I am with 4dog! Take a break for about four or five years, then come back on, and we should be on an even level of skill by then. I am just now getting to be able to run longer flakes, and I am just now able to percussion out preforms pretty well. Yes you have to sacrifice, or donate a bit of blood to the Lithic Gods, to show them you are sincere, and willing to bleed, in order to learn the art of knapping. Also tape, or paper over the finger tips, and taped down, will help to keep flakes from being embedded in the tips of your fingers. I am just now healed from a shard of Obsidian that was driven into the tip and edge of my middle finger, on my left hand. I was percussion flaking a large piece and was getting quite proud of myself, at how well, I was reducing, and the nice long flakes, I was making, then the Lithic Gods showed me they didn't like too much pride.
It went almost 3/4's the length of the finger nail. I had to pick out several pieces that had broken off in there. Fun time. This was about three or more weeks ago. Unlike chert, Obsidian likes to shatter, on entering your finger, because it is such a thin flake. So you have a lot of little parts to remove. So if it hasn't healed by now, you might still have a bit of chert in there. Just put some Hydrogen peroxide on it, daily, and see if anything can be seen that is rising to the top. I had a piece of Obsidian in the bottom side of the joint of my left big toe, that had gotten in my shoe, and found my toe joint and embedded itself deeply. Took about a year for it to finally get to where I could get it out. It was in such a spot as I had to contort my body just to see it, let alone try to get it out. Others came out on their own sooner. Not this one though. You are definitely on the down slope of the learning curve for sure. I am still stuck on the bottom side of the upwards part, but still hanging in there. Great points. Lets see some on some arrows!
Wayne
