Hammer Stones for Flint knapping
- Thread starter ex-member BareThrills
- Start date
I'd be interested in this too - please make any advice idiot-proof (ie 'Elines proof' - difficult I know but if you like a challenge .......
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Hi Peter. Im struggling to find any good shops that sell knapping gear in the UK and USA postage seems really high. I got a load of flint at christmas time and thought it about time to start doing something with it. Im after a billet/bopper and a pressure flaker too. Do you know any outlets?
When I did some flint knapping with Will Lord at the moot two or 3 years ago he said he collected most of his hammer stones from the beaches or rivers and made pressure flakers from antler tines or copper rod inserted in antler or wood handles.
But if you want to buy some he does have then for sale on his website
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You want good hard cobbles - I use stuff off the beaches that are nice and round and will not shatter, for my abrader I use an "Old Red Sandstone cobble from the Brecon Beacons.
For pressure flaking red deer antler tines both plain and with copper roofing nails inserted (heads cut off) and I have a piece of antler with the coronet for a soft hammer.
The trouble with the nails is you have to buy them by the multi kilo box! - If any flint knappers want any I have loads for trade!
For pressure flaking red deer antler tines both plain and with copper roofing nails inserted (heads cut off) and I have a piece of antler with the coronet for a soft hammer.
The trouble with the nails is you have to buy them by the multi kilo box! - If any flint knappers want any I have loads for trade!
Thanks for all your thoughts chaps. Im heading over to Norfolk on Sunday to walk the dog on the beach for a few hours so will keep em peeled for a few suitable pebbles. I might take you up on some nails John when the time comes.
Just went over to Highland Horn to have a look for tines but they are closed till the 9th but they promise some deals when they reopen after year end stuff. I should be able to get sandstone locally as the landfill site they put what was left of Coventry into after the war is 5 mins from my house.
Just went over to Highland Horn to have a look for tines but they are closed till the 9th but they promise some deals when they reopen after year end stuff. I should be able to get sandstone locally as the landfill site they put what was left of Coventry into after the war is 5 mins from my house.
Builders merchants and Landscape centres sell 25kg bags of large granite pebbles for people who dont want to get arrested for removing aggregates from the beach.
25kg would probably fill the needs of 25 people!
You realy ned a wide range of sizes from the size of your little finger s' top joint to gert big fist filling boulders....
If you are discrete then I do not think even the worst jobsworth is going to arrest anyone for taking a pocket full of beach pebbles home.....
I wasnt planning on a beach raid. I have a friendly farmer near Brancaster who has no objections to me pilfering the stuff from his fields. The Runton beaches have plenty of stone but its too far over for me to do in a day from Coventry
You dont get many in a bag. 25 people if they are prepared to share.25kg would probably fill the needs of 25 people!
You would be amazed how trivial and petty some people can be.
Hi,
What kind of hammer stone you use changes the dynamics of knapping. Basically the softer the stone the thinner the flakes, also stone works different to metal, metal remove flakes by impact whereas stone prises the flakes off. You hit at quite a different angle with stone to metal so the stone needs the have very rough surface, smooth pebbles will just slip off. Limestone is excellent if you can find some and if you rough up the surface all the better.
What kind of hammer stone you use changes the dynamics of knapping. Basically the softer the stone the thinner the flakes, also stone works different to metal, metal remove flakes by impact whereas stone prises the flakes off. You hit at quite a different angle with stone to metal so the stone needs the have very rough surface, smooth pebbles will just slip off. Limestone is excellent if you can find some and if you rough up the surface all the better.
Try and get one about the size of your fist, and roughly egg shaped
Picture os some ancient hammer stones
Pict ref: Wikipedia
Picture Ref: Clare museum Ireland.
I've got some copper Rod in 24" lengths if anyone wants any, IRRC its 1/4"dia (PM me) about £10 ea
hope this helps
D
Picture os some ancient hammer stones
Pict ref: Wikipedia
Picture Ref: Clare museum Ireland.
I've got some copper Rod in 24" lengths if anyone wants any, IRRC its 1/4"dia (PM me) about £10 ea
hope this helps
D
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andyn
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Paul, not sure this quite makes sense to me. Perhaps you could elaborate on your post?
Both stone and metal hammers rely on impact to remove flakes with direct and indirect percussion. Flakes remove due to the shock wave that the blow creates, this is why you more often than not end up with half of the hertzian cone (aka bulb of percussion) visible on the flakes. It is more about the placement of the blow to transfer this energy in a semi-controlable fashion to create a fracture in the flint rather than the grip applied by having a course hammer stone material.
???
If you use a soft stone the edge of the platform digs into the stone and creates a groove, as the stone continues downwards the stone creates a prising of the flake similar to pressure flaking. Hertzian cones are not only created by percussion but pressure too and what you are doing is with a soft stone is more akin to that.
andyn
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Borrowed (ok, stolen) from a mates garden...
I 'think' its granite. Its very, very hard anyhoo and fits the hand perfectly.
He did look at me rather worryingly when I told him how happy I was to find/borrow/steal it.
Somewhere fairly locally called strangely 'the knap' Photo by Lucy Melford.
I 'think' its granite. Its very, very hard anyhoo and fits the hand perfectly.
He did look at me rather worryingly when I told him how happy I was to find/borrow/steal it.
Somewhere fairly locally called strangely 'the knap' Photo by Lucy Melford.
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It's the strangest thing, once I started flintknapping I had a harder time finding decent hammerstones than finding flint. I'm from Canada and almost had a mate mail some hammerstones to me here. When I go back to Canada I'll be struggling to get flint.
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