More about flints

[poordevil]

I too have a question RE flints. I am getting a NWTG from NSW and see their site says 7/8" for flint. Then at TOW they say the NWTG's use a 1" flint. Can the two sizes be used or should the smaller be chosen?

P

 

[paulvallandigham]

NSW will know what size lock they are selling you for the caliber or gauge of the gun you are buying. Ask them.

 

[poordevil]

Well, of course. But I thought others here might like to learn the little quirks of Flint Guns and to get some shareing going on, but thank you anyway.

P

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Actually, poordevil, this is at the very heart of the flint questions I posted the past coupla days. I'll bet the widest point of your frizzen is 1". So you'll shoot and shoot and shoot and have a blast over and over using those 7/8" flints. Then some guy will look at your rifle and say "Huh. Ya got a stripe down the right side of yer frizzen. Looks like about an eighth of an inch. Yer usin' too skinny of a flint, man." This is basically the case with my rifles and fowlers, with an incidence of "flint crashing" in one of the cases. Sooooo all you experts out there, get outta yer flannels and stand naked to the wind and shout yer answer as to what size a flint should be? Is it"BAD" to have a clean stripe of virgin steel on one side of the frizzen or should you ABSOLUTELY make sure every doggone face has been scraped like a dry shave on the battle line? Huh? Whassata ya say? HUH? C'mon you expert texpert choking smokers dontcha think the trappers laugh at you-hoo-hoo Ha-haHa!!!!!!!!!

 

[paulvallandigham]

I determine the width of the flint by measuring the width of the frizzen at its widest point, which normally will be about 1/4" ABOVE the bottom of the heel. Yes, I want the flint to be wide enough to scrape the entire width of the frizzen face, and not just a part of it. Grooves make setting the next flint in your jaws tricky, so that the next flint cuts the same "Groove", or seen the other way, leaves the same " ridge".

As to the length of the flint, I install a flint in the jaws at half cock, with the frizzen closed. The flint is wrapped. In my case, I wrap my flints in lead. Others use leather. I want the flint, NEW, to be within 1/32" of the face of the frizzen for best work. I then, also check the Angle of Impact of the edge of the flint to the face of the frizzen, and the location of that POI on the frizzen, to make sure the Angle is 60 degrees, and the height is 60-66% Up from the bottom of the heel of the frizzen.

Then, with any new lock, I tune the lock. That means the frizzen pops open with less than 3 lbs. of tension, and the mainspring does not have more than 15 lbs. of tension at full cock. Most new locks come with springs or poorly designed frizzens that have more than 10 lbs of tension on the frizzen, and actually require the frizzen to push down on the frizzen spring to get the frizzen to open. And the mainspring may have as much as 30 lbs. of tension at full cock, and sometimes much more, particularly on large colonial era locks.

 

[tg]

My NSW guns used 7/8 flints and they worked very well.

 

[roundball]

"...Sooooo all you experts out there, get outta yer flannels and stand naked to the wind and shout yer answer..."
"...Huh? Whassata ya say? HUH?..."
"...C'mon you expert texpert choking smokers dontcha think the trappers laugh at you-hoo-hoo Ha-haHa!!!!!!!!!..."

Having a bad day Marc ? :grin:

 

[roundball]

I too have a question RE flints. I am getting a NWTG from NSW and see their site says 7/8" for flint. Then at TOW they say the NWTG's use a 1" flint. Can the two sizes be used or should the smaller be chosen?

The usual approach is to measure the width of the frizzen and order flints based on that.
Example: for a 3/4" wide frizzen I order a 3/4" flints.
The point being that the more flint surface there is to scrape a larger area of steel, the greater chance there is for more sparks...if all the steel on a frizzen face is not being used the reasonable conclusion can be drawn that all possible sparks are not being realized in that particular flint/frizzen size matchup.

Will a slimmer 5/8" work? Yes. Will a wider 7/8" work? Yes.

In this 3/4" frizzen example you'd want to take into account that 5/8" flints tend to be shorter in length which will usually result in shorter flint life.
And 7/8" wide fints might be a little longer in length which would give a little longer flint life.
Note: the longer length of the wider flint might just barely hold the frizzen from closing tight...and to accommodate that extra length a 1/4" hole can be punched (cut) in the bend of the leather flint wrap so the whole flint & leather can slide back further against the jaw screw to ensure the leading edge allows the frizzen to close.

