alternate material for flint in flintock

I've read that obsedian is microscopicly sharper that the metal scalpels used by surgeons.

Regards, Dave

That is true. It is also softer [almost as hard], and much more brittle. The NDNZ took to our metal knives real fast--not quite as sharp, but much more durable and easy to touch up. Bottle glass also has extremely sharp edges. There is an eyewitness report of a visitor to the elderly Daniel Boone in Missouri which tells of seeing Dan'l scraping a powder horn he was making using a piece of glass. Modern glass is tougher than most obsidian [volcanic glass]. The glasses are different--modern glass is mostly fused pure quartz sand [melted and 'quick frozen' so that crystallinity cannot develop]. Volcanic glass [obsidian] is silica and impurities from molten rocks erupted quickly and 'frozen' too fast to develop much if any crystal structure...

 

[4575wcf]

I remember when I was just a tad, my father fitting up a store bought handle to his double bitted axe. He took an empty coke bottle, put it in a paper lunch sack, then dropped the works on the cement patio. Then he just picked through and chose various shapes and sizes of the glass to remove what material he needed to. I still use the method occasionally today when I lack an appropriate scraper for a small specialty cut. Dad probably learned it from his dad, same as me.

 

[Tasbay]

I have used Quartz as a trial in my T/C . It worked but only for about 4-5 shots before it shattered to much to use. It wasn`t good examples of quartz as had many pressure cracks through it. At a push yes I would use it. Unfortunately we don't have Flint here in New Zealand, there is one place that has it on the east coast but its poor quality.

 

[4575wcf]

We seem to be on the short list for flint here in Idaho also. I completed my first build while living in Central Arizona, a .32 flinter, I found that every other likely looking rock chip would spark it. There were literally beds of the stuff several feet wide to pick from, so no knapping skills were necessary. What we do have on a grande scale here is shale rock. Is it a flint type of material?

 

[M. De Land]

We seem to be on the short list for flint here in Idaho also. I completed my first build while living in Central Arizona, a .32 flinter, I found that every other likely looking rock chip would spark it. There were literally beds of the stuff several feet wide to pick from, so no knapping skills were necessary. What we do have on a grande scale here is shale rock. Is it a flint type of material?

I've read that pyrite can be used in flint guns but have never tried it. Anyone know if this is true. I think it was used in wheel locks but don't know how it is formed/shaped for gun flints.