Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,455
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 4, 2009 12:25:40 GMT -5
Howdy folks, The other day I received a wonderful parcel from one of our members, Agatemaggot. Harley and I chat frequently on the phone for long enough to piss our wives off because we're both err .....somewhat long winded, me especially! ( putting it mildly) Harley, who is a really generous person, knows of my serious lack of mechanical ability and was kind enough to send me another wonderful set of knapping tools to replace the ones I've pretty much mangled trying to knap our gulldarned tough Texas flint. In addition, he sent me some wonderful material to practice on. Thanks Harley!!!! Here a a couple of pics. Three practice preforms and some really pretty "heat treated" novaculite and burlington flint hunks. The novaculite is almost pretty enough to cab. Here's a sample of Harley's sense of humor about the dadgum tough as nails flint I have here locally.
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WyckedWyre
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since April 2007
Posts: 1,391
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Post by WyckedWyre on Oct 4, 2009 14:36:13 GMT -5
HAHAHA. Love this.
;DS
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Post by montanamuskrat on Oct 5, 2009 1:33:27 GMT -5
My son and I use it to show Scouts how to build fires. Most around here are hard enough to make a good spark but not hard enough for my flintlock. It works in a pinch, but the flint form the UK is harder. Tom
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Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,455
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Post by Sabre52 on Oct 5, 2009 19:51:54 GMT -5
Tom, I used to make agate flints for my flintlock too. They did spark well but as you've said, the good old British flints are nicer and more durable.....Mel
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Oct 22, 2009 12:45:10 GMT -5
I was going through some studies on English Flint makers and the article stated that the daily average for one of their Knappers was 2000 gun flints PER DAY ! It said they used a thing called a Macadamian Flint hammer. I made a pair of the hammers shown in the article, but, I haven't learned to control the darn things as yet. So far I have learned to reduce large pieces of hard rock into edible size pieces in an amazingly short time.
Maybe I should market these things to people with rock hobby interests ?
Harley
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Post by Toad on Oct 22, 2009 12:59:48 GMT -5
Edible size??? Might hurt on the way out (and in for that matter)
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agatemaggot
Cave Dweller
Member since August 2006
Posts: 2,195
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Post by agatemaggot on Oct 23, 2009 13:05:08 GMT -5
Figure of speech !
The hammers were invented by a Scottish engineer by the name of Macadamian . He was the man that also invented the Blacktop road . (Macadan ) for short ! They look like a Donut with a handle on it that is inserted through the hole. There are 2 types, one looks like a regular donut with a handle and the other is similar but the head is shaped down to a fairly sharp edge all the way around. They seem to crack rock with a lot less effort than a standard rock hammer.
Harley
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Post by parfive on Oct 23, 2009 13:43:49 GMT -5
Macadamians are tasty, expensive, and useless for firearms. John McAdam invented blacktop - tarmacadam.
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Fossilman
Cave Dweller
Member since January 2009
Posts: 20,676
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Post by Fossilman on Oct 25, 2009 9:20:55 GMT -5
I was going through some studies on English Flint makers and the article stated that the daily average for one of their Knappers was 2000 gun flints PER DAY ! It said they used a thing called a Macadamian Flint hammer. I made a pair of the hammers shown in the article, but, I haven't learned to control the darn things as yet. So far I have learned to reduce large pieces of hard rock into edible size pieces in an amazingly short time. Maybe I should market these things to people with rock hobby interests ? Harley Yes you should.................. ;D
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