Making Flints !

[Eric Krewson]

It depends on what you are heat treating, heat treating good knappable flint is a waste of time, heat treating poor quality chirt can make it usable.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

It depends on what you are heat treating, heat treating good knappable flint is a waste of time, heat treating poor quality chirt can make it usable.

This right here is great advice…just need to determine the difference between good and bad knappable flint/chert

 

[M. De Land]

It depends on what you are heat treating, heat treating good knappable flint is a waste of time, heat treating poor quality chirt can make it usable.

This is about the most well informed thinking I have read about heat treating chert. I read that many of the Eastern Indian tribes heat treated chert to make it more workable as well as fire hardening their bow wood. I've had knapping experience actually experimenting with heat treated and raw chert as well as fire hardening bow wood and and can testify that it is fact not fable. Some chert is very tough and may respond to heat treating . Other chert works very well in the natural state.
Fire hardening bow wood such as Hickory makes it the equal of Yew or Bodark both in compression and tension. A real eye opener for myself a fledgling bow yer. The Eastern Indian tribes knew of and used both techniques of fire hardening bow wood and tempering chert.

 

[bldtrailer]

no heat lots of waist and bandaids

 

[DuncNZ]

The most useful thing about being able to knap flints is re knapping used ones to give them a longer life

 

[M. De Land]

The most useful thing about being able to knap flints is re knapping used ones to give them a longer life

True, but I sure enjoy setting out side my shop on a warm spring day and knapping out new gun flints. If you want company at a camp ground or park just set up and start knapping some gun flints or arrow points. People seem to flock around folks who work flint/chert , even floor tiles, glass or broken porcelain chunks.
I save some of my broken bronze glass from glazing jobs and knap some nice points out of it and give them to folks. They are supper sharp so I don't like to give them to kids.

 

[smoothshooter]

View attachment 124648Oh boy! Now you’ve went and done it!
Be warned, it’s addictive.

Those are pretty good-looking flints.
There is a lot of chert and flint around where I live just north of Arkansas. I have. been busting out “ spalls “ for my flintlocks off and on for several years.
they are not very pretty but they make great sparks. Keeps me from having to dig into my supply of English flints so often.

 

[M. De Land]

Those are pretty good-looking flints.
There is a lot of chert and flint around where I live just north of Arkansas. I have. been busting out “ spalls “ for my flintlocks off and on for several years.
they are not very pretty but they make great sparks. Keeps me from having to dig into my supply of English flints so often.

Yeah, I haven't bought a flint in many years either. Mine work as good or better than any I have ever bought. I don't like gun flint that is made from cores as they always have the hump. Virtually all perduction flints are struck from blades, off cores. I much prefer gun flints made from flakes that have no hump, instead of blades . Bevel up or down becomes a moot point.
This thread makes me want to get out in the sunshine and make some more gun flint !

 

[deerstalkert]

today i finished off a flint i knapped from Georgetown chert with 62 shots on it. it is about 1/4 inch long and the jaws won't hold it anymore.
wife made me empty the pockets of my jeans for washing and i found 5 new flints i have been carrying around waiting for the one in my TC Hawken to quit! if they last as long as the old one i may not have to knap anymore in this lifetime!

 

[M. De Land]

The good thing about pressure flaking is that you keep moving the edge strike on the frizzen as each row of warn down scarf points become the new platforms for the pressure flaker point and it raises the new row upward on the edge. When it gets to the top you flip it over and start again until it's to short to use. Pressure flaking maintains a level point row across the edge face. The edge is more spark productive and much stronger against fracture.

 

[user 49399]

Those are pretty good-looking flints.
There is a lot of chert and flint around where I live just north of Arkansas. I have. been busting out “ spalls “ for my flintlocks off and on for several years.
they are not very pretty but they make great sparks. Keeps me from having to dig into my supply of English flints so often.

Thanks. I’m still learning and I don’t have to buy flints anymore. Those pictured may not look the best, but they sure throw lots of sparks.

