Where Can I Find Flint/Chert?

[Deadly Tao]

For some reason... unknown to me... there isn't a solid resource to be found about where I can actually find chert, flint, or obsidian. I have found only one piece of advice: near water.

I am wondering if anyone has a few tips about whether or not stones for flint knapping can be found in any region of the United States and, if so, where the material occurs. I know it's a type of dense sedimentary rock, composed mostly of quarts, which has fine crystal structure and behaves as if it has none, like glass. I know it is probably found near water, but should I be looking near the mouth of a river, the edge of a lake, the bed of a river, or just anywhere that contains a lot of stone?

I would like to practice some flint knapping, but find the idea of buying a rock to be a little... ridiculous, especially for somebody just looking for some first-time practice.

If it depends on the region, then specify to southwest of Lake Michigan, specifically northern Illinois.

[your_comforting_company]

I'm in a whole different geology, but if you can find old creek beds or bottom lands and take a 1/4: rod and go poking in the ground. If you hit something hard like a rock, get the shovel. Often we find them on the sides of dirt roads or edges of fields where they've been moved so they won't damage plows.
sometimes you find stuff in the river, but our rivers are deeper than I'm willing to swim. Cow pastures will often have a "lump" in the ground. often you can take your 1/4" rod and poke or see the top of a big rock exposed. I found about a 50lb lump of jasper the other day in a pasture. I've got a lot of nuggets off dirt roads.

workable rocks are really everywhere, you just have to get flint out of your head. there are only a handful of sources of true flint.
Are there any mountain streams nearby? old stone quarries? sometimes train tracks will be cut through deposits.. it really is everywhere, you just gotta look around :D

make sure you aren't looking on private property without permission, of course!

[your_comforting_company]

totally a wild guess here, but looking at the landscape in your area, i'd look around south of Grace City (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=McHenry+County&sll=46.498068,2.645279&sspn=28.380232,63.632813&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=McHenry,+Foster,+North+Dakota&ll=47.516737,-98.755074&spn=0.108748,0.248566&t=p&z=12)around the bridges. and maybe down around juanita.

but that's just a guess.

I have found good quality nuggets and artifatcs in this landscape (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=arlington+GA&sll=47.519287,-98.698769&sspn=0.108742,0.248566&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Arlington,+Calhoun,+Georgia&ll=31.436865,-84.701843&spn=0.274766,0.497131&t=p&z=11). more the farther north you go above the fall line.

[preachtheWORD]

While you are still practicing knapping out arrow points I would strongly suggest that you start out with glass. Break the bottom out of a heavy glass bottle and practice on that. You can also use porcelain from a discarded toilet tank lid. Until you have mastered the basics, don't use up the good stuff!

If you can find a good piece, glass is pretty easy to work, and it looks very nice when you are finished. When you can make a good point from glass, then go spend some money on some obsidian.

[gryffynklm]

Go to glacial Park off of 31 in Mchenry and hike around the kames. Glacial parkis a wonderful place to explore for glacial geology plants, and wildlife. The trails are well marked with interpretive signs pointing out geological formations relating to glacial movement like the Kames.

This is also the location of The Trail of History It is a reenactment of an pioneer fur trapper rendezvous. Even if you aren't interested in that there are at least 4 knappers there doing demonstrations. You will also find dugout canoe building, plains indian village with wiggiups, and wild edible enthusiasts. A lot of great folks willing to talk about their passion. This was one of my home events and have many friends who participate.

Check out the Natural Resource Management - Research Field Station. They have all sorts of info regarding the park and trail maps. Tell them about your interests and ask questions they may even have the names of the knappers at the trail of history and contact info, I don't know if any are local. Have fun.

Natural Resource Management - Research Field Station
http://www.mccdistrict.org/web/NRM-Research-Field-Station.htm

Trail of history
http://www.mccdistrict.org/web/Trail-of-History.htm

[hunter63]

For some reason... unknown to me... there isn't a solid resource to be found about where I can actually find chert, flint, or obsidian. I have found only one piece of advice: near water.

