Slinging.org Forum - Flintknapping

english

Ex Member

Flintknapping
Mar 21^st, 2004 at 10:48am

I have pretty much no idea how to flintknap. I need a new knife, as my metal knife broke, and I have not enough money for a really good one, so I was wondering if anyone knows how to make a decent flint knife? I have made some poor microlithe arrow heads, just flakes of flint smasked off a larger piece, but I have never managed anything nice. I was wondering if there was anyone here who knows how?

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nwmanitou Senior Member Offline Posts: 335 Utah, USA Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #1 - Mar 26^th, 2004 at 12:20pm go here, it will have all the info and supplies you need http://www.bowsite2.com/acb/showprod.cfm?&DID=15&CATID=75&ObjectGroup_ID=255
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Zorrro Funditor Offline Yeah, i guess most of us love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 530 Granada (Spain) Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #2 - Jul 23^rd, 2004 at 3:17am Quote: I need a new knife, as my metal knife broke, and I have not enough money for a really good one, There are a lot of nice knives for little money (i got some of my knives for less than 4 euros and the most expensive is under 90 euros) what kind of knives are you looking for? folders? sak's?back lock? fixed blades?
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english

Ex Member

Re: Flintknapping
Reply #3 - Jul 23^rd, 2004 at 3:51am

Less than four euros? That's hardly anything. The point of the post was to find out how to flintknap, so a flintknapped blade was what I was looking for. I do have quite a few knives, most of them metal, but now I have a crudely made flint knife (it was my second try at knapping, so it isn't exactly wonderful, but it is sharper than I would have imagined.)

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Zorrro Funditor Offline Yeah, i guess most of us love YaBB 1G - SP1! Posts: 530 Granada (Spain) Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #4 - Jul 23^rd, 2004 at 4:02am oh i see i was thinking about making a flint stone knife... but i don't know where to find those stones in the surroundings of Granada.... i'm geology illiterate and i only know a few types of stone.... may be i am stepping on flintstones all days and i don't know..
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english

Ex Member

Re: Flintknapping
Reply #5 - Jul 23^rd, 2004 at 5:06am

Flint is a very good rock to work with, and quite distinctive. Most often it is black or grey, maybe with a slight brown tinge. The best flint comes from chalk cliffs, and it is quarried, so it is unlikely that you would just be walking over it, but weathered flint is very common. Mostly round pebbles, indistinguishable from others, only difference is seen when they are broken in two. But there are loads of other good rocks, like obsidian, which is volcanic glass, and loads of others.

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Mithras

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Slinging beach pebbles
off the Yorkshire coast

Posts: 94
East Yorkshire, England
Gender: male

Re: Flintknapping
Reply #6 - Aug 7^th, 2004 at 12:08pm

english, hello! I was on a flint-knapping course a couple of weeks ago and we made a flint knife, with wooden handle bound with nettle cordage and glue made up of beeswax and cedar sap.

Essentially, you need a big chunk of flint (the core), and with a hammerstone hit a straight edge to carve off flakes. This takes practice. None of my flakes are any good Sad

Find a flake suitable for turning into a knife.

You can find a flake with a beautiful straight sharp edge. Use that. Use a pebble to blunt the part you will hold if need be by 'pecking' pieces off the flake.

You could also use pressure flaking to produce a stronger edge, but one that is very finely toothed. You will need a piece of antler. Holding the flake on a little pad of leather use the point of the antler to 'peck' a tiny indentation into the blade. Go all the way along your blade. Flip over and do the other side.

I made a wicked flint saw by creating very large 'pecks' in the cutting edge. Besides the saw I've made a circular scraper, end scraper, concave scrapers for whittling and debarking wood, a couple of knives and a few arrow heads (which I must mount on the shaft I've made with the rest of my tools).

I am a very happy man! Its been an ambition of mine to flintknap for years!

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They shrink for fear, abated of their rage,&&Nor longer dare in a blind fight engage;&&Contented now to gall them from below&&With darts and slings, and with the distant bow.&&&&Aeneid 9.503&&

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Matthias

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Gatineau/Ottawa QC, Canada
Gender: male

Re: Flintknapping
Reply #7 - Aug 8^th, 2004 at 12:28am

I'm jealous. You guys are lucky to live in such a flint-rich part of the world. When I was in Normandy a ways back I spent the better part of an afternoon smashing flint cobbles. Good times...

