first try..lol

[blackhawk]

Back on memorial day weekend I tried beating some rock with the help of outbackbob and basically got it down to a ugly looking preform. Well..that got me hooked,and it took me awhile to aquire the basic stuff,rock n tools. I finally got everything I needed at flint ridge this weekend via trading n a lil buying.
I was gonna work on finish tillering an Osage but its rainy yucky wet. Sooooo...what better to do than pop the garage door open and break some rock. Oh boy...my first hit was a disaster. Lol..I hit the corner edge of a semi-looking tabular spall to start stitching an edge an pop it broke way over dead center in half...huh ???well..there went the F bomb and lots of laughing. So now I had two pieces of it and started to work one figuring it wood b still a good lesson in reduction seeing how it was a gonner. Well I actually got a point out of it  since it was short and stocky to begin with I had a hard time getting it thin. And I had a stack to one side. So I started attacking one edge getting closer to a ridge that run up to the stack. I set it up with my ishi stick the other side and took my small bopper and said well, no guts no glory. Swung and popped it off. I instantly yelled YES!!! You can still see part of that scar one side. But the other side I was able to build a centered convexity. I know she's not symmetrical and my edge is a lil up n down,but im just stoked I got this far so fast. 
since I was pumped and on a roll I took a large flake and made another head. Two for two on my first try. Yeah baby. Im hooked. Lol

So,please give me some constructive criticism and explain in definition. I still am not to familiar with all the lingo and tech terms.

Here's the first



Here's the other side where you can see the scar of where I was able to remove that high thick stack.



My edging could be straighter




Here's the second one. Big improvement. But still crude.



Other side



Again a lil wavy edge.



Thanks for looking at my first two crude points. ...chris

[jamie]

very well done for your first tries. keep at it. on your next piece you are gonna use those ridge that are running across the piece to get your flakes to travel further. on thick pieces i like to run my flakes at an angle. starting at the base and pushing at an angle of around 45 degrees toward the tip. this helps the flakes travel up and over the center ridge.

[mullet]

 Chris;
Looks like you are off to a good start. That sure is some nice looking flint, to.

[blackhawk]

Thanks Jamie..I started figuring out on my second one that my angle was off and u can see my flakes scars on the one face traveled up a lil further. Still gotta work on that tho. And my process of reduction was a lil random and I need to figure out more where I need to take my next hit or pressure flake. Just need more practice.

Thanks mullet..im gonna keep trying. This is some nice rock. It flakes nice n easy,which is good for a newbie

[Outbackbob48]

Chris, you must of had a great teacher on the memorial day weekend You caught me off guard  at flint ridge :embarassed: couldn't place where we met then it came to me after you walked away, I've met so many people thru knappins that I some times get a little overwhelmed plus I'm gettin kinda long in the tooth   Your points look real good for you first attempt, looks like dacitite which to me is an excellent choice for starting out, Just keep after it an get to a knappin when ever ya can. I always pick up a tip or two at these events, When you saw me I was getting a lesson from Donnie Collins an got me over a hump in my own knapping career. Get a hold of me if ya run into anything I can help you with.  Thanks Bob

[blackhawk]

Thanks Bob...yup those two are dacite. Good stuff. Hunting season is coming up fast and I got a couple other bows to finish up before the season hits,so I wont have a lot of time to knap except Sundays when we can't hunt anyways. Maybe I could come up your way for a Sunday and you could help me some more...please if ya wood. If not during the season on a Sunday maybe someday during the winter when there's nothing better to do.

I know I need to sit down with someone cus I think I got reeeeal lucky with those two. I tried a third out of Keokuk this afternoon and turned it into rubble....lol. I know,it happens and its part of the fun.

I got a connection when I was down at flint ridge to a guys property near the nethers farm n he let me and a buddy get some flint off his property. I got almost 80 lbs.

Hope you came back with some rock..Chris