✅ SOLVED Gun flint or heart breaker?

[rock]

I just wanted to get different ideas on this find. I find some weird scrapers/ heart breakers and really woundt know if they are gun flints or not. The Civil War was a big part of our history in my area but I dont know if there was any activity in this actual area or not.
So my question is this one I am showing, gun flint or broken other?

 

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[NC field hunter]

From my view it looks like an English gun flint. You have posted some quite similar that I thought were flints and turned out not to be.

 

[GatorBoy]

That's a gun flint.
They are always going to have that basic angular shape.
It was necessary for it to fit properly in the cock.

 

[GatorBoy]

 

[rock]

Thanks this piece did come from N Ga or maybe TN which had allot of action. Thats probably the reason there was only 1 in the collection then.

 

[pannerman]

It's not a gun flint, it's a bipolar core. Look it up. They look exactly like gun flints.

 

[SCrocks]

Looks like a gun flint to me.

 

[kansa54]

I don't believe it is a gunflint. An English gunflint usually exhibits a demi-cone of percussion. Yours does not.

 

[GatorBoy]

OK.. have fun with that rock.

 

[Jon Stewart]

Looks , I will write, similar to a gun flint that they sell at Fflintridge. I think it will work in a gun.

 

[rock]

I wonder how many pieces of artifacts they used as gun flints back in the day. Im guessing they would of made some good ones.

 

[monsterrack]

I think it is a gun flint, but I don't think it is English. The flint from England is translucent to a point. It is a good find

 

[timekiller]

Hey there Rock,nice flint man. Gun flints can be found in many different shapes & sizes depending on the gun it was made for & how long it was used & even what era or period in time it was made.Most of mine below would be some of the earliest to be found.Pretty much all from early colonial sites with a few 1800's in the mix.
Take Care,
Pete,

Here is some sites I had on them in my favorites............Tom Fuller's English Gun Flints are the best in the world! - Track of the Wolf

French Flints, hand knapped - Track of the Wolf

Gunflints (A common artifact type) - Excavating Occaneechi Town: An archaeology primer

Some cool old vidieos for you to enjoy................

 

[unclemac]

if i had found that i would have said "gun flint" and left it at that...how is it not a gun flint?

 

[ROCKateer]

I just wanted to get different ideas on this find. I find some weird scrapers/ heart breakers and really woundt know if they are gun flints or not. The Civil War was a big part of our history in my area but I dont know if there was any activity in this actual area or not.
So my question is this one I am showing, gun flint or broken other?

Hey rock. I actually have a rifle flint and it is a near match, very similar. Nice find.

 

[rock]

Hey rock. I actually have a rifle flint and it is a near match, very similar. Nice find.

Thanks everybody. I do find some scrapers or broken looking pieces that have the same shape. How do you tell if it is a Gun Flint or a scraper? They look the same to me, both show flaking on the sides and a flake removed down the middle or side. I have some "small cores" that now I wonder if they might be gun flints instead. I was always wondering why and how they could make a core so small. Check these out and let me know.

 

[catherine1]

I found this French one in Ohio Rock. Yours looks similar in design. I would say gun flint.

 

[GatorBoy]

Thanks everybody. I do find some scrapers or broken looking pieces that have the same shape. How do you tell if it is a Gun Flint or a scraper? They look the same to me, both show flaking on the sides and a flake removed down the middle or side. I have some "small cores" that now I wonder if they might be gun flints instead. I was always wondering why and how they could make a core so small. Check these out and let me know.

Learning your local material.. and learning the material used for gunflint that has been found in your area .. is a good place to start.
After that finding them and telling the difference gets much easier ... the size and shape do vary .. but there is enough constant similarity to tell the difference between common artifact forms and gunflint.

 

[kansa54]

You need to study how gunflints were manufactured. Just because it has a similar shape does not mean its a gunflint. I have found rocks shaped like arrowheads but they were definately not arrowheads.
The English used a technique in manufacture that was different than the French. French flints are easy to identify because of the honey colored flint. Catherine's is most certainly a French gunflint.
Also, Indian made gunflints usually are described as pillow shaped.

 

[GMD52]

I have to agree with Gator, it's a gun flint, and looks like the one in my Type c smooth bore. Not all flints were uniform and alike, even though the commercial flints were mass produced within the context of the day, each were individually made. One of the best descriptions of the gun flint process , from mining to gun lock, can be found in the book," The Colonial Rifle In America" by Hanson( I believe).....Gary