@@creamofclapton1911 no, some petrified wood is knappable without heat. But I prefer to heat treat because I heat treating makes it easier to make the smaller points with the delicate tips and deep notches.
Yes. They are very delicate. Personally, I don't think they were used on those weapons. There are no surviving examples and the one that was brought to Spain (now gone but the hand-drawn illustration is still available) had many small blades attached along the edge with no gaps. Those small blades were most likely individually knapped and not delicate. The artwork of the Aztecs codexes are beautiful but they took artistic liberties and the details are questionable.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Man, I typed a whole thing out and youtube went retarded and didn't post it lol. something about me encountering similar issues studying oral traditions and origin stories for various tribes yadda yadda and an included example about how the Cherokee came from an island down south and moved into what was originally Iroquois territory in the southeastern US until a territorial dispute forced the Iroquois north. then something about how that explained why the Iroqouis were the only tribes that far north who used blowguns and why the Cherokee often have mesoamerican bone structures. followed by me asking what you thought the Prismatic blades where used for because I don't know anything about them, and an anecdote about how they said they cut off horses heads with them and then tried to say they were intentionally made to be "less lethal" so the Aztecs could take captives. uhhh, and then I think I finished with a theory in the form of a question about how there were multiple variations of these weapons not just among the Aztecs but multiple mesoamerican groups and asking if it were possible that different variations were bladed differently for different purposes. Something like that. It's funny, I think I actually made it longer by trying to summarize it. My bad lol
@@aaronengland5622 I think the prismatic blades were probably used for shaving and grooming. Other uses might be ritual bloodletting, body piercing, and skin surgery. They can also be used in the opening and skinning of hides. Since they have a musical tone as well, it's possible they could have been used as chimes.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Lol that last one got me a little bit. I would've never considered that. I used to set up bone and rivercane chimes as makeshift alarms when I was in the woods. Mostly for spirits but they probably work on people too lmao. I mean if you encounter either of those in the swamps out here there's a good chance you'll be a missing persons case lol.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Well made prismatic blades made for the macuahuitl were likely not delicate at all. Yes if you make the prismatic blades thin then they are very fragile. I make prismatic blades as well and they do take a while and a pile of glass to get good at it. Most of the artifact cores I have or seen from central America are all made the same way. They are taking advantage of a platform already made. Some evidence proves they pecked and ground some of the platforms but most are not. You can make very durable prismatic blades that would last longer by simply making them thicker and incorporate two ridges instead of one. Strike the platform further back to make them thicker. They are more durable than any corner tang, or bifacial knife I have ever seen. I cut a groove about a quarter inch wide to set my blades and most of them fit just fine but they are on the edge of fragile. However I dont plan to go into battle with mine and are purely for show. Prismatic (four sides) blades have more obtuse angle at the edge than a simple three sided blade taken from a single ridge. Blades taken from a single ridge have very acute angles. in general 360 degrees divided by three as apposed to 360 degrees divided by four on prismatic blades. The three sided would likely have been used for grooming etc as you speak but the four sided prismatic blades are not near as sharp as three sided blades. You should take the blade for its intended purpose. As far as the horse head thats nothing but prewar psyops imho. We still do that today. BTW Ill show you and demonstrate in person what I mean if you go to the Brady Knap-in in a few weeks. Id love to talk to you again. Hope to see you there. Uhhh...and bring a horse! Just kidding of course.
Hey at about the 5:30 mark into the video you said use the ?...centrificatal...? technique and attack the middle. You mentioned another technique like 3 seconds after that. What videos do you have on both techniques please 🙏?
nice work what type of camera do you use never thought to ask but has a nice picture quality looks like it's probably a good pro but would like to know
I don't know why, but I always find bifacing videos the most fun to watch. It seems to me that obsidian and dacite produce flakes that are thinner and more curved than other lithic material. Thanks for the video.
Yeah, but it's probably because it's easier to produce thin curved flakes on obsidian/dacite. They break apart on tougher stone... although the flake scars will often be the same. :-)
How many items do you think the average napper made in his life 5000 years? How many have you made? Lots of artifacts are non symmetrical is well. I just recently saw a video of a guy finding one in a field that had a twist to it a ninety-degree twist.
It's easy to make 3 points a day, so a knapper can make 1000 points per year. I stopped counting mine after about 200 points. That was 10 years ago, I guess. I don't know how many I've made.
im impatient...10 good strikes sounds better than a hundred....plus im near Osage country...at least you got your safety glasses on right...fingers protection important too
If you look up "Dacite" you will find descriptions of rock that do NOT match the rock I am knapping in this video. This particular type of Dacite I am knapping comes from the northwestern US and is very similar to obsidian.
