I'm not a knapper, but, the subject came up once when I was talking with friends at work. One young lady couldn't understand how a rock could become sharp enough to cut anything with. I asked her to wait a minute and went out back and picked up a couple of rocks from the drive, and then showed them to her. I took the long pointed one and smacked the other once and got a thumb sized piece off of it. As we used stretch wrap to wrap our product with I went to a pallet that was wrapped up and, with no resistance, sliced the stretch wrap in one swipe. She was properly impressed!
To do this without eye protection seems crazy. Just one micro flake into the eye and it could mean your sight. My favorite shop teacher would always day: "Unless you have a spare set of eyeballs in your pocket...PUT YOUR SAFETY GLASSES ON!" Saftey glasses have saved my eyes twice in my life. Each to his own.
Right. Everyone thinking of trying this should wear safety glasses (and some kind of gas mask if possible). Thick leather is about the best protection for the skin.
The thing that makes Obsidian so sharp is that when it flakes, it does so on the molecular level. So the edge is actually 1 micron thick. It is the sharpest edge you can get, so much so that surgeons still use Obsidian scalpels for the finest surgery.
Dang! Every time I make a comment and Then check the comments, someone has preceded me and it looks like I copied them! Gotta start checking the comments Before I make one! Also, didn't know surgeons were still using them.
Great video. Thank you. Pretty sure most knapper deaths don't aren't the result of fine dust. Typically knapper deaths are related to squashed skulls while tracking large game with one ear to the ground.
You’re one of the most organic knappers I’ve seen, the thinking seems effortless and it’s very apparent you’ve made thousands of blades and points. Very nice to watch
Wonderful lesson! And your mention of caution against the danger of silicosis is what everyone who would try stone knapping has to keep in mind, over all other skills.
As a life long coal miner with black lung I absolutely agree with you. Perhaps surprising, but when I cut and dress walling stone, I don't wear a mask but do establish a strong cross draft using one, or sometimes two, fairly strong fans [one pushing one pulling] This is very effective at clearing dust from the work area. A am heavily bearded and masks just don't get a good seal.
This comment is from my 11 year old son. so my 11 year old says that he is very into knapping and bows,arrows and atlatls. also he LOVES your flintknapping and hunting and even your skinning with stone tools videos. THANK YOU!!!!
Also we have made a few atlatls and my 11 year old son really wants to flintknap stone points and stone knives and he does want go hunting with atlatls and bows.
I'd certainly like to see one done with the aboriginal tools from a spall. I tend to struggle from time to time by making my platforms too stout and blast giant overshot flakes when I don't want to
Where I live, there are no stones available in the wild unless they were brought there from somewhere else. The natives here used more bone, shell, and antler. I would love to see more coverage on those materials in the future. Keep up the great work regardless! 👍
First vid of yours I've seen and I'm pretty excited. After 30 years of interest but never really making something decent. I've finally started knapping some points. I'm a hands on learner and I just couldn't pick it up from books or fooling around with it. Took a class a few weeks ago and I have some decent points now that would actually take a deer. Been bowhunting for 25 years with modern equipment and my ultimate goal is to take a deer with a bow and arrows that I made myself. Think I found the right chanel for me! Than you for making this kind of content!!!!
I’m jealous of the huge piles of material u have stacked beautifully around u. But I also know u travel to get loads of it at a time! Just placed my order Monday. Been watching the mailbox since. Even though it’s a 25lb box and shouldn’t fit in the mailbox!
@@EthanMcKee. sorry I’m replying 2 months later but yes I did get my order! I’m in north Alabama and he’s in Florida so usually 3 days is all it takes for me to get orders from him
Thanks for doing this video!! I live between the he volcanoes, Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier where obsidian is plentiful. Lots of mahogany obsidian especially. This was very helpful!
Thanks Ryan. I have a bit of pumpkin obsidian I hope to eventually make points and blades out of. I got it from Glass Butte here in Oregon. I need to get much better first though.
My friend is a flint napper and I am so impressed with the arrowheads he has made. I would have never known the beauty of such work till I saw some of his work. Thanks for the video.
I've found an ancient arrowhead obsidian, about the size of a dime or smaller. Then I found a decent sized obsidian one. It was awesome. Like a gift from the ancients
@@infernaldaedra I have 19 arrowheads 2 daggers 1 of what I think a spear head or something (it’s like a big arrow head 9 inches tall 3 inches wide it’s cool. And I have 1 obsidian knife I found it’s not sharp at all and I don’t want to fix it. I don’t have any other obsidian at all except for that but I would like to keep it how I found it.
@@dailthegoat799 yeah I usually clean them off and that's it, especially arrowheads as if you manage to even find a full one they are already incredibly delicate. I think the coolest bit I once found a ~1.5ft diameter of obsidian once as a small child I straight up thought it was a buried trash bag until I saw it was glass.
