Flint Knapping with a Raw Copper Nugget 

Personally, I like the full length videos. Getting to see the entire process because every single piece is made differently. Plus, talking is teaching which is also great. Really great video.

I'd love to see you try to knap with a survival knife

I'm glad you mentioned work hardening and annealing of copper: It's a relatively simple concept but it's really important if you want to thoroughly understand how ancient people made tools out of metal, and since steel is the only metal that can actually be quench-hardened, people actually would have had to been using that technique on bronze and wrought iron tools as well; it has a long history. If you look at videos on RU-vid of people making tools out of copper of bronze or wrought iron, most of the time they simply cast it or forge it into it's finished shape and put an edge on it, ending up with a tool which is just too soft for most uses; I believe that if they simply took something like a stone and hammered the edge to compress it, they'd have something much more durable and effective. Take everything I'm saying with a grain of salt though, as I've never actually done this; I could be completely wrong but that's my two cents.

Always enjoy your videos...merch is awesome...can't wait to see your modifications on your natural cooper rock tool👍

Great vid . I would love to see 2 things #1 see you shoot a pig / dear with that point , #2 see what you do with the copper nugget . I"m kind of leaning toward the making of 2 tools . I enjoyed your thought process .

I would definitely like to see the annealing process, and this nodule turned into tools. Good video.

For me, this video doesn't seem that long. Can't wait to see what you do with the copper nugget from the point.

Rather hear you talk than hear loud music playing. I am so tired of loud blasting music especially when the vid starts. I have to turn volume down and then turn it up to hear the person talk.

Love the content. Cant wait to see future videos working with copper tools and other primitive technology

I think copper would have been viewed as precious and used for ornate materials While there were endless supply of bone antler and hammer stones at the ready that actually work better than copper. Nice of you too play to the copper crowd seeing how 95 percent of modern knappers use copper unfortunately

Cool video and nice shirt! I’ve been wondering about trying to make copper celts myself and see how usable they are.

“Lettin the stone know that was a good one” haha we tell all our new guys the proper way to use an angle grinder is to squeeze your butt cheeks together while you grind 😂

Unbelievable! You talked the right amount, the music was awesome and you dropped the stone just the right amount of times unbelievable video! I’m all seriousness great job def interested in seeing what you com up with next!!!

Of course people like to watch you go through the entire process. For 99% of human existence people set around and watched someone knap stones and talk. The ones that didn't got bored wandered off and were eaten by a big cat.

To make copper softer, heat it until it becomes red and then quench it in water. I have worked with copper for several years, doing repousse bowls and cups with designs and the copper hardens with constant work and in order to keep it from cracking it has to be softened. Quenching while it is red hot will make it dead soft.hope that is helpful in your future endeavors.

Keep doing videos like you do, I enjoy watching your process and thoughts.

Pretty cool stuff... Ryan could knapp a point with a pencil (flaker) and a shotgun shell (bopper). As Mr. newbienapper.....I'm a bit jealous.. Lol!! Another great vid, Ryan. I'm one of the guys that watch your longer vids all the way through and generally more than once. Your flintknapping material is the best on YT.. Thanks for sharing this stuff with us, man.

I would imagine the first people would have always been on the hunt for material of every nature not limited to rock for tools. I would also imagine something like copper catching someones attention. Have learned a lot from your videos. thanks.

Personally I don't buy the premise. The indie knappee wouldn't have deliberately handicapped themself by throwing out their entire tool kit. I'm trying that drinking game too! You talk too mubc!😆😆😆 (Edited for spelling)

Keep showing your whole process. If folks don't want to watch or listen, let them mute or FF. Great knapping with a difficult tool!

Very cool. I have found a copper nugget in a stream. I experimented with it to pressure flake. It worked relatively good. Perhaps heating the copper & pounding it it would create harder copper & stay solid longer.interesting experiment. Early people would probably be more inclined to make an ornament from it. I have also pressure flaked with a silver nugget that I melted down & shaped. It worked . Both do in fact remove flakes. Great research information. Thank you!👍

I just have make shift tools out of other tocks msybe sometimes a felips head screw driver and on the real hard stone I use a ball pin hammer which I've gotten a few things to work with but I keep breaking them at the stage there lookinh like a point and something that would work ;( im also using stuff i find in the back yard. Some black rock with shiny sparkle that I xan grind down and quarts too . I learned that , thats something the natives used here in ga . Without the right tools , is it possible to make something that will work? And im having a hard time getting enough sap to make pine pitch with and im trying to do that process without using a modern bowl or can so im thinking i need to make some clay pottery which is a huge job within itsself . Im having a good time though so thats what matters. Oh and my sheltet im working on leaks.lol Im trying this bamboo style grass tha grows all along the woods in the back yard .i think if i made my roof steeper it might work better idk.

