WW, no need to get all fuzzed up and overreact about nothing, I for sure didn't mean to offend you or suggest that you shouldn't offer advice to beginners. I'm certainly no "expert" myself-I just a hack knapper, you're probably a lot better than me. Everybody has their own experiences and methods that work for them, and what is best for one may not be best for someone else or vice-versa. All I said was that for me personally, horseshoe nails have worked better on a wide range of materials- never found them harder to use than anything else. I personally could never notch well with the flat-tipped notchers that others make look easy. For that matter, my notching isn't that great to begin with. That wasn't a personal attack, just saying that there is no one way to knap-there are a wide range of tools and techniques because everyone is different. For example, I could never knap worth a crap with copper boppers, even though everyone told me that was the easiest way to learn and was what I should use. I just wound up being frustrated and ruining rock until I tried antler and wood percussion, and then everything started to fall into place for me. Someone else's experience may be exactly the opposite.