Knapping with John Lord

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Tony

White bear (Admin)
Admin
Apr 16, 2003
24,131
1
1,879
53
Wales
www.bushcraftuk.com
The weekend has come and gone, but what a great weekend.
Many thanks to John and Val Lord for a fantastic weekend of knapping. Some great pieces were produce and all of us learnt great respect for the exceptional skill John has as well as the art of knapping itself :super:

It was good to meet new people as well as there were a few that I didn’t know before the weekend, we all had a great time and some good friends were made. :You_Rock_

We’ll get some pictures up soon and I’ve some books to put in the shop for anyone interested. It’s a great pastime, very rewarding, although very frustrating at times. I would recommend that everyone give it a try, even Stuart made something very nice, in the end :nana:
 

Kim

Nomad
Sep 6, 2004
473
0
50
Birmingham
Sounds like it was really good Tony. I'd like to give flint knapping a try in the future.

Looking forward to seeing the piccies.
 

greg2935

Nomad
Oct 27, 2004
257
1
55
Exeter
I did a (very short) one day tutorial with him as part of Ray Mears primitive technology course, the thing I was amazed a was the skill required to be able to produce even very simple tools. I would have liked to spend longer with him as there is so much to learn, bet you learned a lot.

Greg
 

Ed

Admin
Admin
Aug 27, 2003
5,973
37
50
South Wales Valleys
I'm gutted to have missed it... oh well maybe next time..... Did any of you get some pics of the things you knapped (as opposed to photos of people sitting around drinking tea)?

:)
Ed
 

den

Nomad
Jun 13, 2004
295
1
48
Bristol
Rob said:
Big thanks to all those who sorted out the Flint Knapping. It was an excellent weekend
I'll second that. Thanks everyone. :You_Rock_

A really big thanks to John and Val. :notworthy :notworthy
 

Rhapsody

Forager
Jan 2, 2005
162
0
Aldershot, nr. Guildford, UK
John Lord? I thought you were talking about Deep Purple's organist :(.

Anyway, did the course help you? I've never knapped before and would love to learn but haven't a clue where to start... not being a driver, courses are awkward to get to but if it'd set me on the right track then I might find it to be worth it!
 

den

Nomad
Jun 13, 2004
295
1
48
Bristol
Rhapsody said:
Anyway, did the course help you?
Big time. I've tried knapping on my own plenty of times without much success. You can learn more with John and Val in ten minutes than years of reading books.
John’s demonstrations were truly amazing. I'd do another course anytime.
 

Richie

Forager
Feb 3, 2004
109
0
North Wales
Yes great course, John made it look so easy. Yet it is one of the hardess things I have done yet.

I managed a few scrapers mind :wink: I think Stewart had a few of them as well :naughty:

Richie :biggthump
 

Buckshot

Mod
Mod
Jan 19, 2004
6,466
349
Oxford
I'm sorry I could only make a flying visit on Sunday morning. :cry:
John did a quick demo for me, it's amazing how good he is and how easy he makes it look - bash, bash, bash there you go :shock: Wow.

It was good to see some familiar faces again, some from last years meet up and some from DG's Hunter course. :super:

It's the first time I've been mistaken for a lord of the manor ! :?: I think Val was a bit dissapointed when she found out I wasn't anything special.

Cheers

Mark
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
John and val were fantastic, not just good teachers but extremely warm and friendly people too.

the first day I was utterly confused and succeeded only it making large rocks progressively smaller until there was nothing left.

on the second day I had a 10 minute one to one with John and it all became wonderfully clear. :notworthy
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
OK I thought I would get some pictures up

John and val teaching the art of flint knapping:
98Dsc_1486.jpg


A group pic of everyone on the weekend:
98Dsc_1512-med.jpg


I think everyone managed to make some really nice tools (and lots of scrapers) on the weekend.

with a great deal of help from john on the moring of the second day I made a flint axe.

a picture of me burning the hole for the axe head to fit:
98Dsc_1502-med.jpg


John showing me how to fit the axe head:
98john_and_I-med.jpg


the finnished products the axe and a flint knife I also made on the weekend:
98axe_knife.jpg


the first three pictures were taken by roving rich.
 

Stuart

Full Member
Sep 12, 2003
4,141
50
**********************
Buckshot said:
So Stuart, how did you fix the blade to the axe handle?

Great pics BTW :biggthump

Cheers

Mark

the axe head is tapered with the narrow end driven into the handle, so the more its used the firmer the head is forced into the handle.

I have also whipped the handle with cordage to help prevent it splitting.

the knife blade is also held by friction (its driven into the handle) and glued with resin.

the pictures were taken by roving rich
 

tenbears10

Native
Oct 31, 2003
1,220
0
xxxx
Guys do John and Val have a website and do they run courses which you can just book on or is it all specials like the bcuk one?

Thanks

Bill
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE