French Black flints

[Bushfire]

talking with my supplier of flints here in Australia and he was saying that the flint knapper he sources from in France has access to some French black flints. I can’t find much reference to them at all really. The knapper said quality will be no better or worse than English black.

Anyone know of them or their quality? I ordered 5 to try anyway, they’ve sold out in almost everything except 3/4” already.

[rich pierce]

I personally don’t believe there’s much difference in quality between English black flints, amber French flints, and so on. More depends on shape and sharpness, and the lock. It’s impossible to do an actual test with various knapped flints from different sources, because no 2 knapped flints are identical in shape and dimensions. And that’s what’s required for real head to head tests. As someone who knaps flints, I normally sort them out to be used in a particular gun with a particular lock. Some locks will destroy a thin, acute angled flint and others will give 25 or more firings with spectacular sparking. Some will spark well with flints that appear a little blunt in edge angle, and others not. Shape is what matters most.

[Daryl]

If you've got any more of those River Rocks for sale, Rich, I am always a happy customer.

[Bob Roller]

Hand made flints are like other hand made things and if even ONE is alike that's a good start.
I preferred the German cut white agates or whatever they were.Uniform dimensions like the
mechanism in the lock.I have a big amber flint or carneol with an inscription in German that
says "Alle kunst ist umsonst wenn ein englein auf dir fundloch brunst."Look it up in the Deutsche
English lexicon .
Bob Roller

[recurve]

Just a heads up france and england were one land during last ice age the geologic deposits should be the same or very close in norther france and southern england . The flint was formed over millions of years, in chalk /limestone deposits from a shallow sea , billions of small shell fish, compressed into the white cliffs divided now by the english channel, in the ice age a river valley.   

[hanshi]

I've used French amber, English black, white flints from the US and a few others I couldn't identify.  All performed the same; a few maybe a little bit better than another few of the same.  But the only difference I could see was between the well knapped flints compared with the less well knapped ones.  Material appeared to make little or no difference.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I do not have a preference, English black over French amber...they work very much the same.  But Rich Pierce's river rocks outlast either of those first two by a considerable margin, in my experience.  I find them to just be tougher stone.  Rich:  are they novaculite?  And have you found any outcroppings of flint in Vermont?

[rich pierce]

No flint or chert of decent availability and quality in Vermont. The Missouri chert I made gunflints from is called Burlington chert. Very seldom glassy, often granular in feel, it is very tough. When heat treated by knappers making points, it becomes more glassy and less tough. It takes a very long hot heat treat to get it to where it will pressure flake decently.

I knapped myself a 10 year supply of gunflints before we moved. When we drive back to St. Louis once a year or so I’ll be collecting more rock.

[Daryl]

That's good news, Rich.  Your "flints" sure are tougher'n French or English flints, however in my locks, they sure throw a shower of hot sparks.

[Mike from OK]

I have never, to my knowledge, used the French black flints...

I tried one or two of the French amber flints. They didn't seem to hold up as well as the black English flints did. But being a natural material the mother formation they were knapped from may have been more brittle than usual. My sampling was small and likely not representative of all.

I couldn't even begin to guess how many shots I had on the last black English flint that was in my smoothbore. Probably 80 or more... I had sharpened it down to a nub. If I had the skill I would have freshened the edge and repurposed it for use in the smaller lock on my Bedford. No luck though.

Mike

[bnewberry]

No flint or chert of decent availability and quality in Vermont. The Missouri chert I made gunflints from is called Burlington chert. Very seldom glassy, often granular in feel, it is very tough. When heat treated by knappers making points, it becomes more glassy and less tough. It takes a very long hot heat treat to get it to where it will pressure flake decently.

I knapped myself a 10 year supply of gunflints before we moved. When we drive back to St. Louis once a year or so I’ll be collecting more rock.

Do you happen to have any pictures of the chert you used, pre and or post heat treat? Also pictures of a flint would be great to see!

[recurve]

The white is Oklahoma chert the grey is Georgetown from texas the black is english the tan is french 

[recurve]

french

english

texas

okee on left texas in middle
All spark great the texas is my go to easy to pressure flake back to  sharp, the white sparks like crazy but very hard to pressure flake a new edge