 

[M. De Land]

today i finished off a flint i knapped from Georgetown chert with 62 shots on it. it is about 1/4 inch long and the jaws won't hold it anymore.
wife made me empty the pockets of my jeans for washing and i found 5 new flints i have been carrying around waiting for the one in my TC Hawken to quit! if they last as long as the old one i may not have to knap anymore in this lifetime!View attachment 131232

Lost gun flints in your geans pockets ! That made me chuckle ! They look pretty good to me. What is the wihite chert, Novaculite? I've made some of Novaculite and they spark great but mine fractured pretty easily.

 

[deerstalkert]

Lost gun flints in your geans pockets ! That made me chuckle ! They look pretty good to me. What is the wihite chert, Novaculite? I've made some of Novaculite and they spark great but mine fractured pretty easily.

the white is Burlington chert. sparks well but needs heat treating to knap predictably. sure makes pretty points though. heat treating it sometimes causes it to turn sunset colors.

lost flints not only in my jeans pockets but also in my jacket pockets, my shirt pockets etc. the Boss washes them for me then threatens bodily harm if it happens again. it does. still alive despite the knuckle bumps.

 

[M. De Land]

the white is Burlington chert. sparks well but needs heat treating to knap predictably. sure makes pretty points though. heat treating it sometimes causes it to turn sunset colors.

lost flints not only in my jeans pockets but also in my jacket pockets, my shirt pockets etc. the Boss washes them for me then threatens bodily harm if it happens again. it does. still alive despite the knuckle bumps.

Yeah, I bet they raise hob with the enamel on the inside of the wash machine tub!

 

[deerstalkert]

they really get her hopping when they make it into the dryer! i can always tell it's time for a strategic withdrawal when she starts muttering in Gaelic!
i have wanted to try some hornstone but it's getting hard to get. plus you spend 100.00 for 10lbs of stone and 100.00 for shipping!

 

[M. De Land]

they really get her hopping when they make it into the dryer! i can always tell it's time for a strategic withdrawal when she starts muttering in Gaelic!
i have wanted to try some hornstone but it's getting hard to get. plus you spend 100.00 for 10lbs of stone and 100.00 for shipping!

So far I like heat treated Keokuc from Oklahoma for gun flints but the Novaculite makes good points. The Keokuc sparks just as well as the Novaculite but seems quite a bit tougher to resist fracture against the frizzen. I've made a few of George Town and it sparks well to.

 

[toot]

View attachment 127000View attachment 127001no heat lots of waist and bandaids View attachment 127002

I would not want to walk barefoot around that area!

 

[Buckskinquin]

a lot of flints are aided by heat treatment but not all of them...get some sample materials and knap the flint, then heat treat the the materials and then knap it and see if there is improvement in the quality. That's going to be my approach until I get some real experience under my belt, but I like to tinker so not a problem.

The people that can just pick up a rock and turn it into a utensil...amaze me.

I won a large piece of Ohio or Michigan flint in an on line auction. About 4”x5”x9”, weighs 7-8 lbs. I tried to knap off a piece and try making flints, but with the 3 lb metal hammer I had, no luck. A few chips flew off and nicked my arms. Put it a large pot today, buried in sand and heated in my oven all day. Started at 200 degrees every hour increased 25 degrees until 425 was reached. Left it there for 2 hours. Oven now off, slow cool over night. Will see if it made a difference. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. Thanks!

 

[user 49399]

I won a large piece of Ohio or Michigan flint in an on line auction. About 4”x5”x9”, weighs 7-8 lbs. I tried to knap off a piece and try making flints, but with the 3 lb metal hammer I had, no luck. A few chips flew off and nicked my arms. Put it a large pot today, buried in sand and heated in my oven all day. Started at 200 degrees every hour increased 25 degrees until 425 was reached. Left it there for 2 hours. Oven now off, slow cool over night. Will see if it made a difference. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know. Thanks!

I’ve had better luck with a hammer stone than with a steel hammer.

 

[deerstalkert]

Buckskinquin, do you have a picture of that chert you are heat treating that you could post.
seeing it may give some of us an idea of where you need to hit to spall it.
most Ohio valley chert doesn't really need heat treating.