flints

[brubincam]

there is a active limestone quarry near my home,does that mean there should be flint in the rock piles the quarry piles up? or in simple terms where abouts do i look for the flint,,, :yakyak:

 

[MSW]

i theory, there should be. having said that, it's probably a good bit more practical to just go buy some flint.

 

Although flint often occurs with limestone, not all limestone is associated with flint. Where the flint does occur, it generally forms resistant ledges or topographic ridges/hills, because it is "harder"--more siliceous--than the carbonate-rich limestones and erosion/weathering cause it to stand out in relief. The soil above weathered limestone may contain flint nodules or blocks that are residual deposits after the containing limestone has dissolved away. In Quarries, the rocks are typically fresher and the flint would be (if present) either arrayed in beds interlayered with limestone or occur as nodules in the limestone. The flint (we geologists call it chert)is harder than the limestone and resistant to acids (limestone will fizz in a weak HCL solution, chert will not). A pocket knife will scratch the limestone, but not chert. Chert (flint) breaks with a conchoidal fracture, limestone does not.

 

Thank you for adding to my store of knowlegee of flint, I live in a sandstone area with glacial morains about. Bob

 

[musketman]

there is a active limestone quarry near my home,does that mean there should be flint in the rock piles the quarry piles up? or in simple terms where abouts do i look for the flint,,, :yakyak:

You could do what I do, take your striker along with you when ever you go hiking, hunting or fishing...

If you see something that looks flint-ish, strike it and see if it produces sparks, if it does, either mark the spot or take a sample home with you to experiment with at a later time...

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I have also found that most rocks or stone of a waxy, shiny appearance, will make good sparkers in the rock lock.

Also, like you, I carry my striker and a small hammer, chip off a section and test sharp edge. And, like Mike Roberts stated, if it breaks with a conchoidal fracture, (read as pieces breaking with a sharp rippled edge) most are always good for our purposes.

One should not restrict themselves to just flint (chert) for there are rocks I randomly pick up for use which spark great, several of which I don't have the least idea as to what they are.

The huge cock jaws of the Spanish miquelet lock were designed to utilize most any piece of stone picked up afield that would fit into the jaws and make sparks.

 

SiO2 is one of the most common naturally found materials in the earth's crust and occurs in many mineral varieties, but most are of the closely related Quartz family: chert(flint), agate, chalcedony, onyx, novaculite, jasper, crystalline quartz, metaquartzite, etc...one easy initial test to see if it might spark is to see if it will scratch glass. Glass and frizzens are pretty close in hardness (5-6?) and quartz/etc is 7 in hardness (Mohs scale). Quartz is one of the hardest common minerals [emerald(8), rubies/sapphires(9) and diamonds(10) being harder for example]. The sparks are hot bits of steel that are cut off the frizzen by the harder flint.

 

[TN.Frank]

We had some white rock in the AZ. desert that I thought was the rock they called "Chert", flint, generally, is grey isn't it? There's a brown color rock that's used for bedding rocks here in TN. that's grey on the inside and looks and sparks like flint. I guess any hard rock that'll throw a spark would be a candidate to use in your "rock lock" wouldn't it? It doesn't necessarly have to be "flint".

 

[rich pierce]

Mike Roberts can explain it. What many people call flint is often classified by minerologists and geologists as chert.

I knap gun "flints" from local chert and it works fine in flintlocks. Mine is coarse grained compared to English or French "flint" and may be a little more rough on frizzens. But I don't shoot every day. The local stuff here in the Meramec River valley sparks like crazy. Maybe I should call them "gun cherts".

 

[hack]

Check with people who knapp flint points
(arrow heads) most of them will make gun flints for about $.75 each.
If you are taking a trip through Ohio, stop by flint ridge, the locals will sell you a bucket of flint or buy the pound.
Here in Michigan we can find small amounts of flint in the fields and creek bottoms. But its not hardly worth the effort.

 

[J.D.]

