When I was 8-9 years old we used to look for small "flint stones" among the gravel in our school yard. We selected light couloured round stones and identified the flint by throwing them on concrete and the brittle pieces with shiny particles in them were worth trying to make sparks with. I live near limestone mountains, I guess these rock pieces were from there.
I like having varying sizes of flint, shards for small kits, medium flakes (around palm size) for belt pouch kits and fist sized pieces for at home and camp, and keeping in a back pack and vehicle. Flint is a finite resource and large pieces tend to last longer and don't have to be dressed up as often. I have also gotten to the point of only using medium and large sized pieces these days, just easier to use and work with. While I can use small flakes, even micro shards I now don't really see the need to.
In the field I've used the side of my steel striker to smack small chips off the edge of my chert to make it sharp again. Makes a world of difference in getting enough sparks. Dull chert is useless for sparks.
Small pieces are just as good as the larger pieces; If it has a sharp edge and you can hold it then you can get a spark. I've manage to produce a charcloth ember from a flake of flint no bigger than my little fingernail. Everything is usable!
Larry, I just recently did this, I didn't know about this method, so what I did was put the large flint in the vise, and used a cold chisel and hand sledge, pretty much one or two whacks and I had some nice sharp pieces, of course wear goggles I had pieces flying everywhere.....ty for sharing
Thanks for the feedback. I'm lookin forward to makin some videos for camp projects and ideas. I was out today and experimented with with a couple of smudges. On 1 I used moss and the other punk wood. I found that with an ember on punk wood and covered with moss that's fairly dry makes a great smoke that drives Mosquitos away quickly and isn't unpleasant and doesn't sting your eyes. I used a flat rock for it. A medium tin (cookie tin and not your wife's. )would be perfect for a base camp situation. Thanks again. Chris.
I enjoyed your video very much and thumbs up . OLD guy and Old School - Still using elk antler billets - antler tines and hammer stones . ATB to you Mr. Roberts . Lefty Cat
I differentiate between flint and chert. Flint is rare in most areas, and is far superior to what we commonly call chert. You need to know the difference. Chert is everywhere in my state, but flint is found in only one very, very small area. As for deer antler, it's not used the same way a bopper is used, but for what it is used for, no modern tool is better. Break flint or chert is easy. Deer antler is used for very fine shaping, and whether you're shaping flint, chert (Which is vastly inferior and doesn't shape well at all) or glass, a deer antler is superb. Glass is actually a great way to learn how to knap. Just about every piece of glass can be knapped, can be turned into very fancy arrowheads or other tools, and when you can do this, making a flint and steel kit is child's play.
I don't differentiate too much. Most true flint I've ever heard of is found in Europe. I have seen many larger antlers used as boppers, moose for example. Thanks for watching!
***** I order 5 pound of rocks in mail,got today works very good, big pieces,as big as my hand, thing I am going to leave this big, my hand is numb from neck being broke in car wreck, so it work good, small piece I could not hold..well thanks for video,Ow I tryed o make fire use punt wood and go spark to take on second hit, very happy, wish I could find rock myself, but Richmond does not seem to have rock like this, this is black flint rocks... take care robert...
***** I try again and did not get a fire, and now my flint need to be sharpen, got a lot to learn, I am 61 years old and still learning... thanks for your help sir...
That is so awesome you are trying this. I sure hope if you have any more questions you don't hesitate to ask me. You'll get it man, it just takes practice.
the real difference as i understand it flint is formed in calcium carbonate aka chalk ( white outer layer ) chert is formed in several other matrix's leaving an outer that range from gray to black and some times brown then their is Texas flint not shur on that it aint white outer so how is it flint ? i dont know
Well I was on a job site the other day after watchin the flint video. There was tons of river rock and hunks of limestone around so while I was waiting. I grabbed a hammer stone and some likely looking rocks and started knockin pieces off. Almost immediately I found material that would flake off easily. I tried them when I go home and thanks to your prompting I used different tools I had for striking sparks. ie. condor kephart. My hatchet. A condor bushcraft parang and the handle on a file. I was successful in achieving sparks on all except the file handle (is the steel too hard to have material removed with the chert ?) I know that files are fashioned into strikers but do you keep them as hard as the file was. So long story shortened. I have made a few fires now with flint and steel. I look forward to practicing this. And adding it to m skill set. Thanks for the encouragment. Also I've found that while learning to strike the flint it's not a bad idea to cover the lower knuckles with some tape or use a glove. As I've knicked my knuckle a couple times already. Lol. Thanks again Chris.
Bushcraftcambridge Great to hear about your experiences and practice!! Thats awesome you found so much material that worked for you. As far as the file, lots of folks have told me all they did was smooth the teeth out and presto, instant steel. I on the other hand have tried that multiple times and I had to heat treat my files. As far as the handle goes it very well could be treated differently than the file itself.
the main diff between chert and flint is what you are experiancing. the chert is very hard to work...flint fractures in a predectable way...{to a certain degree lol}
nance harold I didn't notice that much of a difference, but now that you mention it the flint I have from England was a little easier to flake off. The chert worked pretty good though.
***** i am an old fart and don't wander like i used too buuuutttt if i stumble back on my flint source again here in okla i will grab you a good sized nodule...and then we will figure out how we get it to you..but it won't be quick lol.
The main problem in the Upper MidWest is not the types of rock. Rather it is the frost fracturing. That the glaciers reduced most of the knappable rocks to small pieces doesn't help. Nor does the grainy quartz portions of many rocks hereabouts. Cheers!
