Any flintknappers?

[wooly]

Do we have any flintknappers here?

A friend of mine on another forum had peaked my interest in it last year when I purchased a antler handled knapped knife he created for my pops. I've made about 2 dozen glass points so far out of everything from beer bottle bottoms to trash television glass . Here's a couple of my latest creations. Hoping to graduate to actual flint points this spring.

[nyantler]

wow beautiful.. I'm sure that I don't have the patience any more for something like flintknapping..but I do appreciate some one that does.. nice work

[jasons75]

Those are really cool Wooly. How long did they take you?

[wooly]

Those are really cool Wooly. How long did they take you?

Thanks guys. Points this size usually take me between an hour or two. Most times I pack my kit with me and do a little chipping along a stream bank in the spring when the bugs aren't so bad.... or when I'm hiding in a blind waiting for a photo opp on a field edge. It's a good time waster when spring gobblers go silent mid morning but you know they'll be back.

Chances are I'll never get good enough to hunt with one of them but the primitive feel of the craft is quite satisfying making things from the trash that litters the woods. For now they make nice necklace charms tied off on a string of leather.

[Dinsdale]

Obsidian with warthog tusk handle (tusk from Namibia)

Nice job on the points!

[wooly]

Super sharp knife Dinsdale!  

What a beauty and helluva unique handle!

[Dinsdale]

Lots of credit is due to my uncle, he is very experienced and coached me along on a few projects.

One of his off shoots of the hobby is producing surgical instruments in Obsidian for a med school and practices in Ohio.

[jasons75]

Sweet blade.

[G-Man]

Best of luck moving onto real flint, onondaga chert(native to wny) is tough stuff to work with, you might want to heat treat it first. There is a flintnappers "convention" rendavous every year in letchworth statepark in august, its a great place to buy trade raw materials,As well as the ataltl compitition. I've used onondaga to make folsom points,cumberland as well as iroquois bird points. My favorite to use is jasper heat treated out of pa. Have you tried to work with a spall yet, or flute a point? 

[Doc]

I would like to find some illustrated "how-to" article on knapping just to see if it is something I could learn to do.

One thing that I always thought would be a neat thing to do would be to build a longbow by hand from native materials and then make an arrow complete with a stone arrowhead, and then go out and take a deer with that rig. Wouldn't that be the ultimate in an archery challenge?

[G-Man]

Doc, check with the buffalo museum of science they use to and probably still to have classes to teach flintknapping. was a nominal cost 25$ for 8 weeks when i went, i am sure you could do the pressure flaking, percussion takes a little more practice.

[wooly]

Deffinately need to check out Letchworths Stone Tool Show. Actually, my mentor sets up shop there every year to perform.

As for the spall....I suppose TV glass over an inch thick would qualify.   That's what these points were made from. My percusion is very crude and I destroy alot of potential pieces in the process. For the most part, all my learning has been done through trial and error trying techniques I've watched on you-tube and a site called Paleoplanet. Some good tutorials there to get any interested greenhorn started making the chips fly.

Some day soon I hope to sit down with an experienced knapper and learn a few tricks of the trade the right way.

[G-Man]

Dan Long attends the knappin at letchworth i learned from him, and jack holland, the glass is nice to work with but the natural stone is a lot harder to pressure flake and flute, i have snapped a lot of points in two trying to flute them(usually make small points out of the remainders) obsidion is just as easy as glass, i've seen some great glass points made with copper tipped pressure flakers(i learned with one as well) but have tried to use antler for pressure, and a moose horn bur, and granite stone for precussion. Gives me a lot of respect for the primiative indian trying to survive..

[Doc]

Could you guys post some pictures of your knapping tools and how you use them? There must be some technique, or way that you hold or apply the tools to exert pressure in the right way to make a chip flake off. I can't even imagine how one would even know where to start.

By the way, if someone knows the details, time and date of the Letchworth Stone Tool show for this year, I for one would appreciate it if you could post that here. I definitely would go over to check that out.

Going over to the Buffalo Museum for 8 weeks is probably out of the question. That's a pretty good distance for me

[G-Man]

I have some old diagrams around i'll have to scan and post.  As for letchworth it is usually the 3rd or 4th weekend in august. Usually same weekend as hot air baloons if i remember correctly. I get a mailing and when i do i'll post it.                                                        Pressure flaking isn't that hard and you will be able to make small point and notches fairly quickly, the main pressure flaker to start with is a piece of solid copper wire 1/8 is good inserted in to and old handle from a shovel or old broom about the legnth of your hand( the top of the the handle is best as its already rounded) the wire needs to stick out of the handle about an inch and is ground to a point(almost) the indians used sandstone to grind the tip of an antler smaller (the copper being and antler and like an antler has some give to it unlike steel) a thick leather pad is placed in the opposite hand(or a nice thick glove)the chips you will make will be sharper than a razor so it protects the hand. If you have a piece of glass say 3/8 in thick by 2in wide by 4in long , you need to imagine a centerline thru the thickness and flakes are removed from both sides of this centerline taking care not to go from one side say top to bottom of the thickness, or stay below the centerline and push on the edge so that the flake will come off between the pad and the piece of glass get to high on centerline and you will break the piece in half most likley. there is more to prepping the edge or creating a platform to strike off of and there are longer sticks that u can brace and use leg stregnth to push a longer flake used for thinning a thicker piece down.  There are other techniques and methods but thats what i started with(you have to start some where)    You can drop me a pm if you want and i would be glad to show you if you not to far away ...winter is pretty long here in wny.

[G-Man]

www.amazon.com/Flintknapping-Making-Understanding-Stone-Tools/dp/029279083X  goo book if anyone is interested.

[G-Man]

Here's a jasper point and arrow I made. The shaft is ceder with a deer leg bone insert, with dyed goose feather fletching. got a rabbit with it.

[wooly]

Great looking point G-man!

Long as we've brought deer leg bones into the equation, here's a spear point I carved out of a legbone I found. It was meant to be a frog poker but I haven't put it to the test as of yet. I'm sure it will work just fine for that though. ;D You can get bone to such a fine point it's scary!

Pics aren't all that great...., pulled some stills from my cam corder but you get the point!

Remember, I'm just a hack with an imagination. I 'd be deadly if I knew what I was doing.

I suppose I coulda just sharpened a stick and called it a frog spear.......but what kinda fun would that have been?

[G-Man]

Actually bone was used quite a bit for points and fish hooks. For exacty that reason,even ivory was used. I've done paleontology and archeology for over 20years and it is amazing to see the craftsmanship that was done thousands of years ago.

[wooly]

It's really refreshing to see there is still interest in this type of primitive construction with todays advancements in technology. Thanks to all for participating!

[wooly]

Could you guys post some pictures of your knapping tools and how you use them? There must be some technique, or way that you hold or apply the tools to exert pressure in the right way to make a chip flake off. I can't even imagine how one would even know where to start.

Here ya go Doc. Pretty simple to figure out where to start.......

trying to decide when to stop is the hard part.

Highly recomend this piece of equipment right here. Start with whatever color you like but......  

[WNYBuckHunter]

I gotta say, really cool stuff guys!

[Doc]

Thanks for the pictures and info guys.

Wooly, One more question ....... that red stuff on the glove ....... that wouldn't be blood would it ....  ;D .

[wooly]

Lol- what can I say....it's a manly contact sport!

[SteveMcD]

Very Nice, Wooly! As an arrow maker mself, I appreciate your work! Beautiful!