That is some beautiful work.
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That is some beautiful work.
Here are the points I knapped yesterday. I am running low on good material, and it shows. I mostly have very small flakes and some hard and crumbly stuff. I need to stock back up on some good stuff. On a good note, I am getting much faster. I knapped these six points in about 2:45.
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...pictureid=1675
The first two in the top row are smoky obsidian - small but pretty. I haven't got a clue what the material in the top right point is. It was really crumbly and wanted to crush rather than flake. The two white point are quartz. The one on the left was really uncooperative - full of fractures and lumps. The bigger one was much better in consistency, but it had a big lump on one side that I couldn't pop off with a hammerstone or pressure flaker. I don't know if you would call it a really big arrowhead or a relly small spear point. The last is glass. I was in a hurry to finish and did not thin it out enough. That is why the notches look bad.
Hey guys, post your work!
Those obsidian points are looking better all the time. You're really improving! I haven't had a chance to knap any lately, but I found an old toilet tank a few days ago that someone threw out on a dirt road. Gonna try some of that for big percussion spearpoints. Got a lot going on lately with hit-and-miss work, the garden, and honey-dew. I'll get back on it as soon as I get time. Got a piece of rock from one of the guys at the building supply house and he told me to come get all the rocks I wanted, so hopefully there'll be some good stuff there.
Keep up the good work PTW. I've got the fever, just not the time :D
I did three more points today. My hands are getting a little sore. Here's to hoping they will toughen up soon!
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...pictureid=1676
The material of the left point is "johnstone," aka a toilet tank lid! It worked pretty good and I thought the point turned out good. The middle point was from a big shard of glass. I was a little nervous working on that one! The third point was from a very granular white quartz I found behind my house. It was terrible for knapping. I was almost impossible to spall into any kind of workable flake. It breaks easily when percussion flaking, and crushes instead of flaking when a percussion flaker. I know it looks terrible, but I am just happy that I could get anything remotely resembling a point out of it. I doubt it would be functional though.
you are really turning out some fine points there, even from the bad rocks. I only had a few minutes to bang on the Johnstone yesterday. Hopefully I'll have more time this weekend to get back on knapping. Nice work!
Johnstone, aka, toilet tank ceramic is not the best thing to knap, but it's good for practice, because if you break it, it's not like you ruined good flint. I found some discarded on a dirt road the other day, so I brought it home and broke it into smaller pieces for practice with percussion. Here's how it went...
A nice slab for me to break
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3284.jpg
and break it did!
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3285.jpg
I used the top piece for a while and it broke too just as I was getting a good edge. Oh well, here's the result of that.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3286.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3287.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3290.jpg
Not the result I was hoping for but was a good opportunity to show the leg bracing technique I use for percussion knapping in the next post.
I use a piece of old carpet for padding. Much better than banging bruises on my leg and driving flakes into it. The carpet is pictured above and this is the basic posture I use. You can see that I am able to hold the piece at a nice driving angle to get flakes to run further. Too steep an angle and it'll still hinge, but I don't seem to make the waves in the flakes the way holding a piece out front of me seems to.
This allows for more stability and accuracy. Two shots so hopefully you can see what's going on.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3288.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3289.jpg
Normally I would be sitting in a chair, but I couldn't find something the right height for the camera to get a good shot. Still the method is the same. Brace the piece on the outside of my leg, and drive the billet straight down in a glancing blow on the prepared platform edge of the piece. I hope that explains it well enough, because it really is that simple..
Here are the results of percussion knapping yesterday. The point on the left is johnstone.. not exactly perfect, but I didn't pressure flake anything.. I only used the billet to make the point. The second point (on the right) is some rock Craig gave to me. I think it's chert. It's not the best stuff, but after slowly and deliberately peeling off the remaining cortex and getting to the good rock, I was left with a preform worthy of a spearpoint.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3297.jpg
This is the best piece I've turned out lately that had any size to it. It is the second percussioned (is that even a word?) point pictured above, but I just wasn't satisfied, so I got my pressure flaker and went to work. After about an hour of refining, thinning, and trimming, This is what I wound up with.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3331.jpg
The mosquitos came out and I had to retreat indoors, so maybe I'll get a chance to do some more knapping tomorrow.
Nice work on the Johnny Chert.
ycc, thanks for the tutorial on percussion flaking. I am doing it quite differently. I will have to try your method. It seems way more precise. Now I understand what you meant about having to pad your leg.
Here are a few points I made over the weekend:
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...pictureid=1677
Most are obsidian from broken pieces and very small pieces. The first was from a very thin flake. This may be my favorite of the 33 points I have made as of 4-3-2010. It looks like several originals I have seen. The bigger white one is "johnstone." This piece was a lot of trouble. It started out about times that wide, but the glazed sides would never "clean up." I ended up with this narrow point and it still wasn't totally cleaned up. The smaller white piece is quartz. I can see why the natives in my area were very eager to trade for some other type of material. Quartz just doesn't cooperate. Wish I could get it to, because it could be very nice looking.
the three obsidian pieces on the right are very nice. I'm particularly fond of that clovis style. Have you tried hafting any yet?
