Any yall knappin out there?

[ndoghouse]

I found a new addiction while I save up for Khukuris. Actually I want to knap a khukuri but I gotta go through the learning curve first and it aint as easy as I thought. Dang Neanderthal were much smarter than most people would think. Probably smarter than many people I know. Since I started a few months ago ive probably broken about three hundred pounds of rock but it seems to be paying off lately.
Ive made all my tools from scrap and with the help of Dhan Bahadur's Baby CAK all went well. What a useful blade it has been.

Fine work is a breeze!

Heres a few more tools I made about a month ago. They have doubled since. At least they are cheap to make. Im bagging all the good spalls for knapping into arrow and spear heads later but for now im following the lithic reduction plan of the Neanderthals. They called it Levallois which resembles a turtle shaped chunk of rock where they knocked a big flake off the flat or bottom of the form. They would then reshape it again and knock off another flake for a smaller point. They would continue until the resuslting flake was too small to make a usable point.

Levallois reduction. Aint the best but best I can do.

You shape it just right following all the rules and hit it just right in just the right place and off comes a flake for an arrowhead.

This one was sort of successful but it should have made a flake all the way across the surface of the form. Oh well my first so I aint too down about it. I have done a few more since.

Here's something I did for my baby.

Then my first point.

And my second. Looks more like a mouse pointer but still usable.

Ok heres a piece of plate glass i wanted to make a spear point. So far so good but man this is some thin stuff. The marker line marks the flat surface im trying to knap off.

All was going great till this disaster. One thing about this hobby is you got to follow the rules. They are relentless. Physics dont lie! All it takes is one mistake and you wasted days of work. I had about three days into this one. You go back and study what you screwed up and figure out what rule you broke and thats why it broke. Its usually obvious after the fact but was probably second nature to Neanderthal.

OK Start all over again! Here goes!

Looks like crap now but there is a zigzag pattern around the edges is necessary so you can begin shaping it how you want it.

OK. One day later it looks like this. And today I knapped the whole face off one side and things are getting thin and fragile. Ill post another broken point or a cool looking spear point tomorrow. Hopefully the latter. I think I got over my head on this one but one can be hopeful. Wish me luck fellas!

 

[Fenris_Wolf]

That's amazing!!!... spear point looks great ..
The Neanderthals would be proud!!:thumbup:

 

[Bookie]

Kamidog, the best book and about the oldest out there is by D. C, Waldorf: The Art of Flint Knapping. He is very good. He studied in Denmark under Axel Jorgensen to learn many things such as making Danish stone daggers. I also studied under Axel about 15 years ago on the island of Lolland, and still have one superb piece he made for me while I watched before Ruth and I left to return home. Axel was an incredible craftsman. How about a dagger such as this 17 inches long? I stole the pic from Waldorf's website.

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[ndoghouse]

Thanks Fenris but im probably at Neanderthal toddler level right now. I do think I learned enough to hunt. Its pretty amazing to me that they learned how to control a shock wave traveling through a piece of rock and direct it through the rock with their fingers to control the resulting shape of each flake. Vibration had to be controlled and all kinds of interesting stuff to prevent breakage. Fun stuff! It aint helping my arthritis tho

 

[Bookie]

I forgot. Wear A Mask! Axel's lungs accumulated so much super fine flint dust, well, never mind. I wish he was here. Just beware. It'll kill you.

 

[Fenris_Wolf]

From what I've seen so far I'm very impressed.
Please keep posting pictures as you go through the learning process ,, I'd love to see the progression of your skill

 

[ndoghouse]

Kamidog, the best book and about the oldest out there is by D. C, Waldorf: The Art of Flint Knapping. He is very good. He studied in Denmark under Axel Jorgensen to learn many things such as making Danish stone daggers. I also studied under Axel about 15 years ago on the island of Lolland, and still have one superb piece he made for me while I watched before Ruth and I left to return home. Axel was an incredible craftsman. How about a dagger such as this 17 inches long? I stole the pic from Waldorf's website.

Oh Crap! I know of Waldorf! I want that book! Its on my list. Im jealous of your visit! Wow What fun that would be. That Danish dagger is so awesome. I have a piece of flint im going to try do that neck pattern.

