The Basics of Flintknapping by Paleoman52!
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- I shot this video in response to many requests I've had to show just how to get started in flintknapping. This will show the most basic tools you will need and how to use them. There is a lot of technique shown and explained here, so I hope that anyone struggling with learning flintknapping will find this video helpful.
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I've watched lots of knapping videos & this is by far the best I've ever seen especially for a beginner. A basic but complete set of implements is shown & explained. You cover all of the details that seem never to be explained like cleaning edges, abrading in a way to leave micro scratching, where to approach the edge(close or back) and what it accomplishes. Many demos start well & the knapper then gets caught up in their work & leave the viewer behind. Again my opinion is that this is the benchmark video for any beginner to flintknapping. Thank you, thank you Sir.
Wow! Michael your comments are really appreciated because you totally understood what I was trying to show in this video. I wanted to take this process down to the basics of fracture mechanics so that it would make more sense and be easier to get positive results from your efforts. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave your feedback and good luck with your knapping!
Greetings from England. Having recently spent quite a bit of money on a flintknapping course run by a national "expert" where I just didn't get it and felt I had wasted my time and money, I stumbled across your videos and suddenly it all makes sense. Honestly mate I've learned more watching your videos than I did on a personal course. You've relit the fire and I thank you sir.
I am so glad you found my video helpful, that was my goal when I made this video, to keep the process as simple as possible and to make what you are doing understandable. Check out my channel, I have recently shot a video of making a Thebes style point from start to finish, I think you might enjoy this one. I also have other knapping videos on my channel and in my playlist. Good Luck and thanks so much for your kind comments.
Lol I was born in 1984 and am just getting started thank you brother . Band ads and material got it .
If it were not for your vids i would still be starring at the first flint piece i picked up wondering what to do. any time now that I come across a new knapper I always advise they watch you vids and will continue to do so. for the first 6 months i would frequent your vids showing your first points it always lifted my spirits and let me know i was still moving in the right direction. so Thank you
+Kris Muehlenhard Kris you made my day with your kind comments. I really appreciate the fact that you found my videos helpful to you as you learn to flintknapp! Thanks for sharing them with others too. I try to keep the knapping process as simple as possible and hopefully this video accomplishes that. Good luck to you as you learn to knap and more than anything have fun doing it. I hope you post some videos of your work.
Thanks for posting this Ken! I've been able to pressure flake a few decent looking points but I've really struggled when it comes to thinning, after watching you, I think my problem lies in the angle I've been using..that, and apparently I need to abraid more. I noticed you were getting some really deep flakes after grinding your edge. A lot of my bulkier material is flint that I've collected from the field, which none is heat treated (aside from the Texas Summer sun), so I don't know if that has been playing into my troubles as well. At any rate, thanks for taking the time to share some of the basic fundamentals with us. Hope you plan on doing a little series on this, take care Ken!! I gotta watch this again...
Thanks for those great comments brother! I'm glad you were able to see a couple of things I do that might help you with your knapping. Abrading is super important and I see good evidence of that on a lot of flakes I pick up in the fields that I look for arrowheads on, that were left by the early knappers. I've also found a couple of pretty cool abrading stones they used and the wear patterns on them look the same as my abrading stones. Material is everything and it truly makes or breaks the knapper. Tough rock can be so discouraging, but it is good for practice or making scrapers and cutting blades. I'll be shooting more videos on the basics soon. My next one will focus on notching.
Thanks for noting the finer points of knapping! You mention a few important details. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Pete!
Thanks....great instruction and encouragement to us beginners.
I was a beginner a long time ago and I sure would have loved to had a video like this one to get me going in the right direction. Thanks for watching and I hope you will find this information very useful as you learn the art of flintknapping.
Thank you! I use antler but hit a road block with pressure flaking. Seeing you do it helped me put "2 and 2" together on what I was doing wrong. Thank you!
Thanks for the video instruction, I posted this to an off grid group I belong to to help others learn the craft.
Thanks for sharing this video Billy. I hope others will find these techniques helpful.
Billy Allen is it ok if I subscribe to you
@@rattlingbulldog1238 Please feel free to sub my channel! :)
Learned more in your 1 video then the past 4 I watched before, thank you.
