mike alexandre
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Any further news on this please Coot.
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Tom Fuller flints
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Keystone94
Pilgrim
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"Thanks Pete, but that would mean flints being exported from the UK to the US to then be sold back to us and shipped over from the US."
That reminds me of a trade relationship back in 1770's... :hatsoff:
That reminds me of a trade relationship back in 1770's... :hatsoff:
mike alexandre
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Yep. I guess you could say we've helped you become the nation you are :hatsoff:
Regarding some information on knapping one's own gunflints. I am new to this forum but want to pass along some details of making gun flints that I learned from flint knappers at a big knap-in gathering they have here in Ohio. Those folks are artists primarily interested in exquisite spear points. But one of them told me the correct starting point for making the thin blades that could be carefully broken into individual gun flints. He said it's best to start with something called a "prismatic core," egg shaped and with a concave top of the core, sort of dished in. This gives the longest blades with the easiest way to control their width. Then you find some way to notch the edges of the blade at intervals and break them off into square flints. At least that's the theory anyway.
Robert Egler
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From my experience (such as it is), I can say that after you get the "core" right the rest isn't too hard, but I still have a hell of a time getting the core the right shape to start with! :cursing:
I located some very fine grained rhyolite that formed in hexagonal columns. (Not all rhyolite is either fine grained or forms in columns.) It looks a good bit like black flint with a few little white specks in it, and it has conchoidal fracture like flint, but this particular supply has the advantage that the columns tend to break off more or less flat on top, which really helps get the thin blades needed to make some "flints". Rhyolite (igneous rock) was used by some Native Americans in locations where flint and chert (sedimentary rocks, more or less) were rare, it really acts very much like flint. Makes good gunflints, (after I went through maybe 30 pounds of it to get the hang of making the gunflints. :redface: )
Also works really well for flint and steel, but a lot of stuff will do that.
I located some very fine grained rhyolite that formed in hexagonal columns. (Not all rhyolite is either fine grained or forms in columns.) It looks a good bit like black flint with a few little white specks in it, and it has conchoidal fracture like flint, but this particular supply has the advantage that the columns tend to break off more or less flat on top, which really helps get the thin blades needed to make some "flints". Rhyolite (igneous rock) was used by some Native Americans in locations where flint and chert (sedimentary rocks, more or less) were rare, it really acts very much like flint. Makes good gunflints, (after I went through maybe 30 pounds of it to get the hang of making the gunflints. :redface: )
Also works really well for flint and steel, but a lot of stuff will do that.
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