Flint Skills

[R-Bowskill]

TV tubes...watch it when you make the first break, they're supposed to implode but the effects can be quite dramatic even so. If you get hold of one I'd reccomend throwing a stone / brick rather than hitting it with a hammer!!!! (experience!!!)

Apart from that they are good, about 1/2 inch 12mm thick so you've got something to work with that you can actually hold.

 

[Roving Rich]

Cool - Top tip - throw a brick at the telly
I took to flint knapping like a duck to water.(Started with Antonio at the same Wilderness Gathering ) One of the first things I made was beautiful barbed arrowhead "As good as any in the museum" the expert told me ):
It got attached to a hazel shaft, and fletched with goose feathers. The first and second shots (is that correct for Archery ?) went clean through the archery target, We had to cut the arrow out on both occasions due to the barbs. Next the best archer had a go, and the arrow swerved off left, and hit a corrugated iron barn. It snapped half an inch off the tip of the arrow head, and ruined its sleek lines, I reknapped the remainder and still had a sharp useable arrow.
By all accounts John Lord is this countries finest knapper. I intend to get some one on one time with him. He offers day classes for small numbers for a very reasonable sum.

Cheers
Rich

 

[Paleoaleo]

Howdy Folks. I'm a flintknapper from California, USA. Found this discussion and thought I'd join in to say that, in a pinch, glass works well for knapping! So does porceline from toilet tanks ("Johnstone" aka "Thunderchert").

Here's some photos. The first is a blue glass point, made from an old dinner plate:

Here's a large knife blade made from 1/2" plate glass:

And here's some points and blades made out of toilet tank material:

Flintknapping is addicting....watch out!

Tom

P.S., great website you have here!

 

[tomtom]

Tom.. im sure you heard it before.. but (and there not a smilie to describe :Wow: :shock: :clap: :notworthy :smiley-fa :yumyum: :bling: ): :biggthump :You_Rock_ ) they are AMAZING!!


P.S. all the best people are called Tom!

 

[Buckshot]

"As good as any in the museum" the expert told me

Does that mean it looks like it's been buried for a couple of thousand years... ):

Mark

 

[Paganwolf]

Yep i agree with tt with bells on! top stuff tom :biggthump

 

[Roving Rich]

Fantastic ! :You_Rock_

Good ot See you here Tom, Just been looking at some of your fine work over at Paleo Planet

http://p081.ezboard.com/bpaleoplanet69529

Cheers
Rich

 

[philaw]

Tvividr, it's interesting that you import flint to Norway to work with. I live in East Yorkshire (near Leeds), UK, and have recently developed an interest in prehistoric british history. At the local museum (in Hull) there are samples of flint arrow heads and spear tips. The thing that really stood out for me was that tests had revealed some of them came from Cornwall, in the far south west of Britain! Supposedly unfinished items were traded, I guess the idea being that less excess weight is carried en route, and some effort is still saved by not finishing them. It sounds very similar to the way knife blades used to be shipped from britain to the US. Even where people had flint close by, they would make a big effort to get the best quality stone. However far you have to go to get our flint, at least you don't have to walk 300 miles!

 

[Tvividr]

Wow! That's some very nice work you've done there Tom.
:You_Rock_ :biggthump

 

[Ed]

They are fantasic..... my efforts look like... well.... broken bits of rock :-( I suppose I just need more practice..... and alot of time

Ed

 

[acw_akkermans]

Anybody who wants the handouts I made available during the wilderness gathering, send me an Private Message, and I'll mail them to you. The instructions explain how to make an arrowhead from a beer bottle bottom. However, the techniques you learn with these instructions, work with other material such as fint and obsidian too.
The main difference in working flint as opposed to obsidian, is that with obsidian and glass, you can slowly build up the pressure when pressure flaking to get nice long flakes. With flint, the pressure needs to be more of an explosion to create any length of flake.
I used to teach glass first also (as some people mentioned) But now I've switched to flint only. Glass may be easier, but if I can teach people flint, then they can knap with every material, as flint is one of the harder materials and requires a perfect technique.

Any questions, let me know, and I'll see if I can answer them on this forum.

PS, John Lord really is the UK's master. as for books, the best one I found is: "flintknapping, Making and understanding stone tools" by John c. Whittaker (ISBN: 029279083x)

 

[Paleoaleo]

Les,

My personal favorite flintknapping book is called "Flintknapping, Making and Understanding Stone Tools" - by John Whittaker. It helped me to understand much about flintknapping, and as I've progressed, I keep returning to John's book and learning more and more. It's good for the beginner.

No book is the equal of having some first hand lessons though.

Hope you guys don't find my photos a boor! Here's one of a group of flint and chert points and blades I made a while ago:

Cheers,

Tom Mills

 

[hootchi]

Wow. They look wonderful! Defintely not boring. :You_Rock_

 

[Les Marshall]

They are not boring at all, they are beutiful. Thanks for the book idea.

 

[Stuart]

I wish I could knap like that!

not boring at all more like fascinating

 

[Toddy]

:super: Oh wow, those are stunningly good. Have you tried scrapers and awls for leather working too?
Toddy

 

[Paleoaleo]

Toddy,

I haven't tried much leatherworking using stone tools, but I have used them for small woodworking projects, like making arrows and spearthrowers (I'm hoping to make a bow one day with only stone tools).

Your question inspired me to post some photos, etc., on making a stone aged arrow. The tools in that write-up would work fine for leatherworking and to a degree, hide scraping, etc.

I have used some bone tools for doing minor leatherworking projects and basketry. For the hell of it, here's a photo of some bone tools I've used:

The awl is on the right, the needles need no introduction. The two needles on the bottom were made by a friend of mine. They were made from carp bones.

To the left is a tool I made for basketry/corgade prep - specifically for preparing cattail leaf. It simply works to tear the wide leaf into regular sized strips. I borrowed the idea from another fellow!

Tom