Hi Paul, I am so glad you found this helpful. My goal in making this video was to simplify the process as much as I could. This is the kind of video I wish I could have seen when I got started back in 1985. Good Luck and if you want to see more of my flintknapping videos you can go to my channel and click on my playlists where I keep things a little more organized.
U are awesome! Just got interested in artifacts and narrowed hunting I've been wAtching vids and wondering how in the world the hunters made these things so wonderfully thank you so much!
Thanks much for your efforts. Clear and concise instruction. Just starting with this and only a year in with hunting relics. Still collecting chunks of our local material to practice on once I figure out if it's a relic or not. I've heard that Rhyolite ain't the easiest stuff to work with, but it's what we have.
Thanks for those great comments, good luck with your flintknapping. Rhyolite is some really tough stuff!
@@Paleoman52 Anything I should do different from what you've shown here? Tips?
These are the basic things to do to be able to remove flakes successfully. If you are looking to try some different tools, such as copper billets (copper boppers) or indirect percussion, you might find that also quite helpful.
Excellent Starter vid. yes it was most helpful. I have used beer bottoms to practice, because we have a lot of sandstone but not much chert or flint in this area. I have never heard of toilet bowls being used, i will have to give that a try. Thanks.
Toilet tank works great for practicing knapping. Make sure you use the tank because the chunks will be flat like slabs. Once you get a point made out of toilet tank rub some dirt on it and it will look like chert!
I haven't done any knapping in a couple of years, but lately I have been getting the urge to break some rock. in the past, I always held my antler pressure flaker with the outside of the curve facing up. Until I watched this video, I never thought about the advantages of having it face down. I will be giving that a try. Thanks!
Good Luck, I hope this video helps! :)
@@Paleoman52 I have been binge watching flintknapping videos the last few days, while trying to predict the next logical flake that they take off. I even guessed right a few times! In the past I could get stuff down to a decent (in my opinion) preform. Then move on to destroy it with hinges, steps, end shock, and bad blows. I have about a hundred pounds of spalls that I will not take beyond a preform level until I have them all done. Then I will go through them again and try to thin them all further and so on. I was once told that you can't advance your flintknapping level until you break a certain amount of rock. All of your videos are helpful. Thank you very much.
Never get tried of watching your knapping. Much respect.
Thanks so much Cameron!
This is really helpful and the encouragement is also great. Thank you very much.
Thanks so much for watching Zedikku! I hope this gets you some good progress!
You have a plus in your video. Explanations. Excellent
Thank you. I'm learning about the different stones. I watched the videos of you showing us the proper stones, but when it came down to it I chose the wrong one. It's definitely a skill. Practice practice practice. : )
+Inger Weaver Good Luck Inger, flintknapping is an ongoing learning process and after all the years I've been knapping I am still learning. Practice is the best teacher, but if you get the chance to sit down with a skilled knapper it will definitely help you learn faster. Thanks for watching my videos, I make them for folks like you that want to get information as to how to do it!
Thank you for your kind sharing and wisdom.
Now, I’ve got a new thing to learn!
Regards,
Thanks Cecilie, I wish you good luck as you learn to chip stone into tools and arrowheads!
You are my favorite instructional flint knapper! would be great for another knapping series from you, its been a long time. I hope all is well with you.
Thanks so much! We are all doing very well and look forward to an awesome 2022. I will be making more of these types of videos once the weather warms up. It has been pretty cold here in the Northeast.
Great video. Please do about ten more like this. Especially one on setting up platforms. Thanks Ken
Thanks, there'll be more on the way soon. I'll definitely show the process of setting up platforms. That is so important to know.
By the Great Spirit, you make it sound so easy. Thank the Gods I was a medicine man in a past life and not a kbapper. I love watching you knapp though, you do it so well. I particularly love watching when you're knapping obsidian. Aw what a treat.
Happy Hunting Brother
Thanks Thomas, I'll be sure to do a little video sometime in this series on working with obsidian. I have some nice material at the moment that would make some nice points. I'll be looking for a nice piece of red mahogany obsidian to make a knife for you when I attend this years knap-in at Letchworth.
thank you for helping us new starters, very helpfull know lage, answered alot of my questions.
Thanks DJ, I'm glad you found this information helpful. I try to keep things as simple as possible and that is what I did here in this video.
