Kutter, that is a great description of the process, with a lot of detail. The right temper of the frizzen is critical and I am not sure my guns have ever had it just exactly right.

Along the lines of dealing with suddenly ineffective flint, I find that I can usually beg a spark by tapping along the flint's edge, while still in the lock, using the back of a pocket knife blade. It will take off very small flakes. This procedure might save your bacon on the line or while drawing down an buck (I have done both), but it eventually will cease to work when the flint's bevel gets too steep, and get gets a little steeper every time you do it, because the flakes are so small and do not travel the entire face of the bevel. At that point, a new flint or a major reshaping with a knapping tool (of which there are many) is in order. The advantage of this method, is that everyone has a pocket knife handy at all times.

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BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)
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