Flint properties: magic, lithotherapy and healing water. Description of silicon stone

Flint stone is a fine-grained silicon dioxide. This stone is one of the first stones that people began to use. It was with its help that our ancient ancestors received the first fire and learned how to cook boiled food, heat their homes. From it they made the tips for their arrows for hunting ancient animals. So what kind of stone is this, what properties are attributed to it, and what benefits can it bring to us today?

What stone is flint

Flint is a sedimentary rock composed of silica (SiO 2 ). Small fossils can often be found in the stone. The color of the stone varies from white to black, but the most common is gray, brown, gray-brown. There are stones of light green and red shades. This diversity is due to inclusions of trace elements, most often iron and manganese.

Flint is a type of chalcedony with various inclusions. This is a very hard stone. On the Mohs scale, its hardness is 7 units.

Do not confuse the name of the stone flint with the chemical element silicon. Although there is silicon in the stone, it is present in it in the form of oxide. How this stone was formed is not exactly known. But it is believed that its formation occurred as a result of a chemical reaction in compressed sedimentary rocks.

This stone can be found all over the world. You can find it at the bottom of the oceans and seas.

The name of the flint comes from the Latin word "sgetage", which means to burn. As mentioned above, it was with the help of this stone that a person learned to make fire. Their first tools were also made of flint.

Properties of flint stone

From the earliest times, people attribute extraordinary healing and magical properties to this stone.

The healing properties of flint stone

Black stone has healing properties. It is believed that if such a stone is lowered into water, then it acquires healing properties, does not deteriorate for a long time and does not bloom.

Since ancient times, black flint was placed in tubs with pickles. Unfortunately, there is no scientific data on the healing properties of the stone. Maybe they just didn't get it.

Yet our ancestors were far from stupid. They accurately noticed all the changes that took place without any instruments.

Mongolian healers believed that a stone applied to the area of ​​the solar plexus could cure some gastrointestinal diseases.

The stone is also credited with the ability to cure diseases of the kidneys and bladder stones, rheumatism and relieve spasms.

Black flint removes shyness, heals sadness, and affects the intimate sphere.

The magical properties of flint stone

The flint stone has long been used in sacred ceremonies, it served as the personification of all the power of the gods. With him, the dead were escorted to another world, so that they would find allies and defenders there.

It prevents nightmares, removes curses and helps the sick to recover.

Our ancestors believed that flint uplifts the spirit and gives strength, cuts off everything past and obsolete, heals wounds from past spiritual and bodily experiences and illnesses, and gives integrity to the individual physically and emotionally. No wonder they say, strong as flint.

Travelers took flint with them, as it was believed that it would protect them from adversity, attacks and other troubles that often accompanied them at that time. It was also believed that being far from their home would not let them forget it.

In those days, the stone symbolized a strong connection with Mother Earth, who received in her womb and gave masculinity and femininity.

He was hung over the door from protection from evil spirits and curses. It helps victims of violence and mental trauma, dispels negativity and feelings.

This stone is suitable for almost all people. Its powerful energy makes people strong and courageous, develops enterprise, helps to overcome shyness, increases activity and efficiency.

This stone is able to endow its owner with wisdom and strength, the ability to defend one's point of view, and helps to make the right decision.

The flint stone is ruled by the planet Mars and represents fire. Zodiac sign - Scorpio.

Flint is suitable for military and lawyers, politicians and teachers, doctors. Such people need to be honest, courageous and fair. It is these qualities that this stone can give.

Native American Indians widely used flint in their ritual and magical rites.

By hitting stone against stone several times, they believed that a headache could be cured.

The Irish believed that flint blades in silver protected the house from evil spirits.

In Scandinavia, flint knives in silver were revered as family gods, protecting the entire family family.

Midwives poured beer through the holes in the flint for an easy and safe delivery.

In Egypt, the first cut before embalming was made with a flint knife.

In England, flint was hung to protect livestock so that cows' milk would not be lost from fright during a thunderstorm.

In Ireland, flint water was sprinkled on sick people and livestock.