Man bravo, your video has helped me so much. I have been playing with knapping trying to learn and this just helped me figure out what I have been doing wrong. Thank you !!!!!!
I am so glad to hear that you found my video helpful as you learn to flintknapp. I need to make more of these videos that explain some simple techniques. Good Luck with your flintknapping!
Paleoman52 _______ Please do. I wanted to learn the primitive way, made my own tools and everything but didn't know anything about the abrading and angles ( especially platforms) . So no I see why I couldn't drive deep flakes and why I kept hinging. I will definitely watch more from you. :-).
Great video. I tried some glass today. I've tried before (years ago). I made some points but they didn't impress me. With your videos and some other youtube vids I've watched lately I seem to have a better grasp of what I was trying to do , Thanks. Didn't do alot on that point today but started making a bopper and flakers and made some cave-man hot glue to haft a knife blade I got off ebay. You guys inspire. Keep it up.
Good luck Timothy it sounds like you are on your way! I'm glad you found my video helpful, thanks for watching!
Great instructional video Ken. Really enjoyed seeing how that's done. I haven't tried much knapping over the years but one of these days may give it a go.
Thanks Tom! I hope you do give knapping a try and that you make some of those killer point types you find in Ohio. I was 31 years old before I ever took my first flake off a rock and I got hooked from that time on. I still have those pieces you sent me and I was looking at them just yesterday so I might see what is hiding in them some time soon.
it is truly amazing how primitive minds could come up with such a precise way to turn something like a rock into a tool that would forge there way past animals and into the future
Very pertinent observation. Somehow, they discovered new, creative, ways to use what they had available. Apparently, need was the mother of invention back in their era, as well. It would be so incredible to see how Flintknapping evolved; I assume that it started by some accidental discovery, and constantly improved by creative minds. How they produced such exquisitely detailed cutting devices with nothing but stones and antlers is a testament to their intellect, creativity and determination. They were the rock stars of their day (no pun intended).
Thank you for the demno! Awesome! Ijust started not long ago... great tips!
Perfect! I will say that my knapping is far better then it would be, had I never watched your past videos. Thanks again for taking the time to make them and explain so clearly what is taking place!
Thanks Rob and Terrie, I'm glad I was a good influence on your knapping. I am super impressed with the knapping you do with quartz! There'll be more instructional videos coming soon, I want to focus on this for a while until I can get back in true knapping form. This old body has been used hard and has paid its dues and I'm starting to feel the effects of it. But life is good and everyday is an adventure!
D.C Waldorf, bought his knapping video,( with the bluejay),years ago and his book on bow making. Neat guy!
Excellent video Ken . You explained things quite well . Thanks for the share of your knowledge ..
Thanks for watching, I figured it was time to slow down and show just how it is done, or at least the way I do it. It took a lot of years of trial and error and a few tons of rock to get to where I am, but I've tried to keep it simple and I think the techniques I show here do that. I sure could have used a video like this one back in 1985, but that was before the internet, hard to imagine that there was a time without it. I think we had a better world back then!
Thank you. Starting with finding onondaga chert. Now im playing with it with a deer antler i found. Very helpful stuff
Great vid! I appreciate your willingness to make a quick vid like this. Its always helpful to review and to help reestablish proper technique. Well done!
Thanks Jon for watching and commenting! I figured it was time to slow down and take a look at the basics. These are things you can take for granted once you have established some successful techniques in knapping but stopping to take a look at how things work is a good idea once in a while. I wanted to make a video that I would have found very helpful back in those early days when I started to learn knapping and I hope this one does just that. Have a great day my friend!
Ken that was awesome my friend , thanks so much for keeping me in mind when making the video and for mentioning me in the video , was a great video it will help a lot , thanks .
You definitely inspired me to shoot this vid when I saw your video and the tools you had and the stone you were sent. I thought the timing would be good for you to get a basic knowledge as to how the whole process works. I hope my vid helps you to progress quickly and that you will be making points soon. Good luck and show us what you've made, and remember we all started the same way and our first pieces were a bit cruder than we like them to be.
Very informative and helpful video, I'm excited to try my hand at it. Thanks for the video 😊
Very good video! Excellent instruction!
🦏Watching knapping
before napping
is chillaxing.