I have used raw copper nuggets from Michigan for over 15 years they work awesome and make great hammer stones....." Idaho Clovisman"

😂😂😂Ryan you talk to much! Keep crushing buddy!

I'm brand new and I've quickly realized that there are a ton of nuggets of info in the ramblings. Much appreciated that you share your gift!

I like all of your videos. I started watching your hunting videos about a year ago. Now I'm watching flint knapping, bow and string making, and arrow making. I think I would tie a stick to the copper to make it easier to use.

Also, I prefer the full length, and am so glad you don't add music! Musical tastes are so varied that you always risk turning people away just over that alone. In the case of your videos, the commentary is vital. The comments you make in the videos help to fill in the gaps in my learning and reinforce the basics. Thank you

Thanks for the Great content! Whatever you decide to do with the copper, we will watch, learn, and have fun!!! Keep being a good teacher and you will always have good students! Thanks again and have a great day!

This is awesome, thank you! 👍 I’m gonna find a copper nugget and make a video knapping with it.

I’d certainly love to see you make a point out of copper!

I'd definitely like to see you make something from that thing

I have some " Splash Cooper " ,, I live in Michigan, know a guy who , knows some people that get this stuff and sell it, and I know a Rock guy who also sells small pieces of this.

Me: wow such a cheery guy, let me see his other videos His other videos: a bunch of pigs getting killed Me: mentally scarred

You might develop a saddlebag for your off side knee that holds your goodies. Aka a tool pouch that saddles your knee. And I say off side to keep the flakes from filling up the pockets. 🤣 Learning in general is the fun part.

Ryan you talk too much... just so there is no sadness. I would be interested in you maybe doing a collaborative video with your friends that gave you the copper. "How to identify raw copper and the environments or geology where you find it."

When copper became more used during the neolithic, was there any use of copper for arrow points? Would it be feasible or too soft?

I don't wanna be the guy to say you talk to much but I wanna reason with you, maybe make some vidios just knapping and some you talk more

See when you talk about fire heating rocks I don't understand what you mean how-do-you-do that And do I need to do a British flint

Thanks for making the videos I would rather listen to you talk than music I am slowly building my skill set I have made an Osage bow a natural arrows shafts and feathers and am getting a Handel on the napping of point love you videos and your web site

Good video. I may try knapping but wouldn’t hunt with it until I could develop the skills to make the points sharp

Obsidian . .spokane washington . The the Coville . Yakama .many tribes of washington . Had areas they would get Obsidian. 3 miles from the house it was plentyfull . I musta got at least a ton to a ton and a half . And up in the hills we had shale .I should say farther up but yea as a teenager learning to nap that is what I started with . Learned real fast . That stuff takes no Prisoners .

I enjoy learning new things so I like the full video. I would also like to see if you could using other primitive tools and fire make a tool from the copper. I know they had sticks just not sure what they had to make holes in it to hold the copper. But I have seen a knife handle burnt to fit the tang of the knife by heating up the tang not sure that could work. M ore of an experiment so to say to see if it could have been possible for them if they lived in an area that had raw copper to have made tools from it to use. Thank you again for the great video I know these take a lot of time to do.

I've got a gold nugget hammerstone and a silver vein pressure flaker ! Good job man .

Insane video. We never really know what the frist human knew. They thoughs was a mistery for our modern vision

Neolithic people also had gold in some cases. Gold and copper were the first metals used by mankind.

What an awesome video. A true professional/artist/survivalist is able to use what they are given.

Well flintknapping videos along with forging videos are one of the few things I can sit and watch an hour or more of all the way through

Dude your a badass who cares what the critics say. Please keep the content rolling!

Lol you could tell you’d been hitting the “knapping fluid” pretty hard by the end of this one.

I started flint knapping because of you

what i want him to do is make a video where makes a stop motion animation where every major flake he removes he creates a new frame and it creates a time lapse with no tools in the way you just see the rock just breaking into shape, kinda like an animation of an apple of each bite a new frame is made i just think i'd be a cool idea. i was tryna find something like that but i couldn't.

I do Like watching the entire operation start to finish. Super Video!!

