My first boomstick

Exactamundo. Modern smokeless won't explode unless it's contained. It just burns, really fast and really hot but it burns.

Black powder explodes regardless.

A very small amount in the pan might give you the satisfaction of making sparks and a small explosion. Still questionable as to if it's worth the potential risk.

Bookie who I think invented black powder and just recently heard about smokeless seems concerned. That alone would make me very concerned.

If you do it, don't forget the video. Posterity and all ya know. Might be one of them hold my beer and watch this moments.
Actually I think they have a lot of those down in the Corn Patch area, know we did in Missouri.
 
Smokeless would be out of the question because, as I understand it, the sparks from a flint aren't hot enough to light it.

I think I will try to ignite match head powder in the pan. It'll just burn rather than explode so it shouldn't be as dangerous as black powder.
 
Gave it a shot - out of 10 tries I got the match powder to light up. I only used 5 heads worth of matches though, I might have had more success if I used more powder. Some notes:

The matchheads only lit up if I pulverized it to a fine powder. If I just diced it with a knife it wouldn't light.

The flint was throwing most of the sparks over the pan instead of into it.

The flint chipped quite a bit each time.

The flint moved in the jaws no matter how much I tightened the screw.
 
Does the leather have a hole in it so the flint can set against the jaw screw? Send me a pic, please.
 
Sure, I'll take a pic. There's no hole in it, it's just a rectangular piece of leather I folded around the flint.
 
blue lander said:
Yup, I bought a leather pad from Track of the Wolf when I bought the flint.
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:eek: You bought flint? Man I got prolly 2500 pounds of it and I can knap it any shape you want. Let me know if ya run out. Theres twenty pounds laying around in my living room. Dont yall have flint in your living rooms? Yall are weird?

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I think I will take you up on that! I bought two flints and I chipped the heck out of one of them already.
 
Blue, Hang in there. Many times flintss chip or break prematurely because the pad is not set up correctly and or the flint is the incorrect size. Give us a pic of the flint mounted in the jaws and the flint just touching the battery. (Frizzen is a later term.)
 
Ill do some research and make some. Maybe you could test them for me and give me some feedback. Some flint is much tougher than others. Has to do with tensile strength. I have some root beer flint from Texas that has hi tensile strength but sometimes hs inclusions. If you get a clean piece it would prolly last a long time. I have some Georgetown blue flint which is very high grade but breaks pretty dang easily. I have a book that tells me how to make gun flints but a pic of one would be great.
 
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Dang it, I could have sworn I took a pic of the flint just touching the battery but I guess I didn't. I'll take one tonight.

On an unrelated note, I saw some circular disk cap gun caps at the supermarket so I decided to buy some and see if they fit on my percussion cap musket. I put one on the nipple, cocked the gun, and BANG! It was really loud! Way louder than they are with a toy cap gun. My ears are still ringing.
 
Can you measure the length of it from the striking area to the back. It looks like those are made so you can reverse them when the other side wears down. The old ones Ive seen are wedge shaped. Ill try to make you some. Next question is dont yall use Pyrite or is that only for wheel lock? Looks like that one strikes on steel. Pls pardon my ignorance Ive never fired a smoke pole before. I usually throw that flint away by the time it gets that small but since its such good quality id rather make something useful out of it. Cool rifle. Man i got to get me one of them someday.
 
Blue, You have a sawn flint that is double ended. If you are experiencing flint damage after just a few shots, the flint may be too short. The main spring too stiff. Your lock may prefer the bevel up, the flint may need to be longer, or you may need to have a wee bit more leather sticking out on top of the flint. (The last causes more flint damage than you can imagine.)

I believe that your flint is too short and you need a musket sized flint--like for a Brown Bess. The bevel may need to be flipped over, too. You want to obtain the longest scraping distance possible.
 
Thanks Bookie. The flint I bought is 3/4" x 1", it looks like the ones they sell for a Brown Bess is 1-1/8" x 1-1/4".

Ndog, if you think you can knap something up in those dimensions I'd love to try it out! Keep in mind the ones Track of the Wolf sell are only $2.25 a piece so don't bother if it's going to be a hassle.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/141/1
flint-eng-9_0.jpg
 
blue lander said:
Thanks Bookie. The flint I bought is 3/4" x 1", it looks like the ones they sell for a Brown Bess is 1-1/8" x 1-1/4".

Ndog, if you think you can knap something up in those dimensions I'd love to try it out! Keep in mind the ones Track of the Wolf sell are only $2.25 a piece so don't bother if it's going to be a hassle.

https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/141/1
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No problem Blue. Not a hassle at all. Im just picking from my trash pile with the right dimensions and maybe some touch up. Once I figure out how to make them id rather save them up and give them to my buddies than throw them in the rock garden. Im on it. I get the best raw material available for about $3/lb. Most of it ends up in the trash cause I still suck at knapping but im getting better:). Dont wait by the mailbox tomorrow but I will start saving them.

I just checked out that site. I know I can make them. Knappers call them blades before you break them up into sections. You basically make a few notches on each side of the long blade where you want it to break and wrap it on top and it will snap. Ill make you some.


Do tell me what you know doc. Ill keep you in supply as well.
 
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You're correcto mundo, Kamidog. Axel Jorgesen showed me how to knap 10 musket flints at a time using strips of flint. He was extremely fast with his work, but then again he had been knapping for 50+ years.
 
blue lander said:
View attachment 650780View attachment 650779

Dang it, I could have sworn I took a pic of the flint just touching the battery but I guess I didn't. I'll take one tonight.

On an unrelated note, I saw some circular disk cap gun caps at the supermarket so I decided to buy some and see if they fit on my percussion cap musket. I put one on the nipple, cocked the gun, and BANG! It was really loud! Way louder than they are with a toy cap gun. My ears are still ringing.
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Probably because your musket hits them harder. As a kid I remember discovering that you could get multiple strikes out of almost every cap. I'm guessing the musket is particularly thorough in igniting the entire cap at once. I almost wonder if one could set up something like that as a distraction device. Maybe rig it to work with the toy revolver caps, all six at once, and as thorough and loud as the musket for each.
 
I wonder if the toy caps generate enough flame to ignite gunpowder... shipping the real gun caps seems to be a real pain in the butt. The toy ones apparently use a stabilized form of armstrong's mixture.
 
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