Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: PeteDavis on September 11, 2015, 06:43:16 pm
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Various
(http://www.fototime.com/A078C6C97748D97/standard.jpg)
(http://www.fototime.com/3CE21160EED8731/standard.jpg)
my other pile of 'tweeners
(http://www.fototime.com/A8B59EB58A0EAE1/standard.jpg)
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Great haul!
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Braveheart!
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Those are very nice points from some reallllly hard to work stone. Quartzite makes rhyolite look like primo material.
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8)
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Those are very nice points from some reallllly hard to work stone. Quartzite makes rhyolite look like primo material.
I guess it depends on the quartzite. I found some a few years ago a few hours from me that was easy to knap and finished up with an extremely sharp edge. I plan to go back there some day and get more
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That looks like it took some skill! I can see the grain! Haha
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Is there a Hall of Fame for flint knapping? If so, I nominate Pete Davis.
Pete is like the Henry Ford of east coast quartzite knapping. It isn't that he invented the methods as much as improved on them and through online forums and hosting knap-ins has been largely responsible for spreading the knowledge. A huge pile of quartzite chips is forming up and down the east coast directly and indirectly from Pete's pioneering work. No doubt, there are others, and all modern quartzite knappers are standing on the shoulders of the early experimentall knappers like Errett Callahan, Jack Cresson et al, who figured out much of what is known on how quartzite works. I say "how quartzite works" because, for the most part, it is its own animal, and requires tools and techniques different than conventional knapping. This is not to say that there isn't quartzite out there that a good raw chert or rhyolite knapper can't handle, but pieces like that along the east coast are rare. I would say the same about the vast majority of the other notoriously hard east coast materials, argillite and pure quartz. It isn't just that they are hard to flake, they also behave differently than chert (etc.) and there is a learning curve associated with them.
Keith
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oh oh! Henry Ford spied on his workers, whom
he paid not to drink alcohol. Yikes
Welcome Hummingbird point.
Zuma
PS he cheated a bit at Flint Ridge and knapped
some Chigger Woods chert into "YES" a corner
notched. >:D
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Well said Keith. There aren't many to take on the eastern Quartzites. We that do have to learn from each other with so few involved strong ties are built. Pete has and will continue to be on the forefront of this hardstone obsession. We just spent the day together and was a great time. Sorry we didn't hook up Zuma for some time to talk again and seek out some greenstone.
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Nissly made me do it.
PD
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I am sorry. >:D Not!! Pete has made great strides and has assumed sort of tribal leader position among his hardrock peers.
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I know it is late but I have to type it.
Scotsmen like Billy Wallace don't choose leadership.
It's genetic. :D
Zuma
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Quartzite in the sun! Possibly first sung by the Hellgate Davis clan somewhere in da hollar.😎
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This is mostly a test to see if I have figured out to work things here. These examples are from Central Virginia but are representative of east coast quartzites in general. First is the "C" grade, tough, grainy and with hidden "knots" which are tough areas in the stone that are very hard to flake through. Lots of this grade was used simply because it is so common.
(http://www.fototime.com/0E1E8A6F6C50621/medium.jpg)
This is the "B" grade, usually finer grained, but not always. The real difference is that it flakes a bit easier and has less and/or smaller hidden "knots". This grade is somewhat common, maybe one piece in 5 or 10 and is generally what I look for.
(http://www.fototime.com/86F64C1D318D918/medium.jpg)
This is the "A" grade. Not quite Hixton of Talahatta, but certainly behaves in a more "flint" like manner. Usually fine grained, flakes reasonably well and has no "konots" or very small ones. It is quite rare, and represents the occasional lucky find.
(http://www.fototime.com/6419843A28E712E/medium.jpg)
Okay, I think the pictures are a bit small...
Keith
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Trying again on picture sizing. Another "A" Grade example.
(http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss2/squirrelacre/8a2bf1e7-7054-4167-991e-949a97946388_zpsefmee5k3.jpg) (http://s556.photobucket.com/user/squirrelacre/media/8a2bf1e7-7054-4167-991e-949a97946388_zpsefmee5k3.jpg.html)
Keith
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Looks like you might be having some trouble postin pics.
Some use Photobucket. I resize my photos with a free
photoshop program. It's great and easy to use.
Photoscape.
Zuma
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To resize photos I use a nice utility called FPC "Free Photo Converter". Rick B
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Lookin' good there flatlander.
PD