Pitchypine. YOu are going to get opinions all over the map about which is better to wrap a flint in. In an empty gun, in a dark room, wrap the flint in lead, tighten the cock screw, fire the gun a few times to seat the flint in the lead, then tighten the flint again. Then hold the gun so you can look at the pan from th eside, and fire the gun. Look at the amount of sparks, and the color. Look at what they do when they hit the pan. Look where they hit the pan.
Then take the flint out of the cock, and wrap it in leather. Use whatever somebody tells you is the best. Rawhide, tanned hide, brain tanned, chemical tanned, thick, thin, whatever. seat the flint as you did with the lead lap by firing it the same number of times, and tightening the cockscrew down again. In the dark, fire the gun held out again so you can look at the frizzen and pan again from the side. Check the number of sparks, and color. How long do the sparks last before burning out? Where do they hit the pan?
Then make up your own decision. My personal experience, and that of several of the members here who have tried their own test as I have described indicates that most get better sparks( more of them for each strike, and they are hotter sparks with lead, than with leather. The sparks with the leather wrap are orange in color, usually less than a dozen, and they burn out after bouncing once in the pan. With the lead wrap, the sparks are too many to count- a shower- they are white hot, and they bounce at least twice in the pan before burning out.
The second benefit of using lead is that it does not allow the flint to rebound off the frizzen, causing chatter marks or grooves in the face of the frizzen, that will eat flints, and cause misfires in the future. That rebound is the same as having a shock absorber behind the flint, and allows the flint to first cut into the surface of the flint, but before it can begin to scrape off bits of steel to become sparks, it rebounds, and takes some of those chips with it, clogging the edge. In about five shots, you will begin having misfires, unless you knapp a new edge. Knapping destroys too much of the edge, and shortens flint life dramatically. Flints are expensive.
If your flint strikes the face of the frizzen at between 55 and 60 degrees, measured along the bottom of the flint, and the face of the frizzen, the flint, wrapped in lead, will knapp itself on each firing, and there will be no misfires from clogged edges, and no need to haul out that knapping hammer, or knife, or whatever someone tells you to use. I will send you my old one if you really want it. I don't use it any more, and haven't in more than 20 years. flint life is much longer, and getting 80 to 150 shots per flint is not impossible, depending on how strong your main and frizzen springs are. They can be lightened to increase flint life, too.
You might benefit from reading my article on tuning flintlocks.
[url]
www.chuckhawks.com/flintlocks.htm[/url]
Have fun, and welcome to the world of flintlocks. Trade that substitute powder and buy some Goex Black powder. Only Black Powder will work in Flintlocks. One man here has a large quantity of subs which he is burning up, by using a starter load of black powder in his flint lock. Takes a little longer to load, but you can burn up that stuff if you can't find someone to buy the rest of what you have. BP is much cheaper than the subs are, and less corrosive.