[video=youtube;iMDDcIdgsEA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMDDcIdgsEA[/video]

Those daggers are my favorite as well as the long clovis blades. Im going to try one soon. The neck on them daggers require a special process to make that ridge and is very hard to do. Since you cant break rock and control the edge if it is over 90 degrees then they use a chisel to punch the edge at the lowest angle they can and still keep the neck thick and the blade flat. Thats hard to do. I found a large piece of rootbeer flint today that might make a good subject. its only about 10" tho but would still work if I can break it down without bustin it up.
Please post a pic of that piece if its convenient to ya. Id love to see it!

Heres another of the axe process. The dagger is a combination between a biface use for making points and an axe.
Check it out. Pretty cool!
[video=youtube;Q-EPqWdkdw4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-EPqWdkdw4[/video]

Im using a fan to keep positive pressure away from my face. I know of silicosis and dont need that. It will slowly kill you and not a pleasant way to go im sure.

Fenris. Ill keep you updated. I would have posted more earlier but due to the great learning curve there was not much to show. Most of my time is being spent fine tuning primitive tools and maintaining them. Things wear out fast and there are many ways to do this stuff so consequently there are many tools to do it. Many are just finding the right shape hammer stones used to break up material and also abrading stones to rough up edges for pressure flaking. Ill post a pic soon of my present tools.

 

[blue lander]

I ain't knappin' I'm just resting my eyes!

Seriously though, very cool.

 

[Jens Schuetz]

Super cool.
The caveman in me always wanted to do this a bit more systematic.
So far on ocasion I hit some rocks together and once in a while a fragment looks useful.
Will watch the videos and learn a bit. If I ever produce anything noteworthy I'll post it here.
Thanks for all the information.

 

[T. C. Weston]

Man, you are neck deep into it now. By the looks of things, there is no turning back! I've been knapping for about 10 years now, and I shudder to think about how many hundreds of pounds of good stone I turned into gravel at the beginning. Your mailman will come to hate you after he's had to continuously deliver boxes of rock to your door. Here's a spear point out of rainbow obsidian I did a while ago.

And this was just a couple months ago. Made out of some broken glass from an old homestead in NE Oregon.

The best advise I can give you is have lots of bandaids handy, and even more patience.

 

[Yangdu]

Great pix and tools, thank you for sharing

 

[ndoghouse]

Dang TC! Those are some awesome pieces. Now I understand all the work that goes into something like that. Was the obsidian from slab? Im going to have to order me some obsidian slabs and try that. I also see fiber optic glass some use that looks great when finished.

I'm done knapping both sides of that glass piece I started and it looks similar to the one in your pic. I still need to go around the edge to sharpen and even out the margin. I think this pic is before I got the other side knapped. I zig zagged, cut one flake from each side to convex it then was able to get the next flake set across the middle. Thats a first for me. I usually cant get the flakes to travel across the middle. Maybe I got lucky?

Here is my hammerstone and abrader collection. Last night I found a really nice chunk of flint (right). The chip next to it came off sooooo smooth. I think its gonna be a good one Now what to do with it
Oh! Theres my bamboo bow staves below. Im still not convinced on using them. I think im just goin to order me a hickory stave or something but thats another thread.


Jens: There are plenty of good resources for beginning knappers. You tube is full of some very talented guys. Also check out paleoplanet.net for plenty of good instruction. I post in the beginning knappers group but mostly read and try to follow destructions

 

[Dobe_1]

This has been a very interesting read. Time and patience, I do have the latter. The former is not there at least for now.

Great thread, thanks.

 

[T. C. Weston]

Ndoghouse, yes that spear point is from a slab. I have a couple more that I haven't touched yet, but they are waiting for me. I usually work off of a spall of flint or obsidian. A friend of mine gave me a 100+ lbs boulder of obsidian from Glass Buttes Oregon, and so far I've reduced it down to about 60 lbs. The only local rock around here I can collect is basalt. Most of it is too coarse grained to work, but I did find a cache of finer stuff I'd like to make some points out of some time. Some of the knives and points found in the Columbia Basin area by archeologists were knapped from basalt.

