durability

[jamie]

2birds made a comment on one of my posts about durability of cooked stone. seems pretty damn strong to me and was wondering what others thoughts were. . ive been in several discussions with others about this including one knapper who said obsidian was garbage and he would never hunt with it because the points break on impact. long story short i told him he was a moron. any way just looking for opinions. if it breaks in the anamal thats a good thing. if it stays together thats a good thing. now if its less durable because you cant shoot it into a tree or doesnt survive hitting the ground,, it aint supposed to to be aimed at those things anyway.  peace

[DanaM]

I think all that matters is it sharp and ya put it where it belongs and if obsidian is so terrible
I wonder how paleoman managed to survive where obsidian was the stone of choice

[cowboy]

I concur with that - if ya put it where ya want it then it'll do it's job broken or not. I have overcooked some perd that came out more brittle than obs, it was probably just shy of shattering in the heat but made some nice points anyway. Raw is deffinantly tougher but harder to work and not as pretty.

[Bill Skinner]

I have had obsidion break going into a hog, judging by the blood on the shaft, at about 3 inches of penetration.  I think it was mostly due to poor design on my part.  It was a large stemmed point.  It broke at the top of the stem when the arrow whips around when it hits.  I switched to side notched and have not had that problem.  I shoot into haybales to check flight, if I made the arrow correctly, it stays together.  Later, in the woods, I have shot them into trees and the ground.  It's called missing.  Unless I hit a rock, which is rare where I hunt, the arrow and the point stays together about 90 percent of the time.  Bill

[mullet]

 Almost every High Dollar, gem stone quality Hillsborough or Newnan point you find in Florida are heat treated. And I mean points worth thousands of dollars.

[billy]

Well, obsidian is more brittle and will break more easily, but if that's such a problem then just make them thicker.

[FlintWalker]

 I know for sure glass is durable enough for hunting points. I don't see why heat treated chert wouldn't be.  It might not be as tough as unheated, but it'll cut veins and arteries just the same.  I wouldn't recommend going stump shooting with any of them, but deer rib cages ain't as tough as most stumps.

[jamie]

had one fella tell me he would never hunt with obsidian cause it was so brittle. said he broke them shooting into hay bales. i said he needs to tune his bow or his arrows or both. said they flew perfectly.......................................out of his 80lb compound.  i walked away.

[mullet]

 I have a buddy that killed a beautifull Black Bear in Canada with a real thin Ishi style Obsidian point. No problem, fell over dead in 15 yards.

[jamie]

biggest buck ive taken  was dropped with a thin obsidian point

[Justin Snyder]

I shot an obsidian point through a pronghorn. It went through the shoulder right above the joint, (before the bone flattened out) broke a rib on the way in and another on the way out. To be fair, pronghorn do have fairly light bones, but you judge for yourself. There is one tiny chip missing from the tip.

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[rileyconcrete]

Never have shot anything with  obsidian.  Pretty sure you cant use it here in Idaho, or any stone for that matter.  Justin, looks like it works really good. As long as it cuts it should kill, if enough is cut the result is death which is what is wanted.  Even dull steel will kill, so why wouldnt sharp glass or stone?

Tell

[recurve shooter]

its illeagle to use anything but steel here. 

i believe that if the last several thousand years dont convince ya, your hopeless anyway. 

[billy]

I've noticed that my stone points suffer MUCH less damage when they hit an animal as opposed to hitting a tree or rock.  The stone points that have missed my target animal and hit something else suffer MUCH more damage.  The ones that hit animals tend to have a slight nick off the tip, but other than that they are easily repairable and reusable.  The only time I've really damaged a stone point hitting an animal was when I shot a turkey with one 3 years ago.  The point snapped in half...but that was after it had gone thru the body cavity and slammed into the bone on the other side. 

The soft tissue and rather fragile ribs of deer really don't offer much in the way of impediment, so stone points don't suffer nearly as much damage as you might think.  Of course if you shoot them into a granite boulder you'll pulverize them into dust....all the more reason to be sure you can place that arrow accurately.  Do that and stone points will bring down whatever you hit....