Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: gstoneberg on June 16, 2012, 11:21:42 pm
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I got a few minutes in the shop today with my son-in-law and knocked out 2 points. One is raw texas stone from Don and the other is raw coral from Eddie. I first broke a much larger preform, also raw, when I was really smacking it trying to get flakes to run to the center. Then I picked up a smaller triangular spall from the same stuff and got a triangle point. It was soo hard, by the time I get to notching I was pretty spent. Didn't get the base very flat. Reggie said he'd take it back to the Philippines and use it in his class when he teaches on native Americans. Then I picked up a coral point I'd given up on as too thick and finished it up. It isn't quite 7/8" wide, might send it off to somebody to hunt with that doesn't have the width limit we do.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7088/7382724198_048a1eea0e_z.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/7382723512_288fc612ce_z.jpg)
Hope all you flint knapping Dad's have a great day tomorrow. :)
George
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Nice points George!!
Cipriano
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That's some tough rock George. You did a great job beating it into submission. Great points. Tower
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Cant believe how well you did on them two raw rocks! Do you not have a cooker? One of the biggest steps I made in knappin came after I started usin heat treated stuff.
Nice points!
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Thanks guys.
Do you not have a cooker? One of the biggest steps I made in knappin came after I started usin heat treated stuff.
Nope, I tried my little toaster oven once and it changed the surface color of some of the rocks, but as soon as I broke through that there didn't seem to be any difference. I need to build myself something better. Have been working on designs for a fire pit for the back yard large enough to cook rock. Also watching Craig's List for kilns (and rock saws)
George
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Nice points George! That coral is some nice stuff. I'm looking for a turkey roaster as well to cook some Buffalo River I picked up in TN.
Tracy
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After a nap today I tried again. AAARRRRGHGHHG
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7097/7390030918_ebf4e20d0f_z.jpg)
I had it thin and about the shape I want when I took out the ishi to run the final set of flakes and snapped it. Good grief. I went ahead and finished the point out. Didn't do so well on symmetry, the granddaughters were begging me to go swim.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7229/7390032376_d054c5a486_z.jpg)
I have got to learn to line the notches up. These were so far off in alignment I had to enlarge each one. After that tough rock yesterday this one was really pleasant to work.
George
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what ever that point goes through they wont care if the notches are lined up or not.. Great save.. I have a bunch i have broke in a box to come back to later. The box is getting pretty full may have to get another. Again great job
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Them look good George! should be tough enough to hunt with for awhile..
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those are nice points i had the great pleasure to meet you yesterday down in TX thank you for the goodes you gave me take care keep making nice points
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Thanks Marty, I enjoyed meeting you too. That one stave really split, much worse at the other end. We must be a lot drier down here. Thankfully it is right down the center so I'm gonna go for 2 staves with it. You gave me some great stuff, much more than I brought for you. Hopefully next time we can get out for a little hog hunting. Tell your daughter I'm pulling for her. :)
George
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Good looking points G. Every time I read one of your posts I want to go to the pit. It's only 7p here, so I've got 3 hours of light left. >:D dpg
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Thanks. Good luck, I may sneak out to the shop before days end myself. Right now I'm watching a movie with the granddaughters..."Dunston Checks In". Until they go to bed I'm loving a monkey movie. :)
George
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George, you need to do some knapping and post pics so I can live vicariously through you >:D I am in Louisiana which is awesome but no time for knapping. Hope I don't forget what little I had learned by the time I get back in a couple of weeks :-\
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George, you need to do some knapping and post pics so I can live vicariously through you >:D I am in Louisiana which is awesome but no time for knapping. Hope I don't forget what little I had learned by the time I get back in a couple of weeks :-\
OK Leslie, I tried 2 spalls tonight. (These are the first pictures with my new Pentax 18mp digital camera. I'm still figuring it out so bear with me.) The first spall was some really nice heat treated flint from Patrick. It had a big hump in it that I was sure would give me trouble.
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8150/7405543834_180c85bc8c_z.jpg)
But, I knocked the whole hump off on the first whack, I was soooo excited. ;D Then I snapped it in 2 a few hits later. :'(
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5312/7405543474_25db105f07_z.jpg)
Tried to make a point out of the larger side, but there was a flaw in the base that kept messing up the flakes and ultimately it broke there. Too bad (sorry about the bad picture). Maybe if I'd been a little gentler I could have saved it?
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7405563704_027abf27e9_z.jpg)
Next, I took a nice keokuck spall:
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5156/7405662832_851f5f96fc_z.jpg)
and tried for a big point. It was really thin on one side and I blew out that side pushing to get longer flakes. Got it into a little bit of a clovis shape, but I could not get flutes to run very far. Ended up putting some shallow notches in it so I could haft it up.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7217/7405560108_c62712c5e4_z.jpg)
Best I could do. Have a nice time in Louisiana.
George
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Nothin wrong with that side notch. Thats a nice piece of chipping.