In Brazil, flint is still used today to predict places with gold and treasures.

In the Middle Ages, any woman who found a flint arrowhead became the main healer of the entire village where she lived.

These are the amazing properties of this hard flint stone. Doubt? Then re-read Hans Andersen's fairy tale about the flint and flint again.

In Latin, the word "flint" means to burn, and not by chance. This stone gives a spark. A hard and strong mineral, when exposed, gives fire and a characteristic smell. But a man noticed a stone not only because of the fire, breaking the mineral, you can get thin and sharp layers, so primitive tools were made from flint.

In magical circles, flint is considered a symbol of confidence and strength. He suppresses apathy, phlegm, and even makes a leader out of a modest person. Some use the mineral to know themselves. Self-improvement, self-analysis become easier and more balanced with flint.

The place where the owner wears flint jewelry affects the magical properties of the stone. For the development of purposefulness, leadership qualities and influence among others, products are worn around the neck. A stone near the heart will make the owner kinder and softer, will convey through itself love and tranquility to the owner and loved ones.

The mineral is a talisman for travelers, it saves them from bad weather, deceit and makes the road calm and cheerful. Accumulating negativity in itself and emitting positive, flint is often used as a home keeper. It is recommended to place the mineral in the middle of the house so that it distributes energy to all rooms of the dwelling.

Who suits the zodiac sign: compatibility in astrology

The mineral affects every sign of the zodiac. The stone has a negative meaning only for Pisces, so those born in the February-March period should be more careful. It is easier to track who the pebble fits according to the horoscope in the table.

Zodiac signs	Influence Characteristics
Aries	Aries is the owner of leadership qualities, so it is important to develop and strengthen them. Astrologers advise wearing a ring with a pebble in order to gain additional strength from the outside and use it in time.
calf	Taurus and flint are similar in their hardness, this is a stubborn sign of the Zodiac, for which the opinion of others is important. Jewelry with a mineral will help make the owner's opinion decisive for others.
Twins	Gemini in the role of the owner of the amulet will become sincere and honest in dialogue with others, and at the same time will be able to avoid quarrels when expressing personal opinions. Additional bonuses include improving the figure and posture.
Cancer	Flint can be useful to crayfish entrepreneurs, success will begin to accompany in all matters, and what has been started will be successfully completed. The stone saturates with strength, energy and helps to establish relationships with those with whom it has not been possible to find a common language for a long time.
a lion	The hardships of life Lviv disappear when the mineral appears. Confidence and steadfastness drown out mental pain, the energy given to the stone allows you to be firm and overcome any difficulties.
Virgo	A gentle Virgo mineral will help build strong relationships that will provide her with emotional nourishment. With a stone, she will find a job to her liking and reveal her potential.
Scales	The amulet will put Libra's self-esteem in order, thereby allowing you to relate more realistically to the world around you and avoid problems. Every risk will be justified and will not be useless.
Scorpion	For a scorpion, a pebble in your pocket will be a good companion. It will provide new opportunities for development, set the owner on the right wave. Scorpio will become more charming, others will not be able to refuse him anything.
Sagittarius	A talented archer will get rid of embarrassment and prejudice, thereby showing himself to the world. Difficult choices will become easier, and the desired will almost effortlessly fall into the hands of Sagittarius.
Capricorn	Capricorn is a strong personality, but he lacks trust and attention. Flint will eliminate shortcomings, make the owner open and sincere. Capricorn's career will go uphill.
Aquarius	Vulnerable and sympathetic Aquarius sometimes becomes a victim himself. Flint will not allow people to use the naivety of Aquarius, and the owner seems to be the right and devoted people. Physical strength will also develop.
Fish	Flint is not recommended for fish, because this sign is soft, and the stone will only give it unusual aggression, from which the owner may suffer.

What color and how it looks: varieties of stone

Impurities in the mineral affect how the pebble looks. The first characteristic is color. It is represented by a diverse range of shades from white-yellow to brown-black, sometimes decorated with stripes or other patterns. But most often flint is monophonic.

