excellent video.....Thanks for taking the time to do these for us to enjoy and learn from.....please keep them coming.....I like the knife river and the coastal plains/flint river the best.
@oldknapper Hello Dell, both hammerstones are made from sandstone. The brown one I picked up in a Utah wash and it is much harder and stronger, good for the earlier stage work. The lighter color one is sandstone from the beach. My wife and I sometimes walk along the beach and I'm always looking for hammerstones, washed up mammal bones, or whatever!...jim
@BuckskinFringe No heat needed! Its great rock, I've been thinking of making a trip out there but not sure where to find it, I think it is mostly on private land....
Flint and chert are usually associated with sedimentary processes, such as limestone formations. Jasper and agate can be related to volcanism. I have found porous basalt or lava with agate nodules inside. ...
@82f150 Pedernales is very nice rock, but it tends to vary a lot. The root beer Pedernales is very similar to KRF and works about the same. Some of those Pedernales tabbies are hard to beat though!
@TalksWithDirt The first tools made consisted of simple flakes for cutting. This was followed by simple hand tools wihich later developed into hand axes made with hammerstones. Hand axes were made by both our ancestors and Neanderthals for thousands of years. Around 20,000 years ago the Solutrean folks in France developed incredible skills in making large laurel leaf blades, a skill that eludes most modern knappers today! Flintknapping skills generally degraded with the invention of farming.
@paleomanjim Well your vids are wonderful and I love it that they employ the first human technology and some of the latest in human technology. You're spanning the human toolset, and it's really really cool. From your experience when do you think humans or pre-humans started using the techniques you employ? Do you see techniques like yours employed by Neindrathals or other human species, than us?
@wanderinggibbon Thanks, I'm still experimenting with the downloads and have a few things left to try out. I changed the aspect ratio on this last download but now I notice the full screen is not utilyzed....still learning!...jim
Wait a minute. We're watching a recording made on a camera with more computer memory than was on the planet probably 40 years ago. With a detector that did not exist even 15 years ago. And I'm watching this on a network of computers with each node constituting a building worth of computing even 20 years ago. And what's being communicated? Tool making from ... what? Over a million years ago? How old are these techniques?
Have you ever worked with novaculite ( particualarily Arkansas novaculite )? If you have do you have a video of working with it ? If you don't I would like to make a request in the future if you ever get a hold of some can you show us flintknapping it. Thank you : )
That stuff your using is what i am finding, and i find it hard as heck to knapp, you have to hit it so hard, plus to pressure flake it, is difficult, when i get more experience it may help. lol thanks for the great vid
It is usually best to work the stones raw, at least in the early stages. If the rock is too tough it can be heat treated later, then finished afterward...
no reply needed but ive never used hammer stones and decided to try today.. wow ! why didnt i do this before ?? just used copper in the past but i can see a big difference
Ive been flintknapping for about 2 years and I found a huge piece of dacite it is about 12 feet long by 8 feet tall. Ive been getting spalls around 4 feet long. My dad said it could weigh 5 tons and i want to know if it was worth anything.
Great skill!! I'm new to all of this and when I try to make a bi face I always end up with a hump in the middle? Any ideas why? I'm from the uk and try to use Norfolk Flint where possible. I know it's my technique but I'd really appreciate and advice.
snailface1981 Everyone has trouble thinning the middle when first starting. Proper support of the biface is critical so that is does not rotate too moment of billet impact. Also try to drive the billet INTO the stone more instead of down. All of this requires good isolation or the flake will not release. Hope this helps.....jim
Nice vid, but i can make one in 5 minutes with a small flint stone and a piece of wood for the handle. i cut the piece of wood on the top and attach the flint with hot glue there.
