journey to cumberland

[jamie]

pulled out a nice piece of georgetown and decided to use it on my journey to cumberland. =) at the moment im not worried about shape . im trying to work toward developing the ridge i need to get the flute to travel. in the first pic there is a flat spot exactly where the flute ended. i couldnt remove it and new the flute would only travel to this point. the other side i had a much better ridge to flute down and was able to get the flute to travel 2/3rds of the point. however when i was cleaning the edge i removed a bit of it. you can still see a remnant of the upper part of the flute in the second pic.  this is definetly gonna be a learning experience. the majority of the work on this piece was hammerstone, then antler tines. the flutes were done with an antler billet.

[leapingbare]

Its all about the cross section. it has to be flawless.
lookin good.

[nugget]

Looks fine to me.

[AncientArcher76]

Nice Jamie!  Georgetown is some great rock too!

Russ

[jamie]

ran into my buddy jeff again yesterday and he showed me a few things im gonna try today. i'll let ya know how it works out. thanks

[Hillbilly]

Good looking point Jamie. That's almost a textbook Redstone point.

[Sparrow]

That is a beauty point. Most of the ancient points I have seen in- situ. Had flutes that seldom traveled past halfway. I don't know if that was on purpose or not, but, I think because of the perfection of all other aspects of the knapping, that it was. I have seen a couple, that the flutes on both sides ended at precisely the same point and looked to be deliberate, Thick,square termination point of the flute, halfway up. ( Just Observation )   You do really nice work.  '  Frank

[jamie]

thanks. frank i was digging through the museum library , overstreet books, and a vault full of artifacts at the museum. the very best of points and blades dont compare to some of the work we do today. doesnt meen it didnt exist  but i definetly think we are being overly picky with how pretty our work is. we as flintknappers today try to make every piece perfect or we arent happy with our work. im very guilty of this. i look at jesse, and the others work and then project that to my work and want mine better. nothing wrong with wanting to do better work, but it does push us to possibly ruin some good stone so we can drive that flute to the tip. 

[leapingbare]

Very true Jamie.
 I use modern tools, Copper boppers, diamond files, nail notchers, fluting jigs, ext....... I am making lithic art. I sell my work and its a huge source of income for me.
 I can make a usable point or knife with just a hammersone and a antler tine or a piece of fire hardend wood.. but its nothing more then just a useable tool and nothing most collectors would want in there case on display.
 How every i am very intrested in how the ancients did it and a dapple in abo experiments from time to time. Jamie i am very interrested in your Journey to cumberland, Keep it up!

[jamie]

will do bubba. show you my failures of the past two days later 

[AncientArcher76]

Remember now we do this as an art form and not for survival.  I do agree that its all about how well the flake scars are how thin  and staright that sometimes people ..INCLUDING myself forget that each of us vary in our abilities.  I feel that I am not in the same ball park as a lot of u guys and it makes me frustrated at time and at times it pushes me to do better!  This is why I like PA over PP as over there everyones an expert and I feel embarrassed to show my work over there sometimes.  Welll enough said so Jamie lets see ur progress weve been dying to see what ur doing on that piece!

Russ

[arappaho]

Dang that's sweet, Jamie!
Everybody on here's gone flute crazy lately. It's really nice to see. Thanks for the pics.
I gotta agree with Hillbilly how that looks like a perfect Redstone type instead of Clovis or Cumberland.
I got one I made out of bamboo a while back, a flute that is.
Joe

[jamie]

thanks joe. russ i still do this more from the caveman aspect. to me its a survival skill . but i like the fact that i get pushed to do better work by being friends with you guys. one last thing, why the hell would you be embarassed of your work!!??

[jamie]

ok so here are two of my attempts. as a refresher im not looking for finished material at this point. all i have been doing is working at setting up ridges and then fluting. at this point i knew exactly where and how the flutes would end. the biface on the left was 3.5" and the right one 4". the right one had a slight curvature where the flute ended. and i figured it would break the tip off or step the way it did. i used the leg method with an antler billet to run the flutes on the right one. the other side of the larger on the nippli was too high and i basically did end thinning rather than fluting. the smaller point took two great flutes and would of survived if i had not done it free hand. tip support is very important. the smaller point was fluted with a hammer stone. i am getting better with the marginal flaking. im adjusting angle with percussion. any pressure flaking im using palm pressure to stop the flakes midway rather than loose fingers and driving the flakes edge to edge. the next flutes i run will be done with the tip of the biface resting against a log and the edges being supported in my hand.this method was told to me by a very good abo knapper. jeff kalin. he focuses on the primitive more than the art side of knapping just like me and has a million tricks up his sleeve that i plan on getting him to show me. if i dont snap it i think this method will produce the longest flutes i can make. im definetly enjoying the learning process. a lot of it i already knew , it just had to be rewired. also im not wasting rock because all of the broken pieces will be thinned down into points and possibly fluted again. thanks for getting the fires burning jesse.

[leapingbare]

I have a idea.
What if you got a forked stick and cut some grooves on the inside of the fork. Then press the preform into the fork tip 1st and let the edges on the preform go into the grooves. and lash the forks with raw hide to lock it in. If my thinking is right it should have excellent support on the tip and sides and all thats left is whacking off the flute.