Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: Blacktail on November 23, 2008, 01:39:22 am
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This is a picture of all three of us out at Glass Butte after digging up the mother load of sheen obsidian. We all three dug this rock up and decided I would try and make a family blade out of it. It took me three different tries until I got a blade going on one piece.The last photo is of our family blade. It is the longest blade I have done. It is eleven inches long and I was hoping to keep it in one piece and just to gain an inch. It is the longest blade I have so I achieved my goals. HOpe you enjoy, later John.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/longarrow/DSC_0623.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v231/longarrow/DSC_0862.jpg)
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Now thats what we like to see Good job John, That looks like it was about as big or bigger then that rock I found. How in the world did you get that in the truck?
Oh ya How come I didn't get a call to run out there??? ;D Just teasing coulldn't have gone if you would have .
Congratulations nice score and nice blade.
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Wow! What a blade - that is an accomplishment. Wish I could make it out to the Butte's sometime :'( ;D.
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thanks keenan,paul...i love doing bigger blades its all way anadventure...maybe one day i can get up into the 20 incher range.paul,you really need to go to glass buttes at least once.later john
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THAT IS WAY COOL 8) :o 8)
i really admire what you folks can do to a pice of glass or rock.
maybe someday i will get enough courage to try it.
damn that is just too cool.one heck of a blade,cant wait to see it hafted to something
peace,
tim
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The Neolithic family unit rocks together!
Cool piece from that wavy rock!
PD
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Nice blade....and that's a heck of a rock! Man I can not wait till I move to an area that has good stone, or knappable stone at all for that matter, it is rough here in IL.
dan
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Man, just put that boulder, in the mail, and I will pay shipping and handling. I need something to pay Eddie back for the unbelieveable gift that he gave me last night, after we got back from Claude Van Oder's house, and a mini knapp in. I came home with a beautiful bow. I could hardly get to sleep last night. That boulder, would make a great door stop, and conversation piece......Man that is a beautiful blade. That definetly should go in a glass case, on the mantel or securely on the wall. Something nice to pass down to the generations to come. "Yeah, I don't know how it was made. It was made by my great, great, Grand father......It's been in the family for some time. I understand it is quite valuable, but we don't want to sell it. I guess I will have to do some research on it, and see if I can find out how it was made. " Just think of your son, telling his children, and grand children, of the fact that he was there, when you all dug it up the big boulder, or obsidian, and how he watched you knapp out the blade. And how incredibly sharp the stuff was......It is good to see, a Family enjoying the outdoors, and the same hobbies.
Wayne
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Wow! now that's a knife! ;D
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i have to say you guys are great...i really wish we could all get together and do some chipping.thanks john
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Nice rock,great looking blade. That banded stuff is my favorite material to work.Makes beautiful points. Thanks for sharing ! Frank
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John thats an awsome blade and rock. How do you know where to dig? When I was there last Monday even if I had a shovel with me I wouldnt know where to dig. So I only ended up with handful size rocks. Joel
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hey joel,how are you doing.great to hear from you...the rocks we have there are silver sheen...and this area has bigger rocks....when i get to a pit i allways look at the walls of the pit and try to find a rock that has a big or long face to it.and then i do some pecking around the rock to find seems and to find how big the face of the rock is..now this rock is one my wife found and it was next to the pit on the surfuce.when she dug this one up there was one more just as big....and they both where in the 200-300 pound range...most pits have small rock near the surfuce and you have to dig straight down to get the big stuff and others have big rock on top(under dirt)...once i find a big rock in a pit i allways dig it out...i never give up on the rock and leave it that makes it easy for some one else to dig it out.too me the silver sheen area is like the dacite area where there are bigger rocks near the surfuce...I hope this helps if you have any more questions just yell.john
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:) :) Great Blade. I used to make a trip or two every year from Battle Ground. My partner had a map that gave some good directions to the various kinds of obsidian. I have one of those maps somewhere, but haven't seen it for a while. I like the midnight lace only because you never know what it will look like inside when its finished. The rock hounds like the electric blue and a big chunk will sell for big bucks. There is one place where the obsidian is really tough and that's what I used for hunting points. We always stopped by Richardson's Rock ranch to dig for agate and jasper. Will get back there someday. I can tell you digging out those big boulders is a lot of work. Seems they are always wedged into the bank! Good to see a family like yours willing to work hard for the reward of such a great blade! Watcher
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Yep! Nice one. Know exactly where ya got it to. Good rock comes out of that area. Try the pumpkin patch too. Can get some nice stuff out of there also. The lace pit is tough to work to get good rock but some nice stuff is out of there too.
Keenan, I think I know where the green dacite is. We will have to go get some this time at the knapp Inn. John, you going to the knapp Inn this March? If so you have to join Keenan, Dave Cheney (Juniper Junkie) and I. Its a lot of fun!
David T
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hey david.i will have to see if dave and keenan are going next year...i love to go..i was there last year but it was on the last day and most peolpe all ready pulled up camp...so,hopefully i will see you there next year..later john
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Thanks for the advise John. Hopefully I can make it there for the nappin in spring. Last year didnt have the gas. Joel
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I realize this is an old post, but could someone post pics of tools they would spall a piece this big out with (or bigger pieces). Thanks!
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8) 8) 8).Ron
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jeff- about the tools: most obsidian spalling is done with solid copper billets- like one about the size of a coke can. really big spalls can be got with billets even bigger - up to 30 lb billets! I have tried some spalling with rocks- quartzite works ok, but i havent found a dense enough sandstone that big.
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John, that's cool, nice blade. I'd love to get out to the Buttes someday.
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Now that's precious. Look at that little hand holding on to the blade. That's boy's a spittin' image of his mommy, ain't he? :) Good for you guys and a truly awesome piece of work. I would mount that on to a spear and hang it on my wall forever.
Coyote Pup
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The rock I will be working on is quartzite and the hammerstone I had- a fairly big one- just dented when I tried to spall off a small piece. Should I use a piece of quartzite or a copper tipped hammer? Is steel hammer ever acceptable? Thanks for any help!
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here we are again where different folks have the same name for different rocks.Quartzite can refer to a knappable rock from the SW, or almost any quartz-rich metamorphic rock that is not quite knappable. the quartzite i use as a hammer is not the same as what you are knapping... so don't use a quartzite hammerstone on quartzite..... nor a steel hammer. a copper hammer is good.
All of my big spalling is with obsidian, so i'm not really sure what works best on the mat'l you have.
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damn john...that's a beauty! I tell ya, I've found some high quality sheen obsidian like that, and it is, in my opinion, the best obsidian out there. It doesn't seem as brittle as the smoky clear stuff, and certainly is a lot easier to knap than that Pumpkin obsidian garbage. I don't like pumpkin...it's way to brittle. But that high quality sheen? Oh man...it's awesome.
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yeah billy.i also agree...i have some rock from Davis creek and its more brittle than some of the glass butte stuff...thats why when i chip obsidian..i really abrade the edges really well...i hate a hing...hey jeffutley57,i used a 5 pound copper billet on that rock..BUT,i have also used 5-10 pound cobbled river rocks too.its just the angle of the dangle..and its also obsidian..flows really nice...john