I have made gunflints, poorly, from white Ozark chert, a light grey Texas chalcedony, a red flint that was very good, and other assorted glossy rocks, of dubious origin.

The white chert is fairly brittle and while it sparks well, it doesn't last very long. The Texas grey chert knapped well, sparked well and held up well. The red chert was given to me, so I don't know where it came from, but it works well, sparks very well, and is good for quite a few shots.

There is a medium brown stone found in Ozark creek beds that appears to be some form of chert, but I haven't tried that. I did try to break one of those rocks that was about half the size of my hand with no success, and gave up on this type of rock.

Rich,
Where do you collect that rock along the Meramec?
J.D.

 

[nvbirdman]

A lot of good replys there, but I'm a bit surprised no one has mentioned going to your local rock shop and talking to the proprietor. Ne should know a lot about rocks and where to look for them locally.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

I frequent local rock and gem shows, buy up all the cheap scrap agate I can find. have a diamond wet saw, so make up sawed agate rock lock sparkers. Some of the Brazilian stuff is almost too danged purty to use, I said almost. :grin:

 

[rich pierce]

Rich,
Where do you collect that rock along the Meramec?
J.D.

I find decent chert on the Chubb Trail, up on the ridges, where native Americans had quarries for the rock. It's off 44 and Lewis Road east of the Six Flags exit. I have also found good chert at Castlewood state park on the ridges that overlook the river. There's a lot of it in Jefferson County also. But in general, it takes a lot of sorting and 1 in 100 pieces are any good.

 

Chert/flint comes in just about any color imaginable. I've even seen polka-dotted ones. Any of the siliceous hard minerals/rocks can be used to spark steel, but some work better than others. Coarse ones will erode your frizzen too fast. The classic flint--a fine form of chert--has microcrystalline smooth texture that is easy on frizzens, yet still hard and tough enough to spark them.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Below geological information taken from: "A Journey Into North America Containing A Survey Of The Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri And Other Affluing Rivers." In summer of 1796 by Georges-Henri-Victor Collot, who was journeying up the Mississippi just north of Cape Girardeau Missouri when he made the observation. I realize the Meramec headwaters in the Ozarks, but it empties into the Mississippi down below St. Louis. (Collot remarked on the mouth of Meramec River)

The western chain is visible from Cape Girardot (Girardeau) and runs in the same direction (north) nearly the same height and follows the same bendings that of the east.

This small chain rises commonly one hundred and fifty, and sometimes two hundred feet above the lay of the lands which separate them from the waters of the river. These masses of rocks are composed sometimes of greystone, FLINT, with which the Indians tip their arrows. or millstone, but most frquently of limestone. "

 

[riarcher]

Thar you go,,, learnin me thangs agin! :grin:
I always thought Chert and Flint were two diff. stones, same clasification but diff. type(or something like that?).

 

Chert is a more general and accepted mineral term and 'flint' is basically synonymous, but is typically applied to the finer quality used for points and gunflints. In the older literature you will see 'flint' used as we mineralogists use chert today, especially by the English.

 

[buckknife]

Inside these 2 limestone balls are a light gray chert.i found these on a crossing over a small creek where 3 inch limestone had been laid down.I boke a couple open just like them so i know whats inside.These 2 were small eoungh that the crusher used at the quarry didnt get em.At this crossing there was a bunch of 3 inch chert rocks lying around that had been crushed from what i would guess were much bigger nods.
This is just a guess but i would think that at the quarry you could find some much bigger before they were crushed but they would be mixed in with huge limestone rocks.Doubt if they would want anyone poking around for saftey reasons.
How you make these things into gun flints would be the hard part.
I can go down to the local creek and find chert chips without looking too hard.The dirty white ones seem to spark the best but are hard on a frizzen.

 

[rich pierce]

Here are some musket sized flints I knapped from local chert. These are not meant to compete with English or French flints but to be emergency flints. They spark great.