Trying to get my Abo on...

[Tower]

With all the talk about Abo style knapping & tools lately I've felt a lil left out.
Iowa has me wanting to try my hand at stone & bone knapping lately.   I started knapping years ago Abo style, but switched to copper a long while back. 
Actually I spall with stone. I have doing it produces a better spall than a large copper spaller.
I picked up a few large antler pieces & tried to create some Abo tools of my own. 
The pressure flaker is a copy of 2 I know were found in a rock shelter in centeral Tx.
That thing works better than I expected it to.  I found my hardest hurdle to jump was holding the stone exactly how I would with a piece of belting.   I took some leather scraps I had & used some hide glue to bond them together .  That worked great as well.
Well here are a few pics of my tools, my piece of stone about 1/2 way through the knapping process,& the finished point.  The style in TX is a Montell point. 
It's 100% Abo style produced

[JW_Halverson]

Good looking and functional points there, Tex!

[JackCrafty]

Was that real central Tx pressure flaker made from a bow limb too?   

[Tower]

Not the ishi stick. .   I don't think I've seen one recovered from a dig. Now I did Make my ishi work like a bow limb .  I can build a lil extra pressure before the flake detaches.  Works for me.

[JackCrafty]

Cool stuff.

[turbo]

Great looking kit and results, can you tell us more about the billets? Specifically the short/rounded one. It looks like mine that are used like a hammerstone.

[iowabow]

Yep that's cool you definitely got that middle stage thinning figured out. My bet is your one happy knapper. I like that you brought shorter antler billets to the table. Could you explain how you use them?

[Tower]

Years ago while arrowhead I found a percussion thinning flake that was long, flat,& paper thin with almost no bulb on it. I tried many , many things to reproduce those of flakes in my initial thinning stages.  I know copper works different that antler. Still I tried.  Eventually I figured out how to reproduce those flakes with percussion. I started using shorter heavier bopper percussion tools . 
When I was building my Abo kit I made a short heave antler billet, like my copper one.   I had the same success with it.
1st off , using a shorter billet gives me more control & accuracy. 
Sometimes I hold it like a hammerstone. Other times I build a small strong platform. Maybe a 1/4" wide with copper, 1/8" worked great with antler.  I drop down with a slight angle into the platform . I use the outer edge of the percussion tool to do this.
I get a flat,thin flake with very little bulb.  If the platform is built right with a ridge for the flake to follow it can be long .
I hope I've written this in a way that makes sense.   I haven't had a cup of coffee yet !!!
This moth of seems to work for me.   I hope it can help a few more. 
I might add that I use this method on heat treated flint.   I haven't had the same results on raw stone.

[Stringman]

That explanation actually makes a lot of sense. The technique is different, but the physics very closely resemble what I do on the outside of my leg with copper. I've tried free hand work between my legs and my accuracy suffers greatly. Still your description is excellent!

Great job making the journey back to abo and demonstrating once again how incredible your talent is. Kudos!

[iowabow]

Thank you that was a great explanation.