Stone tools in my area were almost exlusively ground slate, which is cool enough, and very pretty, but without that certain something that a knapped edge has. In my browsing of the ministry of mines etc.'s gis system for my province, I've come across a reference to a major obsidian flow not too far from here ("not too far" being anything less than ~800km) that is on my list of places to check out. Won't be the first time I've packed a 40lb load of rock 3 days out of the mountains...

Matthias

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Mithras Junior Member Offline Slinging beach pebbles off the Yorkshire coast Posts: 94 East Yorkshire, England Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #8 - Aug 8^th, 2004 at 3:07am Quote: Won't be the first time I've packed a 40lb load of rock 3 days out of the mountains... Matthias Wow. Where do you live? I don't think I can drive 800km without falling into the sea !
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english

Ex Member

Re: Flintknapping
Reply #9 - Aug 12^th, 2004 at 5:21am

I'm pretty good at knapping now, to be honest, Mithras. My grandma lives in Eastbourne, and there are famous chalk cliffs there, so whenever I go and visit, I take a trip up the South Downs, collect anything I can in a big rucksack and get knapping. My first problem to begin with was lack of antler for soft hammers, but I tried wood, and if it's fire-hardened, it works well. Same with pressure flaking, which I am still terrible at. I can make good spear heads too - like your knife, but with pine resin and wood ash as glue (I couldn't find any good non-smelling beeswax) and lashed with willow bark. Same with knives. Can't collect anymore resin at the moment, the trees here are slowing down sap production. But I am making different bifaces, blades from large bladecores etc.
To anyone starting knapping, I suggest that first go to a demonstration, and maybe get the book by John Lord on the subject, the Basics of Lithic Technology. Good book, good diagrams and that kind of thing. Nice bit about the formation of flint within chalk strata.

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Gun Interfector Viris Spurii Past Moderator Offline Slinging Viking Posts: 1089 The Ozarks of Ark & Mo Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #10 - Aug 12^th, 2004 at 12:05pm Go to local Knapp Ins their fun to watch a good knapper do his work. If you just sit down and watch you can learn for free.
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Matthias

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Gatineau/Ottawa QC, Canada
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Re: Flintknapping
Reply #11 - Aug 16^th, 2004 at 12:21pm

Quote:

Wow. Where do you live? I don't think I can drive 800km without falling into the sea !

Hey Mithras, I'm in Vancouver on the Canadian west coast, and spend a lot of time as far from the city as I can get! Driving 800km without seeing another human is not that hard to do if you are picky about your travel routes. Even easier if you are a walking sort. The mining ministry here has made their GIS database available online, so you can access very detailed geo data as well as the entire (young) history of mineral exploration, adits, production etc for the province, combined with landsat images, topographic maps etc. So if you are going to be driving say to Alberta to visit your elderly grandparents (1400km one way), you can bring up a list of all the interesting sites to check out along the way. Armed with a GPS, I've tried my hand at amber, jade, soaptone, gold and platinum. Obsidian is next on my list!

http://www.em.gov.bc.ca/cf/minfile/search/search.cfm?mode=capbib&minfilno=092GNW...

If you click on the coordinates, and jump through the hoops for the plugin, you can play with the map data. This one is even relatively easy to get too!

Matthias

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lobohunter

Interfector Viris Spurii

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where be a rock and a
string there be a sling

Posts: 1945
Cottage Grove or
Gender: male

Re: Flintknapping
Reply #12 - Sep 5^th, 2004 at 11:54am

I work in a local crafts fair there is a guy here that been flint knapping for years and really good at it.
The point of this is I just commisioned him to make me a couple obsidian sphere with spear points naped on each end kind of a stone age razor ball
i can't wait to see them and try them out he is tradeing me for one of myhand forged knives
for a half a dozen of these obsidian razor foot balls

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Douglas_The_Black Interfector Viris Spurii Offline Hakkaa päälle! Posts: 3491 Salineville Ohio Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #13 - Sep 6^th, 2004 at 12:53pm that sounds cool razor foot balls dont cut yourself.
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lobohunter Interfector Viris Spurii Offline where be a rock and a string there be a sling Posts: 1945 Cottage Grove or Gender:	Re: Flintknapping Reply #14 - Sep 7^th, 2004 at 11:39am i thought about the danger of sharp edges. But you take exstreme care when using broad head on a arrow in the feild no less caution would be used with these possibly more
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