Q: How Fast Can A Gun Flint Be Made?

[Semisane]

A: Pretty dang fast with the right material and skill.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XPEoiY3NnI

 

[wattlebuster]

Cool video. I never saw it done before. Thanks for posting :thumbsup:

 

[mooman76]

I thought it was neat also. I have never done it or even seen it done. A guy I worked with found a spot in the desert where Indians used to go to make arrow heads. He left before he showed me where it was.

 

[jamesthomas]

That was neat :thumbsup: I wish I a couple of those big flint nodules to try my hand on knapping some. 1940"s, notice the guy in the white shirt an tie.

 

[pa woods roamer]

Anybody notice, in the Shooting scene, the last Guy in line getting His Face splattered by His Buddy next to Him??? OUCH!!!!

 

[Semisane]

Did you catch the phrase "the best knapping stone comes from the ground soft as cheese"? Evidentlyly it hardens after some period of exposure to air.

 

[ChrisPer]

Thats just talking bollocks for the tourists.

 

[George]

I think that is true. There was a good article in Muzzleloader magazine years ago about the English flint knapping industry and that same statement was made. The physical structure of the material apparently does change according to the environment it's in. I had a friend who made his living as a flint knapper, and he frequently put certain types of flint in the fire to heat, which made it easier to work, more 'tough and elastic', in his words.

He was good at it.



Spence

 

[Joel/Calgary]

Thats just talking bollocks for the tourists.

Not according to a fair number of knappers on other boards. There's still lots of argument over the precise mechanism at the microscopic or molecular lever, but it seems to be generally related to dehydration. In surface finds, even from beaches, fractures don't travel as far or as easily as in reasonably-fresh-dug stone from well underground. Some folks have kept fresh-dug rock in water until they can get to working it. Heat-treating is a completely separate mechanism to improve workability, and seems to be related to fine-scale recrystallization and maybe stress-relief.

Regards,
Joel

 

[robinson]

That was a cool video,i enjoyed that! But those poor working conditions, no safety glasses,no gloves on, hearing protection!