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beer bottle knapping? (Read 6822 times)
bestoftheworst
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beer bottle knapping?
Nov 13th, 2011 at 10:36pm
 
I was thinking,if obsdian is just natural glass then why do we spend time and money to get obsidian when we could use glass.I was just wondering of any of you have tried this and what your results were.
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bigkahuna
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #1 - Nov 14th, 2011 at 12:43am
 
You can make some beautiful points out of glass. Beer bottles work just find and you can get some really nice colors. Get plenty of bandaids, and wear eye protection. Grin
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Mauro Fiorentini
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #2 - Nov 14th, 2011 at 7:49am
 
Some of us did try that, go check PRIMITIVE KNIVES topic  Wink
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #3 - Nov 14th, 2011 at 12:38pm
 
bigkahuna wrote on Nov 14th, 2011 at 12:43am:
Get plenty of bandaids, and wear eye protection. Grin

Aye, I don't have much trouble when I work flint, but I cut my hands all the time on glass.  People look at you like this  Huh when you have six bandades on your hands.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #4 - Nov 14th, 2011 at 1:06pm
 
Just to make the knappers (what a fun word) here jealous, I know where to find big chunks of obsidian...
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Bill Skinner
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #5 - Nov 14th, 2011 at 3:34pm
 
I admit to a love/hate relationship with glass and obsidian...it make beautiful points but I cut the snit out of my hands when I work it.  Also, when you get a sliver in a cut, you won't be able to see it so you have to feel for it with the tip of you knife when you dig it out.  And you have to dig it out, otherwise it will keep digging deeper until it hits bone or until it comes out the other side of your finger.  And it hurts as it works its' way through.

Beer bottle bottoms are thin and have a hump in the middle.  Older beer bottles have a flat bottom and are thicker and make great hunting points.  It you like the brown glass for points, try to find a garbage dump from the 60's back.  Lots of large colored glass bottles, this sort of predates the use of plastic bottles, the bottoms are usually flat and thick.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #6 - Nov 14th, 2011 at 9:54pm
 
Quote:
Just to make the knappers (what a fun word) here jealous, I know where to find big chunks of obsidian...


Tongue  I am jealous,  but I can just as easily go to a dump and find some porcelain  Smiley its almost like chert I have heard
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #7 - Nov 15th, 2011 at 12:33am
 
I hate getting glass slivers in my hand. I started wearing a leather glove on the hand that holds the piece being worked on. This has helped dramatically.
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David Morningstar
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #8 - Nov 15th, 2011 at 4:31am
 
Old tube TVs have thick glass screens that are perfect for knapping.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #9 - Nov 26th, 2011 at 2:28am
 
  I knap glass almost exclusively, mostly bottle glass for that matter.  I make small points from the bases and long slender ones from shards from the side of a bottle if the glass is thick enough in the bottle.
  The difference with bottle glass and obsidian or flint is that you start by striking off a large flake with obsidian or flint and working that into a point, with bottle glass the base or shard from the side is your flake and you flake that down further to make your point, and the a flake looks nothing like a shard or bottle base so your technique is a little different but basically the same.
  Give it a try and compare the two, you will soon see what I mean.  If you can try to find some info on Ishi, last of tha Yahi indians of the Yana peoples of northern california.  He made many points from both obsidian and bottle glass, as well as plate glass and old glass insulators from telephone poles.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #10 - Dec 14th, 2011 at 1:47pm
 
i know this is a little off topic but did'nt use to be a stickied topic with a link some knapping stuff?
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #11 - Dec 19th, 2011 at 11:35pm
 
I have a thick piece of leather with a hole cut for my thumb for when I'm pressure flaking. So far I haven't had to dig any flecks of glass out of anything. I also have a piece of closed cell foam with a notch in it. I put the piece I'm working on on top of that and flake into the v. Seems to work quite well.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #12 - Jan 7th, 2012 at 1:06am
 
just as the quality and texture of natural obsidian varies widely, the same holds true with man made glass. there's glass that lends itself to knapping and some that doesn't. the best i've found so far is an art glass from the Blenko company. you can find large chunks of slag glass at most landscape supply retailers as well as large glass tile and brick. if you just want to make small bird points then bottles and window glass will suffice, though both tend to be at the lower end as far as quality goes.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #13 - Jan 7th, 2012 at 11:25am
 
  Try some Baileys Rum bottle glass, the base is huge and the glass itself is extremely hard, it makes it a bit brittle but it makes a black point with a very sharp edge, you would swear it was a type of obsidian.  Just go down to your local bottle depot and ask them if you can buy a few bottles off of them, they will let you sort through the bins of bottles and pick out what you like, look for flat bases that are thick.
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Re: beer bottle knapping?
Reply #14 - Jan 8th, 2012 at 5:01pm
 
If you put a large nail or a bolt in the bottle and shake it (preferably over a trashcan), the base of the bottle will usually (~75%) fall out intact. I haven't used the side glass before, but mostly use beer bottles, with a thicker glass such as in wine or liquor bottles that should work fairly well. Even among modern beer bottles there is some variation as to bottle thickness and concavity. Excessive designs on the bottle base also seem to complicate knapping. In short, keep drinking till you find a brand that works for you!

I've found that using a scrap of leather in the holding hand does help a lot, just make sure to brush it off frequently if you are going to be impacting the leather with your striking hand.
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