Flint Knives

E

Edged_Obsession

Joined
Sep 30, 2009
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So do any of you guys have any experience with these flint knives? Are they any good? I hear they can be brutally sharp.
 
I know I just read a thread about this on the forums, please search. Either google site:bladeforums.com or since you payed use the forum search.
 
i actually knapped some obbsidian and flint heads. i was trying to kill a deer with completly organic and hand made archery gear a couple years ago. never did kill one with the flint heads, although i killed one with a modern longbow. anyway, stone can take and amazing edge. when you flake away at the edges correctly, you can have the sharpest edge, that cant be beat my any manmade material. to be able to make nice looking flint cutting too takes years of practice, although "functional" but not so nice looking blades can be made after some practice.
 
Obsidian can be outrageously sharp. Some fines surgeon's knives in the world are made from Obsidian instead steel... or so I have heard.
 
True about obsidian. Volcanic glass can be knapped to about one molecule thickness at the edge. Nothing man-made comes close.
 
Savage! I totally love it. I'd like to get into this flintknapping...Is it tough, what do you need, what does it cost? From your own experiences? Can these knives be made from rock found in the mountains , or does it have to be a special rock?:thumbup::D
 
Edged_Obsession said:
Savage! I totally love it. I'd like to get into this flintknapping...Is it tough, what do you need, what does it cost? From your own experiences? Can these knives be made from rock found in the mountains , or does it have to be a special rock?:thumbup::D
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Has to be obsidian from what I understand because obsidian is very glass like.

There's a reason obsidian is used in cardiac surgery. I don't think any other rock can get close to that molecular level.
 
Just remember that obsidian IS glass. You can pratice on chunks of glass. But obsidian and glass will not only give you sharp edges, they will give you sharp chips breaking off as you knap them. Dangerous to work with.

An anthropology professor of mine told us about some arrowheads he found for sale that were made from, Coca-Cola bottle bottoms

You can also get the same effect by knapping flint, which is much more common.
 
65535 said:
I know I just read a thread about this on the forums, please search. Either google site:bladeforums.com or since you payed use the forum search.
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Ya know what? You don't like my threads stay off of em, it's quite simple. You and the jerks that grilled me before on that dumb Whine&Cheese or whatever keep visiting my threads...Don't like me, stay the heck out man. What's difficult about that?:confused:
 
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When I went on a trip to the Seirras we found a really nice obsidian arrowhead in the dirt -it was right after a rain.

We went to a local souvenir shop and they were selling whole chunks of obsidian pretty cheap. It comes in red, black, and some interesting colorations/ combinations. There was a local mountain called the "obsidian Dome" -I bet we could have found endless obsidian there. If you ask around where you live you might be able to find a good natural supply.

Other stones are used for edged tools as well, but I dont know the names.

I have been interested in the stuff too. It takes patience to learn because once you actually get a good start on your arrow/ blade you run the risk of breaking it right at the end. Still a BA thing to know how to do:thumbup:.
 
The Government said:
When I went on a trip to the Seirras we found a really nice obsidian arrowhead in the dirt -it was right after a rain.

We went to a local souvenir shop and they were selling whole chunks of obsidian pretty cheap. It comes in red, black, and some interesting colorations/ combinations. There was a local mountain called the "obsidian Dome" -I bet we could have found endless obsidian there. If you ask around where you live you might be able to find a good natural supply.

Other stones are used for edged tools as well, but I dont know the names.

I have been interested in the stuff too. It takes patience to learn because once you actually get a good start on your arrow/ blade you run the risk of breaking it right at the end. Still a BA thing to know how to do:thumbup:.
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Very interesting sir. I will ask around then. And yes it is a badass thing to know, you just gotta love those primitive ways, quite remarkable!:thumbup:
 
If you want to play in W&C and act childish that is fine. It needs to stay in W&C. Infraction issued.
 
harkamus said:
I wouldn't say that necessarily. Surgeons don't use flint on their scalpels. ;) I wouldn't think flint would get nearly as thin an edge as obsidian.
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While other types of stone (flint, chert, etc.) don't get as fine of an edge, many of them tend to be a little "tougher" than obsidian, and are more readily available in most locations.

To the original poster: Google is your friend. Just type in something like "flint knapping" and you'll come up with more than you ever wanted to know about the subject. Everything from how to find and identify it, to how to knap it.
 
You can buy flint and obsidian online relatively cheaply. Can't post the links due to forum rules, but if you did a websearch, you will be able to find flintknapping suppliers. Here's about 13lbs for $49 online.

Only other way of getting large amounts of obsidian is if you lived next to a volcano, Hawaii and Mexico are the closest in N. America.
 

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CWL said:
You can buy flint and obsidian online relatively cheaply. Can't post the links due to forum rules, but if you did a websearch, you will be able to find flintknapping suppliers. Here's about 13lbs for $49 online.

Only other way of getting large amounts of obsidian is if you lived next to a volcano, Hawaii and Mexico are the closest in N. America.
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Well, there's always Oregon and California. Both have large deposits of obsidian.
 
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