The Knapping Thread - Show your projects, Discuss techniques, Give and receive advice

**your_comforting_company** · 04-15-2010, 06:44 AM

Ok.. I'm gonna include the crappy phone pics. I assume this is what it's supposed to look like.. you blow on the coal till it gets the wood underneath hot enough to flame.

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**your_comforting_company** · 04-15-2010, 06:57 AM

What little research I've done on rocks indicates this is called "serpentenite". I really have no idea and I don't know why only these 2 boulders exist within 5 counties, but I found something knappable at least, even if it is 25 miles away (how long would it take to walk 25 miles plus 10 miles from the BOL?)
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an inside look
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some ?Jasper? with LOTS of inclusions.
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I have made a hand drill bit and a fishing harpoon out of the last stuff, and have only spalled a few flakes to knap later, from the top stuff. I'm eager to try it and hope I get a chance this weekend to let some pros have a go at it. Maybe I'll get a chance this evening to go source some more. Would be neat to have an extra bit for the trade blanket this weekend

**crashdive123** · 04-15-2010, 07:24 AM

Looks like the pictures fit just fine right where you put them.

**preachtheWORD** · 04-15-2010, 07:47 AM

Looking at that serpentinite, I wonder if that is the same stuff of a different color that I made the orange point in post #38 with?

It looks extremely hard, but also very durable.

**your_comforting_company** · 04-22-2010, 08:59 AM

It's a small world. The knapper at the Culture Festival this past weekend told me that he used to live around the town where I found those huge boulders. He showed me a scar on his hand where one of the pieces he was spalling fell off the boulder and smashed his hand. He lives around Columbus now, but it's funny how I met someone with experience that could tell me for sure that those are just about the only stones around here with any knappability (is that a word?)

to cut to the chase, I studied his movements intently for a long time and asked him questions about hinges and step fractures, platforms and setting up the ridges. I watched him shoot flakes across 2-3" spans across obsidian. WOW.
What I'm about to show is no comparison to his abilities, but maybe it will show others how to go about thinning a piece down. It's a large spall that was really thick on one side. I wanted to make a knife blade from it so I work it a little, now and then, when I get bored. Here goes.
This shows the fat part I want to thin, approximate "push" angle into the piece, and resulting flakes with regard to platform prep for the next flake.
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after being flipped to lower the edge, the process is repeated until...
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and after a few passes like that...
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Here you'll be able to see the long flakes running across the face of the piece. Notice they meet in the middle of the face. Beautiful, if I do say so myself.
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there's really a lot more to it than that.. several of the ridges were already set up as I've worked the piece before. The energy of the push will follow the ridges and each long flake should be isolated before pushing or striking. Proper set-up for each strike or push is essential. Mr. Knapper demonstrated this to grand effect on obsidian.

Here is a link I found elsewhere with some really in-depth knapping instructions and pretty darn good pictures. Maybe I won't get in trouble for posting the link. If it's out of place, mods please remove it. A good sized PDF so you can store it.. hey, it's a free book!
http://www.raems.com/PDF/flintknapping.pdf

**your_comforting_company** · 04-22-2010, 09:08 AM

The morning of the event, I woke up super excited and ready to go. While everyone else was waking up and getting ready, I decided I'd do a little knapping since I didn't want to get all brain-stinky working with a buckskin I took (still soaked in brains in 85* heat.. ewww). It was my morning meditation and while remembering all the things I've learned, I made this little piece.
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The Master Knapper was not demonstrating (although the guy demo-ing was definately a master himself) but rather trying to sell points he made. I showed him this piece and told him I'd only been knapping less than a year. He said this piece was amazing for someone with such little experience, and I tell you that was a great vote of confidence for this wannabe knapper. He told me what the style was, and I told him "I dont' know anything about styles, I let the rock be what it wants to be". He chuckled and said "That rock wanted to be something pretty, huh?"
I guess so. What do you think?

**preachtheWORD** · 04-22-2010, 02:51 PM

Very, very good work. You are inspiring me to get back to knapping. I had to take a couple weeks off of knapping because I have been extremely busing with work. Anybody who thinks preachers work one day a week should try it sometime, especially when you have a three funerals back to back and a bunch of people in the hospital! On top of that I am trying to finish my Bachelor's Degree in the next few weeks. Something had to give, and it was knapping. I should be back to work soon though!

**crashdive123** · 04-22-2010, 03:20 PM

Great work YCC.

**preachtheWORD** · 04-28-2010, 07:55 AM

Finally, I am back to knapping!