Thank you from here...
to there. 🌎
Chillaxin wit de foxes untill whackamole! He clips a flake off my dreams... .
Like everytime, awesome work and excellent video ;).
Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment!
Thank You Ken! This video explains the abraiding, The part I never really got, much better and it makes more sense now! If only I could find some good stones to work with......lol
Hey Glen, good to hear from you, I'm glad you picked up on what I was trying to show about the importance of abrading. That was the key for my success when I was learning to knap. You should have some Burlington chert out your way and that is some pretty nice stone to work with.
If I go a bit further south I can get some, around here is all sandstone, Im planning a trip south soon to rock and artifact hunt. I find a weird, blue sandstone in the creek behind my house, pretty stuff but unknappable lol......Im going to give the ole TV glass another shot when I get a chance..
This is a great video. I had a hard time pressure flaking keokuk with antler, I was also surprised how hard you can hit it with a billet about the size of yours and still take nice thick removals, or thin, it really doesn't like being treated gently. Which is bad news for someone who can't always hit what they are aiming at. I think i need indirect tools.
Hi Mike, thanks for checking out my video. The one thing that was important that you noticed was that as the piece thins down you can't back off the power to remove those long flat flakes. I do use a large billet almost to the end because the weight of it helps to push those flakes further and keep the piece flat. Indirect is a very accurate way of removing flakes for sure, although I have never used it, there may come a day when I will when my accuracy drops off. Good Luck!
Thanks to the video I also know that the reason my antler pressure flaking wasn't working is over abrading, it makes sense to use the flaker to chip the edge til it's just strong enough and the right angle for the antler to rip off a good flake. Can't wait for warmer weather and more videos.
Thanks for the Video !! I've been sitting on some Obsidian for a while. Now to just gather the rest of the tools.
Good luck Marc and be sure to get a box of bandaids if you will be working with obsidian.
...wow, that brings back some great memories of my stop at the mancave!!!!...
i had the chance to knapp some stone at the tracker school later on my trip...and have been able to practice the technics you showed me! thanks again...ment the world to me...
still need to get some mooseantler billets!!!! ;-)
Cri, I think of you every time I go out to my mancave, I sure enjoyed your visit, that was an awesome 3 days you spent with me. I treasure the beautiful knife and cool little container you left with me. Good luck with your knapping, it was such a privilege to have you sit next to me as I chipped out that Snyders point for you.
Yes the band aids are a must!! Last piece of obsidian drove strait down between my 2n and 3rd fingers in my palm and broke inside, still feel it in there lol. Great vid keen i picked up alot as usual but im up and down like a yoyo with this but sure the new guys will get alot out of it!! :)
Glad to see you are still out there Craig, you must be having your winter down under. We just had another polar vortex sweep through our area and it really cooled things down immensely. We didn't get out of the 60's for a couple of days and this is our warmest part of the summer usually. You might have to dig that piece of obsidian out of your hand, they seem to just go deeper and deeper and hurt like the dickens when you press against them. Make sure you imbibe a couple of oil cans to numb the pain before you start cutting, LOL!
These are razor sharp don’t throw them away also throws it away 🤣.awesome vid keep up the good work
Awesome video! Always loved flintknapping, but never quite got the skill myself to do it successfully. I'm from Denmark and we have a long history of the craft, and my grandfather taught me the basics. Still not nearly at your level though. :)
Definately the most informative video i have ever seen for someone wanting to learn knapping. All within 12 minutes of demonstration. Well done. Great camera angle for a beginner to actually see what's happening by the way, along with simple and to the point narration. No pun intended. I miss working with keokuk, and had to get ahold of Craig to get some material ordered after hearing your flakes crack off... What a lovely sound.
I was curious, and taking a wild guess, but this particular piece in the video.. You didn't happen to turn it into one of your beautiful Snyder points did you? heehee :-) Keep'm comming man. love your vids, Thank you.
+Chad Neunaber Thanks so much for your great comments Chad! I wanted to keep this process as simple as possible so that a new knapper could get some answers to the problems we all face as we learn to knap. It has been a while since I made this video so I'm not sure what that piece became, but I'm with you that I probably turned it into a Snyders style point, :)
Grate wealth of information, thank you for your time and experience it is greatly appreciated.
