My First Arrowhead

[RangerXanatos]

Just thought that I'd share my first arrowhead that I made. My brother and his friend decided to show me how to make them. It was made from 1/8" piece of glass. It was going to be a knife blade or a spear point, but I broke it twice. The quarter is for size reference.

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Daniel

[crashdive123]

Very nice. Soda bottle or beer bottle? One of the guys that was teaching me knapping said - don't be too sure what you want to make when you start. Thre rock always knows what it wants to be.

[RangerXanatos]

It was glass from a window. Came from an old Sky City builiding that was tore down.

[RobertRogers]

It really is beautiful

[canid]

looks pretty good. i went through quite a lot of pieces only vaguely shaped like points before i got one that was fit to mount.

would you post a pic of it in side profile, so we can see one of the edges?

[ATough]

Wow man great job, is napping hard?

I've always wanted to learn.

[snakeman]

That's nice. I'd like to learn how to flintknap.

[Gray Wolf]

Great job!

[flandersander]

Very nice. Are you going to use it or is it for show? In the light like that, it is very pretty.

[RangerXanatos]

Well, I don't hunt so it's just for show. Right now I've been hanging it from the rearview mirror. Makes a great conversational piece. I'll post a pic of it in side view when I have a good connection (My camera takes big pictures and I'm on dial-up )

Daniel

[Rokas]

I always wanted to learn knapping, but in my country there is no such thing... I searched about it in books but with no success. Do you know any good website about knapping? Or maybe you have experience in doing this and you can teach me? I would very pleased.. Thanks!

[canid]

here is a decent place to start, and hosts a good hour or more of video.

the two things you will need to get a handleon, after a basic understanding of the way stone carries impact shock and how it more of less predictably fractures, are percussion knapping, the skill determining where to attempt to remove spalls of stone, at what angle to strike them, how to prepare your striking surface and with what amount of force, and then pressure flaking, the use of implements to push off flakes of stone to create and even edge, remove notches, etc. beyond that it is primarily just practice.

[crashdive123]

Here are a few more places that may help you.

http://www.onagocag.com/knapping.html

Here are some videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyuzh1uaSf4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkoIEIi2Lrg

[Rokas]

Thanks canid and crashdrive123

[Rick]

Man, that's a work of art!

[rebel]

I've got to try that. How long did it take?

[RangerXanatos]

It took me a little over an hour. But it was my first time. An experienced person should be able to knock it out in no time at all.

Daniel

[hoosierarcher]

Really nice job, glass makes a really deadly arrowhead if properly sharpened. Obsidian and glass are the only two materials that can be sharpened to one molecule of thickness with hand tools, and primitive hand tools at that. you can't get sharper than one molecule of thickness.

[Rick]

HoosierArcher - I saw a show a couple of years ago comparing stone tools to modern day knives. I was shocked at the comparisons. The stone knives they knapped were twice the sharpness of modern day scalpels. 3 microns vs. 7 microns if I remember the numbers correctly.

[Beo]

Real good work looks great.
Keep up the good work.
Beo,