Flint is classified into four types:

• Siliceous quartz.
• Chalcedony quartz.
• Opal chalcedony.
• Opal.

Interesting species are found in the south of Kazakhstan, where they are seen in shades of rose, lilac, burgundy and blood.

How much: price

Flint is bought in the form of small tumbling and put in a pocket, this is typical for men who do not like to wear pendants and bracelets. The price of such an accessory varies from three hundred rubles and above.

It is difficult to say how much flint jewelry costs, since it all depends on the size of the mineral and the complexity of the work.

Opal beads from Peru with a bead diameter of 1 cm and a jewelry length of 48 cm cost 4,700 rubles, and a ring made of Namibian rose quartz in a silver frame costs 7,300 rubles.

Products and decorations made of stone and its application

A person has been familiar with the mineral for many years, which means one thing - a use has been found for the pebble. A beautiful break allows you to create amazing jewelry compositions: rings, beads, earrings, bracelets.

The mineral is good for women because it is common in just those shades that almost every one of them is combined with the color of the wearer's eyes. On the Russian market, tumbling and balls are common.

Natural flint appears in the composition:

• Cufflinks.
• pendant.
• Buttons.
• Caskets.
• Candlesticks.
• Walls and floors of buildings.

Medicinal properties: are they?

Raw silicon has strong medicinal properties, in some species after processing they become dull or become pronounced. The mineral is used during mental therapies, for the healing of fractures and burns.

In high esteem among physicians, an aqueous solution of silicon, which can become an antiseptic and a remedy against harmful microbes. When used, the function of blood restoration, treatment of the digestive system, and prevention of infections is performed.

How to distinguish a fake: authenticity check

Analogues of stones are divided into three types:

• Synthetic.
• Fake.
• Imitations.

It is difficult to define synthetic ones, but they say this about them - if there is a lot of shine and no overflows, then you have a replica. Imitations are glass and plastic, tactile sensations will help determine the authenticity: the longer the stone heats up in a clenched hand, the more original it is.

Mineral deposits

The mineral is found all over the globe, and its deposits are present in almost all countries. Belarus. Kazakhstan, Germany, the US and Russia boast large reserves. In the Russian Federation, flint is mined in the Moscow region, the Tver region, and Belgorod.

The origin of the stone affects the color and pattern.

Care and storage

Flint is a relatively cheap but strong mineral. It does not require special care, so it is enough to wear it carefully, do not drop it once again and store it in a dry, dark place.

Useful video

Flint is a common rock, consisting mainly of cryptocrystalline quartz. Often described as a type of chalcedony. Since prehistoric times, this stone has been used by people to make fire. Perhaps this is where the origin of its modern Russian name comes from (Latin "kremare" - to burn).

According to another version, the etymology of the term is connected with the Greek. the word "kremnos" - a rock, a cliff. Synonyms: opal pebble, gesite, spark, fiery stone, ~ horn, fireman, flint, silexite, cynopel, flint, eolith.

According to the composition, four varieties of flint are distinguished - quartz-chalcedony, quartz-siliceous, opal and opal-chalcedony. In addition to chalcedony and opal, flint usually contains other varieties of quartz - quartzine. Impurities of calcite and iron oxides are also characteristic - and.

The color of flint is predominantly brownish-brown or dark gray, but can be very diverse: cherry red, yellowish brown, dark chocolate, bluish, grayish green.

The black color is due to impurities of organic substances. In thin chips it sometimes shines through. According to the nature of the coloring, flints are divided into monophonic, striped and patterned.

It is formed from colloidal solutions saturated with silicon in the voids of already formed rocks, as well as as a result of the redeposition of silica gel on the bottom of sea basins, therefore, in the form of inclusions, it often contains skeletons of sea urchins and radiolarians, shell valves, spicules of sea sponges and other organic remains, which are millions of years accumulated at the bottom of the warm ancient seas.

It usually occurs as interbeds, concretions, and spherical nodules in limestones, dolomites, and other sedimentary rocks. Concretions can have the most diverse, often very intricate shape; their size reaches a meter in diameter. Brushes sometimes form in the voids of nodules.