I have a golden sheen obsidian blade that's about 6 inches long by about 4 inches wide at the widest part, it's also a bit of a hefty piece. I've had it for quite a few years. It is a gorgeous piece. I call it my Huntress blade because it looks like there is an ancient Huntress in the blade.
Brother you ain’t lying about cleaning your pad after every strike!! My friend and I didn’t know and our knuckles were absolutely destroyed after attempting arrowheads
As a youngster living near the Cimarron river basin in southwest Kansas, we would go out in the dunes after a windstorm and always find points. One time we found a fire ring with blackened rocks and charcoal. Watching one being made is pretty amazing. (Some chert, a lot of butterscotch pudding points, and some flint. The most impressive were the tiny bird points with the narrow waist.) This was an amazing video. Thanks so much for your trouble.
A year living primitive but I'd prefer it if it was a tribal thing as that'd be the most fulfilling way. I'm particularly curious about how winter would be prepared for. Makes me think tribes in the tropics had it easy (until I remember that everything in the jungle is murderous).
Yep, I suffered the same tennis elbow pain for 5 months. I learned to use my left hand for most of life's chores so I can save my right hand and arm for more Fun things.
Hello, first, thanks for the entertaining, educational content. I am very new to Flint knapping and have some of my own obsidian. But the nodules I have are WAY smaller than the ones you're working with. Could you show us how you would work with smaller nodules? Like fist size.
Nice work there Ryan, I am astounded that you can spall a piece, break it in two then get another spall and within 40 minutes or so have a beautiful formatted blade ready to set up for hafting and sharpening. You have clearly put in the time/effort for a knapping master. At least in my book anyway.
Whats your thoughts on knapping junk like porcelain or glass? I think the $500 learning curve (nice rocks) is the thing that's causing my procrastination. I've considered getting good on junk first. Would that translate well to rocks?
Heck Yeah , make a video with bone & stone.... I got hardware in left elbow and obsidian works swell 4 me..... obsidian will cut you one way or another so be careful y'all....thanx4sharing
Yep. First time watcher here. Subscribed immediately. I look forward to watching more of your content. Thank you for sharing and keep up the great work
Awesome ! It looks like obsidian might be the only stone for flint and steel that I will be able to find in Oregon… I guess there is a huge deposit of them east of Bend
I just got a box black obsidian today. I'm anxious to learn. I just wanted to know how to make something sharp enough to butcher an animal if I ever needed to. This is an excellent video! Thank you so much!
Thank you Ryan,really enjoyed your tutorial your a natural teacher. Im here in SW England and have some English flint. Now armed with a litte knowledge Im ready to go. Best wishes to you.L.👍
The shape you have at 18:10 looks exactly like a blade I found at a local lake when they drained it back in the 90s. Local archeologists said it was between 2-3,000 years old. Do you have any videos on knapping quartz?
I would be interested in seeing you knap with more primitive tools. I would also like to see how you attach your points and blades to their respective fixtures. If you already have videos in that area, I apologize and I will look through your list to find them.
Those tiny dust pieces need to be addressed. Obsidian is a natural glass and as such, the dust can be inhaled and cause resperatory issues. Once in your lungs, there is no way to get it removed. A good steady breeze and away from others would be a good way to go. Have LOTS of obsidian here in Oregon and it was much used by the native people of the area.
Here in the Eastern Sierra of California, Obsidian was the major material for the old people. There are several places to find it. It is what I use more than other material. We can find the green tinted down south of us.
Ryan, could you show how to setup a blade core and knock blades off starting with a raw stone? I am having terrible difficulty trying to figure it out.
What do you do with your slag? I’ve got two big tubs full of it and it’s kind of just building up until I got get more and I take the slag back to the place where I got it.
I love your videos! Thanks for doing what you do. When you're passing the material on your leather pieces, on your leg, are you just touching the leather, or are you bracing against the leather?
10:50: can you tell me how many arrow points, out of 10, break when you shot an animal? 9 out of 10? Also, if you miss, does that mean 10 out of 10 missed arrows, - their the point will break? Or there’s a chance for reuse? How many times one arrow point can be resharpened before it will completely break? 1-2 times? 10?
Hey Ryan! Have you ever used. Mesquite wood to make a bow, arrows or spears? I live in Arizona and I have plenty of Mesquite trees around me. I have read that the Natives from the land called it the Tree of Life and used it for everything from tools to furniture but I have not found any bows, arrows or atlatl or spear from the wood.
"Why was the obsidian Napping?" "Because it was falling apart!" 🤣 haha. sorry for the silly joke. anyways, i love flint and obsidian artifacts. its cool to see the skill still exists thanks to the effort of fellows like you. you definitely have the skill! very nice work!
