Another question, how do I make a piece thinner?
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Another question, how do I make a piece thinner?
Attachment 7604
And then...Attachment 7605
I'm gonna see if I can salvage a piece to make a point. A bit of advice, though: go easy when percussion flaking!
Keep in mind - when you strike your material, the goal is not to just break it, but rather peel pieces off (called spalls). When pressure flaking you are pushing material off, not chipping away.
Go from this...
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...hcraft/008.jpg
To this...
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...hcraft/009.jpg
To this...(these are not my work, but rather that of a local knapper)
http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/i...napping010.jpg
Here is a video Dave C did on knapping a glass bottle, I learn better by watching so thought this might help. He did another video on knapping where he shows what he is doing better, he had the camera setup at a bad angle to see what was going on...
http://youtu.be/LhIOG2655vA
Attachment 7612
My next attempt: a bottle bottom. I watched a couple videos on this. I've been using a flathead screwdriver as a pressure flaker, but what ever I use, I can't get any flakes. Any advice?
P.S. Thank you Sparky and crash for the help! It really....helps!
The piece in your picture isn't to the stage yet where you would pressure flake.
The way I started was on my fingers. You just barely want to touch the tips....if it hurts, you are not striking close enough to the edge. Depending on you pain threshold, you pick it up fairly quick.
Hard metal, like that in a screwdriver, doesn't have enough "give" for pressure flaking. Try a softer metal like bronze or copper.
I've changed to a copper nail for pressure flaking, and have been using percussion flaking to remove the sides of the bottle. I got most of the sides off, next I'll need to abrade to prepare for pressure flaking (I think).
Sounds right to me. Abrading will keep those crumbly edges off so you have a good platform for flakes.
Okay, today is the first day I actually worked hard on this. Here are my tools (allen wrench for percussion, finishing nail for pressure, and nail for getting out bottle bottomsAttachment 7701Attachment 7702Attachment 7703
Actually, Scout. That's a wood screw.
So, how did it work?
Attachment 7704Attachment 7705
Need I say more?
I can't get pressure flaking down. I've gotten pretty good a percussion flaking, though. The only advice I can give is to not knap where people walk, to wear eye protection and to draw a triangle on the glass when knapping an arrowhead.
However, I was able to salvage the piece into something:
Attachment 7706
These are some rocks I found yesterday. I'm gonna see if I can't make a couple points out of them.
Attachment 7735Attachment 7736
Actually, I cahnged my mind: I'm gonna leave them in a bucket of water for a few days and see what happens to their composition.
I hope its cool with you guys if I bump up this thread and join in here. I just found this thread last night and read through it and thought I would share too.
I'm also brand spanking new to knapping. It has been one of those things that I have wanted to try and do since I was a kid and was just never around anyone who did that sort of thing. Well the other day I watched that video that was posted in an earlier post about beer bottle bottoms and decided to give it a go. I made up a couple of tools that I thought looked sorta like what they were using and got and old beer bottle and made something that sort of looks like an arrowhead.
It is pretty dang fun I must admit and frustrating at times too but I'm learning as I go. I have to say also that I have about as much fun making the tools as I do crackin glass! Here is a photo of my first ever attempt and the tools I made.
Thanks Bj. wtrfwlr
*** Heck, I forgot to size the pix to fit! I hope I can go do that and then attach them to this??? If not I'll post them in the next one, sorry.
Attachment 8167
Attachment 8168
Wtrfwlr - the picture size is fine - just click on them to enlarge. Your first attempt a knapping is a heck of a lot better than my first..............10.