sawed flints i wished i knew not to buy

[midland man]

well when I bought my flintlock rifle recently I had no idea that sawed flints were a pain but just discovered they were not very good as I tried knapping them but they just wasn't havin it! so I took a diamond coated cone shaped tool I had in my dremel kit and resharpened them and all works now but there must be better flints as I read about the English flints bein much better and easier to knap out in the field, so guys could ya'll school me about flints?? thanks!!

 

[DD4lifeusmc]

As in many other things not all sawed flints are the same either.
many times it will depend on the actual flint material.
Is it American, British or German.

I have knapped some sawed flints a few years ago. It can be done. But I don't remember now where they came from

 

[EljaySL]

https://www.trackofthewolf.com sells nice flints - get the English ones but if you want to try a couple of French feel free. It's possible somebody will chime in with some awesome local maker who'll sell you some or whatever but if you just want to go buy some flints ToW should make you happy.

 

[BullRunBear]

I've always had great results with the black English flints from TOTW. They've been good sparkers and long lasting.

Jeff

 

[BCRider]

They don't last forever either. So when you order up from ToW or some other supplier be sure you buy 10 at least. Otherwise you'll be ordering up pretty soon after the first order.

With a couple of dressings of the edge I get around a total of 40 shots from a flint. But that is only after I found out from the new flinter that the old one was hard on the flints. It took a bit of work on the frizzen's heel where it runs on the spring to transform the Lyman GPR into something that was more gentle with the flints. Now it too can get around 40 shots with a bit of edge dressing.

By that time the flint is too short for a rifle but if I were to learn to knap I may be able to convert it to a pistol flint.

I started out with a couple of sawn flints. The problem is that they are sawn with now little or no regard to the stone's layering. So the only viable way to dress a sawn flint reliably seems to be to use a small diamond pocket hone on the edge.

 

[Patocazador]

A French amber flint came with my .45 long rifle. It lasted over 100 shots .. about 120 if I remember right.
I wish I knew the source for that flint. The English black ones don't last me over about 35 shots .. same with the white chert ones.

 

[midland man]

okay I just got home today as I was by gander mtn, and they had traditions black English flints two In a pkg for $9.99 so I bought two packages that gives me four flints in which I told that guy they were way high but he didn't care! thanks guys i'll check totw!

 

[frontiergander]

french amber

 

[midland man]

okay thanks so French amber and what about agate flints??

 

[EljaySL]

The German agates seem to be love it or hate it. They can last a long time but I don't think you can knap them so once they're done they're done.

Again, I'd say get the English (a dozen) get a couple of French amber just to see if you like them, and then go from there.

 

[Mike OTDP]

It's possible to knap an agate, but I'd agree that your best course is to stick with flint.

 

[44 Dave]

Take a look at what Track Of The Wolf has to choose from https://www.trackofthewolf.com/Search.aspx?search=flints

 

[midland man]

thanks 44 dave the flints I bought the other day was way too long so I had to install them sideways to make them work so I measured them and what I needed was 5/8 by 5/8 square so I wanted to thank you for showing me this page as they have that exact size I needed! https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/141/1/FLINT-ENG-5S