I am wondering if anyone has a few tips about whether or not stones for flint knapping can be found in any region of the United States and, if so, where the material occurs. I know it's a type of dense sedimentary rock, composed mostly of quarts, which has fine crystal structure and behaves as if it has none, like glass. I know it is probably found near water, but should I be looking near the mouth of a river, the edge of a lake, the bed of a river, or just anywhere that contains a lot of stone?

I would like to practice some flint knapping, but find the idea of buying a rock to be a little... ridiculous, especially for somebody just looking for some first-time practice.
If it depends on the region, then specify to southwest of Lake Michigan, specifically northern Illinois.

You know I hear this all the time, I can't find "flint", this doesn't work etc.

Why wouldn't you want to pay a couple of bucks, for the correct "rock" you you can see how it works.

Once you have a solid starting point, then it will be, Oh yeah, there are some of those in the washed river rock the the landscaping center.
Check these out.

http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartList.aspx?catID=17&subID=111&styleID=423
Lake Michigan has rocks washed up, dumped in from everywhere, but you need to know what to look for.

Kettle Moraine area in Wisconsin, has moraine, ridges on scrapped up rocks left behind by the glacier, rock from all over as well.

I found a piece of "flint" digging a fire pit here in SE Wisconsin, where it came from I don't know, but still works.

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

i have fount flint in boston mass. chert is common to coral and lime stone deposits here in florida. the sierra mountain range is littered with obsidian. if you travel to those locations you will find what you need. thats what i do .

[Wise Old Owl]

While you are still practicing knapping out arrow points I would strongly suggest that you start out with glass. Break the bottom out of a heavy glass bottle and practice on that. You can also use porcelain from a discarded toilet tank lid. Until you have mastered the basics, don't use up the good stuff!

If you can find a good piece, glass is pretty easy to work, and it looks very nice when you are finished. When you can make a good point from glass, then go spend some money on some obsidian.

Old wine or champane bottles.... What he said...:)

[Deadly Tao]

Thanks, preachtheWORD, for you advice to start with glass. I should have figured it would be an easy way to get started. After all, it's fairly easy to break and I can guess that stone would be more demanding to work and therefore more prone to error by a newbie like me.

I guess I was kind of hoping that chert could be found like any other rock around these parts: down the street with a bunch of other rocks.

I live in an area which is covered in glacial deposits. That's confirmed by the fact that there's a "gravel pit" in town, which is used to dig massive amounts of gravel from the ground for Vulcan Materials. Because of this, we see 'rocks' all the time. It's hard to plant a garden or plow a field around here, even. We see so many 'rocks' that we consider a 'rock' to be a 'rock' and when I was challenged with finding 'chert' I was confident it would be strewn throughout the environment in all directions...

Well, that may have been some false hope, so what are my options? Drive more than an hour away? No thanks. I think I will start with glass if finding spalls to ruin is going to take that much effort.

[your_comforting_company]

I didn't get to go tree tapping today, and went rock busting instead.
Found this stuff, check it out. random places along the road. looks just like all the other rocks that are junk around here on the outside. you gotta bust into them to find out whats on the inside. Yes it will take a lot of energy and a lot of effort and patience to find quality "flints", but this proves that even in my fall-line wasteland of limestone, even still good stuff can be found. you just gotta look. If there's rocks around that look like cobbles, break some open and see whats inside!

this boulder is easily 5 feet high. i can't imagine what it weighs.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/Rocks/0306001439.jpg

a spall off one corner of it.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/Rocks/0306001439a.jpg

some jasper found in a ditch that actually is spring fed so it stays in the water until drought season. I got really REALLY wet spalling it out.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg184/your_comforting_company/Rocks/0306001355.jpg

I have no idea how many rocks I hit today with a sledgehammer, but I walked down dirt roads for about 4 hours today banging on every rock I could. It was a good day to spend some time alone! Oh yeah, all this stuff is in the ditches where the dirt road was cut through. Look everywhere. it's like easter eggs.. you don't know whats inside the rock till you break off the cortex.

[hunter63]

Thanks, preachtheWORD, for you advice to start with glass. I should have figured it would be an easy way to get started. After all, it's fairly easy to break and I can guess that stone would be more demanding to work and therefore more prone to error by a newbie like me.