🥃cheers🍻
Thanks for watching Jack Daniels! I hope you found this video helpful in understanding the basics of this survival skill.
I did very helpful and I learned more from you then just about everything I've watch on the subject to date thank you again !
Superb instruction! Thank you.
you Paul for watching and for your nice comment, I hope you find this video helpful to you.
Great video, second time I've watched it
I'm learning 😌,,
Thanks so much for watching again! Be sure to check out some of my other flintknapping videos in my playlists on my channel. Good Luck!
Very helpful, thanks!
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you found this video to be helpful, good luck!
What a great video I started in 80s and learned some awesome techniques from you I'm not even close to your skill but have made some beautiful points when I kinda get lucky lol I saw my first point when my mother found a beautiful made corner notch at chief Joseph battle field up here south of chinook Montana, when I was about 5 or 6. I instantly was hooked and needed to know ho the made them, and have made powerful osage long bows 80 lbs lol
Very nice demo, see i can use this video to help with my knapping, tho i rarely knap these days, my material is very slim. lol Unless i want to use the mega hard english stuff i have lol . I dont have much luck with the flint i have tho. Thanks so much for this video
You might want to use that Englishballast flint for making gunflints out of it. I just attended a primitive Northeastern Rendezvous nearby my area and a fellow there told me he's been paying $2 a flint, so if you learn to make flints there is money to be made. I shot a couple of videos a while back on how to make them, check them out.
hmm good idea, ill look into that thanks buddy.
Very well done instructional video! Thanks!
Good into to knapping Ken..Cool wave here in the Ozarks.Ive been hitting the knappers shack hard
It's been crazy cool here too, and it feels pretty good though but this is summer and I sure don't want to get an early start on another winter already, haha! Once I heal up I'll be trying to get caught up on some knapping. I'm long overdue, that's for sure.
Nice to see ya Paleoman! I'm glad you didn't give away all your trade secrets!...lol... Great video and advice like always! Take care my friend!.....Ben
Hey Ben, good to hear from you, my mancave still smells nice and smokey from that awesome brain-tanned hide you sent to me a while back, I really love that hide and I take it with me when I do demos and talks about primitive skills. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve that I haven't revealed yet, haha!
just starting to knap very helpful . much appreciated.
Thanks John, I have some of my knapping technique videos in my playlists on my youtube channel if you want to see more. Good Luck and make lots of great points!
Thanks for the video, explained it really good.
Very good. Thanks.
Great video!! Thanks!
Thanks Aquila, I need to make more of this type of video and i hope to do so once the warmer weather returns.
Very cool tutorial thanks for the video
Great instructions!
I love this video 3rd time I`ve watched it great teaching video
Thanks so much for your great comments Joanne M, I appreciate them. Thanks for watching. I have some other knapping videos you might want to check out in my playlists. :)
Very impressive, the detail is amazing, don't understand how the stone doesn't break!
Meadow Ann Dixon Thanks, I often wonder that same thing myself but lots of practice has helped me to have a much higher success rate!
Flint/Chert has a very random and minimal crystalline structure so it can be broken like that. I only know that because I was taught that today in my archeology class.
This helped to clear up a lot. Thank you very much.
man...where was this vid 3 years ago!!??!!?? LOL! good instructional vid Ken...i know it will help many folks just getting started. keep 'em comin' and thanx fur sharin' friend. h ave u been knappin' much lately?
Thanks for the great comments MMHR. I've had to lay off knapping for a few weeks to heal torn abdominal muscles. This getting old thing is tearing me up, haha! I only knap when I have something that I absolutely have to make or if I am scheduled to appear some place to demonstrate knapping. I'm healing but slowly.
well...God's speed to ya then Ken! take ur time and heal right...we need ya out here! LOL! now, HURRY UP!! LOL! take care friend.
Great video! Thanks for all the time you take to make these great videos I'm sure they help many people. Unfortunately I won't be able to put much if this new found knowledge to use as I have still found no workable stone... It's really frustrating living in an area without much knappable stone! I've been gathering supplies and tips and tricks from different places for making primitive/ traditional arrows as I am big into archery, one of the main reasons I want to learn this uncommon skill is to make tips. But until I can locate any knappable stone this goal will have to get pushed to the bottom of my wish list...
