Stone Knapping

[hanshi]

Has anyone on the forum ever relied on a stone - rather than a knife blade, knapping hammer, etc - to knapp and sharpen rifle flints?  I did a few days ago and the results were excellent.  The flint edges remain straight and razor sharp with all the tiny flakes coming off the bottom.  For me, metal tools for sharpening were always a big "if".  It took lots of tapping and often either too much or too little flint chipped off.  I'm going to be using stone for flint sharpening instead of metal.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

A steel or brass knapping hammer will likely destroy your flint, but one of copper is what I prefer.  Stone and copper deliver their energy MORE SLOWLY INTO THE FLINT, producing more predictable flakes.  The hammer has to have some mass to work best, and copper is excellent.

[Harnic]

I agree with you Taylor.  Since I switched to a copper hammer I have not destroyed a single flint while knapping.  The softer properties of copper seem ideally suited to sharpening flint.

[hanshi]

I don't yet have a piece of copper to make into a hammer but haven't stopped looking.  I do know that stone, as opposed to, say, steel is more precise.

[camerl2009]

so if copper works better becuse its softer would lead work hmmm

[bob in the woods]

I use a piece of brass rod with a small ledge filed on the end. Tap it with a knife handle or whatever, and working the ledge  across the flint, you will have a nicely knapped edge. Very easy to use.

[omark]

so if copper works better becuse its softer would lead work hmmm

  i believe it would be too soft, but have never tried it.    mark

[Daryl]

Babbit, Linotype or monotype might work.  I think it's too soft, though as copper has a Brinel of around 35 to 40, and the hardest 'type' metal, monotype is only about 24.

[hanshi]

And stone has a hardness factor of, well, stone. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

When knocking spauls from a mother stone, a copper bobber requires less force than a stone one, and I think is easier to hit accurately.  The copper wears out fast enough - I can't imagine a leaden one being of any use.

[Walker Mountain]

Copper hammer for knapping , never try knapping myself but looks like a good prize for the club prize box. Just how big are those Hammer? Will be casting brass for my new rifle and got plenty copper scrape lying around. So Taylor what’s your hammer look like? Or should I say what's a knapping hammer look like.
Free Trapper

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I posted pictures of the process of knapping the flint in the rifle lock some time ago, but here's a couple to refresh that idea.  And these are two different hammers that I made of a piece of copper bar and a flat screw driver shank.  Now I just make the screw driver from drill rod, forging the bit and hardening and drawing the temper.  That way, I can make them to match the top faw screw's slot...some are very thin while others could be turned with a tomahawk.
The first is made from a cut off screw driver, with a 1/2" round section of copper bar 2" long.  The second one is from a piece of copper from a big motor that is 1/2" wide and 3/8" thick.  The flatter one is nicer in the bag for obvious reasons, and has lots of weight for knapping purposes.

When using the hammer, you strike the flint downward and into the flint at the angle I've shown.  If you strike straight down, you get a short flake that only makes the flint blunter.  The idea is to drive off a flake from the underside of the flint to thin the edge.  I place my index finger under the flint's edge - the stone likes pressure from beneath, and produces thinner and longer flakes that way.  And in doing so, I lift the cock off the half cock notch, using the weight of the rifle to hold it there while I strike the flint.  That way, I'm not bashing down on the half cock notch and the sear's fragile end.  When done this way, you shorten the flint very little, but thin it a lot.  You can see the flake I've struck off laying on my finger.

[hanshi]

I've been wanting to make a copper flint hammer for some time but have no scrap copper around and nothing was available at Lowe's.  I do have one made from a .45 acp FMJ that I put together a few years ago but it doesn't really work that well. 

[Walker Mountain]

Thanks Taylor, clubs prize box is getting pretty low so this is something I’ll try this week to do. Will post your process of knapping the flint in club next news letter and will check the archives, thanks again.
  FREE TRAPPER