So there's some latitude...just think it through and decide on the best balance of variables regarding sparks, flint life, cost, etc.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Is it"BAD" to have a clean stripe of virgin steel on one side of the frizzen or should you ABSOLUTELY make sure every doggone face has been scraped like a dry shave on the battle line? Huh? Whassata ya say? HUH? C'mon you expert texpert choking smokers dontcha think the trappers laugh at you-hoo-hoo Ha-haHa!!!!!!!!!

It's not "bad", but think how much better life could have been if you had been getting ALL of the sparks possible. Why carry that much unused frizzen around? Just adds weight and slows the lock-time. :haha:

 

[chuck-ia]

Sometimes, (most of the time) a person just has to put a flint in and shoot the gun, the same flint may not work the same in identical locks, one needs to experiment a bit. I am allso not a believer that the flint should just about touch the frizzen at half cock, it depends where the half cock notch is cut in the tumbler, I don't think they are all the same. flinch

 

[matt denison]

Yeah, what Flinch said.

I even knock the outside corners off of my flints for a couple of reasons.

1. I've seen some nasty cuts caused by those sharp corners sticking out.

2. By narrowing the flint 5% or so you reduce friction and can speed up your lock time and I believe you don't need 100 sparks, you need one hot spark real fast. The first spark that hits the prime is the winner and the rest is redundant. JMHO :surrender:

MD aka Laffindog

 

[poordevil]

Thank you. Thats what I was looking for!

P

 

Thank you. Thats what I was looking for!

We search until we find what we want to hear. :wink:

 

[poordevil]

Thank you Carl. That was helpful...as usual :idunno:

P

 

[J.D.]

I use whatever size flints I have, at the time.

I sometimes use 3/4 flints in the bess, and 5/8" in the rifle, though most would say they are too small for those guns.

I have even used a 1/2" flint, shimmed out with a stick, on one occasion.

IMHO, the only limit to what size of flint to use is the width of the frizzen, 'cause a too wide flint is a waste of good flint, but a too small one will reduce the amount of sparks produced.

IMHO, use what you can get, until you find something better.

God bless

 

[Marc Adamchek]

Man, I guess stream-of-consciousness free-association ranting just ain't in vogue anymore. Well, I guess it IS true that it ain't 1971. ANYWAY to first clear the decks...I was not mad or angry or vindictive or anything resembling mean and nasty when I posted here last night. Just trying to underscore how contrary answers to this one question can be. This all started in my head when it was suggested I order some flints from a genuine nice guy, Rich Pierce. Well, a chance to get something custom means, yeah, I want CUSTOM, man. I've decided to order flints for a couple different guns and size them the widest and longest my locks seem to genuinely accommodate. Then I'll try 'em out and see for myself. Ya know, I completely missed this whole issue in Last of the Mohicans. Guess I gotta pay more attention, which ain't a bad New Year's resolution when ya come to think of it.

 

[poordevil]

I got you! :thumbsup:

And thank you to all for your input. I will start putting together a collection of flints and see where it leads.

P

 

[Birddog6]

I never use a flint as wide as the fridden at it's widest point. If I did I would have the flint into the barrel half the time, as my frizzen is just off rubbing the barrel. About every 10 shots I look at the flint & sometimes knap it lightly, but I do move it over a bit, which ever way hits me at the time = using almost all of the frizzen face, with exception to right at the edge of the barrel.
Now & then when I have the lock off a rifle that has a slight ridge on the frizzen at the edge of the barrel, I knock that lil edge off with a small sanding drum on a dremel & it takes all of a few seconds.

:thumbsup:

 

[David W.]

I too have a question RE flints. I am getting a NWTG from NSW and see their site says 7/8" for flint. Then at TOW they say the NWTG's use a 1" flint. Can the two sizes be used or should the smaller be chosen?

P

7/8" flint would be just fine to use. However, you can use a 1" if you wanted to. Just let the excess flint hang to the outside so it does not bump the barrel when fired. I use flints that are wider than the frizzen sometimes, because that is what I have on hand. It aint that critical!

 

[poordevil]

:thumbsup: Thank you

P