All of the flint we sell work well our high carbon strikers however some people want to buy the lowest priced flint (Ohio Flint from Flint Ridge), while others like to use "the same flint as the Mountain Men of the west used (Western Flint or Chert), and some want "to use (arguably) "the best flint available" (Imported Black Brandon Flint from England)

We suggest you base your decision on the following:
 - Lowest Priced - Pick the Ohio Flint
 - What the western Indians used - Pick Western Chert
 - Reportedly "the best flint available" - Pick Imported Brandon Flint

Regardless of which one use choose, we guarantee your satisfaction

Ohio Flint
Pink colored flint used extensively by the Woodland Indians of the Western Reserve in the 1700's

1 piece...$1.75   Add to cart 
2 pieces...$ 3.25  Add to cart
3 pieces...$4.50  Add to cart

Western Flint (Chert)
Grayish thicker rocks with excellent edges

1 piece...$2.25   Add to cart 
2 pieces...$4.25 Add to cart
3 pieces...$5.95  Add to cart
 

Imported English Black "Brandon Flint"
"Thin sharp-edged flakes"

1 piece... $2.75 Add to cart
2 pieces...$5.25 Add to cart 
3 pieces...$6.95 Add to cart

Combination Flint Package

One of each of the Flints we offer
Ohio / Western / English Brandon





$6.50... Add to cart

Technical discussion on
The Difference Between FLINT and CHERT

Minerals The Silica Group
Minerals are the natural crystalline materials that form the Earth and make up most of its rocks. The most important group of minerals involved in the formation of flints/cherts is the Silica Group. This large group includes all minerals with the primary chemical formula 5i02 (silicon dioxide) and is most abundantly represented in nature by pure quartz and its many cryptocrystalline forms.

Cryptocrystalline Quartz
Cryptocrystalline quartz is simply quartz whose crystals are so small that they can only be seen with the aid of a high-power microscope. It is formed geologically from silica that has dissolved from silicate materials. Over geological time, this amorphous silica gel dehydrates to form microscopic crystals and eventually becomes what we know physically as rock. Cryptocrystalline quartz occurs in many varieties. These varieties have been named based on their color, opacity, banding and other observable physical features. Technically speaking, the two varieties that account for the vast majority of "flint" artifact materials are chalcedony and chert.

Chert is composed of larger crystal particles and has a specific gravity similar that of pure quartz. Due to impurities and larger particle sizes, chert is somewhat less "quartz-like" than chalcedony. Chert is duller and more opaque than chalcedony and its luster ranges from non-existant to very waxy, depending on the individual rock formation.

So what is flint? By mineralogical definition, flint is simply black chert. It appears that the term "flint" was originally applied to the high quality black cherts found in England. Over the years names have evolved for local chert formations/deposits that may include the word "flint" and technically speaking these would be incorrect more often than not. The reality of the flint verses chert debate is that in most cases it is something like "splitting hairs", there really is very little difference, chemically speaking. Artifact collectors tend to call materials that have a more waxy luster "flints" and those which have less luster to no luster "cherts". The difference between them lyes in their purity relative to pure quartz and their matrix particle size. The smaller the particle size and the purer the material, the more likely we collectors would be to call the material flint. To a purist, we would be wrong. A generalist would say "close enough".