I guess I was kind of hoping that chert could be found like any other rock around these parts: down the street with a bunch of other rocks.

I live in an area which is covered in glacial deposits. That's confirmed by the fact that there's a "gravel pit" in town, which is used to dig massive amounts of gravel from the ground for Vulcan Materials. Because of this, we see 'rocks' all the time. It's hard to plant a garden or plow a field around here, even. We see so many 'rocks' that we consider a 'rock' to be a 'rock' and when I was challenged with finding 'chert' I was confident it would be strewn throughout the environment in all directions...

Well, that may have been some false hope, so what are my options? Drive more than an hour away? No thanks. I think I will start with glass if finding spalls to ruin is going to take that much effort.

Well there you go, you probably could pick it up if you knew what you were looking for.
This here "survival stuff" isn't as easy as it looks, take some effort and knowledge.

When you have to buy a rock, your not paying for the rock, you are paying for the knowledge of that rock.

If you have to hunt down the right rock, be it an hour away, or what ever your doing, it as part of the process.
Remember even primitive peoples traded for, and traveled great distances to procure the best materials for their livelihoods.

Doesn't sound to me like you are willing to put much effort into this "survival thing".

You should be going at it like your life depended on it, as it does.

P.S. Good luck with the glass, have your first aid supplies ready before you start.

[your_comforting_company]

As Hunter points out, the natives of the Lower Chattahoochee Valley would walk as far as Ohio and Arkansas to trade rocks. I can cite my sources if I need to ;)

And as you can see by the pictures above, they had decent stuff right here.. they just needed a backhoe to get at it lol.

You are gonna have to break some rocks to find what you are looking for. I've been searching source rocks for well over a year now and I have only really found 3 places with decent material.
I have to agree with hunter (tried to give him some rep) that if you aren't willing to put forth the effort to identify your resources now, and locate them then maybe your mindset isn't really on survival yet. If you think finding rock is hard, wait till you HAVE TO find it, and use it or die. Oh yeah.. by then it'll be too late.

on a side note.. Glass will spoil you. It is a lot different from the poor cherts we have around here. It's good practice to learn the basics, but real rock doesn't flake like glass, unless you really look long and hard to find really good stuff like Poco has growing in his yard.

good luck with everything and I do hope that you will mind what hunter and I have said.. Surviving is going to take effort!

[Rick]

You are so right, YCC. There was a trading camp not far from my home in Illinios. At the small town of Mulkeytown, Illinois. East coast shells have been found in the old Indian encampments where they had been brought for trade.

[your_comforting_company]

Likewise Coweta and Cusseta were major religious and social (read trading) cities. Many artifacts have been buried in the mounds there from all over the country. Even those places aren't "right up the road" from here.

[hunter63]

ycc, that's a lot of rock busting, ya think, look like there is some stuff you can use.

In Wisconsin the is a site in Hixton, near Black River Falls that has a mound, butte, rock or what ever you call it, that was mined for Hixton chert for thousands of years, and has turned up all over the country.
Only one like it, even back then they looked for the "Good Stuff."

I was looking thru my small collection of points and found two that came from there.

[crashdive123]

The guy that has taught me a bit about knapping spent quite a bit of time rock hunting in Hixton and various parts of Missouri hunting rocks. As others have said DT they may not be easily found. You may have to dig a lot or travel. Nothing wrong with buying or bartering for what you need. I traded a pest control service for a 5 gallon bucket of rocks.

[hunter63]

So, Ycc, have you tried striking a spark on any of the shards?

I was at the collage Friday, working on artifacts, dug up at a local site, washing, sorting, logging for the local Archaeological Society project.

I/We volunteer, with the Archaeological Department there, and the local museum with a dig at a old trading post, working on the artifacts.

One object found was a native gun flint, or so says the Doc.
But the Prof did pull out a fire steel and got spark, has one there just for this purpose.

So we started talking about flint and steel, and he pulled out some really good shards, threw sparks all over the place.
Of course he wouldn't want to give them up, LOL, but I had to ask.

