flint type german or english?

[pghhinter]

what type of flint is best? i am now using german. it seems to be shaped more uniformed.it also fits my rather small lock on my davide petersoli kentucky rifle better than the rough shaped english type.what type do you use and why?do either have the same life span?

 

[Slowpoke]

Viva la France !!!!
I've come to believe that it really depends on the quality of the material you're working with. Kinda like diamonds... clarity, cut, etc.... not every one is the same. I've had some lots of English Black flint that were fantastic and others that crumbled after a few shot. Same way with the French Amber flints. I've never used any German flint, but to be honest never heard of it.
I also believe that flint life has to do with geometry of the lock. I've never had a lock that I liked straight out of the box. Always gotta bend or straighten something. Anyway back on point, it a roll of the dice when you open the bag in my humble opinion.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Flint life depends on the tuning of the lock in most cases. The lower jaw of the cock should cause the edge of the flint, bevel down, to hit the frizzen at a 55-60 Degree angle measured at the point of impact. The frizzen should normally be expected to be 10 degrees off verticle towards the cock, or " leaning towards" the cock. The impact point must be above the half way point of the height of the frizzen for the frizzen to pop open timely to allow the sparks to fall into the pan. Most factory frizzen springs and mainsprings are too strong. The frizzen spring can be as light as 2 lbs. and still perform beautifully. All it has to do is hold the frizzen closed, even it the gun is held upside down. The mainspring is more than adequate if the tension is no more than 10 lbs. That will give long life to your flints, regardless of source.

The correct angle allows the flint to knapp itself with each strike, so you don't have to knock off lots of flint every few shots to clear the edges from bits of steel that clog them when an improperly designed lock is used. That angle will insure that the flint scrapes steel bits off the face of the frizzen, wearing the frizzen down evenly, and slowly, instead of gouging out metal, and leaving the frizzen looking like a washboard. Those sparks will be thrown quickly into the pan with the angle set properly, and you want hot sparks to insure quick ignition of the prime.

so, you may just have to tinker with that lock a bit, to get the best out of the flints. I have never heard of a source from Germany for flints, so Have NO experience with them, The English flints are among the best, and getting 60-80 shots per flint is the norm in a well tuned lock.

paul

 

I've never used any German flint, but to be honest never heard of it.

Could be refering to cut german agates.

Cody

 

[john1964]

The German agates are much harder than the English flints and spark very well.

German agates (or TC agates) are all I'll be buying from now on.

Take care,
john

 

[pghhinter]

pardon you are correct german agates are what i have.....

 

[paulvallandigham]

AH-H-H! Now that we have identified what you are using as AGATE, and not flint, these are cousins, but agate, as has already been noted, tends to be harder, and, sometimes more brittle. It should cut steel well, but it will also shatter if those springs are too hard. Be nice to the agates and they should serve you very well. YOu should get at least as many sparks from the agate as you would from an English black flint.

Paul

 

[lacerote]

I find the German agate are much more uniform and over all give more sparks than any English flint I have used . Tried both in a variety of guns . French Amber are also good but again not as uniform as the shape and size varied greatly as do the inclusions in the flints,the more opaqe ones being MUCH better (French Amber ) and more scarce. Now most of the French Amber flints I have purchased are NOT the more clear and superior ones I used a long time ago. Saw some at a recent show and went through a whole box to find four or five good ones.

 

[paulvallandigham]

What is the comparative cost for those German Agates? I am suspecting they cost a lot more than the English Flints. And the French Amber "flints" are also more expensive, regardless of quality. Amber is tree sap that has been heated and " volcanized" or turned into a glass like substance. Because the sap contained sugars, it attracted bugs, and you often find little bugs inside the amber. They don't add to the strength.Amber does keep a find edge, knapps well, and will give you lots of strikes. Whether you can get enough more strikes to justify the higher cost is the problem.

 

[rich pierce]

I'm about 99% sure that the amber French flints are not fossilized amber, but are actual chert/flint that is colored like amber. Flint/chert comes in shades from white to black, with pink, yellow, blue, brown, red, and evewn greenish in between. The best stuff is translucent because of fine grain structure. But none of it is as clear as amber. You'll not find fossilized debris or insects in your French flints.

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I'm about 99% sure that the amber French flints are not fossilized amber, but are actual chert/flint that is colored like amber. Flint/chert comes in shades from white to black, with pink, yellow, blue, brown, red, and evewn greenish in between. The best stuff is translucent because of fine grain structure. But none of it is as clear as amber. You'll not find fossilized debris or insects in your French flints.

Rich is right on here. Mike Brooks could tell you all about it if you ask him...

----------------------------------------
Twisted_1in66 :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Rich: A friend bought an Amber Flint from a man at Friendship more than 15 years ago. He paid a lot of money for it. It was true amber, with little occlusions, but nothing we could make out with the naked eye. It was a large musket flint, and he tested it in his .62 cal. rifle, because it was the only gun he had with a large enough lock and cock to handle the big flint. He got 162 strikes out of it before it was just a round lump that he could no longer hold firmly in the jaws of the cock, and had to retire it. He figured for the additional cost, he had not saved anything over using English Flints, so he went back to using English Flints.

That is the only Amber flint I have see, up close. Occasionally a trader will claim to have one on commercial row at Friendship, but I have not taken the time to look at them. I will take your word that what is being called amber today may not be actually Amber. You never know what the French are trying to sell us Americans, only that they take particular pleasure in conning us, and will try to do so any way they can. I have boycotted French goods for many years, and long before it became popular to do so. I suspect that is one of the reasons I have no interest in French Amber, whatever it actually is today.

 

[Blivetmaker]

Amber, or Bernstein in German, is indeed fossilized sap/resin from conifer trees. It fossilizes well because resin is a fairly stable compound and degrades slowly. Once fossilized it is surprisingly light in weight. Because it is very very resistant to external influences insects trapped do not decay and, in rare instances even retain their original coloring.
That said; amber is a very soft substance. It shatters and crumbles and cannot strike sparks.
Amber has a distinctive color that is often used to describe the coloring of other objects as is the case with the French flints.
French flints are indeed a fine-grained chert.