Any yall knappin out there?

ndoghouse · Oct 17, 2015

You can still get that material today in the knapping community. Its beautiful multicolored stuff as well. I have heard of it and seen pics but havent had the pleasure to work it. Id love to see that museum. All this stuff looks like arrowhead to most people but when you start trying to make something yourself you begin to appreciate the old guys talents.

Heck yeah Spyder! Thats some awesome points for first try! Im embarrassed to show mine:thumbup: Must have been an old clorox bottle. I havent tried the bottom of a beer bottle yet. Very cool to see others stuff. Post more if you have em. Id love to see them. I post on another forum more related to knapping but these guys here are my buddies so I do it here to

Crappy chert is hard as hell to knap. Thats what I learned on and dang near gave it up several times until I heard about heat treating and more knapable materials. Thanks for posting your points.

Howard Wallace · Oct 18, 2015

The Clovis points are very interesting. I know theories go in and out of fashion, but at least one I've heard is that they were specialized for large game like mastodons, and once the mastodons were hunted to extinction the Clovis points died out.

ndoghouse · Oct 18, 2015

I find it interesting that the Solutrean people may have made it to the east coast way before any migration from the north. There is even evidence that peoples knew not only how to build and sail boats but had knowledge of how to tack them up wind 40,000 and possibly even up to 60,000 years ago. Just amazing. They find caches of points in mass in the appalachian drainage basin and they decrease westward suggesting they came from the east coast and migrated to the west coast. If they came from the north acrss the siberian straights from europe you would see mass caches of these weapons up morth decreasing down south depending where they are going. The stone type they carried also gives an indication of where they got it and or traded it. Its kinda like a slug leaving a trail. Hard to dispute that.

ndoghouse · Oct 24, 2015

Mahogany obsidian from Glass Buttes Oregon. I broke the neck at the cho and its glued on for the Photo but im going to do a real one asap. This one will end up as a Kag Katne probably but should be fun to do. Khukris go back a long wayz but i bet you aint seen one in the fossil record eh?

Shavru · Oct 25, 2015

oh man, must have been right near the end when it snapped. Can imagine the elation....to despair in 1 blow. LOL some say that is the basis for knapping

Looks great can't wait to see what you do with the parts and when you finish up one that survives

Howard Wallace · Oct 25, 2015

Rocks that exhibit conchoidal fracturing can get extremely sharp but they are brittle. Possibly not the best choice if one wishes to approximate the function of a khukuri with a rock tool.

Shavru · Oct 25, 2015

Hmm I think Howard is saying proper rock choice might make a better chance of success of your next attempt... But I am not positive

ndoghouse · Oct 25, 2015

Oh it definitely is not a chopper. If you wanted to chop you'd have to make it from basalt or some tougher stone. Obsidian would probably be worst choice. Its just for fun more than anything. I figured from the start id break it at the neck but it was fun anyway. I was mainly just practicing some pressure flaking. Obsidian can be resharpened though if needed. You take a flake off one side flip it over and do the same on the other side then continue in succession till you cover the entire edge. Eventually after many resharpenings you run out of blade and make a new knife.

Howard: It might work well for chopping watermelons. Not much more though.

nine4t4 · Oct 25, 2015

This is going to be a very time consuming hobby for me. I started a while back but living in an urban area finding good stone is a problem. Antler and copper tools we the easier part.
So far I've just played with glass bottle bottoms. I think I'm ready to send away for a 'project' stone but I would prefer to hunt for the stone rather than pay for it.

Thanks for the inspiration to get off my ass and move to the next level.

Howard Wallace · Oct 25, 2015

Many people would be amazed to know that this old technology can result in blades much sharper than their modern wonderknives. Obsidian flakes have been used by modern surgeons for corneal surgery and other tasks where an extremely sharp tool is needed.

ndoghouse · Oct 25, 2015

nine4t4 said:
This is going to be a very time consuming hobby for me. I started a while back but living in an urban area finding good stone is a problem. Antler and copper tools we the easier part.
So far I've just played with glass bottle bottoms. I think I'm ready to send away for a 'project' stone but I would prefer to hunt for the stone rather than pay for it.

Thanks for the inspiration to get off my ass and move to the next level.

You might be surprised where you can find some good stuff. I found a bunch of good stuff used for landscaping rocks where I used to work. A lot of the good stuff is trash rock to the aggregate companies because its too hard to go through their rock crushers. Ive been tempted to have a 10 yard dump truck load of it hauled to my house for little over the price to haul it. Thats not possible in most urban settings though. No doubt there would be a lifetime supply of flint. Many of the rock quarries dont want to mess with people on their property for liability reasons but if you can get in and stay out of the way some will let you collect good stuff.
Post some pics here if you get inclined to start back into it. Glass is fun too. Ive done a few pieces in glass.

Howard I cant tell you how many times I got cut with obsidian. I put tape on my fingers when working with the stuff. On occasion I get a chip embedded in my fingers and fortunately there's always a good sharp piece around to surgically remove it. Those cuts seem to bleed forever too.

