Flintknapping

Well it's been a while since I've picked up my tools and knapped some rocks. I think it would make a good addition to my blog for people that find this sort of thing interesting.

If your not sure what flintknapping is, in short, it is the process of breaking rocks into tools or weapons[1]. It has played a very important role in human history and development, making it possible to cut meat or whatever else a sharp edge is needed for before it became obsolete with the manipulation of metals.

Nowadays, most people flintknap not for the necessity of producing a tool for survival, but to keep alive the art form that every culture has done at some point in their past. The way I picked up flintknapping was through my fascination with stone artifacts growing up. This inspired me to learn more about how these works of beauty where made, and the people that made them so long ago. This has sent me into the realm of science, and what I am currently studying in college today, Anthropology.

I would now like to share with you the tools I use, and a few pictures of what I have made up to this point: (The one above was created by myself)

It's always a good idea to have a tarp set down to catch the sharp chunks and shards that you break off.

Tool kit

These are my tools I have been using, which are modern and not what native peoples would have used in the past. I will go through what each of these tools are and what they are used for.

Leather & rubber pads

First of all, protection is key. I use cow hide to protect my legs when breaking off large flakes. The gloves are for handling the sharp rocks. And the rubber pad is for finer detailing and notching when you get a smaller flake.

Hammer-stones & Boppers

These hammer-stones are simple stones I found out in the field, and the copper tipped pipes are called boppers. They where assembled by materials bought at Home Depot. These tools are used to break off flakes from larger stones, that can then be fine tuned with these...

Pressure flakers

The pressure flaker is used to make the desired shape/design that the knapper wants. They are created with wooden dowels that have copper wire sharpened to a point to push off (with pressure, hence the name) long fine flakes that people associate with seeing on a typical arrowhead.

Here are four creations that I have made in the past, I usually upload what I make onto my Facebook page. Which I will link to in the future.

This was a quick run through, and I'll likely be editing, and adding onto this post in the future, so check back often. 

:) Have a good life (: