Where to get the best flint

[tdoyka]

ouch!!! i'm glad i still have 4 or 5 of them.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I went on a flint knapping kick a few years ago and hauled all kinds of chirt home to try. I am a poor knapper but could make a gun flint but not out of a blade off a nice spaul because my stock wouldn't spaul off. I ended up using random pieces I found in a creek and broken arrow heads.

Of what I found and tested on a flint striker only about 10% would throw a proper shower of sparks. I did find a piece of grey blue chirt in the creek below my house that sparked like nothing else I have ever seen, almost dangerous to use in a dry forest but it was impossible to make a good gun flint out of.

Most often when I found a piece that sparked well the chunk was so full of inclusions and cracks there was no way to make a nice gunflint out of it.

I finally gave up on my project and started buying flints again. I tried the white ones from Texas hoping to replicate Rich's flints but they fell flat, Tom Fuller flints from Track fill the bill nicely and spark like crazy.

 

[PaulN/KS]

Verily, ”˜tis true that few stones in some parts of the New Worlde have the desired fineness of Dover flinte, yet in the Ohio countrey and further to the West, near the union of the Greate Waters, a coarse white stone of greate and resolute nature sparkes furiously when striking hardened steele.

Yep, what he said.. :thumbsup:
:hatsoff:

 

[MattinIdaho]

Has anyone tried the French amber, French black or English black flints from heritage products?

 

[excess650]

I've been using their French Amber and like them better than the black English from TOTW.

 

[Scota4570]

I know of only one place in Central California to get workable chert. Unfortunately the access is very limited. When I can get in I do grab some.

 

[rich pierce]

I will repeat myself in saying there is no “best” flint. There can be poor quality English, French, or American chert flints.

Are Chevvies better than Fords, always? I dunno. Pinto or Vega, versus Camaro or Mustang? Imagining that all French flints (for example) are better than all English flints (or vice versa) is like imagining a Chevy Vega was better than that year’s Mustang, or an Escort was better than that year’s Corvette.

From the same hole in the ground some raw rock is better than others.

A flint that works great in a fine English lock might last 3 shots in a Harpers Ferry rifle.

 

[smoothshooter]

I can do it. 😊
And do.

 

[jbwilliams3]

Perhaps he holds acquaintance with a bunch of dummies in the “flint crowd” who say that sort of thing. I’ve only heard guys say this sort of thing theoretically. As in in the scenario where one must choose percussion vs flint in a survival situation, a flint would theoretically be a better option because of the scarcity of percussion caps. Some of our ancestors thought the same thing when the percussion system began to take root in the market. David Crockett himself supposedly traded away a fine percussion gun on his way to Texas for this very reason.

That said, I found a nice chert supply on a friend’s property and I used small pieces on a little bitty lock on my son’s rifle. I’m not much of a knapper, but most anyone can make a useable sparker with a little practice. I much prefer Rich Pierce and Tom Fuller flints though. So glad I have a supply of Rich’s handy.

 

[tenngun]

While we all know real men shoot flint, but .... it does look like the old boys grabbed cap guns as soon as they came out. Ol’ Davy may have grabbed him flit gun for his trip to Texas, but five years before Jed Smith had him a new fangled pre-cussin gun.
Meek had a capper in the mountains. The having a gun you could pick up rocks off the ground and still shoot is more a modren reinactor attitude then ideas I think many had back in the old days IMHO
( of corse that means that those old timers weren’t as manly as this fat ol grey beard who shoots them real guns).

 

[coloradoclyde]

I think every ship that came from England brought barrels of gun flints.

This is for your entertainment.
https://youtu.be/7XPEoiY3NnI

 

[ron wehmeyer]

I liked that video , that fellow sure made flaking look easy . When I do that the whole thing usually breaks in half . Bet he could split a hair with that hammer . RW

 

[excess650]

If that were the case, Melchior Fordney wouldn't have been building FLs until his death in 1846, and one of his apprentices, Henry Lehman, wouldn't have been making them into the 1860s. I've seen enough original FLs with single lock bolt that bear witness of FLs being made well into the percussion period.

Rimfires appeared in the 1850s and central fire in the 1860s, but percussion guns were made well into the repeater era. Schuetzen rifles remained percussion MLers until George Schalk was convinced to build the first breech MLer on a Ballard, and false muzzled schuetzen rifles ruled the roost until breech seating was perfected. I'm comfortable in knowing that those old boys were skeptical, and didn't feel pressured for "the latest and greatest".

Back on topic, I've used black English, French Amber, and even some of those Texas cherts. They all work, but I've come to prefer the French amber.

 

[Rifleman1776]

but percussion guns were made well into the repeater era.

I've heard rumors some flintlocks are still even being built currently. :shocked2: :rotf:

Actually, I've always been curious and somewhat skeptical about the seemingly rapid transition from flints to percussion among frontiersmen, trappers, etc. beginning about 1820. Flints work. Shot to shot under ideal conditions perc. might have the edge. But after a dunking in a cold stream or getting caught in the rain, methinks it would be possible a supply of caps could be destroyed and an entire venture put at risk with no way to shoot ones rifle. Flint, on the other hand, can still spark despite a soaking. Just like heavy barrels and tiny sights, this is an historical puzzlement to me.

 

[stubshaft]

There is NO place in Hawaii that has Chert, Agate or Flint. Last I checked lava doesn't spark well.

 

[54ball]

There is NO place in Hawaii that has Chert, Agate or Flint. Last I checked lava doesn't spark well.

That all depends on how " fresh" it is.

 

[azmntman]

:rotf:

 

[coloradoclyde]

There is NO place in Hawaii that has Chert, Agate or Flint. Last I checked lava doesn't spark well.

That all depends on how " fresh" it is.

Or how quickly it is cooled.

Obsidian will spark (though I haven't tried it in a flintlock) and can be found on Pu'u Wa'awa'a, a cone on the north flank of Hualalai Volcano.

:grin:

 

[trent/OH]

I can....Can you?

I can fer sure, I just dont know which flint I find is flint and which is unflint :youcrazy:

But I can learn. :idunno: [/quote]

I'm a man. But I can change. If I have to. I guess.
Possum Lodge prayer

 

[trent/OH]

I think every ship that came from England brought barrels of gun flints.

Many years ago I was a National Park Service ranger at Fort Washington Park, Maryland, on the Potomac River a few miles above Mount Vernon. At very low tides it was possible to see the remains of a small shipwreck along the shore. All that remains is the ballast of a few tons of flint.

By the way, the largest muzzleloaders you'll likely ever have a chance to see are a couple miles upstream of Ft. Washington, at Fort Foote: two 15 inch Rodman guns!