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

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

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.

 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?? ) 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.)

 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 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

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.

  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.