Flint Knapping

[waco]

So about 6-7 weeks ago I thought I’d give flint knapping a try. I gathered up a few tools and headed to the eastern part of my state, Oregon, to collect some obsidian. I still have A LOT to learn. I am having fun trying to make some arrowheads, atlatl points, and even a knife blade or two. Here are a few of the things I’ve made so far.

 

[Cherokee]

Nice, looks like you are getting good results.

 

[creosote]

So that's where you've been.
Could have fooled me. Those look pretty good.

 

[uncle jimbo]

That is some neat things you are doing. They look good in my opinion.

 

[Gary]

Excellent results for someone with no experience.

 

[creosote]

My brother and I were hunting in Utah a bunch of years back. We were taking a break, looking over a valley, envisioning what it would be like many, many moons ago.
He pointed out a spot that could have been a good place to do some knapping, (if you had the time) we hiked over, and sure enough, there was a pile of chips. I found a busted arrow head, and a busted knife. Cool stuff

 

[Spindrift]

Very nice, waco!

 

[waco]

So that's where you've been.
Could have fooled me. Those look pretty good.

Thanks guys. Yeah, I’ve been on the back porch banging on rocks and not so much in the reloading room these past few weeks.

 

[S Mac]

That obsidian will spoil you. Grab some chert for a bit more of a challenge.

 

[waco]

That obsidian will spoil you. Grab some chert for a bit more of a challenge.

I have a few pounds. Ian is sending me some as well. I think I need to cook it though? Do you have any thoughts on that S Mac?

 

[S Mac]

Cooking it does make it easier to work, although not totally necessary. It changes in sort of a strange way. It seems to me even a found artifact feels different in the hand if it was cooked, slick. Hard for me to describe. Our white chert turns pink when cooked.

 

[Ian]

I sent a "Whitman's Sampler" of our stuff, much of it is grainy and difficult to work to a sharp edge, but some of it is dark bluish to brownish chert which does well but the grain structure is either laminated like plywood or wavy or even spherical like an onion, depending on the nodule. Almost all came from the river bottom and is coated in limestone. If you can make points out of it (the local natives sure did, I have many examples) you're a stud. Most of the artifacts I've found locally fall into two categories: Crude expedient stuff that is mostly dart points, and much finer pieces that were knives, darts, and occasionally an arrow point. The more detailed pieces were pressure-flaked and I'm pretty sure were heat treated before working.

 

[L Ross]

I for one am darned impressed. I messed around a little as a kid with plate glass, and I made a few gun flints out of chert and then shot 4 squirrels with them just to prove a flinter was superior to a cap gun. But your work is pretty impressive.

 

[Ian]

I'm definitely impressed too. My brief foray into knapping flint didn't go so well. It didn't come easy to me at all and I quickly lost interest without ever managing to produce a finished point.

 

[Bill]

I made a couple of rifle flints, but wow! That fourth one down looks like it could skin a deer in a hurry

Bill

 

[oscarflytyer]

DAMN! Those are impressive! Love Obsidian. Recently got a big box of local flint from upper AL. Got to pick out a bunch of good pieces for fire starting. And there was one arrowhead. All came from our family land. Unfortunately, my wife's childhood arrowhead collection (she used to pick them up with her granddad) disappeared.

 

[waco]

Thanks for all the compliments guys! I appreciate it.

 

[Brad]

Those are impressive. I am really amazed that you did that well in such a short time.
Care to share with us how many boxes of bandaids you have gone thru?

 

[waco]

Those are impressive. I am really amazed that you did that well in such a short time.
Care to share with us how many boxes of bandaids you have gone thru?

I wear gloves when knapping. A lot of people say you don’t get the “feel” while wearing gloves but what I don’t know won’t hurt me.

 

[Brad]

And without gloves you eventually lose all feel when the scars form on your bloody fingers.
Cut resistant gloves make sense when handling something as sharp as a fresh obsidian blade. Kinda like juggling straight razors....