Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: gstoneberg on January 29, 2012, 08:07:15 pm
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I'm running out of spalls to make points out of, so I decided to see if I could get some spalls off a flint nodule. Started like this:
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6785223381_991e55c6ef_z.jpg)
and ended like this. I saved a big chunk to try for a blade.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6785224223_b37bb40638_z.jpg)
I'm sure this is no big deal to you guys that do it all the time, but I was sure glad to get some knappable pieces. Had a lot of small stuff too, sadly, but some is better than none. Decided to take the smallest, thinnest spall and make a quick point to practice my notching. Boy, the raw stuff is HARD. I whacked it like would have snapped every heated spall I have and it took it like it was nothing. :o Did get a little point, very thin and notching went a lot better.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6785228153_8d73e4f1eb_z.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6785226571_be7eff44d3_z.jpg)
This is one of the few I've made thin enough to see a pattern in. It's light, at 75gr.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6785225095_205563b5a2_z.jpg)
I think I'll cook the rest after I've spalled a few more.
George
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I'm proud for ya George! Them notches look great! ;) way to go brotha!
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Sometimes I like to just spall. Have a lot I need to do. Great set of pics.
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Cool gstone. nice play by play too! dpgratz
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Looks like your getting the hang of notching! Lookin good.
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That's a nice looking point there George ;)
Cipriano
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that's a great looking point George, Bub
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You got it now! That looks pro. Great job
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Thanks all. This thing is really thin. I didn't contribute much to that, the spall just came that way. That, and the the fact that it was raw stone so I could put more force on the notching tool really helped with the notches. I couldn't get flakes to run across the surface of it for nothing.
George
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I think you are doing great. 3-6 months from now maybe sooner you might think of that stone as one arrowhead and the flakes that come as possible alternate flakes for arrowheads. This is hard to explain and it may be that it is just how I think. I think of the stone as having a large point that I am going to go after. I save the large flakes to make addition points from but I am coring out a larger prize. You really don't even need to think of this at this point but put it in the back of your mind for later.
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George,
This is a Good Encouraging Thread!
My spalling skill right now is POOOOOR at best to this point.
I do try to approach the rock with the mindset similar to iowabow, shooting for a single point out of a nodule.
At this time I'm lucky if I get a passable point out of a nodule.
More likely I get a bunch of back fill for my yard and a fat semi pointy (Football shaped) pendulum.
But every now and then I get a flake that is workable.
And every now an again I get a point out of the workable flakes... :o
-gus
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The one thing I really like about this web site is the respect everyone has for each other. G when I look at your work I see me walking the same path and know that you are going to be good fast because your progress is simular to what I went through.
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I agree Gus, this is a good thread. I feel the process is pitifully slow, but when I look back at the points I can see the slow improvement. At the beginning the spall is what determined whether I'd get a point. It was a big day when I took a thick spall and got it thin enough for a point. Over the weekend I took a point that I'd given up on a few months ago because it was too thick and too narrow and finished it without incident. So, I guess there's progress and it helps when John and others give help and encouragement. Hopefully we can make some gravel this weekend when you're up. I can check with my sweetheart, we have plenty of room if you want to come up the night before or stay into Sunday. I have Sunday morning tasks at church though, so I don't get to knapp until the afternoon. Sometimes that's nap in the afternoon... ;D
George
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Nice work on spalling that rock!
Russ
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Good notching there George! I've sat and spalled a lot of times just getting some stuff ready to cook. I think that's better practice than knocking off a spall and making a point right then. Allows you to learn a lot and develop that knack..
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George,
I'm planning on coming up to Fairfield on Friday and hanging with the family Friday night.
But If you would be up for me staying with you Saturday night I could be up and out early Sunday to head
to mi casa.
Just a thought... :)
Would love to sit with you and break rock or make shavings...
-gus
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PM sent.
George
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I tried another of the spalls raw and I'm beginning to like it that way. Got a nice 150gr point and the notching even went reasonably well. Yay! :) :) I see in the picture that last little thinning I did by the tip messed up the symmetry. I've got to learn when to leave it alone... ::)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6810132425_92f60d1447_z.jpg)
George
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Symrtry can still be be fixed. If it breaks oooh well its a learning curve. The point is still a hunter like it is! Keep knappin!
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Now George you have impressed me. I like that point there a lot. Great thread and nice rock!!
dpgratz
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Wow look at you now. Now you got great notches and your pressure flaking is making to center. Now make a bunch of points and you will have a great set of points to hunt with. The last two weeks has been big for you and your getting good quick.
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Thanks, this is the nicest rock I've worked so far. I don't remember if I got it from Patrick or Cipriano, but I have a bucket of it to spall out. :)
This is the first point where I envision'd a point in the stone before I started and it ended up just like I imagined (just like when I build a bow). ;D When things work, this is one of the most fulfilling hobbies ever...and when they don't it's maddening. ???
John, that's indirect percussion, not pressure flaking. I am making longer flakes with pressure than I used to, but the indirect percussion has started going so well that I haven't done pressure flaking as much. I do use pressure to turn the edge, to clean up symmetry and sharpen, but that's about it. I'm hoping to get a lesson with Tower or Cowboy in not too long and then I'll work pressure a lot more. I did file my notching tool down to a square and I like it that way. For the first time I was able to square off the notches Yay!
George
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I really like that point George, is it rootbeer?
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I don't think so. The rootbeer I've seen is more brown than this is. This is good stuff though.
George
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That is a very nice looking point George. Would love to see it hafted.
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very nice job spalling that rock. You wont have those 20-50lb heads to spall all the time so it is good to get on those smaller heads.