Chert

tonym

tonym

Joined
Mar 18, 2008
Messages
9,491
A couple of weeks ago someone PM'd me about wanting some Chert.

I stupidly deleted the PM.

Please PM me again who ever that is. I finally got out today and got some more.
 
You should have seen my hammer throwing sparks today as we collected some.



"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
CShepard commented on getting some black flint in the "altoids alternative" thread right after you posted the pic of your drawer o' flint. Was it him?
 
Talfuchre said:
Tony,

This is often what people call flint - correct? Carbon based steel and you have sparks?


TF
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Yup, It is not actually flint, but works the same.


Rupestris said:
CShepard commented on getting some black flint in the "altoids alternative" thread right after you posted the pic of your drawer o' flint. Was it him?
Click to expand...


Could be, but I really have no clue. I can't believe I deleted that pm:o
 
Flint is a type of Chert. :D


So all flint is chert, but not all chert is flint. :rolleyes:




"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
Tony,

This is often what people call flint - correct? Carbon based steel and you have sparks?

TF
Click to expand...

Flint is a type of Chert.


So all flint is chert, but not all chert is flint.
Click to expand...

Correct, I think: Strictly speaking, the term "flint" is reserved for varieties of chert which occur in chalk and marly limestone formations.

Real flint is uncommon / rare / does not occur in North America and the word "flint" is often misused. The Flint Hills of Kansas, for example, are actually covered in white-gray chert. ;)
 
Oh... I wish I had known some of you wanted some good hard rocks appropriate for knapping and for making carbon steel sparks. I had 15 or 20 pounds of obsidian, for trying flintknapping; I decided now was not the time to learn flintnapping, and I recently threw it away. After the snowy passes re-open (somewhere between May and July), I'll be glad get more, to send obsidian to anyone who wants some.
 
From Cherts of Southern Ontario, Betty E. Eley/ Peter H. von Bitter, University of Toronto Press, 1989, ISBN# 0-88854-341-7, page 1:
____________________________________________________________

Composition and Definition of Chert

Chert, a variety of the naturally occurring stable mineral quartz, is composed of silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2 ) and usually contains varying amounts of impurities such as carbonate, clay, carbon, iron or manganese oxides, and iron sulphide. It is crystalline, as opposed to another silica-rich material, obsidian (volcanic glass), which is noncrystalline or amorphous. Chert is a granular crystalline form of quartz, composed of cryptocrystalline and microcrystalline crystals. By contrast, chalcedony is a microfibrous crystalline form of quartz. However, since chert and chalcedony are both composed of quartz crystals, they are considered in this study to be the same mineral. The term "chert," therefore, is used here to refer to all the bedded and nodular deposits in sedimentary rocks that consist of cryptocrystalline, microcrystalline, or microfibrous forms of quartz. Although silica accumulations in chalk deposits have the same, or similar, composition as chert, they are referred to as "flint."
_______________________________________________________________

Doc
 
Sparky’s Mama says: “If it sparks your steel, …it’s the real deal.” :eek:





"If you're not living on the edge, …you're taking up too much space."

Big Mike
 
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Evolute said:
Oh... I wish I had known some of you wanted some good hard rocks appropriate for knapping and for making carbon steel sparks. I had 15 or 20 pounds of obsidian, for trying flintknapping; I decided now was not the time to learn flintnapping, and I recently threw it away. After the snowy passes re-open (somewhere between May and July), I'll be glad get more, to send obsidian to anyone who wants some.
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Nice of you to offer Evolute. I'd love to take you up on this. If I remember, I'll be in touch in June.
 
Rupestris said:
Nice of you to offer Evolute. I'd love to take you up on this. If I remember, I'll be in touch in June.
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If you want some chert to strike a firesteel, I have plenty and can send you some, I may even have enough to nap a small knife if you like.
 
tonym said:
If you want some chert to strike a firesteel, I have plenty and can send you some, I may even have enough to nap a small knife if you like.
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:thumbup:Thats very kind of you Tony. Actually I was looking for some black obsidian. I had seen some tips on splitting it into thin, almost razor like pieces. I was hoping to give it a try.

Maybe after the holidays and things slow down I'll take you up on your offer. I could use a few more winter projects and could always use more learnin' up on things.
 
Ive always heard Indian arrowheads were constructed mostly from flint. Theres a lot of that raw material where I live. It maybe chert but I refer to it as flint. It throws sparks off a firesteel real well.
 
tonym said:
Would you mind emailing me those tips, maybe they will work for the chert I have.
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I'll have to do some digging as I can't remember where I saw it. I did see something on TV along the same lines.

The idea is to take a "core" and use pressure flaking to remove thin strips. In the demonstration I had seen on TV the obsidian core was secured horizontally and pressure was put on the end near the edge. IIRC, the piece was a few inches long and maybe 1" wide. The end results was thin blades that looked like this:
Obsidian%20Trinidad%20Blades.jpg


They were almost thin enough to see through but razor sharp. I'll keep looking and let you know what I find.
 
Rupestris said:
I'll have to do some digging as I can't remember where I saw it. I did see something on TV along the same lines.

The idea is to take a "core" and use pressure flaking to remove thin strips. In the demonstration I had seen on TV the obsidian core was secured horizontally and pressure was put on the end near the edge. IIRC, the piece was a few inches long and maybe 1" wide. The end results was thin blades that looked like this:
Obsidian%20Trinidad%20Blades.jpg


They were almost thin enough to see through but razor sharp. I'll keep looking and let you know what I find.
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It seems that anything with a concoidal fracture, flint, chert, obsidian, hard arkansas stone, coke bottles, will make points for arrows or knife blades. I do not think that glass will throw a spark but all the others will.

I sold a lot of hard arkansas "flilnts" to the muzzleloading crowd in the 1960s cut to a 45 degree angle for a sharp edge.
 
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