What type of flint is this?

[stank]

Can anyone tell me what type of material this is ? It it very light (white) colored and looks kind of open grained and a bit chalky. It does not look like or have the texture of a French or English flint.
novaculite? White Chert?
thanks
Stank

 

[nhmoose]

That is a sawn flint like TC and others sell. May be sawed from Arkansas stone, that makes great sharpening stones and sad flints for flintlocks.

I use the real flints made from flint and hand knapped. Found the sawn did not work very long

 

[springfield art]

That is a sawn flint like TC and others sell. May be sawed from Arkansas stone

I use the real flints made from flint and hand knapped. Found the sawn did not work very long

Yeah, he's right, just use the "real" ones! They even look better!

 

[Erwan]

Arkansas stone is a real good stone for tools sharpening...

 

[Mulebrain]

Sometimes it depends on the lock, as to whether this type sparks well.

I would only use this type in a pinch, and of course tested it. I call it a manufactured flint

 

[excess650]

it appears sawn and grainy, so guessing novaculite

 

[PathfinderNC]

Cut Agate. Useless, really.

 

[stank]

Cut Agate. Useless, really.

Not agate

 

[Robby]

Thunderchert?
Robby

 

[Sidney Smith]

I hate those sawn agate type flints. They suck. They look as if they'll work great, plus they have two sides, but once they get dull they can't be sharpened and are worthless. And they don't spark that well in the first place. I stopped using them decades ago.

 

[stank]

I hate those sawn agate type flints. They suck. They look as if they'll work great, plus they have two sides, but once they get dull they can't be sharpened and are worthless. And they don't spark that well in the first place. I stopped using them decades ago.

It’s not agate

 

[PathfinderNC]

A friend has a Thompson Center flintlock with that kind of cut agate flint. He was amazed at the sparks when I gave him a real gun flint to use.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Thought I posted on this thread already. Cannot tell from pic what kind of stone that is. But, will agree, Arkansas novaculite makes a lousy gunflint. But, many different stones will spark well as a gunflint. For decades I have used German swan flints by Gunter Stifter (now his son). They are made from a variety of stones, including Agate which does spark very well. Downside: Gunter Stifter flints are very expensive and it is almost impossible to wade through his mostly German website.

 

[tenngun]

It’s associated with modren guns, and that’s what TC sold for their flinters, but sawn agate does date back at least to eighteenth century
Only seen them in poor photos and I don’t know how close the shape was to these.

 

[smoothshooter]

Can anyone tell me what type of material this is ? It it very light (white) colored and looks kind of open grained and a bit chalky. It does not look like or have the texture of a French or English flint.
novaculite? White Chert?
thanks
StankView attachment 126243

Could be agate.
Whatever material it is, it will not make a very good flint.
The English knapped flints work much better, and are often cheaper. Decades ago some engineer or marketing guy that knew nothing about flintlocks probably came up with an idea to get around having to buy the good hand-made flints from the Brits and then sold Thompson-Center and other companies on the idea of carrying them.
They are not totally worthless, but they are close.
If you toss any in the trash, or mix them in with the gravel the next time you are pouring concrete ( they should great for that ) you will be doing yourself a favor.

 

[William Sublette]

Anyone ever tried sawing good flint?


I'm a lot better with tile saw than knapping tools.

 

[david w]

Anyone ever tried sawing good flint?


I'm a lot better with tile saw than knapping tools.

I guess it could be done with chert, or buying a module of English flint, but the geometry would have to be similar to a knapped flint to be successful.

 

[tenngun]

Don’t throw them out till gey’re dull

 

[DuncNZ]

I have sharpened a dull Jasper flint on a grind stone , it worked but was not worth the effort and ground down fingers .

 

[oldwood]

The stone material looks like Arkansas chert. Never saw it lapidary sawn though. Turner Kirklin Dixie Gun Wks. , used to sell this flint way back. It was cheaper than English ,but easier to find. Not a lot of good flint locks around , back then , at any price , until Bud Siler's locks came on the mkt.