Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: ricktrojanowski on June 01, 2009, 09:52:56 pm
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I've been messing with antler billets a bit, and found I am ruining less rock, and now I'm kind of hooked. I have a big moose billet its about 9" long and 1 lb. Also a deer tine, I'm guessing from a muley? It's about 9" long (curved) and about 8 oz. What kind of different sizes should I try to come up with for a good assortment? Would Moose tines work or can you only use the bases?
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Hey Rick - I'm thinking moose tines would work fine as billets or for pressure. Glad you brought this up cause I'm really leaning toward going all abo.
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as long as the base is hard enough itll work for percussion. i had a nice tine a while back that was like a paddle. it was great for knocking off big wide flakes. the only thing to remember is you need to keep the striking face round. itll wear down and if it gets too flat you start crushing the platforms rather than knocking off flakes. one thing that leads to a lot of wear on the antler is over grinding. its fine with copper but with antler you can grind too much and all it does it beat the crap out of the tools
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Whitetail antlers make good billets, too-they're hard and tough like moose. Antler and wood are the only billets I use, I just can't do much with copper.
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I'll try to post some pics of my billets tomorrow night.I grind mine a lil different than most.
I use 3 sizes of billets for percussion work, My 2 biggest are moose,and my lil one is whitetail. Try to get horns with the skull attached,as it is much more hard and last a lot longer.
As for grinding,I use a very fine sandstone that is perty dang hard. Hard to overgrind with this one.
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Thanks for the info guys.
Timo- The pics. would be great, and much appreciated.
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Here are the billets I use for jsut about all my percussion work. I do also use hammer stones a good bit ,but these are what I always grab first.
The big billet will perty much do all my heavy spalling with ,If it ain't enough horse power then I grab a hammer stone.
2nd from left will get things down in perty good shape and my second fav billet.
3rd from left is by far the one I use the most. It is also my first ever moose billet.I got it off a barn wall and it had the skull cap intact.It has served me well.Not sure I will ever wear it out. I use this one to get my preforms down to almost finished.
The lil billet is from a Canadian whitetail. Hard as heck and used for finishing up preforms just prior to pressure flaking.
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I dress my billets perty often. A pitted billet doesn't seem to grap like a clean dressed one does. This is how I have found to favor them. Perty good taper, leading to a flat tip.
My abrader is hard, fine sandstone that I get from a fella in SW Mo. Most of the ones around here are to course,but will work in a pinch. These last a long time and it is hard to overgrind with it.
Hope this helps. ;)
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Is it possible to have too many billets? Some good lookin' tools there guys. I've been using more antler than anything else lately.
I have one big hog of a moose billet that is great for taking big flakes off or knocking down odd shapes off the host rock. One of my favorites is made from Sambar stag from India. It is dense and pretty hard.
Same as you Timo, I derss my billets fairly often and get better results if they have a smooth finish.
Jim
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Timo- Thanks a bunch for posting those pictures, like they say a picture is worth a thousand words.
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I use moose on occasions,my question is do you treat them with anything to keep them from drying out or is that not a proublem?
Bone pile
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Bone, It normally is the other way around,horn will absorb moisture so it's imparative to try to keep them dry. Wet billets ain't much good. Humid weather is tough on them ,makes them soft. One can microwave them to dry them out, I run a dehumidifier in my shop to help out with this. My fav billet was from a barn wall that had been weathered for many years,(palms were all cracked) it works great.
I have a buddy that has a small battery powered dehumdifier that fits in a 5 gallon bucket,he keeps him billets in it during humid weather.
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Would like to try antler but being frugal(cheap) I can't justify the money, I may have a whitetail shed to make a small one, was saving it for a knife handle.
I do have some elk billets but didn't care for em, to spongy ???
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Man, I jealous of that bigger billet you got Tim. Also, that whitetail billet is nice, hard to find a good sized whitetail billet.
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Because I mainly make small and medium-sized arrowpoints, I use small billets mostly. Whitetail mainly, though I do have some moose billets, but I don't use them that much....only when I'm making 12-foot-long swords out of mook jasper!! Just kiddin'
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Shane,sounds like you have a case of "Billet envy"? ;D