Flint treatment

[wmrike]

Flint is sedimentary, not volcanic, but the fact remains that it is non-porous.  A good soaking in whatever is only theraputic for the head.

[cmac]

An antler tip makes a great tool for dressing flints. I find napping them with a hammer I often remove more than I wanted or get an uneven edge.

[Black Hand]

I use the back side of my knife.  No need to make or carry another tool...

[Chris Treichel]

Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz,[1][2] categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones.[3][4] Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and often has a glassy or waxy appearance. A thin layer on the outside of the nodules is usually different in colour, typically white and rough in texture. From a petrological point of view, "flint" refers specifically to the form of chert which occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Similarly, "common chert" (sometimes referred to simply as "chert") occurs in limestone.

Guess I need to do my homework....

If you have diamond files you can sharpen flints without knapping...

[t.caster]

I always have a strip of linen or cotton hanging from my strap buckle and wipe the frizzen & flint frequently while shooting...just before I prime for a shot. I don't count shots, just when it looks the fouling is building up. My ball starter has a 3/8" brass rod which works nicely for touching up a flint. A finger placed under the flint really makes a difference in your precision. I also carry a little brass headed screwdriver/hammer (homemade) in my pouch. I hardly ever have a misfire or hangfire. A lot of that is the result of using top quality locks and wite-litenin toucholes layed out in their proper relationship. But that is a different topic that we have all weighed in on.

[David R. Watson]

I have used the old sharpening steel that Gerber sold in the mid 70's. It is a long tapered wedge and the sharp end combined with the weight of the steel really would allow you to tap anywhere there was a dull edge developing. It came in a nice leather sheath with a leather thong attached to the steel...still use it off the bench.

[David R. Watson]

Back in 1978 I was present when a British shooter gave a fellow American shooter about 200+ blond French flints of assorted sizes that came from a recently settled estate over there. According to the Brit the flints were liberated from a French fortification during the French and Indian War and when the Brit acquired them from the estate they were in the same leather bag bearing a French emblem of some sort. The liberator was a Brit Captain during the war and a direct descendant of the estate.
Anyway, several years ago my friend gave them to me and I hunt with them occasionally. Interesting that they are napped on only one end and rounded on the other. Point is that they spark just fine and feel reasonably certain that they have been out of the ground and dry for quite a documented while...just my two cents.

[Hungry Horse]

 Do any of you knap a notch in the heel of your gun flints to keep them from getting loose? I was given the remnants of an old shooting bag that was completely rotted. But, inside were a couple of interesting things. One being a folding fire steel, and the other being a couple of pretty large flints, with a notch knapped in the heel to partially surround the jaw screw.
 I thought about this for a while and then made up a few for my flint rifle. They work great, and tend to make me believe that the little pin I use to put a fine edge on my flints, may be the same tool the old timers used to produce these notched in the heal of their flints. I tried to do it with a knapping hammer and had more failures than successes.

                     Hungry Horse

[RonT]

Yes, I notch my fints, and also punch a hole in the leather at the center to accomodate the notch in the flint.
R

[mjm46@bellsouth.net]

On a woods walk I don't do anything special, unless weather causes addition excess moisture to collect in the pan, due to humidity or worse rain. I find there is always a trace amount of moisture in the pan after firing even once, but it dosen't seem to matter, in my opinion. I generally wipe the face of the frizzen with my thumb with every shot, just habit, don't think it really matters much either.

About knapping, when shooting I can notice a very slight hesitation a shot or two before my flint stops sparking well, and needs knapping, you can push it but listen to your rifle it will tell you what it needs. So I knapp then and only then. I wear my flints down till they are too small to hold in the jaws.

I put a notch in my leather jaw pad where the jaw screw is, I would only chip a notch in the flint if it were too long, and does not allow the pan to close. I think it's too easy to ruin a flint with mis-placed chip causing the flint to split the wrong way.

Just the way I do it, others may have varying results.

[Dphariss]

Do any of you knap a notch in the heel of your gun flints to keep them from getting loose? I was given the remnants of an old shooting bag that was completely rotted. But, inside were a couple of interesting things. One being a folding fire steel, and the other being a couple of pretty large flints, with a notch knapped in the heel to partially surround the jaw screw.
 I thought about this for a while and then made up a few for my flint rifle. They work great, and tend to make me believe that the little pin I use to put a fine edge on my flints, may be the same tool the old timers used to produce these notched in the heal of their flints. I tried to do it with a knapping hammer and had more failures than successes.

                     Hungry Horse

Only if it needs it.
I generally put the flint on something the will break out the notch then strike the flint.
Dan

[t.caster]

I cut a hole in the flint leather too.
Oh, and I know others who read about soaking flints in oil and now swear by it. But it just sounds like witchcraft to me

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

At the risk of sending this thread to "Over the Fence", there are a lot of people in this world that rely on superstition for many aspects of their lives.  We are not much farther ahead than our ancestors, in some regards.