In my search for a Gronicle I looked thru some flintknapping sites.
From Joel/Calgary:
"... concerning both traditional British gunflint manufacture and modern experimental archaeology was that flint fresh-dug from underground (and still damp - saturated/hydrated/whatever) was easier to knap than that which was either surface-collected or dug but stockpiled & dried out. This has been attributed variously to saturation of microfractures and/or micropores and/or to hydration of any residual opaline material. The modern knappers reported that if the flint (nodules, spalls, or preforms) is stored in water after excavation, it continued to knap easier than if allowed to dry. Some may have reported that flint can be rehydrated/resaturated/whatever if soaked long enough, and this is sometimes suggested as a somewhat less effective alternative to heat-treating flint to improve the workability...this is hearsay...I am not a sufficiently skilled knapper to tell the difference, but I have a couple of pails of spalls soaking in the garage...One would not heat-treat flint intended for gunflints, as it would be more fragile. All of this would suggest that fully hydrated/etc. gunflints might actually be somewhat more fragile than dried ones"
This agrees with those Indians who buried their flint "to keep it fresh" So they could sharpen or do whatever to reshape the flint.
It also says that a flintlock shooter would prefer to keep his gunflint dry, rather than wet.
Still doesn't answer what oil might do to a flint. Other than to keep water away. By the way, kerosene can pick up water. I'd switch to an animal or vegetable oil.
Given the paucity of whale oil I might consider Track's Mink Oil, or just plain sweet/olive oil. Whether or not the flint actually sparks better, I will claim, with a serious mien, expertise backed by 18th Century practice!
