Resharpen That Flint

I use quartz here too. The Mohawk valley here in NY is home of someone the worlds finest gem quality quartz. Known as herkimer diamonds.... I have buckets of less than gem quality that I use with a steel striker.... knife.... axe etc always throws an awesome spark

You can also use a diamond sharpening stone, it will sharpen a flint, I used this method when I shot Flintlock rifles

Your easy style of teaching shows me that you really care about having us learn.

The nail is a great idea. I bought an awl some guy made with a nail and a broomstick piece for $2 at a re-enactment. It’s one of the most useful tools I own. Put a wine cork over the nail when not in use. Because nail points are clipped and angular, it works great like a drill. Thanks for the educational video. I’m going to make one and try it.

Thanks Dan , I have learned more from you than any other bushcrafter on U tube. Take care and happy holidays !

I bought a box of rocks. Or I thought that's what I was getting, but I got the whole rock. A 3 lb rock. Now I have to find a hammer stone and learn about spalling flint. Too funny, but as usual educational. These videos are informative. Dan Wowak, you rock. : )

My town sources their gravel from a quarry that evidently has a lot of chert in it. There's pieces of good, hard, spark-throwing rock on every trail and town parking lot within a 5-mile radius of me. 😁

Great info! Ty for sharing how to put an edge on flint. I just got my first set and am going to practice

That was awesome ! I've been trying to figure out how to sharpen my flints , and this popped up in my stream today. You are a good instructor. I actually learned, and it worked great. Thanks very much!

Great vid. Thnx for uploading this. And what Bronze Kneecap said...you're the best man. Good holydays and greetings from The Netherlands.

Hey Dan, you teach easy to understand good skills and information of what is reasonably inexpensive for equipment that works for different tasks just as I like to do. Great video brother and keep up all your good work and effort!

A large nail is reasonable for pressure flaking but it doesn't have the gripping ability that a copper ended pressure flaker has. It still works fine though. I have both a wooden pressure flaker I made myself with a maybe 3mm + thick copper rod in the end of it, and a 5 inch nail which is no longer pointed but instead is rounded in my flint knapping bag. A nail or a copper rod can both be easily cold worked with a hammer into a finer end if you want to take off smaller flakes, though a copper point is going to be worn away a lot faster than a mild steel nail point. For my 5 inch nail flaker I simply cut an appropriately sized piece of bamboo and slipped it onto the nail so the pointed end was sticking out of the end an inch or so. It seems to work fine.

Thank you for such a quick response to my question and I appreciate the home made tool lesson even more!

Good info I am new to using flint and steel your videos are very helpful thanks.

One thing of note, if you're gonna pressure flake it's a bad idea to do it in a place that isn't well ventilated. This is more dangerous with flintknapping but it can be a problem if you try to sharpen a lot at once. Always pressure flake in a place with a lot of circulating air, otherwise you might get rock dust in your lungs.

Thanks Dan. Appreciate the quick and comprehensive response. Got to admit I never thought of purchasing flint. I was more focused on trying to make what I find locally work. Enjoy your holidays.

I look forward to your videos. Good information and I think you do a good job. Keep'em coming.

Your videos are very good. Thanks!

Very good. Thank you very much. Dan, Someone on Utube stated that granite will also produce sparks. I am a very experienced Soldier and backpacker, but new to bushcrafting. I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it and even a "beginner" like me got sparks. The granite doesn't seem to work as well as the flint, but it does work.

Thanks a lot for the trick and homemade pressure flaker