Author Topic: hammerstone loose grip  (Read 5977 times)

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Offline GlisGlis

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hammerstone loose grip
« on: December 13, 2015, 11:03:27 am »
I'm slowly getting the hang of knapping
i'm in the phase where I sometimes see what I'm supposed to do and teorically plan my next move before doing the current one. So even if I've got tons of questions crowding my mind I'll ask only one
Apparently percussion is far esear than pressure flaking for me. (maybe also due to inappropriate tools)
Today I was trying percussion with a small hammerstone using glass laid on my thigh.
I found that as long as the glass mass was big enough (big piece) my striking was better
I also found that loosening my grip on the striking stone (almost like I was throwing the stone) at the very last moment emproved alot the quality of the flakes
Does it make sense for you? why is that? less vibration dumpening from the hand?

the picture is from the glass I hammered this morning.
very few pressure flaking at this stage.  I'll ruin that later  >:D

sorry for the blurred image
Luckily I'v found one of my neighbor likes gin (luky me not him) that comes in nice light blue bottles


Offline le0n

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2015, 11:48:14 am »
it's probably traveling at the initial (intended) speed if you are loosening the grip before contact.

another guess is that it is not rotating due to anatomical reasons.

nice color glass too; kind of wish i had a gin drinking neighbor.

Offline JackCrafty

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #2 on: December 14, 2015, 01:28:39 am »
Loosening the grip before the strike will weaken the strike.  This is good if you were hitting too hard before.
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Offline GlisGlis

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2015, 04:14:21 am »
Ty for your replys
I had the feeling that the it was snappier and cleaner

AncientTech

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2015, 11:36:20 am »
Glis, since you are working glass, I want to mention that there is at least one historical record, that refers to Native American people collecting bottle glass, holding the edges against a boulder, and then tap chipping on the opposite edge.

Also, the obsidian knappers of the Northwest routinely held the edges of obsidian against soft slate anvils, while tap chipping the opposite edge with a stone percussor.  Today, what can be seen on the edges of these anvils are the pockmarks from where the obsidian edge was in contact with the side face of the anvil.

If you practice with this, you will notice that the stone seems more resistant to the blow, with less give.  You will probably end up striking less at the stone, while learning to make a sharp arcing swing that clips the stone's edge. 

Anyway, there seems to be a historical precedent for the use of stone anvils in hammerstone flaking both glass, and obsidian.

Also, I have found in working freehand, that I do better when standing up.  In wielding the hammerstone, my arms feel a bit more mobile, when I swing standing.  This really comes in handing, while driving hard blows into raw stone, and while torqueing the stone, with the other hand, to create large overshots. 

Anyway, these are two approaches that might be worth experimenting with.

Offline GlisGlis

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2015, 11:58:06 am »
ty AT for the info but I've got some difficulty trying to understand in full the stone anvil tecnique
Are there pictures or video I can watch?

Offline JoJoDapyro

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #6 on: December 14, 2015, 02:26:28 pm »
Loosening the grip before the strike will weaken the strike.  This is good if you were hitting too hard before.

I have a tendency to strike harder if I don't get the desired result, instead of fixing my platform and hitting soft again. Makes sense that a lighter touch is producing better results.
If you always do what you always did you'll always get what you always got.
27 inch draw, right handed. Bow building and Knapping.

Offline GlisGlis

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #7 on: December 14, 2015, 05:53:17 pm »
ty jojo
I dont know if loosening the grip produces a lighter touch.
Seems to me that it produce a more "dry" impact. sorry but here my poor english fail

AncientTech I read again your post.
I think i got it.
So i held my glass laid on soft stone almost perpendicular(?) to it and i strike the free edge
I'll give it a try
must find a suitable stone before. thankyou
Do you remember where you find that historical reference? I'll be glad to read it

AncientTech

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Re: hammerstone loose grip
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2015, 10:21:52 pm »
Hello GlisGlis,

You would not put the glass on the anvil.  You would hold the edge of the glass against the side of the anvil.  And, you would strike downwards on the opposite side of the glass.

So, the anvil and the glass would be in the same plane.  And, the blow would run perpendicular to the plane, on the other side of the glass.

Here is a historical reference, I believe from around 1860.  It is from California where a few native craftsmen were practicing lithic reduction right in to the early 20th century.

""The Shasta Indian seated himself on the floor, and placing the stone anvil, which was of compact talcose slate, upon his thigh, with one blow of his agate chisel he separated the obsidian pebble into two parts; then giving another blow to the fractured side, he split off a slab a fourth of an inch in thickness. Holding the piece against the anvil with the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, he commenced a series of continuous blows, every one of which chipped off fragments of the brittle substance. It gradually acquired shape. After finishing the base of the arrow-head, the whole being only a little over a inch in length, he began striking gentler blows, every one of which, I expected, would break into pieces. Yet such was his adroit application, his skill and dexterity, that in little over an hour he produced a perfect obsidian arrow-head. I then requested him to carve me one from the remains of a broken bottle, which, after two failures, he succeeded in doing. He gave me, as a reason for his ill success, he did not understand the grain of the glass. No sculptor ever handled a chisel with greater precision, or more carefully measured the weight and effect of every blow, than this ingenious Indian; for even among them arrow making is a distinct trade or profession, which many attempt, but in which few attain excellence.  He understood the capacity of the mate-rial he wrought, and before striking the first blow, by surveying the pebble, he could judge of its availability as well as the sculptor judges of the perfectness of a block of Parian. In a moment, all that I had read upon this subject, Written by learned and speculative antiquarians, of the hardening of copper for the working of flint axes, spears, chisels, and arrow-heads, vanished before the simplest mechanical process. I felt that the world had been better served, had they driven the pen less and the plow more !" (American Ethnological Society,)"
« Last Edit: December 16, 2015, 08:40:38 am by JackCrafty »