Old wives tale?

[Plumb Center]

Had a friend tell me his black powder gunsmith said you should keep unused flints in oil, until used. What is your take?

 

[Stumpkiller]

???????

Well, they ain't gonna rust anyway. Never heard of doing it.

I try to keep oil away from my flints at all costs. A slippery flint or frizzen doesn't spark as well.

A flawed emerald can be treated with hot oil to temporarily hide the cracks. Maybe it's a thought along those lines. Make 'em nice and translucent.

Or, keep a large group of 'em from grinding their edges down from vibration & jostling together on a long, rough trip? Don't know. I'll leave mine dry, thanks.

 

[Dave Poss]

My old wife said that was just a tale! :crackup:

 

[sniper68]

I keep my spare flints wraped in foil, probably over kill, but it feels good. Ain't ever seen a rusty arrowhead :crackup: :crackup:

 

I have had a flint(or chert) arrow point on a leather strap around my neck, absorb oil form my body along the endge. It was a white flint, or chert so the oil was easily seen along the edge. I believe the oil that was absorbed would make the flint soft in that area - just a thought.
: I wouldn't put my flints in oil. They lasted in the ground for quite a spell, so another few years in my flint bag won't hurt, I suppose.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Had a friend tell me his black powder gunsmith said you should keep unused flints in oil, until used. What is your take?

never done that before haha.. Have you ever hooked them up to a battery charger to make them spark better hahahaha :redthumb:

 

[BLAHMAN]

Had a friend tell me his black powder gunsmith said you should keep unused flints in oil, until used. What is your take?

never done that before haha.. Have you ever hooked them up to a battery charger to make them spark better hahahaha :redthumb:

I bet that would be quite a shocking and electrifying experiance :haha: :haha: :haha:

 

I have also heard that you should keep them in water--I don't believe either idea has any merit. "Flint" is the mineral chert, a cryptocrystalline form of SiO2. Sometimes it has a little amorphous SiO2 (opal) and a little water. The amorphous SiO2 and water add nothing to its ability as a spark producer (the sparks are from the steel, the flint is just the tool that strikes them). Typical flint(chert) would be basically impermeable to water, so keeping them soaking makes little sense---opal on the other hand can dehydrate and many people keep opals in water.....P.S. I suppose if a particular "flint" had a lot of opal in it, dehydration of the opal could cause it to crack, maybe that is the source of the old wives tale...?

 

I keep mine between the cock and the top jaw, wraped in a piece of leather at the correct angle to the frizzen. :thumbsup:
And hope it sets the prime off , and guns goes BANG when trigger is pulled. :redthumb:
Gun control is hitting what your shooting at the first shot. :imo:



Woody

 

[Bushwhacker]

We sell the Brandon flints in our store at voos. Wellllllllllllllllll one day 2 rookie smart A** cops wandered in. One picked up a piece of flint and licked it. :: I asked him, "WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" :curse: He replied back that it looked like tar heroin Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :haha: Wished he had cut his tongue :crackup: :redthumb:

 

[Rebel]

Yea, too bad he didn't lick the edge. That would have been great. And did you ask him why he wanted to be licking Tar Heroin anyway. :: You need to get all the edges on yer flints sharp that way next one might get him. :crackup:

 

[CrackStock]

Let me understand this -- he licked it because it looked like tar heroin!!!

Duh! Either it was a flint and sharp or it was heroin in which case...? Guess he learned his trade from reruns of Robert Stack in the Untouchables.

CS

 

[flaming canvas]

We sell the Brandon flints in our store at voos. Wellllllllllllllllll one day 2 rookie smart A** cops wandered in. One picked up a piece of flint and licked it. :: I asked him, "WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" :curse: He replied back that it looked like tar heroin Duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh :haha: Wished he had cut his tongue :crackup: :redthumb:

Should have told him that they were stored in horse urine to keep them from cracking. :crackup:

 

[BLAHMAN]

Let me understand this -- he licked it because it looked like tar heroin!!!

Duh! Either it was a flint and sharp or it was heroin in which case...? Guess he learned his trade from reruns of Robert Stack in the Untouchables.

CS

Should have played along with him and told him that cocain is stored in cocain-a-cola cans and see if went for that. Like somebody's gonna have tar heroin right out in the open at a vooo...what a dummy.

By the way, he wasn't real slim and went by the name of Barney did he?

 

[Birddog6]

I would have told the idiot that "This is the good uncut hard stuff..... Look at it, hard as a rock"...

 

[Stumpkiller]

Hope you told him: "You lick it, you bought it."

I'm gonna go wash my flints. Yuck.

 

[pepperbelly]

I remember all the old cop shows where a detective would put suspected cocaine on his finger and tatse it.
I was taught in the academy that that is an overdose, same with any other drug. I carried a field test kit.
Wanna bet he licks other stuff too? :youcrazy:

Jim

 

[Twisted_1in66]

I have also heard that you should keep them in water--I don't believe either idea has any merit. "Flint" is the mineral chert, a cryptocrystalline form of SiO2. Sometimes it has a little amorphous SiO2 (opal) and a little water. The amorphous SiO2 and water add nothing to its ability as a spark producer (the sparks are from the steel, the flint is just the tool that strikes them). Typical flint(chert) would be basically impermeable to water, so keeping them soaking makes little sense---opal on the other hand can dehydrate and many people keep opals in water.....P.S. I suppose if a particular "flint" had a lot of opal in it, dehydration of the opal could cause it to crack, maybe that is the source of the old wives tale...?

The "soak it in water" trick probably came from a flintknapper. Soaking English and Danish flint (not chert) in water can reduce the lithic grade scale by .5 to 1 point according to D.C. Waldorf. He also says it will do the same for "Georgetown flint (chert), Pederanales tabular chacedony and other varieties of chalcedony".

I don't know about you, but the last thing I want my flint to be is softer and easier to break. Keep them away from the water.....

 

[BLAHMAN]

Hope you told him: "You lick it, you bought it."

I'm gonna go wash my flints. Yuck.

Maybe that guy knew something we don't. Lickin' your flints makes em' go off faster? Like "lickety-flint"? :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:


Sorry, couldn't help myself.....

 

[Keith]

I remember all the old cop shows where a detective would put suspected cocaine on his finger and tatse it.
I was taught in the academy that that is an overdose, same with any other drug. I carried a field test kit.
Wanna bet he licks other stuff too? :youcrazy:

Jim

My agency does a lot of hazmat training and response I can't image putting a drug into my mouth to test it. Drugs=hazmat. Besides, what the h*ll does heorin taste like and how does he know?

I would love to be that kids FTO. I would slap him so hard.