Extending flint life

M. De Land, could you re-post you video please?

I've never bothered with knapping flints after they dull up. I normally get around 25- 30 strikes on a flint before it gets too dull to produce sufficient sparks. It then gets tossed. Not worth it to try to sharpen IMO. 30 shots on a $2.00 flint is aroumd .06 c a shot. Even if I knapped it what am I gonna get maybe 10 more shots out of it before its dull again? Not worth worrying about

Thank you ALL for a gret Thread.

Rick

Very informative and a great thread. I have knapped flint with antlers, nails, copper and brass. All work as they grab the stone so pressure will flake it. Flint is more like glass and I have made arrow heads from Coke bottle bottoms. Ohio flint was prized by Indians and they came clear across the country to dig it and make tools for a long time. Flint on top of the ground was subject to water and freezing so it did not work. The cut stones are very poor and can't be flaked. I don't like percussion with a small hammer like the guys at shoots did. Percussion is only to cut a spall from a nodule.
The angle the flint cuts steel means a lot too. You don't want to bash the frizzen straight on. A well tuned lock will send red hot steel into the pan before it is full open.
Now a question I can't answer. How does a cigarette lighter last forever and not wear the wheel. The Zippo from WWII still lights. What do they add to the flints to spark? Do they add magnesium to the powder before compressing the little sticks? It is sure not plain flint.

45man said:

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Now a question I can't answer. How does a cigarette lighter last forever and not wear the wheel. The Zippo from WWII still lights. What do they add to the flints to spark? Do they add magnesium to the powder before compressing the little sticks? It is sure not plain flint.

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Ferrocerium

That is what the "flint" is in cigarette lighters.
It is softer than steel wheel so it is the thing that gets removed by the wheel and when it does, it creates the sparks.

People have modified their flintlocks to use this stuff but usually it ends up being a large PITA.

Because it is not traditional, many clubs and organizations won't let a shooter using it in their flintlocks compete in shooting matches.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrocerium

At a recent BP rifle match my flint was getting worn and a competitor noticed my rifle wasn't sparking like it should.
He asked permission to diagnose it and noticed the flint needed knapping. He asked to borrow my bandana (standard issue for a Texan), covered the pan w/ it, (the rifle was loaded on sand bags on the bench) and took the back side of his pocket knife and chipped away the dull edge. I'd never seen a flint knapped, it wasn't as hard as i thought It'd be.
The flint made a good shower of sparks about 15 times.
He said NEVER knapp a flint on a loaded gun without covering the pan, even without a prime.

On the first relay A competitor down the line had an AD when he didn't cover the pan well. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Just a reminder to cover your pan well before knapping a loaded gun.

Eterry said:

At a recent BP rifle match my flint was getting worn and a competitor noticed my rifle wasn't sparking like it should.
He asked permission to diagnose it and noticed the flint needed knapping. He asked to borrow my bandana (standard issue for a Texan), covered the pan w/ it, (the rifle was loaded on sand bags on the bench) and took the back side of his pocket knife and chipped away the dull edge. I'd never seen a flint knapped, it wasn't as hard as i thought It'd be.
The flint made a good shower of sparks about 15 times.
He said NEVER knapp a flint on a loaded gun without covering the pan, even without a prime.

On the first relay A competitor down the line had an AD when he didn't cover the pan well. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Just a reminder to cover your pan well before knapping a loaded gun.

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Or you could Knapp with something that doesn’t spark like brass.

Like Mr Puckle, I have a square tin for the righteous new flints, and a round tin for the heathen scored ones.

Then when the tin is full, I sit down, and square them up, and back into the other tin they go.

SDSmlf said:

Here is a photo I have posted before of nails I have made into knapping tools. View attachment 9969

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I did the same thing to a brass rod, less chance of a spark, a wood handle lets me keep a secure grip.

When shooting competition I will keep an eye on my flints and when I feel I'm not getting a good shower of sparks, I just tap the top front of the flint, with a downward motion with my small brass hammer I keep on a string tied to my shooting bag strap. It chips away a few fine pieces of the striking edge and I'm ready to go. Every time I prepare for a hunting trip, I check flint and sharpen or replace.
I do a lot of flint knapping for my primitive archery arrows and this has really helped understand the angles which I need to use when touching up a flint in my lock. Many years back I ran onto a deal from a trader that was moving a lot of his goods to get out of the business. I purchased a bag of 1000 English Black flints for locks. They were mixed 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" and a few 1". I'm still using them. Some fit my fowler, some for the Hawken Large locks and the smaller ones fit my Bedford and pistol locks.

McClura said:

When shooting competition I will keep an eye on my flints and when I feel I'm not getting a good shower of sparks, I just tap the top front of the flint, with a downward motion with my small brass hammer I keep on a string tied to my shooting bag strap. It chips away a few fine pieces of the striking edge and I'm ready to go. Every time I prepare for a hunting trip, I check flint and sharpen or replace.
I do a lot of flint knapping for my primitive archery arrows and this has really helped understand the angles which I need to use when touching up a flint in my lock. Many years back I ran onto a deal from a trader that was moving a lot of his goods to get out of the business. I purchased a bag of 1000 English Black flints for locks. They were mixed 1/2", 5/8", 3/4" and a few 1". I'm still using them. Some fit my fowler, some for the Hawken Large locks and the smaller ones fit my Bedford and pistol locks.