That johnstone piece turned out pretty nice too! I wouldn't put much weight on keeping it.. all my johnstone pieces are real brittle and most break before I'm done. on the bright side, I'm filling up some mud-holes in the driveway :D Good for practice though!
the bottom left piece looks like the "Kentucky Hornstone" Poco sent to me. I gotta try some more of that soon. It's like carving soap and I just LOVE it.
the top left one has a good hunk left in it.. have you tried using your flaker to remove those pesky hinges? you have to hold the piece in a really awkward position and it takes a good bit more pressure from your arms, but I've successfully removed a couple that way.. I've also broken several trying to remove the "cliffs" too, so be easy. Still has a nice shape.
Good work PTW! keep 'em coming!
My latest. Flint River Honey. This was found north of the fall line by a diver. Good stuff. It flakes as well as the stuff Poco sent from the mountains without being cooked.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3472.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3475.jpg
Batteries died in the camera while I was doing this and only got a few other crappy pictures with a friends camera phone, but hopefully you can tell what's gonig on here. I'll get some pics of the hole with the hawk head in it later today when I get some fresh batteries.
Coal and Straw "Fire drilling method". Basically you put a hot coal on the piece you want a hole in, use a straw of some sort, (horseweed, cane, bamboo, etc.; I used a plastic straw) and blow on the down on the coal till it's VERY hot and the wood underneath with get hot enough to burn. Use a rock or knife to dig out the charred stuff, drop in another coal and keep going.
The other pics we took were pretty blurry, but I'll post the results of a couple hours work later.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN3479.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN3480.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN3482.jpg
Wow, how did I ever miss this thread?
I could take some lessons here.
Nice rocks.
Most of the phone pictures were really blurry and not much good, so all I have to show is the results of the coal and straw drilling method.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN3514.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN3513.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...s/DSCN3510.jpg
The hardest part is keeping the coal ON the wood while blowing.
The straw itself needs to have an extra tube on the bottom to catch all the spit that likes to fall out and onto your nice hot wood, putting it out. It took me a while to get the hang of it, but it was a really effective method for drilling requiring few tools and few calories. All I had to do was breathe a little harder than normal. A straw and a scraping rock for removing the char made up my tools for this job.
The extra space will be filled with wood shavings for cushion and packed with pine pitch glue, then wrapped with twined sinew, extra around the handle to keep from splitting.
so that's all I have for a lesson in hot coal drilling and hafting right now. stay tuned!
Well done YCC.
That is a very nice skull cracker, ycc! Thanks for the tutorial on the straw and coal method. I will have to try it. I really want to make a tomahawk, but I don't have any material big enough yet. But when I do I may just try hafting it that way.
By the way, what stone did you use for the head, and what wood did you use for the handle? And what did you use for the straw?
The stone is some serpentenite (I guess) that I sourced from some boulders near my MIL house. I have some pictures of us spalling it out somewhere.. I'll get them uploaded soon. Very glassy and VERY hard to knap
The handle is a piece of cherry from a tree that was removed at my co-workers house.
the straw was just a regular plastic straw. No cane in walking distance, but I gotta figure out something besides plastic because it blows spit everywhere. Needs a spit-trap on it.
I used a piece of copper tubing (ice maker line size) and bent a small "p" trap in it. I didn't spit on the coals once.Quote:
Originally Posted by your_comforting_company
Cool! I actually have a piece of copper tubing that came off an old junk compressor that is shaped like a P-trap. Good Idea!!
I also thought of drilling the pith out of some cane at a branch node.. I'll try to stop somewhere today and get some more cane and make one and maybe try it at the festival this weekend. The straight part of the cane would be the straw, and the branch would be the spit collector. hold a finger over the end of it as you blow and when taking in a breath, drop the spit out... I'll be playing with it some more to see what I can come up with.
The strangest thing about the rock is that as much as I've scoured an area within 5 counties, this is the only good quality stone I've found. All the inclusions are well silicated and it's pretty neat that all the little crustaceans glow in the sunlight if you hold it up.
Would it be a good idea to post pics of source rocks here or do you think another thread would be more appropriate?
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.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...0410002316.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...410002318a.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...410002321a.jpg
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?)
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...0306001439.jpg
an inside look
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...306001439a.jpg
some ?Jasper? with LOTS of inclusions.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...0306001355.jpg
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 :D
Looks like the pictures fit just fine right where you put them.
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.
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.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3770.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3771.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3772.jpg
after being flipped to lower the edge, the process is repeated until...
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3773.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3774.jpg
and after a few passes like that...
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3777.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3776.jpg
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.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3775.jpg
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
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.
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3736.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3737.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3738.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/g...g/DSCN3739.jpg
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?
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!
Great work YCC.
Finally, I am back to knapping!
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...pictureid=1714
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.
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/f...pictureid=1715
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!
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!
Looks real nice. Now go out and stick something.
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.
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!!
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:
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/g...1-2009/008.jpg
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.
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?
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.
Looks good to me son. Thats my boy Need info on hand ax
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.
The hand axe I am talking about is the kind where you hold the stone in your hand and chop with it - no handle.