How do you store your flints?

[Redlemur60]

With a tile saw, you can make small slabs from there making flints is pretty easy. No flint knapping takes yrs of practise(i suck too!)

 

[toot]

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that flint wallet is just great! and with it carrying the needed extras is paramount. did you make the moulded hard leather ball pouch & what size does it take? jmho.

 

[toot]

I keep a few in a flint wallet, some more in a plastic jar and the rest are still in the ground, up behind the barn whenever I need them.

just waiting to be born?

 

[4575wcf]

The only flinter I have currently running is my Charleyville. I pull the wooden insert out of my cartridge box and drop a couple in there, they don't seem to rattle around much. Gotta be prepared these days the British could come back and attack the white house or something.

 

[Cruzatte]

I keep one or two in the patchbox of my rifle. In my fusil bag, I have a small pouch which contains a flint, a vent pick or priming wire, a ball extractor, and a turn screw. All the rest of the flints are stored in plastic zip-lock bags in a large tackle box along with other gun related tools and appurtenances.

 

[Capnball]

that flint wallet is just great! and with it carrying the needed extras is paramount. did you make the moulded hard leather ball pouch & what size does it take? jmho.

I made it to fit .45 but I could make it to fit just about any caliber. I made the two halves (5-8 oz) plus a gusset (10 oz) contact cemented then stitched. I soaked the whole thing and put a 1/2 " dowl down the pipe, let it dry. Then soaked the bottom half again and stuffed soft cordage into the opening untill it just wouldn't take anymore. Let that dry, removed the cordage, let it dry a bit more then poured hot beeswax to coat the inside. Holds more balls then I'd shoot in a day.

 

[Capnball]

Nice workmanship.

Im still working on my craft but it's coming along. It all works as I'd hoped so that's had the battle right there.

 

[Mad L]

I don't want my spare flints to spoil before I get to use then so I store them in glass jars with thick walls, laying on a bed of dogbane shavings to keeps the dogs from chewing on them, I also toss in a pinch of 'Flint Preservative Powder' from an ancient native Indian recipe (ingredients unknown but they tells me it works). To keep them from getting infested with Chert Bore Beatles I melt some round ball and coat the inside of the jar lids and to prevent the flints from going stale and turning crisp on the edges i put two holes in the lid; one to let fresh air in and one to let stale air out (be sure to mark each one so the air knows which is which). Then like a mother hen I turn each flint often so no air pockets settle on the sharp edge(s).
I have gathered all this information through years of reading long and informative threads on the World Wide Web. None of my flints have ever spoiled or gone stale so it's a proven system and works for me.
I am considering going one step further and burying them with my stored powder under a tree off my property and clear of any neighbors' property....for safety

 

[Capnball]

I don't want my spare flints to spoil before I get to use then so I store them in glass jars with thick walls, laying on a bed of dogbane shavings to keeps the dogs from chewing on them, I also toss in a pinch of 'Flint Preservative Powder' from an ancient native Indian recipe (ingredients unknown but they tells me it works). To keep them from getting infested with Chert Bore Beatles I melt some round ball and coat the inside of the jar lids and to prevent the flints from going stale and turning crisp on the edges i put two holes in the lid; one to let fresh air in and one to let stale air out (be sure to mark each one so the air knows which is which). Then like a mother hen I turn each flint often so no air pockets settle on the sharp edge(s).
I have gathered all this information through years of reading long and informative threads on the World Wide Web. None of my flints have ever spoiled or gone stale so it's a proven system and works for me.
I am considering going one step further and burying them with my stored powder under a tree off my property and clear of any neighbors' property....for safety

I massage each flint with a mild abrasive made from Buffalo skull grindings charred over a palm tree fire by inuet Eskimos on the frozen tundra.

 

[Redlemur60]

I don't want my spare flints to spoil before I get to use then so I store them in glass jars with thick walls, laying on a bed of dogbane shavings to keeps the dogs from chewing on them, I also toss in a pinch of 'Flint Preservative Powder' from an ancient native Indian recipe (ingredients unknown but they tells me it works). To keep them from getting infested with Chert Bore Beatles I melt some round ball and coat the inside of the jar lids and to prevent the flints from going stale and turning crisp on the edges i put two holes in the lid; one to let fresh air in and one to let stale air out (be sure to mark each one so the air knows which is which). Then like a mother hen I turn each flint often so no air pockets settle on the sharp edge(s).
I have gathered all this information through years of reading long and informative threads on the World Wide Web. None of my flints have ever spoiled or gone stale so it's a proven system and works for me.
I am considering going one step further and burying them with my stored powder under a tree off my property and clear of any neighbors' property....for safety

I massage each flint with a mild abrasive made from Buffalo skull grindings charred over a palm tree fire by inuet Eskimos on the frozen tundra.

I need consult with both of you.
On the appropriate "preservative"
Indigenous dance (indian).

 

[MSW]

i just have mine in an old take- out soup container... mixed together in the dark ... i was kinda hoping that they'd get frisky and maybe make more flints, but so far no luck ... either the gestation time is very long, or i need to play some mood music

 

[david w]

i just have mine in an old take- out soup container... mixed together in the dark ... i was kinda hoping that they'd get frisky and maybe make more flints, but so far no luck ... either the gestation time is very long, or i need to play some mood music

I believe the gestation period for chert is around several thousand years. You may try Dueling Banjo's for the mood music.

 

[Capnball]

I need consult with both of you.
On the appropriate "preservative"
Indigenous dance (indian).

I thought we were all up to speed on that but I'm always up for remedial indigenous peoples forms of hoofin it!

 

[Capnball]

Distilled or tap?

Holy!

 

[Tanglefoot]

Howdy TDM,
I keep spares in a flint wallet that's surprisingly identical to the one you showed us in your photos, complete to the stitch pattern. Mine was a gift from a friend, Gary Smith, many years ago. It holds half a dozen plus some extra leather pads. The rest I keep in a buckskin poke except for the "spare spares" that are in ziplock bags the way they came until I need to replenish one of the other batches.

 

[Rifleman1776]

The only flinter I have currently running is my Charleyville.

Hide yer face in shame. Only one? That is almost sinful.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Others have beat me to it with the humor bit. Some really funny.
I store mine in a compartment in my range box. For ronny and field I let several sit in the bottom of my shooting bag.

 

[beardedhorse]

Not heard of Jamestown but Georgetown chert from Texas. I fit each flint in my wallet to lock it is intended for with the appropriate leather shim. Saves time in the field whether hunting or a mountain man run. Unless you are able to get a large coble and flake off burins you will waste a lock of stone trying to make a gunflint.

 

[deerstalkert]

Mine seem to wind up so thin, I can read through them. Others resemble humpback whales. Then there's the width thingy. I have managed to make some so sharp, I've cut myself. I recently found a tool made of wood, lead weighted, and has a copper cap. I may try one of those. My Moose antler just ain't working, much to my chagrin.

it can be a blood sport. learn with a copper bopper and wear a glove on the holding hand. when you get one that really turns out nice, it enhances the whole BP flintlock experience.

 

[TDM]

I’ve been meaning to build a copper bopper. Haven’t fooled with my knapping technique in about a year. Need to try it again, but other projects get in the way.