You are dead on about the convexity allowing your flakes to travel across the biface. That's the hardest part about working slabbed material. You can also prepare a strong platform for your pressure flaker, and knapp ridge after ridge if it's a smaller piece.

 

[Bookie]

Outstanding workmanship, guys!

 

[ndoghouse]

You are dead on about the convexity allowing your flakes to travel across the biface. That's the hardest part about working slabbed material. You can also prepare a strong platform for your pressure flaker, and knapp ridge after ridge if it's a smaller piece.

I have learned that a proper platform is key. I went from tough Texas chert to glass and obsidian and boy what a difference. I finished that point today without breaking it. WHooo hooo! Im a happy mofo! Ill post pics tomorrow. I even notched it without breaking it! Aint as pretty as yours but thats to be expected.
Let me make a trip to the river and Ill send you some good rootbeer chert nodules (sorry mailman)? Im in the flint capital of the world you know. I found two more cobbles tonight and they look great. I have a few more stashed in the bush but gotta get them tomorrow. Ill knap the cortex off and send ya some if they end up good stuff.
I still have a problem getting a good thin biface but im hoping playing with this glass will help. Im going back to spalls and will try some points again and see what happens. I really need some help from some pros. Im looking to attend a Knapp-in soon and meet some guys for a weekend and maybe they can set me straight. Will be fun! Thanks for your input. Im having lots of fun doing this!

 

[Jens Schuetz]

Dang TC! Those are some awesome pieces. Now I understand all the work that goes into something like that. Was the obsidian from slab? Im going to have to order me some obsidian slabs and try that. I also see fiber optic glass some use that looks great when finished.

I'm done knapping both sides of that glass piece I started and it looks similar to the one in your pic. I still need to go around the edge to sharpen and even out the margin. I think this pic is before I got the other side knapped. I zig zagged, cut one flake from each side to convex it then was able to get the next flake set across the middle. Thats a first for me. I usually cant get the flakes to travel across the middle. Maybe I got lucky?

Here is my hammerstone and abrader collection. Last night I found a really nice chunk of flint (right). The chip next to it came off sooooo smooth. I think its gonna be a good one[emoji14] Now what to do with it
Oh! Theres my bamboo bow staves below. Im still not convinced on using them. I think im just goin to order me a hickory stave or something but thats another thread.


Jens: There are plenty of good resources for beginning knappers. You tube is full of some very talented guys. Also check out paleoplanet.net for plenty of good instruction. I post in the beginning knappers group but mostly read and try to follow destructions

Thank you. Will check it out.
When I was 8 or so my parents took us to an area near the baltic sea which was covered in rocks as far as one could see. Each one of them a flint stone.
Guess I have to order them since everything here is sand stone. What is a good source?

 

[ndoghouse]

Thank you. Will check it out.
When I was 8 or so my parents took us to an area near the baltic sea which was covered in rocks as far as one could see. Each one of them a flint stone.
Guess I have to order them since everything here is sand stone. What is a good source?

Ill send you some links tonight. There are some guys that sell material on paleoplanet.net. They say it's best to buy from known good reputable sources rather than just anyone off auction. Some chert or flint needs to be heat treated to be really good stuff but if you can get obsidian then no need for heat treatment. Id buy obsidian online no problem. Sounds like the Baltic Sea is knappers heaven

Knapped both sides but before notching. Whew! I didnt break it:thumbup:

DD.

Theres my biggest point so far. Scarry thin.

 

[Bookie]

Kamidog, I brought some grey flint nodules home with me from Denmark years ago. This is the same stuff used today in English made gun flints. If I can uncover some (read lost in the shop) I'll pop it in the mail.

 

[ndoghouse]

Kamidog, I brought some grey flint nodules home with me from Denmark years ago. This is the same stuff used today in English made gun flints. If I can uncover some (read lost in the shop) I'll pop it in the mail.

I was meaning to ask you if you need any flint knapped for that? Tell me what kind of shape you want and Ill make you some. Ive seen pics of some that look wedge shaped. Im pretty sure I could make you some if you use them. Thanks doc.