What kind of flint?

[bradmartin]

What flint do you all use for your flinters? What maker, what size, do you shape it?

 

[biliff]

7/8" black English flints for a large Siler lock. Generally I don't touch 'em except to resharpen the edge when needed. Then again, I'm lucky as I can handpick 'em out of the drawer at the gun store before I buy.

 

[tnlonghunter]

I use the Tom Fuller flints that TOW sells. Generally I use a 3/4 X 3/4 as my Siler is a bit older and the smaller ones fit better. I have some 7/8 X 3/4 that I have to knap the back edge off to make it fit. Otherwise I only knap it to keep it sharp.

 

[pathfinderifh]

I like the french amber flints. Seems to be a bit softer and easier on the frizzen. Plus they look good against the golden browncof my stocks! :blah:

Pathfinder

 

[biliff]

I like the french amber flints. Seems to be a bit softer and easier on the frizzen. Plus they look good against the golden browncof my stocks! :blah:

Pathfinder

Yeah, but they make your butt look big!! :rotf: :rotf:

 

[roundball]

What flint do you all use for your flinters?
What maker, what size, do you shape it?

Tom Fuller black English flints have always been the best for me in my locks...tried agate, tried TC's sawed flints, tried french amber flints, but the BEF's are the hardest, sharpest, and have the longest flint life of any of them for me...I've found the best prices to be at October Country, buying bulk bags of 50 or 100.

Flints are usually listed / ordered by size which is the width of your frizzen...ie: TC frizzens are 3/4" wide, so I get 3/4" BEFs.

NOTE: There are 3/4" x 7/8"...and 3/4" by 3/4".

My TC locks work best with the 3/4" (wide) by 7/8" (long) for longest flint life...3/4" x 3/4" don't last as long for me as they are shorter to begin with, but probably work fine in small locks like on a pistol.

My BEF's usually last an entire 40 shot range session, either without knapping at all, or with only a tap or two...then clean them off and toss them in a jar when I'm done.

I've also found that after every 6-8 shots when cleaning off the pan/frizzen/flint with alcohol, if I also flipped the flint over in the jaws it would seem keep knapping itself...flip it back during the next cleaning, and so on.

 

[mikelange]

Living six miles from Friendship, I treat the twice-a-year Shoots like rendezvous. My first stop is the Log Cabin Shop booth, where I buy between a dozen and twenty black English flints of each size that my various rocklocks require. I have a Dixie Ketland lock on a .68 caliber musket that likes 7/8"; my .50 and most of the flinters I've built for friends use large Siler parts on plates of my own devising, and seem to prefer the 3/4" flints. I generally pick up a number of 5/8" rocks and extra 3/4" ones, as well, since the odds are that in the course of the ensuing year I'll build something that needs them, or toss a few to someone who's run out or not happy with what he's using.

 

[CG6018]

I agree on the French amber flints, Pathfinder. They seem to have a longer life than the black Fuller flints. It is the only thing "French" I buy, and buy these flints with great reluctance. :thumbsup:

 

[AZ-Robert]

I have at least 60 shots on the Fuller black English flint now in the Davis lock on my .40. The edge is looking a little ragged, so it might be about due for some attention, but it is still going strong.

I don't do any shaping of them... just put them in the lock straight out of the bag. I still haven't figured out how to dress up the edge when one gets worn down... still on my list of things to learn. Might have to notch a nail and give that a try as the guys on the forum have suggested.

I use a 5/8" flint in the smallish Davis lock on the .40. I have the same thing in the large Siler on the .54 too, but will get some 7/8" sized when next I order. The advice I've heard is to measure the width of the frizzen to get the size of your flint.

 

[Stony]

I use the Tom Fuller Black English flints. I use deerskin as a holder and have made a real nice knapping tool for my rifle. Find some K&S brass strips 1" wide by .064 thick. Then file down a "lip" on the strip about half (.032) thick. When your flint needs knapping, just place the strip over the edge and use your short starter or flint knappiing hammer and give the strip a good whack. I've found that it touches up the edge nicely and really helps the flint spark. If you can maintain the same angle on the bevel it helps but seems to work just fine no matter what angle I use. I have gotten over 100 "shots" with a flint using this little tool to knap up the flint. I've tried the french amber ones but they don't do as well as the english black.

 

[pathfinderifh]

I agree Patriot, My Brother-in-law had to fly an extra 17 hrs in his A-6 to bomb Kaddafy because of them. Like fries, I call em Yeller, leave out the F word whenever possable.
Pathfinder