I've always had that same problem finding good knappable rock in Western New York State. We have Onondaga chert in our glacial gravel and that stuff is pretty tough to get anything nice out of. I'm glad that we have a couple of really good knap-ins near my home and I get stocked up there with the rock I like to work with. Good luck in your search for rock. See if there is a knap-in nearby your location and that should help.
Try looking In large rivers where the stones can sometimes be washed from other areas.
I got a box of Keokuk sent to me for my flint and steel kit.It was a gift from a guy in Missouri I understand keokuk needs to be heat treated first for knapping.I guess I'd have to buy heat treated spalls if I wanted it for knapping.
Heat-treating Keokuk greatly improves the workability of the stone. The raw Keokuk probably will work pretty good if you plan on making blades for your steel strikers. If you want to try to heat treat your rock, I would suggest googling, "Heat-treating Keokuk" and you can get good instructions on how to do it. Good Luck.
Thanks.Some of the pieces he sent me appear as if someone was knapping them.Wish I could put up the photo.I'll eventually make a video when I get out in the bush again.
Great video! Thank you
Thanks for the help, think I am gettin better happy huntin
really enjoyed this vid Ken, always needing as much insight when it comes to knapping, though I haven't had any practice for quiet sometime, been either hunting them or resting from hunting them lol but one of these days, my hunting will probably slow down & then I'll start knapping more, but I know Terry would love this vid too, he's been doing a lot of rock smackin & getting fairly good, I'm gonna share it on my fb page & tag Terry to it, so he doesn't miss it & then he'll be able to view it & have a easy link to your other vids. hope you kick what ever has been ailing ya, I know the feeling, which of course you know that, but it helps to have friends that inspire to strive forward & love life for what it is..
best wishes my friend - if You go to KY? MO is only a jump away? I'd like to come out for the knap-in though, but I would want to maybe come another time? cause I'd be looking for quality time with you, so many I have to meet in this life & your on the top list of stellar online friends, thanks for being You
Hey Brooksy my friend, thanks for the comments and always thanks for watching my vids! I'm glad you are able to get out there and enjoy finding finds but I know what you are talking about with the resting and recovering thing. I've been dealing with the effects from knapping on my body more in these last few years and this old body has had about enough, haha! I will definitely consider a side trip to MO if I can get down and see SnyderPointMan in the Fall, I just have to see how things are going then. I'd love to have you attend our great knap-in some time. It will be on this time next month and I am looking very forward to it. I mainly just love seeing all the great people that come to the knap-in and hanging out with them for 3 or 4 days. Thanks for sharing my video with Terrie, I hope he likes it and finds it helpful. Have a great day buddy and go out and find that daymaker!
so the knap-in is from 21st to the 24th of August??
Brooksy's Nomadic Adventures Yep, that's when we are having it this year!
always wanted to know how that was done great video :) Thanks :)
I'm glad you watched this Michael, I was hoping to show just how it can be done with just the most basic of tools. There are a lot of guys that are way more high-tech than I am, but I always try to keep things simple and develop a survival that could come in handy if the need arose.
Good demonstration thanks wear your eye protection guys!
Thank you so much for that you're a very good instructor
Thanks so much for watching William.
Very helpful...thanks my friend.
+John K. Eich Bushcraft. Thanks, I'm glad you found this video helpful. As you probably already know, flintknapping is a challenging craft to learn, and I wanted to shoot this video and share some techniques I have learned that may help others to achieve their goals! Thanks again for watching!
Yes sir... It's not easy but it sure is fun. Im still gearing up all my bits and pieces of kit... I play here and there to try and learn but yeah with this video I think I picked up a few new things to try... Im in Pa so there's not to much flint laying around in our corn fields lol awesome finds btw... I just want to thank you for helping me out I appreciate it a ton.
