Got Rocks in Head? EDIT:Shawn Woods

[PrimitiveTim]

Did a trade with the youtuber, got rocks in head Shawn Woods.  He hooked me up with a good bit of obsidian.  I was reading something on abo knapping and it was discussing how natives knapped and they said it was likely different than how we abo knap now.  It suggested that primitive people in North America likely used percussion mostly and pressure flaked very little to just kind of clean things up.  I found that pretty interesting so I tried it.  I figured it would be a lot faster but you run a higher risk of taking off too much material.  Here are my results

percussion up to this point


Finished point


I'm just really digging these awesome flakes!





Note the spider on the point. lol


Anyway, these are probably some of the fastest points I've ever knapped.  Some of that may be due to obsidian being easy to knap but I think some of it is due to using a lot of percussion.  These points were also thinned down pretty easy.  Let me know what y'all think about this.

[Outbackbob48]

Tim, I coudn't  seem to do any actual thinning with pressure flakes( didn't reach center of points) so I went back to using preccussion to go way thinner than I had before, I also noticed other knappers thinning with percussion at a point that I thought was to thin to use percussion, I got over my fear of breaking an now just keep going thinner and thinner with percussion and have also finally became a better pressure flaker to even thin more but usually use pressure to set up isolated platforms and a little cleanup. Once I learned to take time and set up isolated platforms you can just keep thinning with percussion. Wow clear as mud.  ;DBob

[Zuma]

Tim. Nice points. Looks like you have learned some valuable techniques.
Like bob said, prepare your platforms and you will go thinner.
All may not be as easy with rock but it's pretty much the same principal.
Get a little jiggy and try some of JackCrafty's indirect percussion.
Zuma

[Blacktail]

yes,dan is a great guy...and that is some wonderful rock....the knapping you did is outstanding..i hope they do you some good..john

[Bone pile]

yep ol rocks in head is an interesting fella.Looks like he hooked you up with some good material.Your knapping is moving right along,nice points.
Roger

[YosemiteBen]

nice work Mr Tim! I too have been working on my percussing. Of course I like to pick the toughest pieces in my pile to work on. Come out to Cali and break some rock with me! I got lots of places for you to explore!
Ben

[Trapper Rob]

Those are some awesome looking points Tim.