how often should you sharpen your flint

[benjaminw7528]

i was wondering how often you should you sharpen a rifle flint

[Will Bison]

After each shot I use my fingers to determine the condition of the flint edge. My standard procedure is to service the lock first, then attend to loading. I think this is a learned thing in that it is not a science that can be conveyed in conversation but rather an art that must learned in the field by direct observation/experimentation.

[roundball]

i was wondering how often you should you sharpen a rifle flint

When I'm just shooting a 40-50 shot informal weekend range session, I start with a fresh flint and just go until it misfires...then I clean the frizzen, flint, and pan with alcohol, knapp the flint, and resume.

Or to avoid the eventual misfire, I've sometimes picked an arbitrary number like knapping & cleaning every 10 shots.
Also, just flipping the flint over every other 10 shots between bevel up and bevel down will often have a self-knapping effect. 

But if I'm going hunting, I lightly knapp the edge of a new flint at the start, and then again after any/every shot I might take during the season...this year I've shot 4 deer and 1 squirrel on the same flint...lightly reknapping it after each shot so there's no question it will cut the thinnest, hottest shavings of steel off the frizzen for fastest possible ignition. 

[quickdtoo]

That's pretty much what I do, too.

Tim

[flintlock]

Kinda like sharpening my knife....Depends on how much I use it...