Great video mate
Ken, you have me very interested in knapping. I've never tried it, my father messed around with it a little though. I have two quivers with arrows & crappy arrowheads I've always wanted to put nice points on them even though in the quiver you never see them but it would be cool when someone looks at the quiver for them to pull out nice arrows. Your vids help me to understand a little better the items I have in my collection. As for heat treating, would you discuss this in one of your videos as I'm not really clear why it was done other than for color enhancement. I would also like to understand how to tell if a rock has been treated. As always, thank you so much for taking the time to share. They always said getting old isn't for sissies! I swear every injury I've ever had is coming back to haunt me lol
I'm glad I peaked your interest in flintknapping, I find it very enjoyable when this aging body of mine allows me to enjoy it. You'll find that my approach to all these techniques are to keep things as simple as possible. I live a simple life so I knap a simple way. I would be more than glad to do a little video some time soon about heat-treatment of stone. More than any other reason I believe it was done to make a tough stone my workable. When a chert-like stone is exposed to heat slowly for a period of time it thermally alters it and actually makes it more brittle. One of the side-effects of this treatment is sometimes a nice color change. It does not work for all flint/chert materials though so you have to find out which stones will benefit from heat-treatment.
Paleoman52 Alright, that certainly makes more sense than the color enhancement... I used to work for a jeweler and we sold heat treated stones which enhanced the color (personally, I thought it was cheating because most people do not realize the stone was not naturally that color!). Perhaps it's not important enough to bother as I seem to be the only one asking, but I have several pieces I believe were heat treated and they have almost a waxy feeling and are really shiny which leads me to believe they were heat treated. My true weakness I believe is I know next to nothing about geology, I can't even identify the various stones my artifacts are made from...
awesome video thank you so much
Somehow UA-cam didn't deliver this one to my email. I really enjoyed this lesson. My daughter lives in Missouri and said shes sending me some stone. Hope it will give me good practice so I learn what stone is best... now that is something you didn't cover. What do I look for when choosing a stone?
I will definitely consider doing a video on choosing a good stone to work with some time!
Great ty :)
Great info and well done
hey Ken, sorry to hear you are not feeling up to par. take a rest and heal up good.
hey a real nice vid for a beginner like me, show us more. take care buddy;-)
Hey Tim, good to hear from you! I'll be sure to show more of these kinds of videos soon. As a matter of fact I may work on another one today. I'm hoping to get down your way maybe this Fall if every thing works out, I'll let you know!
hope you can come down, give me plenty of notice and I will take off work to show you around my neck of the woods
Great video...
Thanks Todd! I appreciate your feedback!
Cool. That helps a lot. Thanks.
Good stuff.
Good job brother
If you can't get billets, go check out backyardbowyer's video on making a 'copper bopper'. It's really helpful starting out.
Good suggestion Caveman Joe, I've played around a little with copper but I always come back to antler. I just couldn't get the results from copper that I do from antler so I pretty much never use copper. I have seen some knappers that perform magic with those copper boppers, so it really works well for some folks!
Paleoman52
All I've been able to get are some tiny, thin whitetail antlers, so that copper bopper is helping me *really* get into it. I've already got wheel weights to melt, all I need is to grab a few copper caps.
I did make an ötzi-style pressure flaker, but I haven't put an antler tip in it yet. A friend of mine brought some obsidian back from Alaska, but I don't know if I'll be able to work any of it. His wife thinks it's *pretty* just sitting in big spalls on her bookshelf.😢
You know these are some of my favorite vids ! Another awesome production by the Master Knapper....hey I seen it on a shirt somewhere....LOL
Thanks for the lesson ! Is this the beginning of a series ??? If so, I'll be saving them !
Hope you get to feeling better Buddy !
Thanks so much Elvis, for watching and yep, I hope to make a series of lessons on knapping. My next video will focus on notching. Yeh, I've been dealing with this aging body and all that knapping and hard work over the years is starting to catch up with me. Funny how we never thought this would happen back in our twenties, LOL! I'll survive, but healing up slow is a lot slower these days!
Of stone boats snd working sleds. Ive seen a sled to drag in a circle...the bittom was loaded eith flint chips presses into the cracks in the wood , some hammered in...the goal was to separate the wheat from the chaff...say 2 10x2s .of about 5 feet long .. would you alter the chips ? Use just random cast offs ? ...ever seen this before? ...any tips and tricks?...best glue ,modern and or archeac?
that is very cool man I could watch these videos all day that just amazes me.. thank you so much for sharing with us paleoman52.. how much do you charge to make some points I will buy some from you.. you really know what your talking about.. good luck and happy hunting buddy...
