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some rocks and some thoughts

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GlisGlis:
Yesterday I went rocks hunting and finally I hit a good place
there are both flint nodules and layers and some other promising rocks
need your help to ID
2 and 3 are flint . 2 different colours. both very fractured, the darker one much more damaged than the lighter. Almost unusable
4 (you got a bigger pic) has that waxy feeling and flakes well
1 and 5 are probably very similar (altough 1 is much more violet than picture displays)
I thought it was some kink of carbonate so I tried to drop hydrochloric acid on it but it had only minimal reaction. Looks like porcelaine, flakes  well and it's hard. Edges are less cutting than flint but also much less fragile

I was really happy to have finally found a source of "real " knappable stones but at the end of the day those are my thoughts:
1 almost all flint is damaged or fractured. I'll be able to save only small flakes
2 I need to learn to spall as i wasted tons of good roks and the flakes I kept arent top quality
3 I need to learn to ID rocks and judge their quality faster
4  Need to make new knapping tools
5 need to improve my knapping too
6 how the hell our ancestors did that points and blades ?!?
7 if I had to survive with that harvest my points would be microblades or bird arrows with some casual flake as knife

8 9 10 sorry for the long story  ;D

bjrogg:
Looks like some pretty decent stuff. It's all really hard to figure out without making a bunch of gravel.
Cooking some might help but you probably need to spall it down first. I'm still learning and starting to get more efficient with my stone but it took lots of nice spalls that I ruined or made into small points to get to the point I'm at. On the bright side, you found some stone and that's always cool. I'd probably pick on one and see what I could learn from it. Good Luck
Bjrogg

Zuma:
From what I remember, you are from a northern climate? ???
In that case, surface finds can be very frost cracked.
Digging deep may produce some better quality cherts.
It looks like you are part way there. You impress me as
being a doer. I'm thinking your big score is close by and
your knapping ability will follow directly. :)
Zuma

GlisGlis:
thanks Bj
yes I'm lucky to have found the place and now I'll have to learn
just moving from glass to real rock so i bet some adaptation is due


--- Quote ---In that case, surface finds can be very frost cracked.
--- End quote ---
yes I do think it's the case
look at the 2 pretty extreme cases (layer and a cobble) I attached


--- Quote ---You impress me as
being a doer. I'm thinking your big score is close by and
your knapping ability will follow directly.
--- End quote ---

thanks alot for the kind words
I'm a slow doer but luckily also a persistent one  ;)

GlisGlis:
I'm pretty frustraded
I've ruined almost all big chunks and reduced to dust many smaller. That stuff wont flakes well and mostly will end in steps or fractures
made only a couple of birdpoints out of flakes before my wirst started to hurt. If I searched for diamonds I'd have a lower waste/usable product ratio  :'(
the fact is that those rocks are really tough
when big they wont detach long flakes with that good glassy sound I ear in youtube vids and when small even pressure flaking require much more force compared to glass (would say maybe from 1:3 to 1:5 more)
I may be wrong with technique but for sure there is something with the material too
will heat treating make the flaking esear? doable  with less exertion?
I've developed kind of a fever. Need to come back to that site and find new rocks. Than try to heat threat. ...and make some decent stuff-
Damn me and all those addictions

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