Simple question from a simple person

[Little Rabbit]

I've just entered the flintlock world and have a foolish question -- how do you know how far in the jaws to place your flint for maximum results and life? Is there an "ideal" place on the frizzen for it to first make contact? Maintain contact?
Thanks for indulging me!

 

[JohnnyO]

I adjust the depth based on the angle the flint contacts the frizzen. I believe it is a 60 degree angle that throws the best sparks and will not overly gouge your frizzen or wear out your flint too fast.

 

[Many Klatch]

I set the flint so that it almost touches the frizzen when the lock is at half cock. Now whether it is bevel up or bevel down I can't tell you which to use you will have to experiment and see what the gun likes.

Many Klatch

 

[MikeChapin]

It depends on the lock. On most of my locks I do what Many Klatch does. I have two that have geometry that if I do that the flint will hit the pan. I just set those where flint will not hit the pan. As far as the orientation of the flint, most like bevel down but I have a Cochran that wants the flint in bevel up for the best sparks.

 

[Vaino]

On the old Silers {both large and small} the flint just touches or is a slight distance from the frizzen at half cock. Because the half cock position is further back on the " new" Silers and a few others, the flint is positioned as far out as it will go and still be clamped securely.If the flint isn't out far enough on the old Silers, the frizzen might not toggle over whereas this isn't a problem on the "new" Silers and other Chambers locks because of the further back half cock position....Fred

 

[Mike Brooks]

Where's Paul V when you need him? he could write pages on how to place your flint, right up his alley. :grin:

 

[jbtusa]

Also be careful that the flint doesn't cut into the side of the barrel when the hammer falls to the full down position.

 

[Rancocas]

I set the flint so that it almost touches the frizzen when the lock is at half cock. Now whether it is bevel up or bevel down I can't tell you which to use you will have to experiment and see what the gun likes.

Many Klatch

ditto.
And, as jbtusa said, make sure the flint does not strike the side of the barrel. Flints should be approximately the same width as the frizzen. So, depending on the lock, they could be small, medium, or large.

(edited to remove a duplicate word.)

 

[paulvallandigham]

It all depends on the lock you have. Lock Geometry is a mystical thing to so many manufacturers, that there just can't be a hard and fast rule to follow. I think you begin to see that with the other comments here already.

The voodoo of flintlocks is all aimed at the END result- that is, Getting enough sparks into the flash pan to ignite the priming powder. Everything we do to " Tune " a lock, is intended to put more sparks there, FASTER!

I give the basics in the Article I wrote back in 2004 that is republished here on the forum. You will find it under " MEMBER RESOURCES", where you can scroll down to " Articles, Charts, and Links". Click on Articles and it will give you a table of contents of the articles posted there already.

There are several competent locksmiths on this forum- Birddog6, and Mike Brooks being two of them, but not the only ones. I have helped members with troublesome flintlocks, also.

After reading my article, if you have further specific questions about your lock, feel free to send me a PT. I will try to help.

 

[Mike Brooks]

Aw c'mon Paul. that was such a meager effort on your part! :haha: Oh well, get another cup O' Joe and you'll be your old self again.
I'd recommend Roy Stroh as a lock man, he's better at it than I am. :v

 

[Little Rabbit]

Thank you all for such detailed (and fast) replies!

 

[roundball]

For me, tom fuller black english flints work best with the bevel up in medium size T/C locks, and so far the same thing applies to a larger Chambers deluxe siler I recently began shooting.

In both those types of locks with Fuller flints, I set them at half cock with the flint's edge all but touching the face of the frizzen...with my ultimate objective being to ensure the flint's edge first contact's the frizzen face on a very slightly downward shaving angle. I'm not a purist but try to do most of the little things like Daniel and the other settlers did...just eyeball it.

As the flint wears shorter, assuming you're using traditional leather Flint wraps like the settlers did, its very easy to simply flip the flint from bevel up to bevel down to regain some leverage and/or reposition the flint a bit further forward until, as somebody already mentioned, it gets so short that the frizzen won't fully toggle over any more...

Welcome to the great world of Flintlocks...
:thumbsup:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Where's Paul V when you need him? he could write pages on how to place your flint, right up his alley. :grin:

Mike, I would think that placing a flint right up Paul's "alley" would be a painful experience for him. :shocked2:

 

[renovato]

When I first got into flintlocks, I kinda stumbled onto a setup that worked well for me. The only flints I could get were a bit too long. They almost touched the frizzen at halfcock, but they were all I had. I placed them bevel down, figuring that the higher the cutting edge, the longer sparking stroke. Worked great and my first time shooting flint was without problems and very enjoyable. I hope you have as much fun!

I came to find out later that almost touching the frizzen is the way it's supposed to be, and I've used those overly long flints ever since.

Bevel up or down though, yeow, I won't even go there! :rotf:

 

[Robert Scheffler]

That really tickled my funnybone, Mike.

 

[Vaino]

The original poster posed a logical question and in this case, your responses aren't relevant and display personal feelings that don't contribute at all to this discussion. I respect your gunmaking skills but think your derisive, personal opinions are better displayed on other suitable forums. Way too times, technical discussions are diluted w/ off base, irrelevant posts that waste many readers' times. Please stick to the subject at hand and refrain from petty spats.....Fred

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

My Mentor in flintlock shooting 35 years ago always said he liked placing the flint in the jaws
so the tip of the flint would be close to the touchhole on the bottom of the throw, this to cover more of the frizzen face. This amounts to bevel up. It has served me well for many years. That being said, I have many friends I have been shooting with for many years, that use the bevel down method. So it is best to try both methods and see which one grows on you!

 

[tsmgguy]

I've always thought that a good starting point would have the flint about 1/8" from the closed frizzen with the hammer at half cock. You can decide whether to mount the flint bevel up or down by keeping in mind that you want the flint to strike the frizzen about 3/4 of the way up the face. You can adjust as necessary from there.

 

[kherring]

I position it kinda like you, measured in boutrights. If the flint almost but not touches the frizzen it's boutright. I want the flint to strike the upper third of the frizzen, and finish the swing pointing at the center of the pan. I tweak it from there to get the best spark. If the flint strikes too low on the frizzen it will dig into it causing gouges and wont snap it open. Experimenting just means you get to shoot more.

 

[roundball]

"...If the flint strikes too low on the frizzen it will dig into it causing gouges..."

Interesting, my experience was just the opposite.

For me, if it hit "too high and square" straight into the frizzen face it would start cutting a groove because it was not hitting low enough to be at a glancing / shaving angle...that's why I had to use bevel up to get the edge down some.

And, if a flint hits too high with too much of a square impact into the frizzen face it also caused shorter flint life for me.

I do agree that the lower one hits the harder it is to tip open the frizzen...lost leverage, etc.