Flint Substitute?

There is real flint to be had along the east coast in ballast piles in NY Va..... and any port in the new world, loaded as ballast in england/france then thrown over board when taking on cargo in the new world ,BUT these may be protected

Since a frizzen sparks by shaving the metal, in theory, anything harder than the frizzen should be able to make it spark. I'm not sure what the Mohs hardness number (this Moh is not one of the 3 Stooges) is for hardened steel, but it's probably close to 7.5. Quartz has a hardness of 8, Corrundum a hardness of 9, and diamonds are at 10. There may be some other man made materials that work too, like titanium for instance.

There was a vouge some years ago that I think came from German Flint shooters for Agate ground to the shape of flints.We tried them in UK but found the edge dulled very quickly on our locks. Don't know if the are still made. I haven't seen one for years. OLD DOG..

Col Batguano,
Were you suggesting titanium as a substitute for flint? or for the hammer?
A titanium "flint" would give the stitch police the colly wobbles, but it'd be a great conversation starter (as you ran).

What is the hardness of files? I always wondered if a piece of file would work, just haven’t worn a small file out yet.

GREENSWLDE said:

There was a vouge some years ago that I think came from German Flint shooters for Agate ground to the shape of flints.We tried them in UK but found the edge dulled very quickly on our locks. Don't know if the are still made. I haven't seen one for years. OLD DOG..

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I think these a cut Agate , A co worker who knew I shot flint guns gave them too me several years ago.... I never tried them.

Tom Compton said:

What is the hardness of files? I always wondered if a piece of file would work, just haven’t worn a small file out yet.

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On the Rockwell scale, a file is about Rockwell C 65-68.
That's about the same hardness as a frizzen which explains why trying to file a frizzen only succeeds in making a polished mark. It doesn't actually cut into the frizzen. It just skates across the surface.

Because of this, using a piece of a file in place of a flint or other very hard material to act like a flint does, won't work.

Zonie said:

On the Rockwell scale, a file is about Rockwell C 65-68.
That's about the same hardness as a frizzen which explains why trying to file a frizzen only succeeds in making a polished mark. It doesn't actually cut into the frizzen. It just skates across the surface.

Because of this, using a piece of a file in place of a flint or other very hard material to act like a flint does, won't work.

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makes sense. Thx

I'd be curious to know what is actually sparking from the frizzen, and the process involved. My suspicion is that it is the steel-to-flint contact that generates the heat, shaves off a little bit, and then it's the carbon in there that is actually being consumed that makes the glow. Other metals can get every bit as hot, but, because they don't have the carbon content, they don't spark.

Col. Batguano said:

I'd be curious to know what is actually sparking from the frizzen, and the process involved. My suspicion is that it is the steel-to-flint contact that generates the heat, shaves off a little bit, and then it's the carbon in there that is actually being consumed that makes the glow. Other metals can get every bit as hot, but, because they don't have the carbon content, they don't spark.

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You are exactly right.

Any time a piece of steel is cut it generates a tremendous amount of heat. Easily over 1500°F. That temperature will cause the carbon in the steel to join with the oxygen in the air and heat the chip up even higher, often causing the small fragment to literally explode in a "spark".
Without the carbon, the chip or fragment is still hot enough to ignite black powder when it is sheared off but it will quickly cool off to a temperature that is too cool to get the job done.