Hey all! I'm working on a flintknapping article, and that's how I came across this forum. I was wondering if any of you could vouch for the accuracy of this page. I want to nominate it for featuring, but I'm not sure if it's accurate or comprehensive enough, since I'm not familiar with flintknapping. What do y'all think?
How to Flintknapp
A flintknapper is an individual who shapes stone through the process of knapping or striking with another object (lithic reduction). A common skill until the discovery of smelting, the human race relied on this technique to create tools and weapons for many years. In this wikiHow we'll show you how to do it.
Steps
1. Select the proper stone for shaping. Flint, chert, and other similar rocks can be knapped, as well as basalt, obsidian, lab manufactured quartz, toilet bowls, and some other minerals which have a smooth surface left after a fracture. Obsidian is very soft, and is easiest for the beginner to learn on as strength is developed. Also, cullet glass from glass factories can sometimes produce wonderful pieces of art. All are easily gotten on eBay.
2. Select a stone that has few, if any, large cracks, fissures, bubbles, noticeable inclusions or other irregularities which would likely cause it to break or flake off in ways contrary to the shape you are trying to achieve.
3. Pick a stone large enough that you can recover from a mistake without losing the entire effort of your project, but small enough to easily create what you have in mind. *Incidentally, you may also wish to heat treat (cooking some quartzes, flints, fossil woods or fossil corals for many hours under the bed of a fire will change them from grainy to glassy) or water treat your stone (some stones, particularly opals, must remain submerged or can crack as they dry), both techniques used successfully by experienced knappers. With heat treating, bury your stones under two inches of dirt, then maintain a very thick bed of coals for at least four hours if heating flint pre-forms, more or less time is needed depending on the density of substance. Remove the fire or let it die down. Allow the stones to cool overnight before uncovering them, or they will explode on contact with cool air. Turn them over, then repeat the cycle until the stone turns glossy when you chip it. This takes lots of experimentation to master, more than the flint knapping itself, and gets expensive if you have to buy your stone. This method was originally used by those who needed the stone for survival, and quality was not only desirable, but made the difference in tracking times of animals due to duller or sharper weapons, which graininess affects, ease of manufacture of tools, fewer failures in manufacture etc. If you want to do it, great, but there are many materials available nowadays where it can be avoided*
4. Sit comfortably. You can knapp on a table or bench, of course, but traditionally knapping is done sitting cross-legged, with the stone in one hand in one's lap. This method can be difficult for beginners. Experiment to find out which sitting position gives you the most control, especially with pressure flaking. I prefer to sit on a log. You may choose to use a board or large stone for a rest for your workpiece if you are beginning with a large, heavy stone.
5. Some stones, such as flint, chert, and fossilized organics, will have a directional grain from either volcanic formation, or the natural striations of the now fossilized organic material i.e. wood. Give attention to these important features of the stone. During the process of breaking the stone to your will, give attention to the direction of these natural features. Some flints and most glasses will not have these. Agates and malachites will tend to. It is these stones which are internally featureless that are best for beginners, because you will not be restricted by direction in your stone, and may freely form it as you please, within reason.
6. Begin with direct percussion. Direct percussion is accomplished by taking a round, resilient material and directly striking the stone which is to be made into a bifaced object to remove material in the shape of long, sharp flakes. A fist-sized round stone from a creek or a billet made from a large, solid-centered antler( preferably moose. Elkhorn is hollow and second-rate) will work very well. With this technique it is more difficult to learn control than with finishing techniques such as pressure flaking. With stones that are irregular in shape or are larger than a couple of ounces, you will need to begin the reduction process with direct percussion. To make smaller to medium-sized arrowheads, simply take a large flake from a percussion project, dress and abrade the edge(see 7 below), and go directly to pressure flaking(see 8 below). The purpose of direct percussion is to thin the stone from the edges inward to achieve the required thickness to form a bifacial blade. Strike the stone at between a fifty to sixty-degree angle. Imagine that a blow straight down is ninety degrees, and a blow straight sideways into the pre-form you are forming is zero degrees. Then you can work out where sixty degrees is. Just hold a protractor upside down. This angle is ideal for removing large quantities of material without causing your work to either split, as with a more direct, inward angle closer to thirty degrees, or for the striking edge (or platform) itself to crumble, as with an angle striking closer to straight down.
7. The most important process in flint knapping is abrading the edge of your flint, glass etc. pre-form. EVERY TIME you have struck off a series of flakes on an edge, it is compulsory that you grind that edge down very dull again so that the stone can withstand the impact of the next series of percussions, or the edge will collapse or the entire piece of work will break apart. Again, this is THE MOST IMPORTANT feature of flint knapping. It is accomplished by grinding the edge of your flint in a sawing motion against another flattish sort of stone of slightly lesser hardness. Old grinding wheels work well for this, or any smooth hunk of limestone. This will make grooves in the rock or grinding wheel, a desirable feature. The result is a dependable platform able to take the extreme rigors of lithic engineering. If not done properly, you will never be successful at reproducing anything more than stone bullets.
