Heat treated flints

[GANGGREEN]

I gathered these at Flint Ridge in Ohio a week or two ago. I heat treated them at home and now they're ready to be napped into rifle Flint. I ordered some tools and I'm going to try to teach myself to make the flints, hopefully it will go well and they'll be nice and sparky.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Having zero experience with such things, I'm not sure whether I gathered the right stuff or not. After watching some online videos, I'm inclined to think that I should have gathered larger stones (I specifically gathered smaller, flatter stuff, thinking that was what I needed), but we'll see. If anyone's really good at such things and thinks that the stuff I got will work, I'd be glad to trade raw flint in exchange for a couple dozen finished flints from the stone (or whatever is reasonable).

 

[Tom A Hawk]

I gathered these at Flint Ridge in Ohio a week or two ago. I heat treated them at home and now they're ready to be napped into rifle Flint. I ordered some tools and I'm going to try to teach myself to make the flints, hopefully it will go well and they'll be nice and sparky.

FYI - Heat treating has nothing to do with sparking and is done to make chert flake easier. Sometimes heat treated chert becomes rather fragile. It might be interesting to compare sparking quality with treated and untreated chert.

Also - Gun flints are made from blades that have been struck from untreated cores. The photo appears to show discarded flakes from knapping arrow heads.

 

[GANGGREEN]

I don't think that they were the discarded pieces of knapped heads, I think they were just hunks that had splintered off rocks as folks were gathering flint. I physically picked them up myself in the quarry holes. As I said, I was under the wrong impression that I'd be better off getting flint that was already on the small side or roughly of the finished thickness. After watching several videos, I now understand that I was mistaken although I'm still hopeful that I can work it out and get a few dozen flints from what I have here. If and when I go back to Flint Ridge, I'll have a much better idea what I'm looking for.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Heat treating flint is one of those never ending arguments. My understanding is the process is worthless. Nothing gained. Same with soaking in oil or water.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Thanks for the info. Thankfully, it was really quite easy, didn't cost me much time or money, so no harm, no foul, right? I did this because I had just learned of Flint Ridge and thought it was cool. I went, picked up my own flints and if I can make a few of them work for my guns, I'll be thrilled with the whole process. Then I'll go back next time and be better prepared and know what I'm looking for.

Heat treating flint is one of those never ending arguments. My understanding is the process is worthless. Nothing gained. Same with soaking in oil or water.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Well, I was able to flake away a suitable sized stone, shape it and try it in one of my flintlocks. It was sparky as hell and I'm thrilled. No idea how durable it will be or if I can repeat the procedure a few dozen times with other stones, but so far I'm thrilled with it. I don't know that the heat treating helped or didn't help, but like I said, that flint/chert is sparky as hell and I'll be happy if I can replicate it a few dozen times.

 

[Gun Tramp]

Great story.

 

[Redbearcat]

Did they take all the signs down that said it is illegal to remove flint from the state park? Or, was it just too tempting?
As an archeological site, it is illegal to take flint or any artifacts you may find.

 

[MountainSmoke]

There are a couple of folks who have property that border the park and they allow flint digging/collecting for a fee. There is usually a ton of flakes and smaller chunks of flint just lying around discarded from the modern knappers who are mostly after larger pieces. One farm in particular, the Nethers has been letting knappers come and quarry flint for a long time, at least 25 years.

 

[MountainSmoke]

Heating the flint to the right temperature tightens the molecules and allows is to flake easier but it also makes it more brittle. A heat treated gun flint will usually spark fine but won't be as durable as one made from a raw piece of stone. The French and English flint that most gun flints are and were made from is a very durable flint. I am not aware that either was ever heat treated for the manufacturing of gun flints. The closest thing we have here in the US to the English flint that was so favored is Georgetown flint from Texas. Illinois has a flint called dongola or cobden which is kinda similar. Some of the Kentucky and Indiana hornstones are similar as well but a little more brittle. Best of luck and I applaud you for making your own.

 

[toot]

show us what the outcome was.

 

[GANGGREEN]

Yes, I gathered at the Nether's Farm, I'd never ignore the regs and take from the state park. As for the outcome, I tried to post a video the other day and got an error message that the video wasn't supported by the board's software or something. I'll see if my wife can show me how to get it posted later (yes, I require my wife and kids to teach me how to use computers and cell phones).

 

[oldwood]

Back in the early 1970's there was a guy from Belpre , Ohio , that bought British flint , oiled it w/something , baked the flint in a kitchen oven , and sold a bunch of it to newbee's like me to use. He advertised it in Muzzle Blasts Magazine w/rave reviews. I was shooting a Bess those days and thought his flint to be good as well. Does anyone know his process??? .....oldwood

 

[bldtrailer]

AS far as heat treating it MAY make some flint more brittle easing the the knapping . non heat treated may last longer

 

[ord sgt]

Several years ago I knew a man who worked on a river dredge. They would work to clear the river channel for large ships. In the dredging, he would find chunks of English flint that were used as ballast on trade ships. The flint chunks were tossed into the river to make way in the hold for goods to be sent back to England.
I need to work on some of those rocks.