Main Discussion Area > Flintknapping

obsidian knockoff?

(1/3) > >>

Papa Matt:
Brothers,

   I recently bought some alleged obsidian rocks in the hopes of learning to knapp them. But I'm in Indiana and have never seen the stuff in the wild so I cannot really be sure if this is the real deal. My wife is from Veracruz, Mexico and she says she used to go out playing as a kid and find it just about anywhere on her father's ranch. (which calls to mind the Aztec and Mayan sword blades that were made from it hundreds of years before her little brown feet touched the ground). She says the obsidian she used to play with was not really transparent and was darker black than this. And when she'd break it, it would chip clean in big flakes. When I try to break flakes off of this stuff, they are sometimes small and almost like dust. This stuff is black, but you can easily see through it. And the strangest thing---if you hit it and it doesn't knock a flake off right away, you will just give the rock a white bruise and this little bruise can explode seconds later and actually shoot out a piee of dust or small flake at you.

Brothers I am new at knapping, but could any of ya's shed some light on this?


Thanks,
            Ol Matt 

DanaM:
any chance of a picture Matt, it could be some type of slag ???

Papa Matt:
Unfortunately Dana, no. Wish I could post some fotos, but right now do not have the capability.

leapingbare:
Sounds like obsidian to me... part of nappin is to know were to hit it , when to hit it , and why ya hit it were ya hit it when ya hit it there.. ya gatta set up a platform before you strike the rock, failer to have the proper platform set up will result in small flaks or a crumbled edge.
 Obsidian comes in many forms, sometimes black , sometime orange , sometime it has all the colores of the rainbow in it, and evon gold sometimes, all the obsidian I've ever sen ya can see through the thin edges except for dasite witch is a gray type of obsidian.
 My advice is to watch some videos on flint napping and read some books on the subject before you go smashing up all yer rock. I'm not tryin to be rude all nappers start somewere and I'd hate to see you wast your rock.
 Flintnapping takes alot of time frustration, practice a little knowhow and some blood to get the hang of it.. just stick in there and you will be reworded with a awsome new skill. Good luck with your new hobby,  Leapingbare.

Papa Matt:
Leapingbare,

  I bought 4 pieces for a dollar, and only started striking one, didn't even ruin it. In fact I've got it down to a nice little triangle shape, just wasn't sure what I'm dealing with. Have you ever had it explode like I explained in my first post???

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

Go to full version