thick rock 5 hours later

[iowabow]

[iowabow]

I really had to work for this one.  When I had a nice biface going I created a step that got worst with every thing I tried.  As I worked to the edge it was piled 5 or 6 times.   I shot two flakes on the other side that dropped the platform low enought so that I could finally make a good undercut.  it feels good when it works out in the end.

[cowboy]

I hear ya John. When I finally learned how to get under and rid of those pesky stacks - man what a revelation . Sounds like you really earned that one..

[toms22]

Great looking point.

[JustinNC]

I hear ya John. When I finally learned how to get under and rid of those pesky stacks - man what a revelation . Sounds like you really earned that one..

"get it from the backside" I wished I had known that a few hundred pounds ago. I felt the same way when Shannon and Jesse showed me!

[sailordad]

nice looking blade


i need a little clarification as them stacks are still my nemisis
what do ya'll mean by get it from the back side?

[Young Bowyer]

I really need to learn my knapping vocabulary, i'm getting a headache from these terms! 

[JustinNC]

nice looking blade


i need a little clarification as them stacks are still my nemisis
what do ya'll mean by get it from the back side?

Dont attack the stack from the cliff side. Go to the opposite side, work it down to where the stack sticks up and the platform opposite of the cliff/steep broken edge, and drive a flake through it and it should come off.  Think of it as a cliff, you would attack your enemy from the cliff face, you'd circle and come in from behind. Same with stacks, get under them from the back and problem solved...in theory, tbut seriousy it's saved a lot of headache since I came back from the classic.

[iowabow]

I had messed up so bad that taking the step out from the other side was no longer an option because there was just to much mass and it was up hill with a dip in the middle. I tried a couple of times early on to take the step out from the other side but the platform was not abraded enough and I blew my one good shot. So I knew that the stack was going to be close to the edge so I continued working the point like everthing was going to be OK. So when the right opportunity came, I went to the base of the cliff and removered two small flakes from the bottom [on the flipside] and that was just enough material to lower the cliff's platform so that I could hit it and knock the stack off.  it is hard for me to ignore a problem and wait for the right moment to attack it.  In this case I had to look at that stack and be real careful until I was almost done. It was like having 4 loose bolts on a tire and trying to drive 5 more miles  to where you can fix it.

[Young Bowyer]

What? 

[iowabow]

[cowboy]

Dang John, your a pretty good artist! That will work sometimes or sometimes you can come from the opposite edge and shoot a flake all the way across getting rid of most if not all of that stack.

[Tower]

Yep' he's a regular Da Vinci, sometimes I've removed a few that way. If it doesn't appear that my width will be lost.

[sailordad]

cool pics,i get it now
that is actually one of the ways i have been trying
isolating a platform,i also have been trying to come in on the same side,just a differant angle

[iowabow]

Finally found the time to finish