Main Discussion Area > Flintknapping
Knappability Scale?
JackCrafty:
I posted this in the "Knapping Floor Tile" thread but I want to start a new thread on knappability. I get lots of questions on this, so....
On a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being easiest to knap):
10 High-grade Heat-treated
9 Glass/Obsidian
8 True Flint and Highest-grade Cherts
7 High-grade Chert and Medium-grade Heat-treated
6 Medium-grade Chert
5 High-grade Porcelain and Ceramic (includes high-grade floor tile)
4 Low-grade Heat-treated
3 Low-grade Chert
2 High-grade Quartzite and Rhyolite
1 Low-grade Quartzite and Rhyolite
0 Low-grade Ceramics, Natural Cortex
I usually don't recommend anything lower than a 7 for beginners and for those who want to work on advanced flaking techniques.
JackCrafty:
The low-grade heat treated (HT) category is kind of difficult for me to define. I'm going to place both hard and soft materials in this category.
Low-grade HT includes (but not limited to): Keokuk (it cracks way to easily along edges), stone with small heat cracks, over-cooked stone, and stone that is still hard to run flakes on after heating.
I'm thinking of putting some HT novaculite into this category too but I'm not sure where it comes from. I've got some white novac that almost feels like soapstone and is very brittle. Maybe it's over-cooked?
What do you guys think? I think there are a couple other threads like this and I'll try to link to them...
Marc St Louis:
I'm surprised you put high grade Quartzite so low Patrick. The stuff I have worked wasn't to bad to knap and I would put it much higher than 2.
As an aside, there was a Quartz deposit that was found not long ago on a local Ojibwa reserve that clearly shows signs of being used. I've been trying to find out where it is but have so far been unsuccessful.
TRACY:
Maybe add some examples of each scale increment. Indiana hornstone and Kentucky blue might fit in the 8-9 scale.
Waldorf has a general scale on ease of knapping in his book on popular stone knappers use.
Good thread!
Tracy
Outbackbob48:
Patrick, I need to put toilet tank porcelan at the bottom :o :( Bob
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