Some of my recent flintknapping stuff

[Cannonman17]

I'm constantly tinkering with one thing or another, flintknapping is one of the things that I always find myself going back to. It's been kind of an ongoing learning process over the last.... *few* years. Here are a few from the recent weeks and the antler that made them. (I had to sharpen it a few times as it is gettting older/softer with the sweat of my hands)

[crashdive123]

Very nice work.

[Gray Wolf]

Great pieces Cannonman17!

[Sourdough]

Nice work, how long does it take roughly to make one? And how many get ruined when almost complete?

[Runs With Beer]

Very cool, Nice work.

[Rick]

That is some nice functional artwork. Nice job!

[Cannonman17]

Nice work, how long does it take roughly to make one? And how many get ruined when almost complete?

It takes me longer to make one than most. A good knapper can turn out a usable bird point in less than an hour... for me it may take an hour or more sometimes. Depends largely on the material. Very few get broke when almost complete, almost never in fact. Most are broken (at least for me) in the reduction/thinning stage long before the fine work gets done. By the time I get down to the pressure flaking stage it's pretty much a sure thing that it will turn out. It's fun but hard on the hand and shoulder joints. By the way hopeak, my kid is just tickled about the box of .22 rounds news.

[Pict]

Good night! If I could do that I'd be going back there all the time too. Mac

[RangerXanatos]

Great pieces of art!

[snakeman]

Those are great! What kind of rock is the red and black ones? I just found some small pieces of chert and quartzite, but I brake em' when i try to get them thin.

[Cannonman17]

The red and black pieces are made from obsidian. Hey, if you are just starting the hobby and learning how you might want to try some old glass bottle bottoms, they are real easy to work or "flake" and it will teach you the basic principles easier than working on chert will. Just a thought. Even after all these years I can't walk by an old bottle dump in the woods without stopping to flake out a couple of points!!

[snakeman]

Ive made 1 or2 glass points from pressure flaking. Not near as good as most others on this site including yours. I can get short flakes and a sharp edge and point but how do you get those flakes in the middle?

[Cannonman17]

Getting the flakes to go all the way across the surface, or most of the way at least takes a little time to learn. The number one secret of how to do that has to do with the edge preperation. This is really super important, specially with brittle materials like glass or obsidian. Here are some tips to improve your thinning flakes:
1) Make sure you're platform (that point at which you are going to remove the flake) is below the centerline. Look at the piece from the side and draw an imaginary line in the middle lengthwise, any flakes you're going to take off should be below that imaginary centerline.
2) Prep the edge, besides making sure you have a good angle, make sure you abrade the edge a bit, any stone will work but sandstone or something like that works really good. Rubbing the edge where you're going to take the flake from will prevent it from shattering and giving you short or stepped fractures. For me this step was my eureka moment where my knapping improved a lot.
3) Make sure you're pressing into the stone and not just straight down on the edge.
4) Practice practice practice.
Hope this helps/makes sense! It's easier to show somebody than it is to try and explain it, that's for sure.

[canid]

nice work. i'm out of obsidian and didn't manage to pick up any red chert while i was up in oregon, so i've been clinking it up with some random basalt-like stone and porcelain from an old sink.

[pgvoutdoors]

Realy Good Work!

I've been working on my knapping skills, and working, and working, and working!

I'm still waiting for my "Knack" to kick in.

Keep posting tips and pics, I'm sure it will help many of us. Thanks!

[snakeman]

"Rubbing the edge where you're going to take the flake from will prevent it from shattering and giving you short or stepped fractures."

So thats why yall do that.. No wonder it always flakes off into little tiny shards that are now imbedded in my palm. I'm gonna start wearing gloves! Thanks for the advice.

[crashdive123]

I use a piece of an old grinding wheel to abrade the edges of the stone I'm working on.

[FVR]

Here are a few things I've made.

I have given all but the pers. knife away. Also gave away Caveman Kabar II & III. Swore that I'd keep IV, but hey.


Caveman Kabar I
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Caveman Kabar IV and pers. knife.
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Some Arrowheads
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Obsidian Ax
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.

Rough ax head.
Guests can not see images in the messages. Please register in the forum.


I knap every now and then, as you can see. Been doing it for years but just enough to know how to make a tool or an arrowhead to use. Most of the stuff I make I give away as I figure, he ll, I can always make another one. I am humbled at many of those out there that I helped get started, some have gotten very passionate about it and have far outdone any quality that I can hope to achieve.

I just traded most of my rock, about 50lbs for a new pair of New Balance running shoes. Trading is so much fun.

[canid]

i've been working on using smoked bull kelp for hafting. it's good stuff.

[Cannonman17]

FVR- Nice work there. Looks like some of those obsidian points are pretty decent. I hear ya about making stuff that is functional! I used to spend a great deal of time making points and knives that were pretty with little regard for usefullness but I have reversed that tendancy in recent years and now don't care what they look like but aim more for practicality. I also agree with you about the trading thing!! I trade everything, it's just more fun. Speaking of which.. if anybody out there has excess antlers and would like to trade for some stone/obsidian knives, atlatl points or arrowheads give me a hollar!

crashdive123, an old piece of grinding wheel would be PERFECT for that purpose! I might have to scrape one of them up. For the most part I try to stick with the strictly native materials and not use copper boppers and all that stuff but I think I will try the old grinding stone thing anyway, nobody will ever know the difference!

snakeman, rather than holding the piece you're working on in your hand try setting a piece of leather down on your leg and laying the piece on that. You can fold up the leather a bit to hold the piece at the desired angle and you won't get any more pieces stuck in your palm. Flying pieces getting in your eyes may still be a problem though! LOL

For everybody else: Keep in mind that making nice looking points and blades like FVR's will take time and practice BUT making a perfectly usefull knife in a pinch can be done by anybody. Almost any rock when broken will produce flakes, chunks etc and the edges of them will be sharp enough to cut/skin small game without any problem at all. If you are near a river look for chert/flint-like rocks that have some sheen to them, quartzites will also work fairly decent but are harder to break.