Volcanic rocks form a spectrum based on the chemical composition of the magma underground (only called lava once it erupts). At one end is basalt, high in iron and magnesium minerals and low in silica, low in water and gases, high melting point around 1100-1250C. Think Hawaiian lava flows that run like water. Then you you find lava types from continental volcanoes like Mt St Helens, with Andesite, Rhyolite, Dacite with increasing proportions of silica and lower FeMg content. These melts have a higher water content, as they come from melting and recycling of ocean crust as it gets shoved down beneath the continent. The water also gives them lower melting points, down to about 750C, which means they are more like toothpaste than water. Chemically, dacite and obsidian are very very similar. The biggest difference is how it cools after eruption. Flows that cool fastest can’t form into crystals, and you end up with a glass (amorphous without crystal structures). Dacite cools a bit more slowly, giving time to form very fine grained mineral crystals (you’d need a microscope). That makes it tougher, less brittle, and more durable for tools and such. One of the great things about studying geology up here in Seattle is all the real world examples of this stuff close by!
JackCrafty If it was a 100lber I'd be banging shards off. It's only about 3 - 4 lbs - a 'oh lawdy!' huge piece to me, since I live up here in the sticks and don't have access to flint or obsidian unless some traveler brings me a piece - or I luck upon an artifact left behind. ;-)
Also, I can't see the messages posted to my channel by using my phone. I can see the comments to my videos but I have to use a regular computer to view my entire channel. I seldom get on a computer these days (on purpose) after spending 17 years pushing a mouse for 8 to 14 hours a day. ;-)
Man, I'd kill to hang out with you for a day just to break rocks and learn.
You should try going to a knap-in.
Watch your stuff all the time . I like this angle for learning for some reason .
Yeah. Lots of people like this angle. Microphone doesn't pick up my voice very well at this range, though.
@@KnapperJackCrafty does petrified wood have to be heat treated ? What I have is tough tough
@@creamofclapton1911 no, some petrified wood is knappable without heat. But I prefer to heat treat because I heat treating makes it easier to make the smaller points with the delicate tips and deep notches.
Hah, love your channel ❤. Been wanting to ask, have you tried ceramic from an old toilet??😮. For practice. Thanks!
Yes. Toilet ceramic works, but not well. Knappers call it "Johnstone".
Function vs art my friend, that's question
You ever tried making prismatic blades like the ones used on the macuahuitl and macuahuitzoctli?
Yes. They are very delicate. Personally, I don't think they were used on those weapons. There are no surviving examples and the one that was brought to Spain (now gone but the hand-drawn illustration is still available) had many small blades attached along the edge with no gaps. Those small blades were most likely individually knapped and not delicate. The artwork of the Aztecs codexes are beautiful but they took artistic liberties and the details are questionable.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Man, I typed a whole thing out and youtube went retarded and didn't post it lol. something about me encountering similar issues studying oral traditions and origin stories for various tribes yadda yadda and an included example about how the Cherokee came from an island down south and moved into what was originally Iroquois territory in the southeastern US until a territorial dispute forced the Iroquois north. then something about how that explained why the Iroqouis were the only tribes that far north who used blowguns and why the Cherokee often have mesoamerican bone structures. followed by me asking what you thought the Prismatic blades where used for because I don't know anything about them, and an anecdote about how they said they cut off horses heads with them and then tried to say they were intentionally made to be "less lethal" so the Aztecs could take captives. uhhh, and then I think I finished with a theory in the form of a question about how there were multiple variations of these weapons not just among the Aztecs but multiple mesoamerican groups and asking if it were possible that different variations were bladed differently for different purposes.
Something like that. It's funny, I think I actually made it longer by trying to summarize it. My bad lol
@@aaronengland5622 I think the prismatic blades were probably used for shaving and grooming. Other uses might be ritual bloodletting, body piercing, and skin surgery. They can also be used in the opening and skinning of hides. Since they have a musical tone as well, it's possible they could have been used as chimes.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Lol that last one got me a little bit. I would've never considered that. I used to set up bone and rivercane chimes as makeshift alarms when I was in the woods. Mostly for spirits but they probably work on people too lmao.
I mean if you encounter either of those in the swamps out here there's a good chance you'll be a missing persons case lol.
@@KnapperJackCrafty Well made prismatic blades made for the macuahuitl were likely not delicate at all. Yes if you make the prismatic blades thin then they are very fragile. I make prismatic blades as well and they do take a while and a pile of glass to get good at it. Most of the artifact cores I have or seen from central America are all made the same way. They are taking advantage of a platform already made. Some evidence proves they pecked and ground some of the platforms but most are not. You can make very durable prismatic blades that would last longer by simply making them thicker and incorporate two ridges instead of one. Strike the platform further back to make them thicker. They are more durable than any corner tang, or bifacial knife I have ever seen. I cut a groove about a quarter inch wide to set my blades and most of them fit just fine but they are on the edge of fragile. However I dont plan to go into battle with mine and are purely for show. Prismatic (four sides) blades have more obtuse angle at the edge than a simple three sided blade taken from a single ridge. Blades taken from a single ridge have very acute angles. in general 360 degrees divided by three as apposed to 360 degrees divided by four on prismatic blades. The three sided would likely have been used for grooming etc as you speak but the four sided prismatic blades are not near as sharp as three sided blades. You should take the blade for its intended purpose. As far as the horse head thats nothing but prewar psyops imho. We still do that today. BTW Ill show you and demonstrate in person what I mean if you go to the Brady Knap-in in a few weeks. Id love to talk to you again. Hope to see you there. Uhhh...and bring a horse! Just kidding of course.