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I too have a small brass hammer I made out of the brass stem of a 6 inch natural gas valve, cutting off a piece about an inch and a quarter long, and it'sA bout three quarters of an inch in diameter already, so I drilled a hole in the middle, took an old screwdriver, chopped off the bit and drove it in. Seems to be about the right weight for sharpening flints by striking from the slanted side to the flat side, even When they're in the hammer. I don't tap Very hard. While out-shooting yesterday, nothing seemed to help, every other shot was a flash in the pan. Very aggravating.Tried several times to sharpen the Flint, even putting in a new one. Brought it home ,cleaned it up, Put on a different case hardened frizzen, (One I did myself with kasenite), and just to make it interesting drilled out the insert in the barrel from a 50 wire bit to a 49.Went out a couple of hours ago, same Flint, only shot seven or eight times. Ignition was faster, didn't seem to be a noticeable gap in between the pan and the barrel,And not a single flash in the pan. I didn't realize that the condition of the frizzen would make such a difference on the sparks.
Squint

I don't understand. If you were getting a flash in the pan it seems to me that your flint was sparking fine. Maybe your touch hole was blocked with a chinker and that is why the gun was not firing. did you try poking the touch hole to see if it was clear?

Grimord said:

I don't understand. If you were getting a flash in the pan it seems to me that your flint was sparking fine. Maybe your touch hole was blocked with a chinker and that is why the gun was not firing. did you try poking the touch hole to see if it was clear?

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Good morning Grimord. That was the odd thing, every time I got a flash with no ignition I ran a wire through the touchhole. Sometimes it would then shoot and sometimes it wouldn't. I'm left-handed, but I have a left-handed Flintlock with a flash protector on it. It's hard to tell when you're by yourself, how big this spark is, but it seemed like the powder in the pan just burnt. That was one reason I increased the size of the flash hole, But the difference in bit size between 50 and 49 is pretty minor. I had drilled out this flash hole three times since about 2014.It seem like it had more to do with the fresh frizzen. I know every time you increase the size that you get more side flash, but I do have a shield on it so it doesn't shoot too far. It did seem rather odd, but it was the same Flint that I had used the day before with no changes to it, and yet it fired every time. Thanks for the come back.
Squint

I'm with Grimord on this assessment. If you are getting a flash in the pan, then your flint is getting enough sparks off the frizzen to ignite the powder in the pan. Then if the main charge doesn't go off, you have something (fouling) blocking the path from the pan to the main charge. Run a touch hole pick to open the touch hole and you should get better ignition. If that doesn't improve firing, use a small diameter pipe cleaner to dry the flash channel and breech face. There could be moisture that the fouling is pulling from the air at the breech. I may poke a few grains of the pan powder into the touch hole. While you may get a delay, that often encourages the flash from the pan to get all the way to your powder charge.

I agree, Pan flash means the flint and frizzen worked but the flame could not get to the main charge.

Do you swab between shots and/or have a liner? Usually a 1/16" touch hole is sufficient and yours is larger. Something is blocking the flash.

I've never shot a flinter, but, could you be tilting your rifle some and the powder isn't close enough to the touch hole? I'm reading this thread with interest, because I'd like to get a flintlock sometime soon.

I too am a lefty & my rifles & shotguns are also Lefty's .I never have flint ignition problems.I load with the vent prick in the touch hole, this leaves a clear path to the main charge. Minimum 4f powder in the pan,close the frizzen & tip the rifle back & forth.

Never had a flash in the pan problem. As far as tilting the pan, if you tilt toward the touch hole you get powder in the hole and slow ignition. I tilt away from the touch hole and the flash goes through the hole igniting the charge. Friends who have had flash in the pan problems usually solved it by changing their loading/swabbing routine. If you swab the barrel after a shot before reloading you push fouling into the breach. The flash then has to get past the fouling to get to the new powder charge, result is flash in the pan sometimes. Try shoot, reload and then swab the barrel. Another problem is flash hole position and size. Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for your answers, I don't normally swab between loads, unthis loading gets difficult.Sorry about the delay in answering, I've been gone for a couple of days doctoring at my closest specialist, Which is 220 miles. Haven't had a chance to shoot again, and yes I tilt my pan powder away from the touchhole. I do have a liner and that's why I'm not afraid to drill it out, as I do have a spare. In the last many years this problem hasn't really plagued me, only once in a while, for perhaps no fire and then I just change or sharpen flints. Every time it happened This time, I did run a wire through the touchhole. Sometimes it helped, sometimes it didn't.

I use to swab between every shot at the turkey shoots I attend, and that never seem to create a problem with this happening, but I only swab down and up once on each side of my number 13 patch, followed by a dry patch before putting the powder down. It seems to me my rifle shoots Better groups if I don't clean every time. Sometimes I know it's me,That is for the size of the group.
Squint