That Look Of Flint

Personal view points wanted...

What do you like the looks of better, the rugged knapped look of flint or the smooth sawed look of agate?


I like the looks of knapped flint...

This question has nothing to do with which one works better, just which is more pleasing to your eye...

I like the knapped flint... It just looks right in a flintlock like real black powder feels right in a muzzleloader...

Knapped flint: it just looks more natural.

Capt. William

knapped. (and it's the right color too :

The knapped flint. The others just look so Artificial. ::

Gotta be knapped for me too. That agate stuff looks awful :no:

No contest...knapped flints are the real deal...they look better and perform better

I really like then looks of the spauls I make myself they are even "cruder" than the English knapped method flints, and the satisfaction of having dood it myself adds to the appeal,finding suitable sized stock to work with is a problem on the left coast thought.

Well that jus' 'pends on what flinter you is a putin' 'em in. If ya gotts one of them thar hi dollar flinters(Like ya sees in them museums.), I like the agate. But if'n you gotts a good ole plain flinter, I likes the knapped ones. ::

I like the knapped flint look but have only used the cut flints - that is about to change however :winking:

Well, of course, nothing looks as good as a black English knapped flint but we have some rock here that is white (some kind of chert, I think) that works very well. We have mountains of it, it's harder to knap than some but can be done.

A number of years ago I saw some of these shaped agate things for sale real cheap. (They might have been ceramic, I don't really recall.) I think they were marketed by CVA or TC or one of the other better known suppliers of BP shooting supplies. Being the cheap type, I bought some.

Worst pieces of scat I ever saw. They dulled rapidly and wouldn't knap. I think I still have some but they won't ever get used unless I run out of real flints and can't find something better.

Real Flint works well and the thought of the day is "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

Hands down, it's got to be agate!
Well that's not true, I like black knapped flint, but I wanted to be controversial! :haha: :bull:

Flint, often imitated but never duplicated :haha:

Real Flint (When ya wanna put a little Spark in yer relationship) With yer gun that is. :: :haha:

I think you are referring to Dura Flints. They are made out of a space age material like space shuttle tiles. We know what happens to them. The Dura Flints sparked well in my Cochran lock for about 20 shots. You don't knapp them, they are supposedly sharpened with a diamond file. It is not worth the trouble. Stay with good Tom Fuller English flints.

Joel Lehman

Joel.....I shoot on a ranch which is about 3 miles south of Lampasas on 183......you do any CW muzzleloading?.......we also have a Skirmish team.....john......

Tom Fuller black english flints all the way!!! But I would like to lay my hands on some french amber flints to give a try.

My vote goes for the English flint, too. As a sidebar, has anyone ever tried Jasper and what do you think of it? If you haven't seen it, it has the same color as caramel, though not the same consistency. ::
I use it in a commercial flintlock (Blueridge Rifle from a major outdoors company) and man does that stuff throw sparks!

Jasper may be what we have here. I was on the Mt. this morning and picked up a bagfull of it. I said it was white in my other post but some of it is caramel colored and some has red in it. I've used it in my firestarting kit and it works well there. I'll try knapping some flints out of it.