[Deadly Tao]

I think of effort a lot like money. The less you know about something, the more you may be tricked into paying for it. The more you know about something, the more likely that you will find it for free.

Most things end up being free somewhere and cheap in other places, meaning there are ways of spending little effort to achieve a goal with a little knowledge behind you. However, I often find myself expending ridiculous amounts of energy and time into something that could have been found much more easily.

So my point is that I do plan to put effort into these activities. In fact, I have checked out some forest preserve areas around here and will be spending a Friday practicing, which includes rock hunting. So thanks for the heads up; I posted this to find out if there really is an easy rule of thumb to find the stuff, and apparently not.

[your_comforting_company]

nope. they all look like rocks on the outside lol
good luck DT!

[your_comforting_company]

Hunter, I tried some of the rocks above on the steel striker I made today. while I did get a few sparks, it was nothing like what I had imagined it would be. This "flint" is good stuff. Something about my steel isn't right. The flint pictured above and the hornstone I got from Poco threw sparks off about the same. Of course, that boulder is a good day and a half walk from here, and it'd probably be 3 or 4 from my BOL. Still good to know it's there and everyone thinks it's "just a rock" ;)

[hunter63]

Like Rick said, try it on some char cloth, the natural rock will not throw sparks like the commercial fire steels.

I think it's sad that we now think we need need a manufactured fire steel, and tinder like the cotton balls and vaseline to consider this a viable option.


YCC, this is a disclamer, I know this might sound like you don't know what your doing, that is not my intention, you have demonstrated your skills and probaly better tham I am.

I just want to go thru the steps and materials for any body that having a problem.


What you are doing with the flint is literally shaving off pieces of steel that causes them to spark, (getting hot enough from shaving), like spark from your grinder.


Do you have a metal bandaid can? (loose enough you don't need a hole in it), shoe polish can(needs a nail hole) Androids can?
Do you have a old cotton T-shirt ?
Do you have a fire?

Tear it up the T-shirt, put some of it in the can, throw the can into a fire, watch it till it quits smoking, take it out and let cool. Char cloth.

Now take an old file, or even a part of an old file, take your grinder and sorta smooth the edges, the file groves work but makes it harder. ( I know this works, and anybody can find an old file)

Now take a piece of your flint, chert, rock. that has a sharp edge on it, strike which ever in more comfortable for you, steel against the sharp edge of the flint, or vice versa, like you are shaving the steel, in to your now cooled off char cloth.

As soon as even one spark catches the cloth with just a glow, blow on it and transfer it to your tender....... cotton balls, shaved dry bark, cat-tail fuzz, what ever.

(I use the "glow stage" to light my smokes, yeah, I know bad habit, then just snuff it out by closing my air tight can)

Keep blowing on it till you have a flame.

I for one have been trying the bow drill method, and is on the top of my list of shill to master, with found materials, so I'm still learning as well.

And I agree, good luck DT, your in for a long haul.

[your_comforting_company]

so I don't really need to even heat treat the file? Maybe that's where we messed up, but before we heated the file it wouldn't throw any sparks. If I don't get this figured out by the blacksmithing meeting in April, I'll get one of the master smiths there to help me make one. Thanks for the tips hunter. I'll give the char cloth a try.
(seems funny though, that you need to have a fire already, to make the stuff to make fire, i.e. heating the file and making charcloth)

[Rick]

I get your irony on the fire. My guess is the first folks probably used the aftermath of a lightening strike or a wild fire caused by lightening. Lot's of charred stuff around to start with.

A tinder tube works pretty well, too.

http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/showthread.php?t=1207&highlight=tinder+tube

[hunter63]

Ycc, Does sound like chicken or egg deal, doesn't it.

You really don't need to use char cloth, just makes it easier, as you don't have the volume of sparks as the commercial fire steels.

I don't know for sure, but I think the commercial fire steels are a composite material, like the "flints" in a Zippo.

I carry my small fire kit in a metal snuff can, and when I use gun cleaning patches, pillow ticking(patching material for the .50 cal ML), and even those 5 X5 gauze pads, all work well when charded.

