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obsidian, pushed the limits on this one

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1442:
 Yeah! I pushed the limits all right.  :-[

Jeffp51 sent me three pieces of obsidian and I told him I would post results of working them.
This first one was flaking extremely well and most strikes produced nice overshots just feathering out the other margin until I took a flake lengthwise and it went crazy just before terminating. It took a steep dive then turned right back 180 degrees and left a big groove half way across the width on the wide end. I was able to work it out and get the first side cleaned up pretty well, but when I started working on the other side, it just broke in two repeatedly. I'll have to get a handle on that on the next two pieces with better support or summpin.
But anyway I finished it up best I could and am gonna post it cause I said I would.
Here's what I started with,
 

1442:
This was the roughest side. It cleaned up nice.

1442:
broke it. broke it again, then broke it one more time....

1442:
OK! I got serious and got a finished point out of it, then took a showcase photo with some of the reduction flakes, which should yield bigger points than what I got here. ???
Stay tuned, I have two more pieces to work.

Zuma:
My guess for your breakage would be that you
were working into to much mass on the second
(square side). I usually try to work the piece
from the thinner ends towards the middle.
Creating good stiff platforms as I go.
Hard to describe using side vs edge.
You can work two sides from one edge
or one side from both edges ???
Better luck next time. ;D
Zuma

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