been doing quite a bit of rock busting lately. about half of these are older, but the other half have all been done in the last few weeks.

Chris

http://i819.photobucket.com/albums/zz119/paleoarts/knapping/100_4290640x480.jpg

nice dude  :o i really like that leaf shaped blade near the bottum

Nice work, is that some Flint River down there on the lower left?  Bill

You like understatements don´t you paleo...?
Very nice work .

fine work, as always :) I recognize the edwards chert (i think) at the top left,and the the black obsidian, (oregon-wyoming), is the black flint ft. payne? i gotta get my knapping tools out it's time i do some more. haven't done anything nice in a while just beer bottle points for hunting. l8er.

thanks, fellas  :D

the materials are as follows, clockwise from upper left....

heat treated texas flint
dacite from oregon (the dark waxy grey/black stuff)
various colored obsidian (all from the sierra madre here in california)
some misc. pieces including rootbeer flint, chert, and smoked glass
a few pieces of keokuk from the ohio valley (the chalky bright white stuff)
novaculite from arkansas (the whitish grey stuff)

 Cool work Paleo!  I especially like how they all seem to be very congruent, it can be a tricky thing to do sometimes getting that point centered.  I just recently discovered the secret to getting long pressure flakes, (can you believe I didn't know how to abrade and was pushing down on edge with no inward force for about 6 months of on and off attempts?? :o :o ::) :-/) and can now drive a pressure flake 3/4 of the way across any point with some careful preparations, even the flint ones I made recently.  I'm kind of happy right now as I finally got a flake to travel all the way across, I did it with a green glass bottle base point when the point was about 3/4 finished.  I should put pics of the points I have made recently on here, though right now I don't get to keep any as I am making them all into necklaces to sell...it hurts to dull the edges on some of them that are really beautiful and sharp... I guess I should use a piece of sandstone to do it instead of my tongue.  (joke.) ;D

 What kind is your favorite to make?  Lately for me it has been the triangular ones with notching on the side about 1/4 of the way up and a notch in the center of the bottom.   But I also like making the ones with a notching that looks kind of like "ears" where you notch the sides then hollow out the base square or half circle or v shaped.  I'm not so big on the rounded edged ones I prefer a triangle to a leaf shape as I find it easier to center the point.

 O.K. I've modified this twice now, my post is getting too long, what is that point for that is at the near the bottom of the pic and is kind of a reddish brown, it is rectangular with a right angle triangle near the top or bottom...I've never seen that kind before.

I like the obsidian stuff the most.

I know theres a lot of resources out there, maybe i just need more practice, but what would you recommend to learn the basics of flintknapping? at the moment my skill consists of turning big rocks into smaller rocks instead of beautiful, or even functional, tools :(

a good starting point for all beginers is the book 'flintknapping' by John C. Whittaker. next is a good set of knapping tools which can be had relatively cheaply at any number of knapping websites. and, third, a LOT of stone to practice on. this can also be had off the internet for not a lot of money. i reccomend dacite or heat treated novaculite for those just starting out. as a novice, you need to focus on preccusion and thinning preforms at first. all other aspects of knapping depend on this skill being mastered. there are any number of youtube videos that will show you how this is done, but if you get the chance to get some real time one on one instruction then take it as nothing beats hands on learning.

Chris

Being frugal as I am I've put off learning to knap in hopes of discovering a way to do it without spending any money, as I do with slinging.  It looks like a small initial investment is unavoidable.  I  believe it's time to do it.  

cool, rat man. it pays to make the investment earlier rather than later i found. i was like you when i started and tried to do it on the cheap. i figured i would make my own tools and figure out the basics for myself. what i ended up doing was wasting a lot of time, effort, and precious materials producing very crude points and a LOT of rubble. literally within days of purchasing some decent tools and getting some basic instruction, i was able to make decent points and blades with little waste. rock is always going to be your biggest investment and it pays to be frugal with it, but the only way to do that is to knap properly, and the only way to do that is to use the proper tools, techniques, and to practice on a lot of stone in the begining. glad to here you're picking this up, man. happy knapping  :D

 Well, I have never boughten any knapping equipment, I have always made my own but I don't think it is as good as it should be.  What I have been using are just sandstone hammerstones, sandstone abrader, a leather pad for my hand and an iron square nail set into the end of a dowel.  It seems to work well, but it may be a little hard, so copper would be a lot better.  I have learned with those, and am making points pretty much as good as any with them now out of glass and flint.  I also recommend knapping bottle glass for learning as I find it easier than flint.

 Oh, and definitely check out http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com this is the sight I learned from and there's all sorts of great advice and people to give you tips and info.