tool advice

[servicebeary]

gonna go live in the montana wilderness for 3 months this summer, and was wondering what people think of as the essential knapping tools.  I don't want to take but a few tools, I'll get the stones for making spauls and an abrader out of the rivers, as they are heavy.  So should I bring more than my moose bopper, and my deer antler flaker?  I'm only interested in primitive tools. any advice appreciated. 

 --oh, and should I carry my super dense (about 1 pound!) moose bopper, or just use my elk one that is 3 times lighter?  I know the moose bopper is hard on my leg , but isn't the added weight a bonus for hard stone?   

[jamie]

take the moose use it on snared rabbits too. not sure what kind of rock is out there though. hammerstones can be used to reduce down to pointsize once your use to them. have fun out there

[nugget]

Good luck man. I know that a piece of copper stuck in the end of an antler or wood dont weigh much. 

[Bill Skinner]

I think I would look for sheds.  Three months steady knapping is going to wear out whatever you take with you.  Bill

[servicebeary]

yah, I was hoping that I'd find lots of sheds, otherwise I'll be in trouble for flakers.  But, it's higher elevation than where the critters winter, so I'll be really lucky if I find a single moose shed, I guess I'll make up some tough moose flakers before I go and bring them.  The for sure source of stone I'll have on hand is lots of quartzite, I'll bake it, but I haven't knapped it yet.  Guess I'll need an ishi stick to pop flakes off of quartzite?  There's also sedimentary rocks and agate in the area, but not sure if I'll find any.  In that amount of time, I'll probably find everything, but I want to be prepared to deal with the toughest.  Quartzite?  I'll have to give my Paiute friend Coyote a call, she's made me a ton of amazing points out of green and reddish quartzite I've found.  I just finally got time to start napping.  Made 7 points in 2 evenings, and my shoulder/wrist/hands are bout to fall off   Guess I'll have to take a day off from knapping
-thanks for all the advice fellas, I'll be a weeks hike in so I don't want to forget something essential 

[Bill Skinner]

Don't cook the quartzite.  Cook the sedimentary and the agate.  Use a front leg bone for a pressure flaker.  Deer legs will work, something larger is better.  The best I have used came from a horse that died from West Nile.  Bill

[Ryan_Gill_HuntPrimitive]

when i go for a walk i typically find a shed of some sort. i have never seen the number of sheds in other states that i have since i lived in montana.  always finding them. found one yesterday matter of fact. so flakers are no problem. just breaking them off the antler will be the tough part but i would lay themon a rock so the curve of the antler faces up and then throw a large rock on it. bound to break a useable piece off. and all i ever percussion with is an elk billet so if its much lighter than your moose billet, take the elk. it serves me very well. not much for knapping stone native to the area. i have found some basalt but not really good for points only hand axes and scrapers. but when i look around the creek bottoms i find lots of flakes brought in by the natives, lots of which can be reworked into bird points and such. mostly agate, knife river and some obsidian from yellowstone. good luck on your adventure- Ryan

[servicebeary]

Thanks for the info Bill!  I have 2 labs that are always retrieving clean and nasty elk parts to camp, mostly legs, I guess because they aren't chomped up by most wolves and bears, so I don't even have to look for them.  Funny thing is I have to tie my dogs away from the bones or I can't sleep, because they are cracking bones all night    So, you just cut it at an angle to you get a point to flake with?  My hatchet should work
---so you don't bake quartzite at all?  Isn't it a bastard to flake?  My Paiute friend makes amazing points out of it, and she claims that she bakes it, but she has had 2 major head injuries, so I never know for sure

 Lewiston Mt ehh?  I'll be not too far from there in the Beartooth and Absaroka wilderness area.  You into wilderness adventures much?  Yah I'm a cheater, I bring a gerber hatchet that will make short work of antlers.  I also bring a gerber knife that has a gut hook that's great for holding when I use it as a scraper.  Those will be my two primary bow making tools for the trip.  Hope i don't miss my draw-knife too much

[Bill Skinner]

If you soak antler for a week or so, it will get soft.  It can be cut a lot easier.  I have found that when I break antler without making a weakening cut, it always breaks where I don't want it to.  The quartzite around here cannot be heat treated, the quartzite where you are going might be treatable.  If an experianced knapper from that area says heat treat, then heat treat.  Local knowledge of local stone always beats an opinion from the other side of the continent.  Bill

[servicebeary]

thanks again bill, I cheat at my house and cut antler with a wood saw, but I'll try soaking it in the woods.  Have you ever cut a leg bone length-wise and made a pressure flaker out of it?  As to reduce mass that is.  I'd like to try to cut one down to the bare minimum.  Maybe I'll get a darwin award when it breaks and I sever my jugular or stick it in my aorta

[youngbowyer33]

Maybe I'll get a darwin award when it breaks and I sever my jugular or stick it in my aorta

hahahahaha thats funny but i hope it doesn't happen.

[Bill Skinner]

I have done it with a burin, once.  I made two six inch long hair pins.  They are in a museum display.  When I make my bone pressure flakers, I use a steel saw.  I cut the ends off, score down one side, then cut through the other.  I can then pop the bone apart.  I pick out the thickest part and make another cut the long way.  I shape it in a long triangle, about  1 1/2" at the big end and pointed on the other, you want the thick end as your pressure flaker.  You can flatten the wide end and use it as a notcher.  It is slightly tougher than antler, but it doesn't wear down quite as fast.  Also, your notches will be wider and it is difficult to get them real deep.  I use an old dry bone, and I cook it after I cut to rough shape.  I boil mine, I have heard they can be heat treated by holding them over a fire but I don't know if that really works.  Bill

[servicebeary]

thanks again bill.  I love this website, just when I think I have a pretty thorough set of skills, someone comes along and gives me the info for more awesome primitive technology, maybe when I'm 70 I'll have a decent fraction of the knowledge of a caveman, and they say we've evolved   I 'll be baking my bow bellies over the fire, so I'll try baking some flakers at the same time.  Along with some nice montana cutthroats.  mmmm campfire smoked trout.
-- so 1 1/2"  and then a sharp taper at the end holds up to some serious pressure ehh?  I can't wait to make another bone/antler tool for my kit.  Gonna spend some time engraving/burning in some nice designs in my knapping tools, should make for a cool poster or something, would be pretty satisfying to contribute to a local museum for us primitive craftsman.

    -nick