We are dealing with geological time here with these rocks. I am happy to watch and learn for an hour or even more.

Do what you do ! Ignore the haters. Amazing stuff 😀

I've made my own flaker out of raw copper that I melted and cast into a mold. It works great.

The single best video I’ve seen on this subject, really well done!

Whenever you scrape it with the rock, what are you doing?

i think without the talking the video would not be nearly as entertaining or educational, i like the music too

Nice nugget I'd like to get some of these and use them pretty cool!

I love that you incorporated the spiral into the design on your shirt!

Your doing good man. Don’t worry about them. You do a good job.

Oh and I dont have any leather for my leg so there both bruised.lol

Did you make anything out of that copper?

Moose horn is close to being as hard or harder than copper and it makes cupped flake scars

Awesome thanks for sharing and teaching

I think your talking about the z flake dalton

I think it is wonderful that you talk to much.

Don’t worry what anyone says man you ROCK

Yeah, make more copper nugget points

I'm thinking that they used it when they had it.

Late comer to the party, I found your site thru Clay Hayes videos. I really enjoyed this video. I much prefer longer full length videos to the abbreviated versions. Any chance of a video on the hunt you use the point on? The theory of the use of native copper has been bandied about for a long time. Great to see someone experimenting with it. Personally I think you could have used antler to finish and notch the piece, heh, the natives would have done so if needed. I do OK with modern tools but when I try Abo I really struggle. I really need to invest in some better billets and hammerstones I think. Cheers! Flake on!

How do get copper to not turn you're skin green?

Awesome video from start to finish

Love the full length, keep talking

Ryan is always getting to the point.

Having had piece of copper ore in the past, I think that piece you have is something that is left from the smelting process, perhaps part slag or melt that was forgotten or fell out of a pack ages ago. The copper ore I have seen has multi-colored, almost prismatic look to the metal.

I once got into a argument with a know it all type he said it's not real if you use copper till I showed him a photo of the oldest copper tool found in the US love this video it's making due with what's available

Super cool Ryan.

Thx for the videos.

More copper vids would be cool

Definitely like max info and full time. I like to guess how you're gonna work the stone next

More please this is awesome

I had a good time. You definitely had a good time! You love what you do and it shows. Thanks!

My guy your videos are perfect i usually watch them all the way through :3

To be fair to your nugget, that Keokuk is tough stuff for most tools. Recommend you do a reproduction of the 900 year old copper and barbed bone arrow discovered in the Yukon in 2016. Copper point is preportedly made from a raw nugget.

Is like a shark teth?

Full length videos are a good thing because they tell the full story. In my experience from reloading cartridge cases copper will aneal at about just under 600 degrees F. Nice job here.

Another great video! I've just come across your channel and appreciate your thorough full length videos. I've been interested in knapping for years and your full length videos make the process understandable.

I’m glad you talk and show the whole process. I’ve learned so much because of it. The length doesn’t bother me at all. It’s important. I could just fast forward if I need to but I’d miss so much. Thank you!

I Want To See More

Awesome point Ryan. I would love to see whatever you decide to do with that copper nugget. You certainly have plenty of options. All your videos are awesome, from the atlatal buffalo hunt to knapping basics. I'm here to stay.

This has been great inspiration for me personally in my journey through flint napping. It hard to find channels that explain the process. I've learned a lot from these videos. His commentary is on point.

Nice job Ryan !! I would be curious to see what kind of point you would make out of copper stone . I do have access to copper stone and have actually been thinking on what i can do with it and if it's something i want to pursue. Again nice job on the video , perfect conversation 😉

Cool video man! I know it's not really your wheelhouse but, you should replicate the Otzi copper axe!

Finally got time to watch this. Way cool dude. I think plausibility is definitely there but likelihood is slim. Sure neat to watch you do it though. Keep it up!

very cool man

Ryan - I very much enjoy your channel. I appreciate the huge amount of knowledge you have. You mentioned correctly that you cannot please everyone. I appreciate no music, your ability to relate to us what you are doing and I could care less if you drop your stone. I have learned a lot from you. Keep up the good work.

I enjoy every video you make I like the the long videos we get more out of them, I watch yours and Chad hayes videos over and over to keep learning all I can.

I absolutely love these videos! I plan to attempt to make some heads in the near future and I’m soaking all this up like a sponge

Your vids are sweet man keep it up would love to see you use a primitive sling for bird hunting and small game itd be cool to see the tactics ancient hunters might've used. I'd like to see what the raw copper turns out like too