The can has a hole in it, so when I need a new batch, I take out the flint and steel, candle end, and toss the can w/cloth in the fire or stove.

When done smoking, I remove it and let cool.

After it's cool, I seal up the hole again with the candle wax,(wax will melt out the next time I throw it in the fire), put the materials back in and it's ready to go.

I have a couple of pieces of flint laying around, so I'll try some other "steels' and see what else sparks.

I look back a Rick's post on the "tinder tube", and it was brought up that it was common in muzzle-loading.
I have to tell you that I had heard of/ didn't see....about it once.
Does look like a "Match lock thing"

I was giving away rope at Rendezvous, and a guy came over for a piece, unraveled it and made a nest. and was trying it, he had a name for it......don't recall what he called it.
The rope I had was jute, and had a coating on it, left over "Core" or the center of elevator wire rope, and it didn't work real well.

I think your on the right track with the black smith, as the patch knife/fire steel I have was made by a black smith.
It works for both as a knife and fire steel.....My kind of gear.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/PICT0768crop.jpg

[Deadly Tao]

Today I decided to walk down the street to a little swampy area which is covered in cattails. I figured I would dedicate some time to making cordage and I did. My first ever piece made entirely from natural material and the motion of my wrists ended up about 14 inches long and held about 25-30 lbs except at the splice, where it broke more easily. The second piece I made, haven't broken it so I don't know its max, had more care taken in splicing and is about 12 inches long.

On the topic of the thread, I found an old Sobe bottle one of my friends left in my car (I don't drink energy drinks, they're nasty on top of being useless), and ran across a rich outcrop of the most available resource in my city: abandoned street-side beer bottles. Well I only found one, but that makes 2 bottles. Went ahead and tossed 'em to the bottom of the recycling can and smashed them with a sledge to extract the bottoms and got to work.

Maybe it was because I didn't have any instructions or tips in front of me at the time, or maybe it's because I was excited to just get any result (good or bad), but when I started I took very little care in planning my strikes and I ended up breaking one piece in half... twice. With only small fragments left I decided to tackle the other piece, with some planning and logic in the placement of my strikes. It took a surprising amount of force.

I experimented with the difference that dulling the edge of the glass makes when striking, and for the first amount of knapping to get the remainder of the vertical edges off, it made a LOT of difference. I began to chip away with a little bit of real decision making, placing my blows where I see them to be appropriate. And then I learned something: This is HARD; and in more ways than one. The amount of force required to chip just glass was surprising and the required angle of the striking turned out not to be general, but rather precise. I found that the best results occurred when I struck at an angle with only a few degrees of forgiveness. I have to assume that chert or quality flint/obsidian would take much more force, increasing the difficulty greatly.

I was using the back end of a closed Gerber knife. In case you're interested, there's a picture of it here:
http://images.gerbertools.com/Md/5782_1/22-01021_Gerber_Obsidian_Fine_Edge.jpg
The knife sat well in my hand, provided good weight and control, and has a smoothed "filleted" edge on the back, so I figured it would work fine. It got scratched up a tad bit, but it's all surgical stainless so if it starts to rust, I'm getting my money back.

Unfortunately, the lack of instruction at hand left me with a trial and error approach and it seemed like the more appropriate areas to strike were always the hardest to break off. Because of this, I ended up eventually breaking the second piece in half and I continued to work on the ever shrinking pieces until they became worthless, so I don't have any pictures. I began to think it might be the size of the piece that hurt me the most. Being so small and having no slopes on the edges (I am sure there's a term for this I don't know), I found it difficult to get it started properly. But then I stopped kidding myself and figured it would be most productive to just admit to myself that I have a lot to learn.

The rope made today a good day and the knapping practice couldn't have been better. Even though I ruined two blanks, I got to witness myself chipping away like (just like, not as) the pros on youtube do. Whatever I am attempting, failure never bothers me the first time, because I get to see the process in action by my own hands.

I will do more research on pressure flaking, and take it much slower next time. Then I will have some pictures for you guys. Thanks for your information.

