Flints

[brianpa40]

I stopped by my local Black Powder shop today that I've been going to for 25yrs and ask for a price for 5/8 x 3/4 flints and almost had a heart attack they wanted $5.95 a piece. They said the on-line guys were gouging the price and wanted $15.00 a piece so I told them TOTW had them cheaper they said they were out of them (which I already knew they were not). So I just ordered a dozen at less then half their price.

 

[Daryl Crawford]

Geez, I paid a lot less than that at Dixon's a few weeks ago. $6 for a flint is crazy.

 

[ohio ramrod]

People will charge what ever they think they can get. Knowledge is your best investment. Knowing what is out there and the prices is power!

 

[brianpa40]

I stopped by my local Black Powder shop today that I've been going to for 25yrs and ask for a price for 5/8 x 3/4 flints and almost had a heart attack they wanted $5.95 a piece. They said the on-line guys were gouging the price and wanted $15.00 a piece so I told them TOTW had them cheaper they said they were out of them (which I already knew they were not). So I just ordered a dozen at less then half their price.

TOTW price was $2.30 plus shipping took them to $2.88 a piece

 

[deerstalkert]

i knap my own. figuring what i used to make per hour, the cost of chert shipped to me, the nimber i break, the number i get out of a billet, I figure mine only cost me about 37.50 each. but it's fun. but it's fun, but it's.........................................

 

[smo]

The woods are full of em’

At least mine are!

 

[deerstalkert]

gonna steal yer bench! at least the design.
i have a fishing canvas stool i sit on! do mine in the garage so have to clean up the mess every night. have 4 -5 gallon buckets full out of the shop vac. cant make myself dump the chips.
one might be perfect for a bird point ya know!!!

 

[Semisane]

Slightly off topic, but...... I recently started a new medication that's giving me very vivid and weird dreams. A few nights ago I dreamed I was walking along a creek bed with a staff in my hand searching for mushrooms. I spotted an unusual looking stone shaped like a football. When I tried to pry it out of the ground with the staff, the stone fell apart into a pile of perfect gun flints. I woke up just as I stooped down to gather them up.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Slightly off topic, but...... I recently started a new medication that's giving me very vivid and weird dreams. A few nights ago I dreamed I was walking along a creek bed with a staff in my hand searching for mushrooms. I spotted an unusual looking stone shaped like a football. When I tried to pry it out of the ground with the staff, the stone fell apart into a pile of perfect gun flints. I woke up just as I stooped down to gather them up.

Ahhr, you too.....

 

[Ironoxide]

I thought it would be interesting to compare the price of flints in various parts of the world.

Here in EU I can get black English flints from US $3 to $4 depending on size(this price includes all taxes). Agate cut flints are $5~$9 depending on size.

I also found some small pieces of the right stone (looks like English flint but slightly more brown than black, sometimes striped). Unfortunately commonly found pieces are pretty small. I thought about buying larger locally sourced flint stones to try my hand at it. It turns out some famous person was pictured wearing a necklace with the same striped flint stone and now all the sellers sell to jewellery makers.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

In my part if the world $6 is cheap

 

[FishDFly]

One advantage to buying in person is you get to pick them out versus taking what they send you. It pays to buy in volume when you find them at a decent price.

 

[mmb617]

I just bought 50 French ambers for $97.50 including tax and shipping. I thought that was a good price, and I won't be needing any flints for a good while.

 

[smo]

gonna steal yer bench! at least the design.
i have a fishing canvas stool i sit on! do mine in the garage so have to clean up the mess every night. have 4 -5 gallon buckets full out of the shop vac. cant make myself dump the chips.
one might be perfect for a bird point ya know!!!

Help yourself , that bench is not mine..
It was made for one of our shooting clubs members Mr. Beck .

But it sure was nice too be able too sit while chipping out a new flint as required too start the match.

 

[gerryherd]

Crazy Crow Trading has flint arrowheads for 95 cents each. The points are only the quality needed for Cub Scout craft displays, but they are generally the right size for a gun flint once the sharp tip is removed, and they spark anywhere from 10 to 75 shots. Also, Etsy has chert and flint for knapping at $3-5 per pound. Even if you only got 3 gun flints per pound you’d be beating the price of store-bought flints (plus have a lifetime supply of flint scraps for fire starting).

 

[Daryl Crawford]

Thanks @gerryherd now I just need to learn knapping. Think that is my next thread.

 

[gerryherd]

Thanks @gerryherd now I just need to learn knapping. Think that is my next thread.

.
My self knapped flints don’t look as pretty as a TOW french amber, but they do work, and if they don’t last as long as I’d like, well, they were just a piece o’ rock. When a $3 flint cracks on the second shot, I go into mourning. I figure that in a pinch , our great great granddaddies probably had some ability to find a rock and shape it to a usable state, and probably got better with practice.

 

[stephenprops1]

I recently bought 12 flints from The Log Cabin Shop for $25.

 

[Cattywompuss]

Well, shoot... I'll revive this one rather than starting a new one. Some folks hate a whole new thread on a well-worn topic.

I just bought my first French amber flints on eBay. 12 for $30. Can't wait to try one out. There either are flints here in East Alabama, or the local natives traded stuff to get them here. Thousands of flint arrow heads have been found along the Tallapoosa a few miles from here, some by my father in law. But I haven't had much time to seek them out. Maybe one day. My father in law might get a bit... stroppey, if I started tapping away on his artifacts with a knapping implement.

I've never used a flint to start a camp fire, but it would be cool to get a fire going that way. Good skill to know. In the meantime I purchased 2000 Bic lighters at .30 cent apiece in case I can't get the hang of it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I acquired a couple dozen sawn flints from Gunter Stifter in the early 1970s. Used them almost exclusively in my Rev. period long rifle until recently. Still have about a dozen unused. They last and last and last........ For the record my rifle has a Pete Allen built Siler lock.