First attempt at knapping

[boxerboxer]

I've been looking at getting Ryan's book and both learning to knap and also to try to get MN to look at legalizing stone points.

 

[TheBlindCat]

I've been looking at getting Ryan's book and both learning to knap and also to try to get MN to look at legalizing stone points.

It would be pretty cool if MN legalized spear hunting too, my wife bought me a atlatl kit a couple christmases ago that I finally finished. It would be interesting to try. I feel like if you’re the type to use stone points, spears, or even trad gear you’re probably not the irresponsible hunter to be concerned about.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I've never taken anything with a spear, but I was along on a hog hunt and witnessed a spear kill. It was one of those Cold Steel boar spears. It was maybe 12 inches long and 3 inches wide and you could shave with it. The effect was like a huge broadhead. One thrust and the boar was down and out in seconds. It was impressive.

The atlatl is an interesting weapon. I hobbled one together out of local cane and some wood and played around with it a little. Ryan Gill has quite a good bit of atlatl hunting on his hunt primitive channel. I gather that it is a lot more difficult to kill skittish animals with than a bow. One of his latest hunt videos is an atlatl hunt and he talks about that. I'm guessing their real forte was large animals like bison and the now extinct north American megafauna. Most of the "arrow heads" I have found have really been atlatl points or stone knives.

 

[BTaylor]

How are the heads coming?

 

[NMSbowhunter]

How are the heads coming?

I've managed to beat about 30 pounds of rocks down into this menagerie of points so far. This is the learning (destroying rocks) phase of knapping for me. I plan to go over to a local hardware company nearby in the next week or so and see if I can get some good cobbles of Tuscaloosa gravel and heat treat them. Think landscape stones. That is what our local points are made of for the most part. That will cut down on the cost of learning too.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Here is a small piece of Tuscaloosa gravel I heat treated. I got this batch too hot, and it stress fractured. The example below is what I am shooting for. Originally the rock is tan in color and somewhat grainy. After a successful heat treat it will turn a dark red or maroon and be much glossier and smooth. I am baking a batch of small rocks in fine sand to see if the sand will regulate the temps and negate the stress fracturing. I need to pick up a turkey roaster that goes up to 500 degrees.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Ok, more experiments with the Tuscaloosa chert. I am particularly drawn to this material because it is predominantly what the points that were used here by the native peoples of the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes in antiquity were made of. I've found points made from this red stone all my life but never saw those red stones in nature and only recently learned that the stone changes color and consistency after heating. It is also the native rock so when I learn how to properly prepare it through heat treating, I will have a steady (and cheap, this is important since I still destroy just about everything I get my hands on) supply. The rock starts out as tan and grainy and when properly heat treated turns a dark red or maroon color and is much glassier and smooth. Thousands of years ago the native people were altering the stone to make a mediocre rock into an excellent rock! How cool is that!

The example below is what I am going to start looking for. It was a smooth, relatively flat river stone, tan in color. I heat treated it for two hours at about 600 to 650 degrees in a can filled with fine sand. I let it cool overnight. The stone's consistency was just about perfect. It has that dark red glassy texture and flakes very well. I was able to run long thinning flakes off of the biface. I have got to get some more of this stuff.

I also found an article by a Choctaw descendent who outlined how the heat treating was done naturally in a pit with coals and sand. I am going to have to duplicate that method for myself.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

I baked some rocks the other day to heat treat them since I had some wood around the yard that needed burning anyway. I knocked a few good flakes off one and pressure flaked out this little "bird point", as they are often called. I used a deer antler to do the pressure flaking. I've been watching a lot about primitive hunting, mostly Hunt Primitive on Youtube (Ryan Gill's channel) and the idea of making a self-bow, some river cane arrows and using stone points really intrigues me. I bought a copy of his book The Secrets and Science of Primitive Archery and it is very interesting.

Anyway, here is the little point. I was going for the triangular "Mississippian" style point. It is a bit small, even for what it is. Don't be too critical, remember, it is my first attempt, lol.

Man, this may be an all new rabbit hole.