[crashdive123]

DT - watch this video. It may help you out a bit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7pc2Q6XFI

[Deadly Tao]

Hahaha! I came back to the forum to check the thread after finishing that video, so you linked me right back to that video. Thanks, though, it was very helpful.

[your_comforting_company]

you might visit practicalprimitive.com and go to the Newsletter Archive. They have videos on some exercises that will help you with strike accuracy. I'm learning knapping too, and you really are on the right track. The things you've discovered on your own display that you are observing the process.. now you just need to get it systematic and accurate.
Good Luck, and even if you break them, you're still learning!

surgical stainless is a rather aggressive metal for knapping, try something softer than your knife and you'll find that the flakes will come off without breaking the whole thing (most of the time). Copper is preferred, but brass will do if you have any. Best for percussion flaking in my mind is antler though.
And remember you need to knap outdoors with a breeze. you don't want to go breathing glass dust. you'll get silicosis!
If you need any other tips, feel free to ask. there are a few good knappers on here. I'm a bad knapper lol, but I'm learning!

[Rick]

And pictures, DT. We need pictures.

[Deadly Tao]

YCC, thanks for the tip with the stainless. I can't think of anywhere to get free copper from lying around for a billet, but I might go get a copper pipe cap from ace hardware and put it on a stick...

I was doing this outside, but mostly to prevent getting glass inside my house. Thanks for that tip, too. I didn't realize how much dust would come off the glass until I started and I wasn't thinking about silicosis at the time. I was more worried about it bouncing up into my eyes, but I managed to keep it from bouncing anywhere by being reasonable with my strikes and brushing away the glass and dust after every flake was removed.

I'm sure you got started before me, but maybe in the near future I could be giving you some tips! Seriously, though, I do plan to get ahold of many more than 2 glass bottles, and for the sake of very early practice, maybe do some basic flaking on the walls of the bottles before going after the bottom (depends on if it works at all, might be too thin or the curve might mess up the process).

[crashdive123]

You can pick up a copper end cap at a place that sells plumbing supplies and press it onto a wooden dowel. For added weight, drill the center of the dowel and add lead before attaching end cap.

http://www.rewild.info/fieldguide/images/thumb/6/6c/Copper_end_caps.jpg/180px-Copper_end_caps.jpg

[Deadly Tao]

Working on another piece right now. Got a picture with my webcam, I am currently reducing the remainder of the walls of the bottle from the bottom. It's going alright so far. On the right is where I have begun to take the wall off, and I included the edge so you can see the pattern from the flaking. There really is no pattern, actually. I am not taking great care or putting real attention into detail yet, the walls come off easily without breaking the piece just about any way you hit them.

http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad24/DeadlyTao/bottom.jpg
http://i918.photobucket.com/albums/ad24/DeadlyTao/edge.jpg
The bumps on the top, in the second image, are part of the original bottle. I wish I could have such consistent patterns while knapping with my level of experience, but that would probably make me some sort of knapping genius.

[Deadly Tao]

In an effort to keep the title consistent with the subject of the thread, I am making a new one titled "First Flintknapping Experiences"... I'll leave this one up, though. Check out the other thread if you're interested in how my flint knapping practice goes and please offer some advice. Pictures will help describe the process better than words.

[Dross]

So crash do you think the same thing would work using a PVC end cap? I was thinking that my aproximate antler.

[your_comforting_company]

pvc breaks on rocks.. not much weight either.

[rebel]

There's a ton of good info in this blast from the past post.

[Hntrofdmnds]

All i find is clay and sandstone.

[hunter63]

Finding proper materials for stone tools has always been a problem, for as long as they have been made.

Trading for proper cutting tools and materials, for them has always been a item of trade.

These days that means......If yon don't have any laying around where you live, you need to find a source to obtain them, then trade/buy.

I traded some hides for this chert knife and sheath.


http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/hunter63/Rondy/DSCF0009.jpg (http://s4.photobucket.com/user/hunter63/media/Rondy/DSCF0009.jpg.html)

[Hntrofdmnds]

If I had a kiln, I could make.... ceramic knives?

[Hntrofdmnds]

How did you get the hides?