At Russian exhibitions, products made from flint mined in the Moscow region, Tver and Belgorod regions are often exhibited. In South Kazakhstan (Zhambyl region) there are flints of the most diverse colors: gray, black, yellowish, pink, deep red, brown, lilac. There are deposits of ornamental varieties in the Crimea, Belarus (Grodno region).

In Europe, the oldest source of flint is the mines on the island of Rügen, located off the Baltic coast of Germany. Many brightly colored ornamental flints are being developed in the United States. Some of them have their own trade names: "prairie agate" from Nebraska, "parrot jasper" and sierranite from California, mozarkite from Missouri, etc.

Nowadays, flint is widely used in the production of ceramics, abrasive and building materials, as well as an ornamental stone. Unusual coloring, intricate patterns of peculiar color combinations, high hardness and good polishability put it on a par with, as well as with, and others.

Flint is well known to everyone. It can be found anywhere - in the forest or on the banks of the river, on a plowed field or in a summer cottage. This is one of the most common, and at the same time one of the most amazing and mysterious stones on the planet.

The age of the most ancient flint products is unknown. Man processes it for as long as he himself exists on the planet. Already the first, barely processed flint axes became an important weapon of primitive people in the struggle for survival.

By the end of the ice age (about 10 thousand years ago), man already used a whole arsenal of stone tools: arrowheads and darts, axes, knives, side-scrapers, spinners, chisels, drills, and a host of other useful things, the purpose of which is difficult for us to understand.

Of course, already in those days people used many other stones: jade, volcanic glass (obsidian), chalcedony, jadeite, jasper, rock crystal, amber. And yet it was flint that dominated in the products of the primitive era. And not only because of its wide distribution.

This stone has not only high hardness, but also a very significant viscosity. Due to this very viscosity, it does not shatter upon impact into small fragments, but splits into plates with a sharp cutting edge. And finally, due to the same hardness and toughness, combined with low thermal conductivity, flint instantly heats up at the point of a sufficiently strong impact and sparks fly from it.

True, in order to kindle a fire, flint alone is not enough - the sparks are too cold for this. Here, the ancient man came in handy with another fiery stone - pyrite (aka iron or sulfur pyrites), which became the world's first flint. Shards of flint and pyrite are often found among the ashes from fires blazing in the Stone Age. Having mastered the fire, people were no longer afraid of either wild animals or the winter cold, which means they could move north, developing new, previously inaccessible lands.

Flint gave the ancient man everything he needed to survive: weapons for hunting and fighting predators, tools and fire! It turns out that in the history of mankind there was no stone more precious than flint. It was he who became the very first ore: archaeologists find flint mine workings of the Neolithic.

Flint flint flint has been in demand at all times, and not only for kindling fire: flintlock guns and pistols have served man for many centuries and went out of circulation relatively recently. Of course, in our time, matches and lighters have completely replaced the stone flint and flint. After all, the cylinders that give a spark in lighters are only called flints, but they are made from ferrocerium or mischmetal.

It would seem that everything should be known about such a widespread and useful stone as flint.

But this is far from true. Since time immemorial, people have noticed that in pits lined with flint, products retain their freshness longer. Our ancestors laid out the bottom of the wells with flint, because they knew that the water from this becomes as clean and fresh as in a forest spring. To stop bleeding, in the old days, a piece of flint was applied to the wound or sprinkled with flint powder.

In recent decades, it has become fashionable to attribute healing properties to stones. And absolutely anyone. To please the public, minerals containing highly toxic and radioactive substances are also endowed with healing power. You read and just marvel at how beneficial arsenic, mercury, lead, uranium can be for health ...

However, in addition to such nonsense, there are real legends about the treatment of stones, including those with a quartz composition - flints, chalcedony, opals, jaspers, carnelians, agates. And these legends did not arise from scratch - they have a very real basis.

Nowadays, when it comes to the healing properties of flint, they primarily mean stones of opal-chalcedony composition, which contain more organic impurities and therefore have a dark gray or black color. Contained in them was formed from the remains of prehistoric animals and plants, retaining organic matter.