Hey at about the 5:30 mark into the video you said use the ?...centrificatal...? technique and attack the middle. You mentioned another technique like 3 seconds after that. What videos do you have on both techniques please 🙏?
Centripetal Levallois. You can find it wikipedia or search my channel.
Thanks for the great video, as an archer i have been wondering what is the best way to make flakes other then slabbing it out.
Cool. :-)
Thank you for the great info.
You're welcome
nice work what type of camera do you use never thought to ask but has a nice picture quality looks like it's probably a good pro but would like to know
The camera is on my Samsung phone. :-)
I don't know why, but I always find bifacing videos the most fun to watch. It seems to me that obsidian and dacite produce flakes that are thinner and more curved than other lithic material. Thanks for the video.
Yeah, but it's probably because it's easier to produce thin curved flakes on obsidian/dacite. They break apart on tougher stone... although the flake scars will often be the same. :-)
Yup blame it on the rocks 😂
Always
I think of the big flakes as second stage spalling.
How many items do you think the average napper made in his life 5000 years? How many have you made? Lots of artifacts are non symmetrical is well. I just recently saw a video of a guy finding one in a field that had a twist to it a ninety-degree twist.
It's easy to make 3 points a day, so a knapper can make 1000 points per year. I stopped counting mine after about 200 points. That was 10 years ago, I guess. I don't know how many I've made.
Thanks - I'd like to see you work that biface with indirect percussion. At my skill level it is still way too thick :-)
That's probably my next video.
fantastic video
im impatient...10 good strikes sounds better than a hundred....plus im near Osage country...at least you got your safety glasses on right...fingers protection important too
wanted to try this for years any chance we could chat
Send me an email. jackcrafty@yahoo.com
ok ty
How does Dacite form?
It is a volcanic rock that forms in a way similar to obsidian.
If you look up "Dacite" you will find descriptions of rock that do NOT match the rock I am knapping in this video. This particular type of Dacite I am knapping comes from the northwestern US and is very similar to obsidian.
Volcanic rocks form a spectrum based on the chemical composition of the magma underground (only called lava once it erupts). At one end is basalt, high in iron and magnesium minerals and low in silica, low in water and gases, high melting point around 1100-1250C. Think Hawaiian lava flows that run like water. Then you you find lava types from continental volcanoes like Mt St Helens, with Andesite, Rhyolite, Dacite with increasing proportions of silica and lower FeMg content. These melts have a higher water content, as they come from melting and recycling of ocean crust as it gets shoved down beneath the continent. The water also gives them lower melting points, down to about 750C, which means they are more like toothpaste than water.
Chemically, dacite and obsidian are very very similar. The biggest difference is how it cools after eruption. Flows that cool fastest can’t form into crystals, and you end up with a glass (amorphous without crystal structures). Dacite cools a bit more slowly, giving time to form very fine grained mineral crystals (you’d need a microscope). That makes it tougher, less brittle, and more durable for tools and such.
One of the great things about studying geology up here in Seattle is all the real world examples of this stuff close by!
@@RoxnDox Excellent info, really appreciated!!!
Got a big piece of obsidian I'm saving until I can be efficient.
I once saw a knapper buy a 100lb block of obsidian (maybe more?) and looked like he wished he could buy a bigger chunk. :-)
JackCrafty If it was a 100lber I'd be banging shards off. It's only about 3 - 4 lbs - a 'oh lawdy!' huge piece to me, since I live up here in the sticks and don't have access to flint or obsidian unless some traveler brings me a piece - or I luck upon an artifact left behind. ;-)
That's a pretty big Billet. Get the band aids out.
I wear gloves now.
I wish to thank you for the time you spent at least answering my pm OH WAIT you spent 0 seconds
If at first you don't succeed, try again. Send me another PM. And I'll check the spam folder too, just in case.
Also, I can't see the messages posted to my channel by using my phone. I can see the comments to my videos but I have to use a regular computer to view my entire channel. I seldom get on a computer these days (on purpose) after spending 17 years pushing a mouse for 8 to 14 hours a day. ;-)
I sent a question about the pieces that ya were dropping on the floor and if ya might consider donating some of same to a scout teacher
Send me an address to jackcrafty@yahoo.com and I'll send a box of flakes your way. :-)