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Best you could do? I love it :-* Thank you so much!!! Looks like you are having a great time in the pit!!!! Thanks for posting everything even though they all didn't work out the way you would have liked them too ;)
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Thanks, and you're welcome. I actually entertained the thought of setting up the video cam, but it would have taken longer to get it set up than I had to knapp. I took 3 or 4 times as many pictures as I posted, but they really didn't add anything so I didn't post them. I have a time lapse trail cam for my hog lease, and after I get familiar with where the hogs are I'll bring it home and create a time lapse video of making a point. I probably won't get back out to the rock again until Friday night. Really need to put the handle wrap on the trade bow and get it sent.
George
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I unexpectedly had a little time knapping tonight. Should have worked on the trade bow but I couldn't help myself. Picked a slab out of the stuff I got from Don. O my, was it tough. I never dreamed I'd get a point so I didn't take pictures until I got done. I see the symmetry is poor, and I could not drive flakes all the way across the base, but it is a point. Wow this stuff is hard!!
(http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8022/7417763830_2f37dc55c8_z.jpg)
Tired me out!
George
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Wow! That looks like a tough piece of concrete! I'm afraid that woulda found the "pitch it" bin if I'd been workin it. Way to push through the pain and finish it.
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Yea, there was no danger I'd snap that one hitting it on the base. ;D There was also no danger I'd get a flute. :( I couldn't run flakes with the ishi at all, nor could I notch past getting started with the notcher. The ishi was great to turn the edge and I used my pressure flaker to get the notches deeper but still stalled them. Never did weigh it. Might go back out and straighten up the sides. If it's light enough for an arrow it won't need to be sharpened very often. >:D
George
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Took a break from working on bows to try a heated spall I got from Bevan. After that last hard piece this was a breath of fresh air. It worked nicely with the bopper, ishi and indirect. I got a nice triangle, but it weighed 180gr so I took the base in a little and put some pretty large notches in it. Patrick's notching video has helped me a lot, I didn't stall either notch, but got a little chicken I'd snap the point if I kept going. Now at 150gr it should be a good pig ventilator. Not sure what it would be called.
(http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5329/7427828484_ea5ac54c7b.jpg) (http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8145/7427828072_27c559211a.jpg)
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7117/7427827646_b9ce2d3e4c.jpg)
George
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Not sure what it would be called.
I think you named it! ;) pig ventilator.
Good loking point. Looks like some of the Novic.
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The color on those pictures is a little off, it's more of a gray than the white it looks here. I love the stuff. You still coming down in a few weeks?
George
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Man George, you're stockpiling some ammo :) Nice work!
Tracy
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Those are some good looking points there. You have been a busy man.
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Great point!!! I like the name "pig ventilator" also!!! Looks like you are having some fun for me. One more week and I will be posting some pics for you too!! Keep em comin' George!
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I tried again Leslie, but didn't fare so well last night.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7126/7454240118_27ffc9e9fc_z.jpg)
The "point" on the left I had high hopes for. There is a little crystal inclusion you can see that I thought would be very cool in the center of the point. Unfortunately, it acted like concrete and wouldn't let flakes run through it on the other side, where I had coretex.
(http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7454242228_4f1f27fa05_z.jpg)
It also had a spot on one side where it wanted to crack so I was a little tentative whacking it there. Of course, that resulted in steps and I finally gave up on it. I'll toss it in the pile of goofs and 3 months from now I'll have learned enough to go finish it.
The white point is white glass. It should have been twice that size, in fact I was planning on a knife blade from it and consequently wasn't trying to get it particularly thin. I don't know if it had a flaw or if I just mishit but in 2 whacks I took half the width and a third of the length off the preform. In the end I had trouble thinning the point and even as small as it is it weighs 175gr.
Not my best night. Probably didn't help that it was 105 in the shop. The pool went from 81 to 88 degrees in 1 day. It's beginning to feel like bathwater already. Looks like a hot summer this year.
George
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Well, look at you go George. Lot of good lookin points there! I hear ya on the heat. Do ya have one of them sprinklers for your pool? Almost like a little as unit in the water - evaporation thing ya know..
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Do ya have one of them sprinklers for your pool? Almost like a little as unit in the water - evaporation thing ya know..
No I don't. But, as fast as the water evaporates out now you'd think it'd be cooler the way it is?? I hate to make it much worse. The real problem is the warm nights. It was getting down into the low70s last week, but it's not made it out of the 80s all week. Last year the pool water was only in the 90s for one week. I hate to think what it'll get to later this week at the current rate of warm-up. Above 92 isn't very pleasant unless it's real breezy.
George
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I hear ya again :D. Naw, the sprinkler thing really works. Last year i bet it cooled the pool at leat 10 degrees if not more. As brutal as last summer was and the water felt cool after running it for awhile. Hooks into your inlet at the skimmer, shoots up a fountain and as it rains back into the water some evap takes place and cools it. After cycling for awhile it cools the pool. At least that's my take on the gizmo, hmm..