Manhood upgraded, sir. You are now 42% manlier than the average male bowhunter, who is at least 42% manlier on average than his non-hunting male counterparts. Congratulations, now I have to go chop a tree down with a steak knife to catch up.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Here are a couple of examples of the heat-treated rock. The dark red material on the left is what I am going for. The pinkish colored grainier rock on the right either did not get hot enough or was not a good candidate for the heat treat.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I went out and picked up some rocks yesterday morning on the way back from a scout. I picked up about 30 pounds of smallish cobbles of mostly Tuscaloosa gravel. I threw them in the cook pot with 1 1/2 of sand under them and 3 inches on top. I cooked them for about 2 hours at between what I guess to be 600 to 700 degrees. They cooled overnight and I checked them first thing this morning. Of the ten examples I cooked, I decided that 3 or 4 were better suited as driveway stones, the rest went right back in for another heat. I put them over 1 inch of sand this time and 2 inches over the top and cooked them about the same heat for 3 straight hours. They are cooling now, and I'll check them sometime tomorrow.

Stone #4 showed some potential after the first heat, so I spalled off some flakes and I knapped the little point below out of it. I was trying to reproduce the little red "bird point" from my collection and I am pretty happy with how it turned out. The one on the left is the original and is probably between 300 and 800 years old. The one on the right is about an hour old.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I just pulled the rocks out of the sand after the second heat treat. They turned out much better. I think I only need one inch of sand below the rocks and 2 inches above and cook for at least 3 hours. I am going to start looking for a turkey roaster oven that goes up to 500 degrees and start doing them that way. Should be cleaner and more efficient than the propane.

If you look at the difference in the chipped off areas in the picture below you can see how the rock changed from the heat. Top view is after 2 hours and the bottom is after an additional 3 hours with a half inch less sand between them and the heat. The stone is much glossier and glasslike now.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

Here is some more of the last batch I just cooked. This rock came out nice and I was able to split it down the middle in one strike and get a little triangle biface going from the thinner side before the mosquitos drove me inside. This stuff looks like peanut butter.

One interesting thing about knapping is the similarity between how much rock it takes to make a point and how much rope it takes to tie a knot. Anyone who hasn't tied their own knots will be surprised by how much rope goes into one. The same thing goes for knapping.

 

[woodsdog2]

I've never taken anything with a spear, but I was along on a hog hunt and witnessed a spear kill. It was one of those Cold Steel boar spears. It was maybe 12 inches long and 3 inches wide and you could shave with it. The effect was like a huge broadhead. One thrust and the boar was down and out in seconds. It was impressive.

The atlatl is an interesting weapon. I hobbled one together out of local cane and some wood and played around with it a little. Ryan Gill has quite a good bit of atlatl hunting on his hunt primitive channel. I gather that it is a lot more difficult to kill skittish animals with than a bow. One of his latest hunt videos is an atlatl hunt and he talks about that. I'm guessing their real forte was large animals like bison and the now extinct north American megafauna. Most of the "arrow heads" I have found have really been atlatl points or stone knives.

I would love to hunt with a spear!!

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I would love to hunt with a spear!!

You could make that happen.

 

[woodsdog2]

You could make that happen.

It’s not allowed here in NY unfortunately.

 

[woodsdog2]

Nice work on the stones btw!!

 

[NMSbowhunter]

It’s not allowed here in NY unfortunately.

You could do an out of state hunt. Maybe for pigs in the season.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I tried out some more of that rock from the first batch of heat treated jasper from the other day. This was rock number 13. I thought it was going to live up to its unlucky reputation when the rock promptly broke in half on my first strike to try and split it lengthwise. I managed to thin one side out some as a biface. I'm getting slowly better at that. The rock was a little flakey in spots and I managed to work it off as much as possible. It liked very hard indirect pressure to run decent flakes and not crush.

The stone itself has a very pretty pattern to it. I wish my feeble skills at knapping allowed me to get the most out of this particular rock. All and all I am pleased with the result.

Below is the original from my collection and the one I just made out of the heat treated jasper. Little lucky 13.

 

[NMSbowhunter]

I've taken a few days off from knapping to hunt and I've also been busy with other things. I decided to try a tile of glass I picked up a Lowes last week. I can't say I like knapping glass. It is very prone to throwing razor sharp chips everywhere. It is very messy. Here is the result. A little transparent point.