Being immersed in water, such flint somehow inhibits the activity of microorganisms contained in it. In addition, it precipitates harmful impurities from the water, such as zinc and lead compounds. It is believed that it is the remains of organic substances contained in this stone that “activate” the water. In our time, the beneficial properties of such water activated by flint are practically not disputed, and this is the great merit of Anatoly Dmitrievich Malyarchikov.

Even during the war, being evacuated in the Novgorod region, he drew attention to the local lakes. There were no fish in them, no algae, but the water was amazingly clean and tasty. The shores of the lakes were covered with some kind of dark stone. Unusual water remained fresh for a very long time, which local priests have long used - parishioners kept it in vials behind icons.

Many years later, Malyarchikov tried to use flint to purify water. The results were very impressive and for some time he conducted independent experiments. But it was necessary that scientists take flint water seriously, and this was not at all easy to achieve. For several years, Anatoly Dmitrievich knocked on the thresholds of bureaucratic offices, in which he was treated, at least, as an eccentric. Which in general is not surprising.

It is easy to imagine yourself in the place of an official who is visited by an unknown person, shows the most ordinary black stone and begins to tell something like this: “Put this stone in water and leave it in it for several days. Then water the plants with it - and they will grow faster; drink it to animals - and get a good weight gain. And besides, this stone makes the water clean and tasty; it may even be useful in the treatment of colds and other illnesses, etc.” Well, how could an official react to such a fairy tale. At best, listen politely, explain that all this is very interesting, but funding is now tight, and quickly escort the strange visitor out the door.

Nevertheless, Anatoly Dmitrievich achieved his goal: after several years of going through the authorities, money for research was allocated. Malyarchik himself wrote about this in his book “Flint and Humanity, or Flint Recovers Glory”: “... the flint odyssey had to go through three stages of the attitude of others: 1) this cannot be, because it can never be; 2) but there is something in it; 3) as it should be.

The phenomenon of water activated by flint (abbr. - AKV) was studied in more than twenty scientific research institutes. Some scientists confirmed its unusual properties without a doubt, others - very carefully. In short, their conclusion was as follows: the use of the properties of flint water opens up broad prospects in more than 50 sectors of the national economy.

Flint purifies the water of bacteria and "pulls out" harmful metals from it that accumulate at the bottom. Well, clean water remains on top, which:
- increases the ability of blood to clot;
- able to restore lost or weakened immunity;
- lowers cholesterol and increases the number of T- and B-lymphocytes in the blood;
- can be used as a prophylactic agent that prevents oncological diseases;
- prevents the development of adenoma and impotence;
- strengthens hair bags and promotes hair growth;
- accelerates the germination and further development of legumes and cereals;
- has an effect on the adsorption capacity of radionuclides (i.e., it has radioprotective properties), which allows it to be used to solve various problems in areas contaminated with radiation.

And this is far from all the abilities of AKV, and they were not taken “from the ceiling”. Such conclusions were reached by authoritative scientists working in various fields - professors, doctors and candidates of medical, chemical, biological sciences.

And yet, it has not yet been possible to finally elucidate the nature of the unusual properties of flint water. According to the hypothesis of A. D. Malyarchikov himself, the remains of ancient microorganisms contained in this stone are unique biocatalysts that accelerate redox reactions thousands of times. It is possible that flint-purified water activates the body's antioxidant defenses, protecting living cells and slowing down the aging process.

When you walk through a forest or a park and notice an unsightly dark stone lying on the ground, take a closer look at it, perhaps it is he - flint - a stone of fire and pure water; stone-worker that changed the history of our planet; stone, whose beneficial properties are still not fully understood. Hardly anyone would think to call it precious. But where would we be without him?

Flint - SiO2

The rock, called, has been known to man since ancient times. Visitors to museums have probably seen arrowheads and spearheads, scrapers for leather dressing, and knives made of this stone in the department of primitive cultures. Obsidian (volcanic glass) and jasper were also used to make these items, and jade was also used in ancient pre-Columbian America.

