It seems like most here suggest the English flints as being the best. When I bought my Traditions flintlock I got a pack of T/C agate flints, which seem to work really well once I started using Swiss 4Fg in the pan.
I recently ordered English, French, and American flints from "Track Of The Wolf" to experiment with. So far I haven't fired with them, just installed and tried them in my dark garage. In order of most visible sparks was English followed by French and then American, but the they were all beaten by the T/C agate.
This surprised me, as I was expecting the English to look like Fourth of July fireworks. All of them had good edges and were seated square and hitting two thirds up the frizzen, and none created any gouging or chipped when struck. The American, which they call Arkansas stone (chert?) was really a weak sparker, and I sure won't be using it.
I like the agate due to the cut, uniform shape, and it seems to hold up well in my limited experience, although it does cost at least twice as much as the others. I know there was a recent thread talking about looking at sparks in the dark not being a reliable method, but that's all I've done so far.
I will say that using the agates with the Swiss in the pan seems to make for a fast lock time, which seems to be as good as my percussion. I was trying to search for this topic in past discussions but wasn't having any luck; maybe I wasn't doing it right.
Anyway, just wondered if anyone had an opinion they wouldn't mind commenting on. Thanks.
I recently ordered English, French, and American flints from "Track Of The Wolf" to experiment with. So far I haven't fired with them, just installed and tried them in my dark garage. In order of most visible sparks was English followed by French and then American, but the they were all beaten by the T/C agate.
This surprised me, as I was expecting the English to look like Fourth of July fireworks. All of them had good edges and were seated square and hitting two thirds up the frizzen, and none created any gouging or chipped when struck. The American, which they call Arkansas stone (chert?) was really a weak sparker, and I sure won't be using it.
I like the agate due to the cut, uniform shape, and it seems to hold up well in my limited experience, although it does cost at least twice as much as the others. I know there was a recent thread talking about looking at sparks in the dark not being a reliable method, but that's all I've done so far.
I will say that using the agates with the Swiss in the pan seems to make for a fast lock time, which seems to be as good as my percussion. I was trying to search for this topic in past discussions but wasn't having any luck; maybe I wasn't doing it right.
Anyway, just wondered if anyone had an opinion they wouldn't mind commenting on. Thanks.