8. After your pre-form is reduced so that it is about seven or eight times wider than it is thick (for a larger project), begin pressure flaking. Pressure flaking is achieved by placing your work into a fold of thick leather. Hold this in your hand, then place a pointed tool on the edge of the stone, and apply an inward pressure to the tool, focusing energy toward the palm, not away from it as with percussion, usually at a more severe angle of forty-five degrees. That's right! You will be working in the opposite direction than with percussion, giving attention to the face you can see when holding it. This pressure will remove a small, thin flake from the stone. The slower and longer you apply pressure, the longer your flakes will be. Longer flakes are desirable, as they continue to reduce the thickness very well. Up to 90% of your work may be pressure flaking, and only 10% percussion, so be patient and work with attention to detail. Do not forget to continue abrading the edge after EVERY series of flakes. Do not make 2 flakes in the same place without abrading. The closer you get to the finished product, the less heavily you will have to abrade, as you are working towards the final product of a delicate, razor sharp edge and point. The pressure flaker should be a half-inch by one foot wooden dowel, made of osage orange, hickory, ash, oak, any strong and flexible wood, never pine, fir, poplar or any softwood. It needs a sharpened copper nail set tightly in a hole in one end. Steel, iron, brass, and bronze are too hard to grip the stone and do not work for pressure flaking. They will crush your work rather than shape it. Aluminum is too soft and brittle. The copper nail or wire should be no less than 3/16" in thickness sharpened to a dull point, and should stick out no more than 1/2" as copper is soft and can bend too far to use if too long. Traditionally, a pointy deer antler tine was used and works almost as well as copper. You will have to sharpen the pressure flaker fairly often.
9. If you are worried about tendinitis from pressure flaking(read warning), you may participate in the indirect percussion method. The results are very different aesthetically, but it can be more effective in reducing the thickness of your biface. Again, place the pre-form in the folded leather, then place this between your feet on the ground, or knees, but preferably between the feet on the ground, for stability. Then use your pressure flaker like a nail punch on the edge of the pre-form, and strike the butt of the pressure flaker with a billet that you feel is heavy enough to work stone, but that you can confidently control. Be careful with severity of the blow as you near the completion of your project. It is a good idea to cut the pressure flaker you use for percussion down to six inches. If you can, make it out of a solid piece of 1/2 inch copper or antler. Taper the tip over a length of about 2 inches to a fairly blunt but narrow point, one that focuses energy but doesn't pinpoint it. This process takes more practice, and you will have more failures as you learn it. But it works equally well as pressure flaking when mastered, if not better, and will save your elbows potentially massive damage. Then you can finish the face and edge with minimal pressure flaking.
10. With every series of flakes taken from an edge, alternate the face from which you remove material. If you struck or flaked in one direction with one series of flakes, grind down the edge and turn the pre-form over and remove material from the opposing face, same edge. Alternate edges, also! Try not to work the same edge twice in a row, rather go from one edge and back to the other so as to maintain consistency of material reduction. However, you can, and will often find it necessary as you learn, to work the same face from opposing sides in order to remove stacks of material caused by poor angles of previously applied force or natural inclusions in the material.
11. Repeat until you have shaped your flint into the shape you wish. Make the final run of pressure flakes and do not abrade. Leave the raw, sharp edge for use as a tool.
12. You may put the finishing touches on a point by notching the base or forming a stem at the base. This can be done by pressure flaking the notches or the stem into the base of a finished tool, but be sure to dull the base and notches so they don't cut the string you will use for binding it to a handle or shaft. Leave the edges sharp, however! Or, you can leave the plain base without altering by notches or a stem. Use an abrading stone on the base to dull it so it may be placed and tied in a wooden shaft or tool handle.
Tips
* Remember to use material not grainy, rather smooth in texture when broken.
* Work from edges leaving the middle of biface thicker to reduce breaking the piece in half.
* Buy a good book on this technique, such as: Primitive Technology II: Ancestral Skill by David Wescott ISBN 1586850989
Warnings
In spite of the mystique some find associated with the ancient past, stone age peoples had myriad health problems from their lifestyle, and often died young or lived to relative old age in misery. After all, you're breaking rocks, not cutting cake. To avoid many of these same problems, please read the following warnings fully and proceed with the proper precautions taken.
1. Always use eye protection. Breaking rocks causes shrapnel to fly at impressive velocities in all directions.
2. A note on respiratory protection. DO NOT flint knap indoors. There is a lot of dust made from flint knapping. The dust from the flint is hazardous to the lungs over time (and also the surface of the eyes). Any siliceous or glassy substance fractures on the molecular level, and is 70,000 times sharper than honed steel. Therefore the dust that is produced is microscopic versions of the large razors struck off during lithic reduction and is insidious. It is because of this that the dust masks from the hardware store do NO GOOD for protection, the dust will pass through unimpeded. A very expensive specialty mask may be bought, such as those used in glass or boat hull factories, and still there is a chance of overexposure if used indoors, much less the danger prevalent to others who may be present. Purchasing such a mask can be avoided by simply going outside where there is a strong breeze, away from structures, walls or anything restricting natural air flow. Prolonged exposure to dust from flint knapping even over a few years WILL cause a condition known as silicosis, where the alveoli, the sacs of the lungs, become highly scarred and are unable to fill with air. It can also cause a buildup of scar tissue on the exposed corneas. So just stay outside. It's that easy. I highly recommend that you have a large, high power box fan or the sort blowing beside you at all times. Free dust particles in the air can be greatly reduced by often dipping the abrading stone and the flint pre-form in water, so keep a bucket nearby.
3. Warm up your elbows before knapping, literally. A warm, wet towel works very well. Tendonitis, or tennis elbow, is a concurrent problem with pressure flaking. It usually manifests in the arm holding the pre-form, and is a result of the angle of the elbow necessary to work stone. The tendonitis caused by knapping does not easily heal and can be debilitating. Mine is and I'm only 31, and many of my friends also. How I have learned to avoid this problem: make your pressure flaker long, at least a foot, if not two, for leverage against your hip, and try to let your other hand rest against the inside of your leg. Try not to flex the elbow of the hand holding the pre-form; rather, use the inside of the leg adding wrist strength as a stabilization method. Hold the pressure flaker just above center, because the wood will flex and work for you.