Tools of labor, knives, spearheads made of flint are found in ancient sites everywhere.

But it is flint that gives a conchoidal fracture with very sharp edges that practically do not dull over time. If on the territory where you live, there were sites of an ancient person, then you can also find intricately chipped stones on the banks of the rivers, they can be ancient tools.

finger-shaped flint concretion

Flint was formed when silica gel precipitated from marine waters and infiltrated sandstones, dolomites, limestones, and other sedimentary rocks. As a result of the crystallization of the gel, flint was formed. It occurs in sheets, veins, small veins and nodules called concretions. Concretions can have a bizarre shape, they can be not only rounded, but also finger-shaped, branched formations.

Flint is found almost everywhere where there are strata of sedimentary rocks, on all continents of the world. Depending on mineral and organic impurities, it can have a different color - gray, white, yellowish, black, even bluish and reddish flints are found. Coloring can be uniform, cloudy, striped, with clear or blurry layers. The color depends on impurities of oxides of manganese and iron.

Physical Properties: This stone is characterized by a waxy sheen, conchoidal fracture and high hardness (7 on the Mohs scale - a steel knife leaves a line on it). It is very viscous and has a cryptocrystalline structure. In thin chips, this stone usually shines through.

It is not easy to break a large piece of this stone into smaller ones. When two pieces of flint are struck, sparks fly and a peculiar smell appears. Back in the nineteenth century, this property (to strike sparks) was used in incendiary devices and weapons. Sparks ignited tinder in lighters, and gunpowder in the first guns. At the same time, either two pieces of this stone, or flint and metal (steel, iron) collided. A combination of flint plus the mineral pyrite was used less frequently.

This stone among many peoples of the world was considered a stone-amulet and a talisman. In ancient times, European peoples believed that a piece of flint should be kept at home; a stone-amulet was located near the center of the house or home oven. He drove away evil spirits and served as protection for the inhabitants of the house. Outside the house, the stone also kept its owner - for this purpose, protective amulets were cut out of it.

black flint, according to practitioners of alternative medicine, has unique properties. The black color of the stone is given by organic - peat and carbonaceous inclusions. And it is this flint that is able to disinfect water, purify it and give water healing properties.

black flint sample

It is believed that harmful impurities precipitate, microbes die, and useful components, on the contrary, will saturate the water. Water infused with black flint is allegedly useful for washing (for skin diseases), drunk on an empty stomach, can cure inflammation of the stomach and intestines. This water can be used as a pain reliever. It also stabilizes and cleanses the human biofield. And this leads to a general improvement of the body.

Flowers watered with such water grow especially well. About a hundred grams of stone is enough to "activate" three liters of water. Pieces of stone should be washed daily, and after three to four months they should be cleaned of mechanical impurities and mucus accumulated on them with a brush.

In the East in the Middle Ages, gastrointestinal diseases were treated with the help of light yellow flint. Yellow is the color of Lamaism, and, apparently, that is why healing properties were attributed to such a stone. For treatment, a flat, well-polished stone or amulets were tied to the stomach. It was believed that this stone has a positive effect on the Manipura solar plexus chakra, affects the liver, spleen and all digestive organs.

Traditional medicine does not confirm any healing properties of flint water and flint in general, however, many continue to believe in their uniqueness and healing properties.

Psychics believe that flint nourishes a person’s energy field well if he works hard physically. For the same purpose, it is useful to wear an amulet if there is any tense communication or a dangerous situation ahead. The stone strengthens the willpower of a person and gives him stamina and courage, helps to soberly and dispassionately assess the situation and make the right decision.

Flint is an ornamental mineral, it is well processed and polished on modern equipment. Its decorative properties are not very high, but you can find beautiful cloud patterns, smooth banding and unique textures in it. This stone is used to make pendants and inserts into rings, less often beads; in jewelry, it looks good with metals such as silver and blackened copper.

In colloquial speech, the word "flint" is a symbol of perseverance and self-confidence.

