Found Chert

[Rnegelein]

Recently there was a load of gravel spread in front of the house that was loaded with chert/flint to the detriment of tires on multiple vehicles. Would this be useful or would it be too weak since it has gone through the rock crusher?

 

[jamesthomas]

hotoSmile: A couple of photo's would be nice.

 

[Auldgoat]

imho, there would be too many fractures from the crushing. Likely, too, there will not be any of size for a core to work 'tho you may find an acceptable piece. Good luck. If you are looking for something knappable, hunt down the quarry the material came from. If this mess was laid on your driveway, add a lot of sand to save your tires.
Will

 

[Len Graves]

Try a piece or two against a steel and see if you get sparks. If you find a suitable piece that fits your lock try it sometime at a tat get that isn't too important. Fun to try .

 

[necchi]

Look for the outfit that spread the gravel, they had to buy it from someplace, that someplace was probably the ones that crushed it.

 

[daniel collums]

do you have any place near you could hunt for arrowheads, most folks dont pick up the broke ones and most are just about the right size. you might have to break them down but most are just the right thickness. one of my buddies came to me wanting to get some brokes for his flint rifle, when he left the house he said he would never have to buy another flint.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Chert out of my driveway gravel is all that I use for flint and steel fire starting. it will also work in a flintlock but shaping is difficult and it looses its edge quickly, a good english flint is hard to beat............give it a try you might like it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Chert is not a dirty word. It is flint. If you can find pieces large enough to handle and chip they may work. There is good flint/chert and bad stuff. You can determine if it will work only by trying.

 

[Patocazador]

do you have any place near you could hunt for arrowheads, most folks dont pick up the broke ones and most are just about the right size.

A good point. Most of the arrowheads around here are quartz and would probably work but they seem to fracture easily.

 

[Rifleman1776]

do you have any place near you could hunt for arrowheads, most folks dont pick up the broke ones and most are just about the right size.

A good point. Most of the arrowheads around here are quartz and would probably work but they seem to fracture easily.

We have a lot of quartz in Arkansas. On the hardness scale, it is about the same as flint. But, I have tried and could not get sparks. Dunno why. :idunno:

 

[tomme boy]

They heat treated the arrow heads. That might be why they do not spark.

 

[Rifleman1776]

They heat treated the arrow heads. That might be why they do not spark.

Don't get me started on the heat treat issue. :dead: :cursing: :stir:

 

[Rnegelein]

Thanks for all of the replies. I currently don't have a camera, I know I need to get with all of the most current technology, but I'm working diligently to get with the historical technology first. The pieces are of various sizes, most of what I have picked up from the county road are mostly black with some mixed gray & white parts. The quarry is about 3 miles from the house, so it is good local rock; I don't think their insurance would allow someone wandering in the pit looking for a good large node. I haven't gotten any to spark yet, unsure of the carbon quality of the steel used. The local known source of ancient arrow heads is protected by the land owner, and he doesn't have the large hog herd plowing them up for him anymore. I'll continue investigating the found pieces to see if they will do at least for a fire starter.

 

[Billnpatti]

I have picked up several pieces of chert flakes along gravel roads at the ranch where we shoot and knapped them to make rifle flints. They worked pretty well but I like the English and French flints much better.

 

[azmntman]

Would Obsidian work?

 

[dikman]

I know it can be knapped to make tools, but I haven't heard of it being used in guns. I have no idea if it will spark.

 

[Stony Broke]

I have played with obsidian some, and it seems to flake off with really sharp edges that will fracture easily. If you get a good fire steel, the chert works great for fire starting. I picked up a large box of it from a dam here in Texas and have used a bunch of it. I'm not much for making my own flints, but I've given a lot of it away to other guys to use for fire starting at rendezvous.

 

[smoothshooter]

Make a trip to my neck of the woods if you want chert of any practical size. Anywhere in the Branson, MO area and 40 Miles in any direction it is free for the taking. Drive any dirt road, and you will find it by the ton.

 

[tenngun]

They heat treated the arrow heads. That might be why they do not spark.

Don't get me started on the heat treat issue. :dead: :cursing: :stir:

So funny, I was rolling through reading one at a time read this and thought "um I wonder if Rifleman will respond...very next post :rotf:

 

[Brokennock]

Awesome for sharp tools. But I would think too fragile for gun flints. It's like working with glass, which, by the way, is great for learning to knapp, glass breaks in a concoidial fracture just like obsidian and flint.