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types of flints

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frontierman01

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Hello all, where can I purchase flint for a fire starting kit I'm making. also what's the best flint and is there a difference between fire making and knapping flint. Thanks
 
For fire starting I use a pyrites. It has no sharp edge to worry about and I’ve had one lump for at least fifteen years. It also looks pretty neat.
 
I use gun flints that are a little too far gone for reliable ignition. That's sounds weird. How do you get any spark if it won't spark in your gun? The answer is to use one of the sides of the flint, or even the back edge.
 
If there are any muzzleloading dealers locally they will probably have some flint scraps or worn down flints they may even give you. Chipped flint is preferable to sawn ones but for fire starting it may not matter a lot.
 
I get all my striker flints from the ground....
Take a walk....dry creek beds, rock gardens farmers fields, road cutouts, breaker run gravel,

5 years ago on my property you had to dig to find some chert, but this year a flash flood unearthed a treasure trove.....
Clay, sand, limestone and shale are all signs that flint or chert is probably nearby.
 
frontierman01 said:
is there a difference between fire making and knapping flint. Thanks
Not in function, both can be used for striking a fire....a knapping flint is jus better suited for knapping...Any flint with enough size to hang onto and a sharp edge will work for striking a fire.
Remember, to make any flint piece a good striker you are going to have to have a sharp edge.. easily done by knapping it.
 
Rifleman1776 said:
Loyalist Dave said:
Sawed sucks :barf:

LD


Do you really want to start that war again? :wink:

What war?.. Sawed really do suck.. Mostly because they cannot be re-knapped. There is nothing that a sawed flint can do that a knapped cannot...but the vice-versa is not true...

Just sayin... :v
 
Agree guys...just thought a piece could be used for firemaking. Here where I am is called Rocky Hill and they didn't pick that name cause Hairy Hill was taken! Can't kick over a rock without something sparking! :wink: :haha:
 
Where I grew up in south central Nebraska, a person would have to look long and hard to find a rock laying around unless you happened to get real lucky and find an old arrow head or maybe on rare occasions a flinty rock in the gravel put on the county roads.

Now where I live in the Flint Hills of Kansas you can hardly avoid finding flint.
 
When I first started looking for flint/chert locally, I had a heck of a time...It might as well have been gold..
But, once you know what it looks like and where to look it's as easy as finding a driver talking on a cell phone.

Being able to find your own flints is a great reason to learn a little geology and soil types... It's become a hobby of mine, Now when I'm hunting or rambling about, I'm looking for a lot more than just game.....I'm also learning a lot more about the land too...
 
colorado clyde said:
Rifleman1776 said:
Loyalist Dave said:
Sawed sucks :barf:

LD


Do you really want to start that war again? :wink:

What war?.. Sawed really do suck.. Mostly because they cannot be re-knapped. There is nothing that a sawed flint can do that a knapped cannot...but the vice-versa is not true...

Just sayin... :v

I have used German sawed flints for decades. I get very long life and great sparks from them. They can be knapped but that defeats the purpose of the sharp edge. More better to resharpen with a diamond tool. But as long as they last that task very seldom has to be utilized. Downside :(
The website for Gunter Stifters German flints is very confusing, mostly in German and a dialect several German speaking friends of mine cannot fully interpret. Plus, the flints are now very expensive. The few I have left are treasured like they are the Hope diamond.
 
I've had a couple of chunks of black English flint that have worked great for several years, now. I think that I got them from Smiling Fox Forge. Come to think of it, I got a lot of large flints for my "Bess" from them, as well. Good folks to deal with. :thumbsup:
 
Sawn agates are known at least back to the seventeenth century. They never got overly popular outside of Central Europe. In terms of hc I would think English or French flints would be more correct for an American gun. Another option is a common American chert, unless you have a jaguar rifle or a similar Central European arm.
My experience with them is positive, I don’t use them because they don’t look right.
 
tenngun said:
Sawn agates are known at least back to the seventeenth century. They never got overly popular outside of Central Europe. In terms of hc I would think English or French flints would be more correct for an American gun. Another option is a common American chert, unless you have a jaguar rifle or a similar Central European arm.
My experience with them is positive, I don’t use them because they don’t look right.

Black English knapped seem to be the standard and they are fine. I have used many.
The sawn flints were often found on presentation and cased firearms here and in Europe. Some, from pretty rocks were polished and gave the rifle a rather elegant appearance. I have tried some American made sawn that were just time wasters. Even Arkansas made novaculites are pitiful, plus they are sinfully expensive (about $5.00 each). :shocked2:
 
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