Thanks so much for your great comments, I appreciate that you watch my videos and take the time to comment! I don't have any extra points made right now but once the warmer weather returns I'll be chipping again and I'll keep you in mind!
thank you so much I will buy them from you cause by watching your vids its a lot of work.. very cool how your using pretty much the same way the Indians did that is so awesome.. thank you so much for sharing that with us.. good luck and happy hunting...
This is my first knapping video and was hoping you can let me know if there is a "kit" or just how to get the materials for napping like the antler or sand stone and what are some good rocks to knapp. Would love the help, thanks
Two websites I like to refer people to are flintknappingtools.com for all you tool needs and neolithics.com for some really good knapping rock. I know both of the guys that run these businesses and I buy from them personally at the Letchworth Stone Tool Craftsman Show held each summer during the last full weekend in August, in Letchworth State Park.
I learn more every vidio I see. I dont get much chert here in wyoming,but I have a great spot to get outstanding obsidian, mainly black,but some banded...being a beginner,..is obsidian a hard or easy stone to work with?....its all I really have available to work...I would love to see a vid on obsidian??...thanx for shareing your knolage...
Obsidian is an excellent material to learn with. I call it a confidence builder because the stone works much easier than hard flint and cherts and you can get decent results as you learn. Thanks for watching!
Thanks!
Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching and for your comments, I appreciate the feedback!
Ty so much this helped so much
You like smooth side out on the pad? Is there a reason you like the smooth side more? The kiokuk (sp?) looks like easy working rock, I've been working Brandon flint, some chert from the Nahalem river that's if anything slightly more tough than the flint, and obsidium which I've been too ham handed with. I can see I need to be a bit steeper on my thinning, and will try between the legs for more power on pressure flaking on the flint. I frankly like the flints better, obsidium makes me itch like I've been insulating, even though I like it's color and sheen. I'm sure I'm in a minority on flint over obsidium. Thanks for posting this, it helps.
Thanks for watching and sharing your experiences with me Matt. I am in that minority with you as I really like the flints/cherts much more than the glass and obsidian. I really never thought about the smooth versus the rough side of my pad, I guess I use the smooth side as a habit more than a purpose.
Very cool, I've recently started knapping myself and this is very helpful! Also, PM me if you want some material from WY... I have some spanish diggings quartzite (actual spanish diggings I picked up about 1/2 mile away from the site itself), hartville uplift chert, and tiger chert and would love to see what you could do with em!
Those cherts you have sound very interesting! I hope this video is helpful to you, there will be more videos coming so keep watching. Thanks for your comments and good luck knapping!
Yup tiger chert is one of the coolest materials I have ever seen, look it up and let me know if you want some xD
Thanks for the help! Knapping seems like a nice thing to do when on a hike and taking a break. Can I buy one of those leather hand pads you make? Thanks
+Matt Behnke Maybe we can strike up a trade for one! Send me a PM
Thanks, explains a lot
Hey this is Sam I watched you Flint nap in Fillmore I'm hoping I can make a good Arrowhead
Hi Sam, it was great to meet you this last weekend. I am sure you will be making lots of really great arrowheads, just keep practicing and watch my videos to help you get past some tough spots as you chip out your arrowheads, Good Luck!
Wow!! Thanks for this video. I've been collecting points and all types of things since I was 6 I'm 14 and about to be 15. I've been wanting to learn to knap and this was a great video! it really helped me out with learning to knap. I've mainly only done scrapers and drills to practice, but now I'm working on doing a knife. only problem I have is the flint I have around is a pretty hard and chunky rock with alot of layers. so it's kinda hard to flake it just wondering if maybe you have any ideas of how to work with a lot of layers TIA!!
I'm so glad that you found my video helpful to you. When I first started learning to chip out points and blades I used anything I could find that would chip, including glass bottle bottoms and Johnstone (Porcelain toilet tank). Those materials were free and good to learn on.
Thanks so much for getting back to me and letting me know what you just told me its really helpful to me I just subscribed to you I'm going to look around your channel and see what other videos you have hopefully I can Learn some new things !!THANKS!!
Checkout my playlists, I have some dedicated to flintknapping.
Ok I will look thank you
Awesome video. Do you by chance sell boxes of flakes for flint & steel? I’d like to buy a box.
I have boxed up some in the past. My flake pile is currently under snow.