I had a Dixie Gun Works flintlock rifle back in the '60s when I was about 15. The only place I knew where to get gun flints was Dixie, and in those days, mail order only. Since I had no money for them anyway, I walked around, and picked up rocks that had a "flinty" look to them-then I would knock flakes off the rocks with a hammer, and shape the flakes to size with a couple of pliers. My flints had a nice sharp edge, although usually quite thin, so they might not last as long as a "real" gun flint, but they worked well enough, and they were free.
As a side note, flint and glass have very similar properties. Although glass has additives in many cases. I believe the green color comes from the presence of seaweed or algie found in the sand that was used. Adding gold,yes gold , produces a red glass. My father worked in a glass house and belonged to the flint and glass workers union. A testiment to their relationships. While they can both be knapped, polished, and ground in the exact same way. It might be that the additives or impurities of the glass affect the ability to spark. Lead was also used in some processes which would greatly reduce it's ability to spark, I would think. Interesting subjuct as always.
Great video as always. Just a quick note for someone who is new to flintlocks. Bevel up or down doesn’t matter but you want your flint to strike the frizzen 3/4 of the way up for optimal speed, efficiency and sparks. So what ever places your flint 3/4 way up you want bevel up or down.
Interesting video, I have been looking for some native flint or chert to try making gunflints with... may try some of the old broken points I have... as always entertaining and informative...
Indeed brother here in the Ouachita of Arkansas I have found flints that are biracial napped from black novaculite. They were mixed from musket Flint To pistol. I knew they were Flint's for guns but didn't quite understand the bifacial napping. Thanks for your video and bringing light to my little discoveries
What a fascinating topic! I just made my very first gun flint and used it last week. It worked although not for very long. This video inspires me to keep trying.
Living in Texas, and knowing what flint looks like, I made my own from rocks I find. Use a wet saw , cut them to the right size and knap the striking end. Look for bull gravel, it had flint in it. I get about 50 shots before I, either change it,or resharpen it.
We can learn many things of from our ancestors, they by necessity had to repurpose every thing they could. I imagine something as simple as shirt or other article of clothing being reused until nothing was left
I have often thought about a “behind the scenes” and I will one day for sure. A lot of it honestly is reading a book and then drilling into the footnotes. From there it’s either my library, google books, jstor, or academia.
@@thedeerskindiaryRiver Rock makes a good point, HOW to research is rarely brought up. To your point in your reply and what you mentioned in the video is that digging into the other references in a book (footnotes, bibliography) you can follow a line of corroborating intelligence BUT other sources (like your archeological research) may also need to be verified by experimentation. Hats off to you Sir!!! Is there a video on knapping gun flints in the works?
This is really fascinating and especially interesting to me for a key reason - I have a theory that the obsidian blades that lined the edges of the Aztec/mesoamerican swords (called macuahuitl) were more similar to gun flints than prismatic scalpel blades - that is to say, developed to be robust enough to repeatedly strike hard material (i.e. bones and teeth). The bi-facial knapping on those flints would make for a robust edge on an edged weapon like the macuahuitl. With the pre-existing skill and knowledge base for making stone edged tools/weapons being widespread throughout America , the knapping is better put to use making gun flints in the post flintlock era. Thanks for the video.
I have some green glass bottle fragments collected from colonial sites. It's probably a different composition than modern glass. I can ship you some if you're interested.
Another great video! Thank you. This video, like all your others, really helps lead the "living historian" away from suttler-supplied gear and equipment and deeper into the world of living history. Great stuff.
@@thedeerskindiary I've also noticed now, flints are getting scarce and expensive. I see on Track of the Wolf, if you're buying English flints, they're getting pricey and scarce. It wouldn't shock me if like last year we have shortages.
Great information, and a great history lesson. I realize there were match lock muskets but the advent of the Flintlock was a game changer for two hundred years. Flints were standard equipment for the firearm, just as powder and ball.
Good video. I read a lot of those Lamar Institute archaeological reports when I was writing my dissertation. The flints recovered at those sites played an important role in my research.
Thanks for sharing that. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of focus that they put into the topic and their enthusiasm was contagious. What was your dissertation in?
@@thedeerskindiary I wrote about the Americanization of war in the Colonial South. Basically, I examined how Anglo-Americans in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia adapted their military tactics to meet the conditions of warfare that were unique to this continent. Those archaeological reports showed that the Colonial Rangers in Georgia and South Carolina (not to be confused with the Highland Rangers stationed in Georgia) were using Indian Trade Guns instead of the Brown Bess Pattern Muskets issued to British troops. This was made evident by examining the types of flints found at those locations and cross referencing with written sources to see what types of troops were stationed there (Colonial or British).
Excellent video. From my experience, English and French flint is superior to the local chert here in Oklahoma. I wonder if the greater amounts of European gunflints in the archaeological digs are because of increased availability, better quality, or the Natives gradually losing their flint knapping skills through an increased reliance on European goods ? Just some thoughts, thank you for a thought provoking channel !
Thanks for the kind words. I suspect that imported flints were in great abundance and easy to get but I think that changes during the Rev war and the farther west you went.
Do you think their would be a difference in sparking capability between soda-lime glass & borosilicate glass? Natives in the Great Lakes would crush glass beads made from soda- lime glass into powder & heat them up into a liquid state and make their own beads.
I was surprised that the glass refused to work at all. But your investigation reminded me of a thought that I had a few years back. I wondered if a old file would work as a "flint " ? And would it be to hard on the hardened face of the frizzen and wear it out to fast ?
Hmm…..maybe? I would think that it would wear out a frizzen quickly and have mixed results. If it wouldn’t work well on a fire steel I bet it wouldn’t here either.
Obsidian is on the same hardness scale as steel itself and a lot more brittle. It will shatter pretty spectacularly on the first go around even if it sparks. Be safe if you try it!
Howdy, really This was a really great educational video! By the way, I like the neckerchief been thinking of making one for my persona. Have a couple a large section of cotton/linen laying around Mind sharing approx. dimensions?
@@thedeerskindiary ....paleoman52 on youtube has an excellent video on gunflints and even shows how to build a simple jig.....worth looking at if still available.
You might be interested to know that there is another archaeological case of green bottle glass knapped into a gunflint. I found one while doing archaeological work at a Napoleonic fort in England. I don't think it was for gunflint making practice, as they were made commercially at the time. I wondered though if it was the equivalent of a dummy round for flintlock drill practice. As you've found out it won't strike a spark, so you could do the full drill without expending powder, or endangering anyone. I'd be interested in your thoughts.
Well this is fascinating now. Obviously there was value to them on some level. I thought about the dummy flint idea also. In the report summary I read the archeologist from the Lamar Institute states that glass gunflints were a topic until themselves. I may see if I can find his contact info.
It depends a lot on the flint. The quartz was pretty flaky so it hasn’t held up quite as well. The chert has been okay but dulls quickly. The French and British I get dozens of shots each.
@@thedeerskindiary as long as they have a glassy look, they seem to work fine. I have over a 100 shots on the one I,m using now on a Northwest trade gun.