Bookie · Oct 30, 2015

There's a surgeon in town who buys obsidian blades.

T. C. Weston · Nov 5, 2015

ndoghouse said:
You might be surprised where you can find some good stuff. I found a bunch of good stuff used for landscaping rocks where I used to work. A lot of the good stuff is trash rock to the aggregate companies because its too hard to go through their rock crushers. Ive been tempted to have a 10 yard dump truck load of it hauled to my house for little over the price to haul it. Thats not possible in most urban settings though. No doubt there would be a lifetime supply of flint. Many of the rock quarries dont want to mess with people on their property for liability reasons but if you can get in and stay out of the way some will let you collect good stuff.
Post some pics here if you get inclined to start back into it. Glass is fun too. Ive done a few pieces in glass.

Howard I cant tell you how many times I got cut with obsidian. I put tape on my fingers when working with the stuff. On occasion I get a chip embedded in my fingers and fortunately there's always a good sharp piece around to surgically remove it. Those cuts seem to bleed forever too.

If you're knapping obsidian, get used to the sight of your own blood. I finally shipped your rock today; with this new job I thought I was never going to make it to the post office! It should get there in a few days, so have the bandaids handy!

I had a flint chip embedded in the end of my finger for over a year before it finally worked its way out. Every once in a while I'd run my finger into something and man did that smart!

ndoghouse · Nov 5, 2015

T. C. Weston said:
If you're knapping obsidian, get used to the sight of your own blood. I finally shipped your rock today; with this new job I thought I was never going to make it to the post office! It should get there in a few days, so have the bandaids handy!

I had a flint chip embedded in the end of my finger for over a year before it finally worked its way out. Every once in a while I'd run my finger into something and man did that smart!

I shoulld told ya I picked up some Glass Buttes stuff. I attended Tex Holiday's knap-in last weekend at Nibblets Bluff Louisiana on the Sabine river and got lots of good instruction and rock. Lots of good folks and lots of fun.Also got some river cane to make some atlatl darts. I also bid on an Osage bow a guy made and out of confusion I thought I had the high bid and let it go for $145. I was bummed. Hey BTW Thanks TC! PM me your address if you want. I have a box packed up for you as well. Its called Kinley rock from West Texas. From a gentleman named Kinley Coyan. Really nice guy. Its cooked so it it should be just what your looking for.
Yes bandaids. I bleed every time I knap. I tape up my finger tips before obsidian because thats a 100% your gonna draw some blood. I also have some Arkansas Novaculite baked at 800 if you want some. Really cool stuff.

Bawanna · Nov 6, 2015

Kamidog, does you wear shoes when your doing this knapping stuff. Seems like it might be a fine idea.

ndoghouse · Nov 7, 2015

Bawanna said:
Kamidog, does you wear shoes when your doing this knapping stuff. Seems like it might be a fine idea.

Your prolly right. I try to follow good safety practices when I can. I do keep a few layers of 12-14 ounce buffalo hide over my legs to protect them

Workin on a bit of midnight lace obsidian from Glass Butes Oregon tonight. Cool stuff.

T. C. Weston · Nov 14, 2015

ndoghouse said:
I shoulld told ya I picked up some Glass Buttes stuff. I attended Tex Holiday's knap-in last weekend at Nibblets Bluff Louisiana on the Sabine river and got lots of good instruction and rock. Lots of good folks and lots of fun.Also got some river cane to make some atlatl darts. I also bid on an Osage bow a guy made and out of confusion I thought I had the high bid and let it go for $145. I was bummed. Hey BTW Thanks TC! PM me your address if you want. I have a box packed up for you as well. Its called Kinley rock from West Texas. From a gentleman named Kinley Coyan. Really nice guy. Its cooked so it it should be just what your looking for.
Yes bandaids. I bleed every time I knap. I tape up my finger tips before obsidian because thats a 100% your gonna draw some blood. I also have some Arkansas Novaculite baked at 800 if you want some. Really cool stuff.

I got a really nice box of rocks in the mail today. Thanks!!! Can't wait to start working it!

ndoghouse · Nov 15, 2015

T. C. Weston said:
I got a really nice box of rocks in the mail today. Thanks!!! Can't wait to start working it!

Khul man! That Glass Buttes stuff is awesome! Ive been working that Novaculite lately with indirect percussion and getting 6.5:1 preforms. Thats great for me. Im about to go back to the obsidian tho and see what happens there. Hopefully I dont smash it up. Ill start easy. Enjoy that stuff. Post some points if you get something out of it.

T. C. Weston · Feb 1, 2016

Here's one I finished a couple weeks ago. Agatized wood. It was a beautiful piece of stone, and I didn't have any room for error. A gentleman from Wyoming sent the stone to me, and asked if I could make something out of it.

like I said, bandaids!

Here are some bifaces, and a point out of the rock Ndoghouse sent. I'll show the finished points sometime.

Howard Wallace · Feb 1, 2016

Beautifully done.