[hunter63]

How did you get the hides?

The hides came from deer that were harvested and hides tanned.

[scqqter]

Hi, my name is Scott. I just registered and searched for chert. I live in Maine. Not much here but have found among the gravel of construction sites, near rivers. Maine indians used a form of quartzite,slate, rhyolite and some basalt. Not many old sedimentary rock with properties needed. You can find beds in other states from NY south NJ,MA, Kentucky is excellent place also Arkansas and TN . West from me-- NY,PA, OH to WA. found in river valleys with limestone. Flint found near chalk beds. I order online due to lack of knappable material. Kentucky flintworks is best, most reasonable online place to order a variety from the volcanics to any type or quality of chert/flint. Heat treated spalls are easier. I've looked into this a lot. Southern central states seem to have a wide choice. If you lookup where the "knap-ins" are or type in finding chert on youtube, you'll get some advice. Glass is easy to knap but getting the convexity out of the beer bottle bottom is hard for a beginner. Oh, you can find plate glass around old office or factories. It's easily shaped with glass cutter then sand edges and pressure flake for great practice...Hope this helps.

[Fixit]

Flint is a dirty word around here. I have so much in my way cutting tires and sparking of my shovels and picks .they tell me this is know as buffalo river flint . Often dig up chunks 6" thick 10" or more long and 8" or more wide.

[hunter63]

scqqter
Hunter63 saying Hey and Welcome.

There is an intro section at:
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?14-Introductions

[hayshaker]

fixit have you ever cooked any of it and how does it flake does it make for good knapping stone or no?

[Fixit]

Back last year I gave a friend half a pickup load so he could teach his son to knap. He said I flakes good

[hayshaker]

are you familar with novaculite much that is some very diverse stone.
the cosmic novaculite is absolutely awsome.

[flintknappingbeginner]

i live in oregon and need some locations to look for some chert for knapping

[hunter63]

i live in oregon and need some locations to look for some chert for knapping

It's interesting that if you Google "chert for knapping Oregon"...It will list a few places selling it....and will also bring you right back to this thread...Started in 2010.
So have you read this entire thread....?
I don't think we have any knappers for Oregon arould lately....so most likely will not get too many leads.

Have you done a search for a "Knap-in" in your area?....Lot of knappers gather and swap information and knowledge.

[Fixit]

I was thinking Oregon was Obsidian country .

[roobee]

Any locations to look for some chert or other good knapping material near the Bay Area or San Diego, California?

[hunter63]

I would Google Chert in San Diego, California....will turn up some PFD's
Good luck.

[roobee]

What is a PFD?

[hunter63]

What is a PFD?

Down load able file that I can't link to........

PDF]the distribution of piedra de lumbre "chert" - Society for California ...

Did you Google...." Chert in San Diego, California...."...?

[roobee]

Oh you mean PDF. Yeah, I googled it and found the file. It said I can find chert at Camp Pendleton. However, I can't enter Camp Pendleton unless a military/government/etc. person sponsors me and I don't know any who could do that.

[Wise Old Owl]

Does this help?

http://archaeometry.missouri.edu/

I just buy it off the internet and at Indian Rondevous.

[roobee]

Was looking for locations more specific than states. Like an address, building, etc. I'll prob buy off the internet too, was just hoping to find a place I could collect it myself instead.

[hunter63]

Was looking for locations more specific than states. Like an address, building, etc. I'll prob buy off the internet too, was just hoping to find a place I could collect it myself instead.

You would have to be in the neighborhood to answer that.....
Remember, even Native Americans depended on trade to procure their flint/chert/obsidian/and even "float" copper....for tools and weapons.
Like today,.... many things are not found everywhere, so are found or made then traded... and valued as hard to get commodities' as we do.
Wisconsin has a lot of glacier rock, so much of the state is a mixed bad.......but the Hixton (WI) Sugar Quartz was prized by many tribes and tools made for it is found all over North America.

http://lithiccastinglab.com/gallery-pages/hixtongrouphandlarge.htm

http://mvac.uwlax.edu/past-cultures/specific-sites/silver-mound/