Came home from a work trip in Denmark recently. I'm a fossil guy but I brought home some good flint pieces... which is everywhere...literally.. I'm hoping to learn from these videos and make some neat things! Thanks for teaching!
I really enjoy your content and I hope you'll continue making great content. I have a small request. Recently, I've been working with dacite with pretty good success so far, and you mentioned having a piece of dacite in the video. Would it be possible if you could do a video about knapping with dacite please? I'd love to hear your thoughts and hopefully pick up some tips and tricks. Thanks.
Dacite is pretty interesting. It is similar in composition to andesite and contains plagioclase and quartz. I think it is also a volcanic glass like obsidian in that it forms quickly without the formation of crystals. You are lucky to have some! I had never heard of it in my classes or reading (a century ago!).
Hi! My Wife(Rosie 49yrs) and I have been watching numerous Gem, Minerals, Rock Hounding, Cutting, Slabbing. Cabbing Videos on You The Tube and came across your Channel. We did Subscribe. We are Both Disabled Seniors, and our son 46yrs, became a Paraplegic several years ago. We are gathering up as much information because we're VERY SERIOUS ABOUT BEGINING THIS HOBBY. You have quite a bit of ROCK as i watched the beginning of the video. We all live in Washington State. Where would be able to obtain some Obsidian? Thank You. You are so TALENTED/SKILFUL.
The benefits of being a persistent perfectionist! Not every knapper can make such a beautiful arrowhead. Obsidian is beautiful. In Missouri we have multi-colored chert, SiO2 (quartz) which can be white and pink, white, pink and blue, and variants of brown, depending on the location. It's on the ground where I live, but weathering makes it brittle and useless, so one has to dig for good stuff. I have heard the Osage (and other) Indians used to heat the stone, making it more malleable but I haven't verified it. Surgeons have used obsidian blades as an experiment; magnified, steel looks like it is full of imperfections, but obsidian is smooth!
Can the temperature you're working in have an effect on successfully knapping obsidian? I seem to have a hard time if the temperature I'm working in is below 50°. It tends to break into shattered pieces regardless of where the strike is or how soft. Also found mahogany obsidian a little harder to work.
Just found your channel and I’m happy I did because I’m wanting to get into Flint knapping. I live in Florida so I need to figure out where I can buy obsidian and start practicing.
I have neither flint nor obsidian in my area, sadly, so I've made do practicing with shale, slate, phyllite, and the like. Some of them have quite a bit of clay, and can get really sharp, but sadly the edges don't last that long. Still, I've found that the techniques in your videos are still pretty helpful even with them, so thanks for these videos! This knowledge has given me a better chance in the event I'll ever need it :)
As I think obsidian is a gorgeous Stone I'm pretty sure that I can't get it here in West Virginia since you said it's mostly out west. So on that note I have a few questions. Have you done a video on how and where to search for different types of stone such as churt Etc? And since I do live in West Virginia what would I look for and where? Thanks for this video it was very interesting. As I haven't started napping yet I'm sure when I do you have enough videos out that I should be able to learn how to do it. Thanks so much for the video and taking your time to teach us. Have a great day and stay safe and keep your powder dry and your obsidian Sharp! PS I wrote this before you got finished and now you're asking what we would like to see I would like to see an antler handle mounted on that I believe that would be beautiful.
Good gravy, I read the title as “kidnapping” obsidian. For a brief moment it seemed intriguing not crazy. Have I lived too long or not long enough? 💕🐝💕
Have you ever tried commercial glass? I ask because I feel like, if the remaining natives were still living a primitive lifestyle, they would be using discarded commercial glass that is "Europeans" Ross out into the landscape. The native people were excellent stewards of the land, so they would see our trash as a resource to be used in every way possible just like the natural resources.
Wouldn't switching hands help prevent tendinitis. Like instead of striking with your right and holding the piece with your left, you strike with your left and hold the piece with your right. It would take some relearning but would likely help prevent tendinitis.
I am right there with you on that tendonitis pain. Just had my 4 th cortisone shot in my right elbow in 5 years. I haven't knapped all summer and I'm missing it. I do manual labor throwing cases at a warehouse for a living, so the arms/joints get abused.
Hey hunt primitive I just bought bought obsidian it first time flint knapping don't have kit yet but got most of pieces small with rock but last piece is 3 inch thick do I need tools to break last piece small enough for arrow heads
Hello, you highly recommend safety glasses and gloves. Just out of curiosity what is your reason for not following your own advice on something as important as your eyes ? Crazy every time you hit it, i can see that piece of Obsidian chip flying in slo/mo up towards an eye and it gives me the willies. M. Canada.