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Two glass points and an obsidian point. I liked how the middle point turned out pretty good. The obsidian point is a new style that I am trying out. Not sure what you call it - "ptW style" I guess.

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The first point was from a very thin flake of something - I'm not sure what. The green point is from a stained glass window. (No, I didn't throw a rock through the Church window!) This stuff is really thin and ridiculously fragile. Out of about attempts, this is the only point that I could get finished - and it doesn't look too good. The notches need work, but I was afraid to mess with it any more. The third point is from something my Dad called neviculite (sp?) It looks kinda like that "serpentinite" boulder ycc posted. It did not flake nearly as well as I thought it would - it tended to "layer" on me. The first point on the bottom row is some kind of obsidian or flint - not sure. But I know that it knaps very well. I like making points in that style, too. The small obsidian point was supposed to be the same style, but I broke one of the "flukes" off, so I just made it match on the other side and went on. The next is another obsidian piece. The final is a glass point made from the thick bottom of a kitchen glass. It did not work nearly as well as i had hoped. It was just too thick.

It's nice to be back knapping!

**your_comforting_company** · 05-17-2010, 11:01 PM

Wow, that is some amazing stuff PTW. The black piece on the left looks like the stuff Poco sent me from his yard. Craig called it Kentucky Hornstone, I think. The way I heard the other stuff called was nervaculite, but I was told it by a redneck, lol. I don't know how I missed this post.
that neviculite is a LOT glossier than the stuff I found.
I haven't managed to finish anything lately, broken a bunch.
Great work!

**rwc1969** · 05-19-2010, 03:03 PM

Looks real nice. Now go out and stick something.

**justin_baker** · 05-20-2010, 12:55 AM

Man i want to get into knapping, but its so too much to bite at once! Im going to learn to make bone arrowheads first, they are way easier. Before making flint knives, im going to make stone tools like a hammer and a chisel.

**your_comforting_company** · 05-20-2010, 01:40 AM

Justin, if you start off like I did, basically just getting a feel for the mechanics, then find a mentor to ask questions once in a while, it's not too overwhelming. I think most new knappers expect to turn out stuff like PTW is making on their first try, and it just doesn't happen. Even with an expert knapper that he can visit any time, PTW still started off with rough pieces and worked his way up to the beautiful points you see above.
Start off with single strike flakes and figure out how to strike and push, and all that stuff as you go from rough to smooth, and keep your expectations low. Single strike tools were more widely used than finely chipped points. hand axes, knives, drill bits, and the like are the tools you'd want to start making.
I encourage you to take up the skill as a personal resource. I think PTW would agree that it's really not that overwhelming when you actually start doing it. I do know how overwhelming it seems from a distance, though.
Bone is another great material to make things from. It's easy to grind into a consistent shape, and you can get it pretty darn sharp! I'm eager to see some bone arrowheads you've made, so take some pics for us when you make some!!

**justin_baker** · 05-25-2010, 09:15 PM

Hey, does anyone know how are notches are made for arrowheads? I know that it would be easy with a saw, but how was it done primitively? If you tried to cut into the shaft of the arrow with a knife, it would seem that you would just make a split in it. I guess you could slowly and carefully saw it out with a knife, but i dont know how well that would work.
Im talking about this kind of notch in the shaft:
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**your_comforting_company** · 05-25-2010, 10:06 PM

I use another rock to sort of saw into the shaft. Hide glue (or other) will keep it from splitting and wrapping like your picture there will reinforce the notch.

**justin_baker** · 05-26-2010, 01:43 AM

Any tips on treees that make good arrow shafts?
The trees around here are:
valley oak
live oak
douglas fir
california bay
california buckeye
oregon ash
madrone

and that is basically it, at least for the few valleys that i like to play around in.None of these seem very promising from my observations.

I know that there are willow trees around here somewhere but i have to look for them, do willow trees make good arrow shafts?

**your_comforting_company** · 05-26-2010, 05:17 AM

sapling shoots that grow straight up from the root. Around here several species of oak and willow, but mostly river cane was used. arrowheads were attached to a removable shaft that would fit into the cane. If it's straight and sturdy, and about the right weight, I'd say give it a try.
FVR is the man with the answers to this question. I'm sure several different woods were used. He probably has more info on historic shafts.

**maker_of_fire** · 06-13-2010, 08:33 PM

Looks good to me son. Thats my boy Need info on hand ax

**Rick** · 06-13-2010, 08:41 PM

What kind of hand axe are you looking for? Gene did an experiment some time back. He split a sapling, inserted a stone axe and let the tree grow around it. Pretty solid.