Knapping in Texas

[le0n]

Thanks, it was fun

[Thunder]

Nice work, keep it up!

[le0n]

worked on this flake yesterday with a tine in an attempt to finish it without copper:


i switched to copper halfway though because i couldn't thin it enough without loosing too much width; called it quits at this point (pun intended?):



today i got some more practice:


the other sides:


here is what the small blade was made from:

it's almost impossible for me to drive a flake on the convex face of the ridge. they tend to step fracture halfway towards the ridge.

[le0n]

revisited the another piece with the tine this afternoon.

the flake, both sides:



this is my current percussion tool. showing one of the first (ugly) flakes that i made after some quick shaping:


after a few more minutes:


before percussion thinning attempts:


setup & flakes after quick abrade:




i little better:


shape check before pressure flaking with the same tine:



after a few pressure flake passes (both sides):



i stopped at this thickness, so here is where i left off:


letting the shadows reveal the steps:



it has some steps that i wasn't about to chase, but i'm still happy with it.

i need to find my smaller tine for notching this guy.

then again, i may just leave it alone.

[flungonin]

I love your progression.

[le0n]

^^ thank you.

i'm far from where i want to be with it, but i intend to keep pushing forward

[le0n]

^^ thank you, Sir.

here's another i did with the antler percussion + tine flaking.

i started out with this huge relatively flat flake; (had high hopes for this piece):


and i managed to make a narrow point out of it, hah hah.
i should have paid attention to the inclusions when i was laying it out.
it ended up being right on one of my edges. lost more width than i wanted to while getting under it.






then i picked up a medium flake and made a triangle point:

[Tracker0721]

Hey if you sharpen a tine flat like a screwdriver or use a horseshoe nail you can peel those steps right off! And I'm changing my percussion to hitting the piece on my leg and that picture of how your holding yours wrapped and on the opposite side is exactly what I need to try. I'm an idiot and I keep trying to hold the point at an angle.

[le0n]

Hey if you sharpen a tine flat like a screwdriver or use a horseshoe nail you can peel those steps right off!

i hadn't tried that yet. thanks.

And I'm changing my percussion to hitting the piece on my leg and that picture of how your holding yours wrapped and on the opposite side is exactly what I need to try.

it seems to work. the only bad thing for me right now is that i hit my leg many times more than i hit the edge. a thicker piece of leather should reduce that pain though.

[le0n]

i was gifted this rock a few months ago. the person claimed to have picked it up by a creek bed 20+ years ago. she doesn't remember where it came from, but she thinks she's almost certain that she found it in texas. she always imagined it to be a hatchet of some sort

it appears to have been worked by someone, but it doesn't look like anything spectacular, so i may try to dig into it in the next couple of days.

[nclonghunter]

LeOn, I could not see the pictures of you setting the antler tine against your leg for knapping the point.

Your points are looking great, nice work.

[le0n]

^^ I only hold the piece I'm working on the outside of my leg (see photo below). My other hand wields the tine.



My bad if I worded something in a confusing way.

[le0n]

hacked away this bit of elm about a month ago with my hatchet. decided to work on it some more this evening.

i have no idea if i will be able to use it, however, it's close to two years old and it has been asking to be something.


the vise. i really should invest in a metal one:


roughed out:


after a few minutes on the sander:


i also found this in my box of stuff. there was a small base of a broken antler on there. i made a notching tool (i think):

[le0n]

i wasn't going to post this failure, but since i laughed at someone else's failure earlier (not mentioning any names) i figure i'd put this out here.

the brick:


hammer stone reduction:


and step production



indirect cleanup:




looking better:


but then the steps kept presenting themselves on that same edge (grain of the rock?) so i kept loosing width all the way around until i ended up with this (it's in there):


zoomed, hah hah:


i'm wondering if i can notice where these steps are happening early on so i can then re-orient the rock to situate this grain at the base or tip. this way i can possibly flake the sides evenly.

[le0n]

i played with this flake tonight:


back side:


front:


back:


thickness: