Flints

[bldtrailer]

I sometimes make gun flints from flakes , I get a 4 sided with 4 useable edges So much easier than making blades and blade cores, a long learning curve

 

[M. De Land]

Good information. Heat treat or not probably depends a lot on the particular rock. I know some of the more grainy varieties of chert here are a bee to work and would greatly benefit from some heat, probably start at 350⁰ and keep going up in 25⁰ increments until it starts behaving. My understanding is the heat treat can make the edges more brittle and crumbly sometimes, or it can make them self-sharpen better but accelerate edge wear. Raw, white Novaculite seems to be the perfect balance of all things, staying sharp and keeping a fine angle on the edge as it wears but lasting for an extraordinary amount of strikes with zero attention from the shooter.

I ruined a whole batch I was heat treating at 450 F. It completely fracture all of it that was unworkable before hand I still don't understand what happened as that amount of heat should have annealed or left it unchanged.

 

[IanH]

I ruined a whole batch I was heat treating at 450 F. It completely fracture all of it that was unworkable before hand I still don't understand what happened as that amount of heat should have annealed or left it unchanged.

I don't have a lot of experience with heat treating but just enough to know it's easy to overdo. I was shocked at one batch of grainy but not concretey chert that turned into a dream to flake at only 350.

 

[M. De Land]

I don't have a lot of experience with heat treating but just enough to know it's easy to overdo. I was shocked at one batch of grainy but not concretey chert that turned into a dream to flake at only 350.

Thanks for the input ,I will try lower temp next time !

 

[BackDraft]

This was posted in a FB muzzleloader group. Thought it was interesting. I’m a visual learner, and this helped me understand the techniques you all we’re discussing.

 

[Rifleman1776]

" Heat treat or not probably depends a lot on the particular rock." This heat treating thing has me confused. I have read articles from "experts" who say it is beneficial and others who say it is not. One of the "not" experts suggested that many people believe heat treating was done by native Americans/Indians was because so many chips and bad points were found at old camp fire sights. But, others argue that was the case because several would sit around the fire and socialize while all knapped their flint points and, thus, there would be chips and defective points.

 

[springfield art]

I love H-F! You may need some kind of power tool but can't justify a "pro quality" item for occasional use; A cheap tool may do for hobbyist use.

 

[hanshi]

I don't shoot that much these days so flints last me a good while. I kinda "stocked up" a few years ago and have a fair supply of black English, white chert and the amber French flints. I'm one of those "chew your tobacco twice and then smoke it" cheap frugal ol' timers. I don't even throw away flints that are so worn that they won't stay in the jaws of the cock. I can always find a use for stuff like that.

 

[M. De Land]

" Heat treat or not probably depends a lot on the particular rock." This heat treating thing has me confused. I have read articles from "experts" who say it is beneficial and others who say it is not. One of the "not" experts suggested that many people believe heat treating was done by native Americans/Indians was because so many chips and bad points were found at old camp fire sights. But, others argue that was the case because several would sit around the fire and socialize while all knapped their flint points and, thus, there would be chips and defective points.

 

[M. De Land]

Flint was a batter item in history and was as good as cash to those peoples. It was repurposed until no longer large enough to be of any practical use as a tool or weapon.
They learned probably by accident that heat treating, tough to work chert ,could be made very manageable if done correctly.
It was heat treated in history by making a large hard wood fire. burning down to coals then covering with earth or sand, bark or leaves on that , the layer of chert to be annealed and then the whole schebang buried for several days.
We do it now in an electric oven or even and old crock pot.

 

[smoothshooter]

Seems like flints are out of stock or backordered almost everywhere. Does anyone knap/make their own? There is a ton of chert where I live. Almost every stream bed is full of it. It is a is sedimentary cryptocrystalline rock just like flint. The vast majority of stone age points and tools found on the Ozark Plateau are pressure flaked almost exactly like flint points, and when I was a Boyscout as a kid chert is what we made stone tools from. I'm wondering if chert will spark a frizzen like flint, or if maybe flint is harder since it forms in nodules? I would have no idea where to go looking for flint, but I think I might recognize it if I found some. Or, I might mistake it for chert.

Has anyone else noticed there aren't many flints for sale? I bought some on Ebay, which I'm not overly fond of...

Chert sparks very well.
I use it for gun flints and fire starter kits.

 

[Nav]

Well, after posting this thread I now have bought enough English and French flints, that I paid for and back ordered which have now arrived, and knapped enough chert to probably last me to the end of days. My shooting box has a bag in it now with about 50 good ones, and there is a pile of super hard chert on the corner of my driveway. It's behind a trailer so the wife hasn't even asked me about it yet!

Chert does spark very well. Perhaps too well. Flints seem to be a good bit softer than the creek chert I'm working with. I don't think I would use it on an antique frizzen, because it really tears up the face faster than flint, but the shower of sparks is quite pleasing! I'm finding I have to dress the edge about half as much as with flint. Of course, the store-bought ones look better!

 

[jonathan hawkin]

A while back, on one of the flint threads, there was an email address for a fella in France, maybe near Tours, but for the life of me I cannot find it, does anyone have it at all?, thanks

 

[buckleymarka56]

Seems like flints are out of stock or backordered almost everywhere. Does anyone knap/make their own? There is a ton of chert where I live. Almost every stream bed is full of it. It is a is sedimentary cryptocrystalline rock just like flint. The vast majority of stone age points and tools found on the Ozark Plateau are pressure flaked almost exactly like flint points, and when I was a Boyscout as a kid chert is what we made stone tools from. I'm wondering if chert will spark a frizzen like flint, or if maybe flint is harder since it forms in nodules? I would have no idea where to go looking for flint, but I think I might recognize it if I found some. Or, I might mistake it for chert.

Has anyone else noticed there aren't many flints for sale? I bought some on Ebay, which I'm not overly fond of...

Get yourself a 7 inch wet saw and a steel striker , test it with the striker. If it throws off good sparks, cut it up.
That's what I do, here in north Texas, there's now a lot of places, but some parking lots use bull gravel. It's full of flint.
If you want , send me some, I'll cut it up and send you them back.
Mark

 

[Matt Soultz]

I make gunflints for sale. I'm not sure how sales work on here. But if you let me know size and quantity I can get them going. Most of the flints I made are from USA materials. Georgetown flint/chert mainly.

 

[Indy Durtdigger]

I make gunflints for sale. I'm not sure how sales work on here. But if you let me know size and quantity I can get them going. Most of the flints I made are from USA materials. Georgetown flint/chert mainly.

Get your post count above 15. Then you can post an add in the classifieds sections. Howdy from Henry county.

 

[R Ellis]

I make gunflints for sale. I'm not sure how sales work on here. But if you let me know size and quantity I can get them going. Most of the flints I made are from USA materials. Georgetown flint/chert mainly.

price

 

[TerryK]

I just bought 50 from stonewall creek outfitters. I think they were 95 and 15 shipping.
They only had french in 7/8, so that is what I got. I think the quality is pretty good, but not perfect.
This is my 3rd batch from them.
https://www.stonewallcreekoutfitters.com/flints/