AmericanLongRifles Forums
General discussion => Black Powder Shooting => Topic started by: Smokey Plainsman on April 23, 2020, 06:42:41 AM
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What are you all out there using to touch up and re-sharpen your gun flints when out in the field?
-Smokey
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Hi Smokey,
If it needs it, and that is rare with a good lock and flint, but If it does, back of my knife or the frizzen closed down on the edge of the flint will work.
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Rods are cleanest, hammers fastest, and a knife edge convenientest. I can’t remember the last time I knapped a flint without ball and powder already loaded so think muzzle discipline.
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What are you all out there using to touch up and re-sharpen your gun flints when out in the field?
-Smokey
I usually start with a new or reconditioned flint...
I still carry a brass rod in my bag as well, but have used the frizzed and back of knife as well.
I have a bag of used flints that I have reconditioned with my historically correct Dremel tool...most of those are used for target & general plinking.
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I use an antler tine to pressure chip the flint, out of the rifle. Bob's comments on muzzle discipline are on point. I also carry spare flints and usually shove a new one in and knap the dull one later.
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Just keep a spare flint and a screwdriver in your pouch. Change when needed. I also run my leather out over the flint to prevent frizzen-rebound knapping. I get 40-50 shots before knapping. Easier to knap at home and not on the gun in my opinion. God Bless, Marc
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Typically, I just use a new flint, and take the old one home for a touch up under better conditions.
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If you search in this forum using the words “flint” and “knap” you will find many good techniques.
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I use these, as well as the bottom corner of the frizzen on the edge, just pushing down.
That method works very well on English and French flints.
There was flint knapping thread just a short while back - seems to me it contained a short tutorial by Taylor on method.
(https://i.ibb.co/J3Chq1S/Knapping-Tool.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Bnw1GpY)
(https://i.ibb.co/XYzT3vM/Knap-2.jpg) (https://ibb.co/bbrn28D)
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Typically, I just use a new flint, and take the old one home for a touch up under better conditions.
I usually do the same.
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Typically, I just use a new flint, and take the old one home for a touch up under better conditions.
I usually do the same.
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;D OK OK ;D
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Brass, never Iron or steel.
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Brass, never Iron or steel.
Why not? Have I been doing this wrong for 40 years?
My go-to is the spine of my patch knife.
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Probably something to do with the flint and steel creating sparks that could ignite the charge. A new flint is the best option, IMHO.
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Probably something to do with the flint and steel creating sparks that could ignite the charge. A new flint is the best option, IMHO.
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I’ve never had it happen , never seen it happen, and never heard of it happening. I have been doing this flintlock thing a very long time. I’m not saying it’s impossible.
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Probably something to do with the flint and steel creating sparks that could ignite the charge. A new flint is the best option, IMHO.
I’ve never had it happen , never seen it happen, and never heard of it happening. I have been doing this flintlock thing a very long time. I’m not saying it’s impossible.
I’m with you Wayne. Overthunk. I know an old guy who goes Indian style with his gun pointed down range to nap his flint. He pulls the hammer back a bit because he doesn’t like to rap on his tumbler and lays his patching strip over his pan. I’d do that before changing a flint mid shoot. Of course, I’m not on some suburban range with all the time in the world. 90% of the time I nap, I’ve got my eyes on that Limb Chicken I just flashed a pan at...
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Fortunately soft iron or steel won't spark. Ever have your frizzen lose it case hardening? The back spine of most knives is soft enough that sparks aren't likely to be generated, The steel needs to be hardened for the flint to create a spark. I use 16 penny nails to make a knapping awl by grinding off a flat spot and ledge at the point. Rest the corner on the edge of the flint and tap.
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If you search in this forum using the words “flint” and “knap” you will find many good techniques.
Heckfire we just had this round of discussion slightly down the page of "BP shooting":
https://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=58745.0
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I’ll just stop asking questions I guess, it’s not like anybody new ever might have anything to add right? Must have all been said before.
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When the topic was asked last week and 10 times before in the last two years (or thereabouts) it gets a bit tiring keep repeating the same answers. When folks get tired answering the same questions, they might not participate as much in discussions and that makes the forum less useful to all.
Yes it's very difficult to ask a question that hasn't been answered before. It's pretty much impossible. But also there is joy in reading the wisdom that has been shared before, because there are often different perspectives from which to learn and also that that is the beauty of the forum format. It's the very reason "FAQ's" came into use for the commonest (but often less complicated) concepts.
Many times in the past I took the time to look up 4 or 10 relevant search results and posted them for folks who asked the most common questions with lots and lots of prior discussion. Seems no one ever appreciated it, so I stopped. But I'll never stop letting a fellow know there's a similar/same topic open inside the lat 30 days or so. Perhaps he missed it in his searching, and isn't on the forum every day. These things I do not know-unless he mentions in it, or the research he did, in the Original Post.
I have learned a lot from folks who have left the forum (passed or otherwise), going back in time expands the knowledge base from which you're learning. So it also more effective than just asking the "folks in the room". That's kinda how I look at it.
Feel quite free to do as you wish, research isn't for everyone. I used to dig in the ALR forum before this current setup-it's archived somewhere and at that time this edition of the ALR was just a few years old so had far less volumes of information to dig through.
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I was a commercial flint knapper, copper was always the tool of choice. to sharpen on the gun I use a piece of copper plate eighth inch or so thick and the width of the flint, place it on the very edge of the flint, give it one strike with a ball starter.
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Thanks for that tip. John
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Thanks for that tip. John
The one concern about that suggestion is that it puts a lot of excessive pressure on your half cock notch.
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I just change my flint and go. I do believe I'd avoid knapping in the field with a LOADED bore.
I tried my late Ketland one day at the range with no priming powder in the pan just to see what would happen. Boom. First time. I admit I was canting the gun a little to the left, but that never-the-less surprised me.
God Bless, Marc
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So long Smokey, thanks for your service ole buddy.
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The second tool I posted a picture of, is used in a prying motion. There is no striking motion. It works amazingly well, especially
for getting rid of that one shiny rounded smooth part that is stopping the sparks from happening. Look at the edge, one little "pry"
and it's gone.