As a talisman, flint can be worn by everyone signs of the zodiac, but it is especially useful Leo, Virgo,Taurus, Gemini, Libra, Sagittarius, Capricorn,Aries and Aquarius.

Flint is very easy to find. It looks like hard plasticine, soap, or even hard plastic like ebonite and hardened tar. Possible multi-colored stripes and inclusions further enhance the similarity of flint with plasticine and with colored remnants. The color of flint can be any. The word flint denotes more than seven hundred types of stones with the chemical formula SiO2, and each type of flint can have a dozen or more subspecies. Each species and subspecies has its own name. For example, here is an excerpt from the description of agate, one of the varieties of flints: “There are a total of more than 150 varieties of agate that differ in the form of secretions, color, decorativeness, pattern features, morphology of inclusions ... ... in agates, each stone is unique and its magnificent, this is an indisputable fact. Even slices of the same tonsil do not duplicate each other. Agates are surprisingly beautiful, especially moiré with their thinnest stripes that create iridescence. Often, eye, landscape, moss, and ribbon agates with multi-colored “lace” stripes are very spectacular ... "
There are translucent and even transparent varieties of flint. The real cost and range of application depend on the brightness and saturation of the color or on the combination of stripes of different colors and all kinds of inclusions. From abrasive raw materials and ornamental stones to semi-precious and precious ones. And all these are types and varieties of the same stone. What are only the names of varieties of flints: striped, portrait, landscape, patterned ... This is how stone-cutting artists call flints. Geologists have their own names for different types of flints. It can be in the form of crystals and crystalline drusen, also of different colors and transparency. And usually these are monophonic, dim and mediocre-looking stones. In bathing steam rooms, flints are used to heat and produce steam.
A thin chipped plate of flint on the Sun can shine through. There are three forms of flint: amorphous, crystalline, and amorphous-crystalline. The cleavage surface is usually relatively smooth and uniform. A chip in an amorphous form resembles a chip in (colored) glass or brittle plastic. The crystalline form has a chip with a microscopic grain, something like dried semolina. And the amorphous-crystalline form has a chipped glass with a micrograin. With a sharp chip, the flint cuts (scratches confidently and with a characteristic sound) glass and, when struck casually, across the tip of the chip with a steel plate, gives a spark. There are few sparks, but each is long, bright and flies along a curved trajectory. The larger the bare flint, the less often it comes across. Although where as, everything can be. Take a glass bottle (with beer) or a piece of glass, a piece of a large file and go to the nearest beach or railway track. And it's even easier to go to the nearest construction site, concrete goods, to the river port, where there is gravel or PGS (Sandy Gravel Mix) and you can dig in this pile of gravel. Start by looking for small pieces of flint. They are the most durable and the most common. In the surf line, only flints survive, all other types of stones quickly turn into flour and dust. The gravel mined from the rivers also mainly consists of flint pebbles and sand. By the way, at the same time you will surely find fragments of petrified wood, corals, mollusks, shark teeth and other representatives of the flora and fauna of prehistoric times. And if you are very lucky, then real flint arrowheads and spears ...
There are also very close "relatives" of flint called "Quartzite (s) and Hornfel (s)". The composition, hardness and density are almost like those of flint. But quartzite(s), so to speak, fell short in quality to full-fledged flints. Larger micrograin and coarser appearance. And the hornfelses, on the contrary, were pulled over and other types are considered precious stones
Now specifically. If glass scratches stone, it is not flint. If you see a stone that looks like dried porridge (with sparkles), then it is most likely granite and also not flint. Most likely, you won’t have to walk for a long time, your soul itself will tell you which stone is the most dear and warm, this will be flint. A person has been using this flint stone for so long that any of us knows this stone at the gene level, we just forgot it a little. Good luck!
The photo shows ordinary, standard samples of flint taken from the nearest heap of building gravel. One can see multi-colored monophonic and multi-colored with all kinds of inclusions. The stones were not specially wetted before shooting to show the natural color. Wet (or polished) look much more interesting. In the IZBA READING ROOM, the same article is written and illustrated more fully.
How to make the simplest flint crafts is described in my articles:
Stone knife.