Wanted: Flint
The flint in my flint and steel striker kit has worn down and I need a new piece of flint. In fact, I'd like several pieces of nice flint.
I bought my Hudson Bay Steel Striker kit from DB Primitive Forgeworks (I highly recommend them - terrific service).
After I intially ran out of charcloth, I posted on how to make your own charcloth.
But I don't know how to make my own flint. I suppose I'd need to exert tremendous pressures and apply high temperatures to certain minerals etc.... But I simply don't have the time on the geological time scale and effort that this would take.
So.
Please for the love of all that is bushcrafty, would someone please send me some flint. I'll reciprocate with a bushcraft piece of kit that I think is reasonable - suggestions are welcome.
Please. Please. Please.
I can't figure out - despite my massive Googley abilities - where to find some in the Toronto region. No geology shops. No flint deposits sitting at the end of my garden. No secret agent Peter Flint giving me flint (who read Warlord comics as a kid?).
Please - I want flint.
Ask, and ye shall receive - right?
Cheers,
Mungo
12 comments:
Wish you'd said that last week. The beach was made of it!
SBW
I'll hook you up brother!!!
check any office or buildings that have small rocks in the landscaping. i snagged a softball sized rock from an office, split it out and it sparks like champ.
Send me your mailing address to greyfeather40@aol.com and I can send you some. You probably do have flint in your vicinity, in some form, you just have to know how/where to look for it. Around here, any parking lot made of crushed limestone almost always has flint pieces in it. It is the silica in the rock that makes it spark, many types of rock have this.
http://nehawkaprimitiveskills.blogspot.com/2008/11/flintknapping-101-reading-rock.html
Perhaps your current flint could be sharpened after some study.
Not my site listed, but this guy knows what he is talking about.
I've used plenty of other rocks besides flint. I'm sure you can find something on the ground near you. Look for rocks that are white or "quartzy" looking. You might need to break them with another rock to get a nice sharp edge, then you'll be on your way.
I have one of those ones with the magnesium. You shave off some first.
If you figure out how to identify flint in it's natural (ie un-knapped) form be sure to let us know. I looked around by the local river, but couldn't find any. On the other hand, without the flint being broken open, I'm not sure I'd be able to identify it with certainty!!!
http://www.neolithics.com/index.html
Oddly, I recalled your post here and, likewise, I was briefly in need of a new flint as well. I was out recently and lost my flint while out and about experimenting with a new steel and flint set (I'm new to bushcraft in general).
I live in the mid-Atlantic (MD) and I remembered the comment made by theblackdane and foraged about in the local woods looking for white/quartzite like stones. I found a milky quartzite conglomeration of some sort (mostly quartz) and broke it until I had some sharp shards. It throws nice, bright sparks off of my steel.
Ironically, I found my flint afterwards and compared; can't say the flint was all that much better - perhaps just a little? So there you have it: flint is optional. Hope this helps?
The Suburban Bushwacker - I wish we had flinty beaches here in Toronto... I need to return home and see what they have in good ol' England.
PJ - Excellent, thanks!
Wildcat - I've poked around at work, and spent some time looking suspicious on Thursday afternoon after work examining stones in the parking lot. We'll see...
Mark - thank you very much - I really appreciate it. My mailing address is on its way to you! And vice versa so I can return the favour...
Anonymous - Nehawka Primitive Skills is a terrific blog, I was just reading it tonight. Thanks for the heads up!
theblackdane - you're right, I've found some quartzite stones that work really well. I'll poke around for some here.
Bad Economy - yes, the magnesium ones are terrific. I always carry one when I go camping, as a backup.
Ælwyn - I've heard that flint has a certain 'ringing' to it when it is not full of inclusions and cracks. But then again, there's no flint around for me to confirm... ah well!
Josh - Brilliant, thanks for this web site - I have never come across it before. I will poke around and see what they have.
Darrell - your suggestion totally helps. I have a piece of milky white quartzite that works, and can locate this more easily than flint. I just find that flint is better consistently, but then it only takes one spark, right?
Thank you everyone for your kind and thoughtful comments.
If I get in touch with Mark, I'll provide an update.
Cheers,
Mungo
You do not need to use flint, in fact in many cases it was not flint that was used in the 18th century. You should be able to find chert or agate or even quartz, any of those hard rocks will work. As a matter of interest I believe that when they search the original Hudson Bay stores records they found no record of flint chards being ordered, just musket flints. So either people were using the musket flints or they were finding their own rocks.
Regards, Le loup.
Don't forget it is easy to knap an old flint/rock to sharpen the edge.
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