making arrow heads I would loose money at that rate...

 

[bioprof]

Who is Mike Lea?

I believe he is the owner of Stonewall Creek Outfitters: [url] http://stonewallcreekoutfitters.com[/url]/

 

[Many Klatch]

Mike Lea is the owner of Mike Lea and Daughter, has nothing to do with any other operation. He advertises in Muzzle Blasts. He also goes to rendezvous' East of the Mississippi as the Gun Doctor. He will be at the Eastern this year and will be at Friendship for the Fall shoot on the first weekend only. He will also be at 1812 Mississinewa. At Friendship he usually sets up between the sheepsheds and the main road in a tent.

For those of you that get Muzzleloader Magazine, Mike is the guy that is currently making the adjustable gunsmith vice that is reviewed in this months issue by Peter Alexander.

Mike's contact information is Phone 614-291-4757 and his email is [email protected].

Many Klatch

 

[rich pierce]

well if push come to shove there are lots of good flints laying around the ground in this country, right Rich?

Yes, there are a good many flints laying around on the ground- unprocessed. I think they belong to the FFA. Future Flints of America.

The English flint can he had there for about $100 a ton for those who buy in bulk. So the material cost is zero per flint. And it knaps beautifully- much of it is very uniform in grain and cleaves very predictably. So 800 a day is certainly possible; that's 100 an hour or a dozen every 7 or 8 minutes. It would not be a lot of fun; I will say that.

I predict that English flints will rise to close to $15 a dozen; when they reach $20, people will howl.

I can knap about 3 dozen flints a day in the basement after work w/o Susan hollering for me to come spend some time with her, mostly rubbing her feet. Funny how things change when we get a little older. I am sure if I was knapping English flint I could double my production, but for me, finding the raw material, busting it up, hauling it home, and all the rest is part of the fun.

 

[oldarmy]

Hey Rich,
I just used up one of the "flints" I bought from you.
Got around 25 to 40 shots out of it :thumbsup:
didn't keep 100% track of the trigger pulls. :redface:
Yours work great and if the English want too much, then we can always make your hobby, a full time job :hmm:

 

[tom hargrove]

i only have to soake some rope in a nitrate solution let dry and keep on shootin---no flint worry for me :v but when i need flints i use mr.prices rocks and they work just fine :bow:

 

[sniper68]

Here's my experiences with Rich's flints. I contacted Rich awhile back in response to a post he made, that he had some reject flints he had accumulated. He graciously sent them to my for postage(and said not to tell where I got them. :wink: ). I salvaged some and sent them out to experienced flinters to see what they thought. I noticed right away that they were much coarser than English flints and harder to grind. :cursing: the response was such that I ordered a couple dozen(non rejects) from him. I dressed them up, just the tops and bottoms, leaving the knapped edge alone and sent them out for evaluation. This is gettin expensive! Haven't heard back from everyone yet. A couple reported failure(breaking) at around 15 to 25 shots(not unusual for any flint). What I've heard so for is that MOST are getting from 80 to a 150+ shots!! :shocked2: The picture below when taken, had 150 strikes on the frizzen!! :applause:

Way to go Rich.... :applause: :thumbsup: