Author Topic: Why Are English Flints Considered Superior? (Read 1917 times)

River runner · « **on:** February 11, 2003, 04:29:21 PM »

I've been using the Cabellas standard flints in my .32, but I hear a lot about the superiority of the English flints, what gives?

Also I see the English flints (hand chipped) on "Auction Arms" 10 for $22.50 or so, this is a lot cheaper than what I've been paying. Is this a good deal? RR :?

KING · « **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:13:42 PM »

RR Yup...thats a real good deal fer the price of those flints. The Americas do not have anything that is actual..flint. The English and that area of europe,and africa do. At least that was the way it is explained to me. Some " flints " that we purchase from over here are actually agate (sawn), chert,and several other types of extremily fine grained material that will produce a spark upon contact with a frizzen. There are several areas that produce a lot of this material What it boils down to is that the English flints are actually a true flint. I purchase flint nodules from Dixie,and work those into the flints for the flintlocks. Its not all that difficult to do,but it does take practice, Also as a point of interest,if the nodules have been soaked in water for a couple of months,the knapping goes a lot easier. King

P-J · « **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2003, 06:54:13 PM »

Waitaminnit. $22.50 for 10 flints is, um, $2.25 each?!? Every place I look has English flints for $0.95 to $1.50. Try October Country, Log Cabin, Track of the Wolf .....

clodbuster · « **Reply #3 on:** February 12, 2003, 04:58:18 AM »

RivRnr I had the pleasure to live in England near the center of their flint knapping. There is an archeological preserve called "Grimes Graves" near
Brandon(Cambridge) where flint tools were napped for hundreds of years.
The reason its called Grimes Graves is the 100 acres or so where flint nodules were dug is covered with what looks like burial mounds from the mining activity. The nodules are lime coated obsidian (volcanic glass) I collected many of them from a field behind where I lived. What makes them good sparkers is their hardness and purity. The obsidian is is translucent it is so pure. I can fracture pieces off these nodes as sharp as the sharpest knife you ever handled, but very fragile. They mined the nodules 20 feet below ground where they never got frozen which caused them to get internal flaws and that made them subject to breakage during knapping. There are a cuple guys at the site who could knap some amazing shapes!!!

KING · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2003, 05:52:37 AM »

Fer information and grins. Obsidian is differant from flint. obsidian is made a type of glass made from a volcanic activity. True flint is found in chalk bedswhich were formed during the Cretaceous period. It will come in a nodular form in colors generally ranging from black,grey and sometimes brown in color also.,and is made up of about 99 percent quartz.. These chalk beds are found in europe in the area of England,Denmark and severl other locations. In the U.S.,the closest thing to true flint is foiund in the chalk beds of the AUSTIN LIMESTONe deposits in texas. Obsidian is volcanic glass,and most variaties are transpucent to some degree. As a point of interest,this material will fracture on the molecular level,making a blade that is a thousand times sharper that the sharpest razor blade. It also was used as a scalpel material during the first heart transplants,and in other heart surgeries due to that sharpness. The English is such a fine material that it has a greater life for sparking that a lot of the none english flint materials . Obsidian also does not have any grain.. to it or chrystalline stucture,making it not a true mineral. This is why it fractures with so sharp an edge. hope that helps. Also,before I forget,the other cherts,and and materials that we sometimes think as flint from this area the U.S. is made up of only 90 percent quartz,while true flint is about 99 percent quartsz. :roll: :roll: King

River runner · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2003, 01:24:57 PM »

I sure am getting an education here, don't quite remember school being this much fun, allthough I did enjoy American History.

Think I just might order some of those English flints and see how that goes.

Got my new Dixie Catalogue today, and feel like a kid in a candy store, also got my monthly news letter from my shooting club, and they plan on having monthly shoots for muzzle loaders. Just the other day I was looking to see if there were any clubs near me that had muzzle loader shoots. Life is good!

KING · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2003, 05:09:58 PM »

:-D :-D RR If ya aint havin fun........just remember...ya aint. I got some of those English flints a couple of years ago from Dixie. Before I figured out to make them myself(thiers are a lot more...consistant),and I thought that they were superior to anything else i had been usingup until that time. King

peter nap · « **Reply #7 on:** February 13, 2003, 03:21:52 AM »

[/b] Fer information and grins. Obsidian is differant from flint. obsidian is made a type of glass made from a volcanic activity. True flint is found in chalk bedswhich were formed during the Cretaceous period. It will come in a nodular form in colors generally ranging from black,grey and sometimes brown in color also.,and is made up of about 99 percent quartz.. These chalk beds are found in europe in the area of England

:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Naphtali · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2003, 06:07:02 AM »

The topic question is: Why are English flints superior? Superior to what? Why?

Or are we discussing what specifically ensures the [most] reliable ignition of flintlock? I don't want to write more if I am missing the point of this topic.

For me, "reliable flintlock ignition" is important while geology and chemistry of quartz is not.

tryit · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2003, 04:04:18 PM »

As to the true flints and false flints all I can say is that chert is chert and how it was formed is the qualifier as to its spark producing ability. The english have a good flint and the amber french flints are the equal or better in my books. I have knapped flint(chert) from all over the country and have found that the best is from France,England, the mid west U.S. and south Alabama is showing promise as having a very high grade of flint.American flint does not last as long as forgien but cheap. English flint is good but expensive, French flint is excellent but impossible to get. I like american and if knapped right will set your pants on fire and throw a good shower of sparks. Tryit.

KING · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2003, 06:11:54 PM »

What it all boils down to is that the English is somewhat harder due to it being 99 percent quartz,as to where the american cherets or flint type material only gets to be about 90 percent. The english is harder,so inturn scrapes off a better sliver of metal and quantity making for a better showere onto the pan powder. I also have had guys cut a longitutidinal trough onto the frizzen and glue in a piece of magnesium in this trough. Now,that really makes a shower of spartks when the flint hits that magnesium. Its legal for hunting,but not for any type of matchs...King.. :eek: :eek:

mamaflinter · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2003, 02:48:24 AM »

I went through this great dilemma when I got into flintlocks. The thing I found was that when buying things through mail order, I was in fact shooting craps. I never got consistency from one order to the next and as a result flint quality was poor at best.

I use diraflints in my flintlocks. These flints are made of a natural substance. Eric calls it a semi-precious gemstone. He does cut it to shape them. But I tell you what, these things are HARD. So hard you need a diamond file to sharpen them. Once we got these for the rifles, our ignition problems ceased to be a problem. Another thing I can say about them is that we know we are getting the same quality product each time we order and don't have to worry if it will be different.

KING · « **Reply #12 on:** March 29, 2003, 09:49:50 AM »

Maflinter. Have not heard of these yet,and sound kind of interesting to play with. Is it possible to tell me/us where to get em. stay safe...king :-D :-D

mamaflinter · « **Reply #13 on:** March 29, 2003, 02:47:28 PM »

King here is a link I have up on my site about Duraflints. http://mamaflinter.tripod.com/beginningguidetomuzzleloaders/id19.html I've had some tell me that the email address for the company doesn't work. I am not sure if it is a hotmail issue, or if Eric has let his email address go inactive.

The only place I've ever gotten them is through the manufacturer Elkk Enterprises. Contact info is on that page.