Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: HoBow on October 28, 2009, 08:10:33 pm
-
I talked to a Geologist at a local university today and got to discussing local knappable rock sources. He pushed me to the following websites:
http://www.geoarchaeology.southalabama.edu/tal-sand_distribution.html
http://www.geoarchaeology.southalabama.edu/tal-chert_home.html
Tomorrow will be my first rock hunt and was curious if anyone has any experience with these two. Also, do I need to take a sledgehammer or just look for baseball to football size chuncks? From what the professor told me, there is a massive amount in the county I will be searching, so I plan on picking up a lot. I have VERY limited experience spalling and even less knapping. I do not have a rock hammer or any other tools (except a sledge hammer) Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Also, what about heat treating either one....thanks again!
-
HEy Jeff,
I would suggest a rock pick or some other type of prying tool. Normally knappable stone is also associated with very thick, compacted clay that holds on to every piece of stone. You'll need a stout tool to remove any sizable pieces.
Sledge hammers tend to be too hard, and when you hit a piece of stone with it, it tends to shatter the stone. You'll probably need some large hammerstones (basically hard, round river cobbles) that you can use to break open the stone.
-
The Tallahatta silicified sandstone (commonly called Tallahatta Quartzite by knappers) is good stuff. I've seen pics of car-sized boulders of it. It also occurs in creek cobbles. It has a lot of different grades, from great to crappy. The better grades are usually darker and finer-grained. It doesn't heat treat. It breaks sharp and makes good knives, tools, and hunting points. Don't know anything about the Tallahatta chert, but it may be a variety of Coastal Plains and may need heat. Here are a couple of my Tallahatta quartzite points:
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Any experience with the Estwing 22oz Rock pick....will that (which I do not have- going to go try and get it in the morning) and a dead blow hammer be sufficient? Nice points hillbilly! Now I have something to shoot for if I can get my hands on any ;D ;D Guess that will be a while though!
-
Jeff, If you find a bunch I'd like some. :P
-
No problem mullet, but I gotta find it first ;D
-
I was able to pick up a couple flakes of the stuff that was laying on the tarp at the NC knap-in. First time I had tried it and was able to turn out a small point pretty easily. I would love to get my hands on some bigger chunks. If you are able to find some, I think you will like the way it works. And as you can see from Hillbilly's pics, it makes some really nice looking points.
-
I live in Marengo County, just north of Tallahatta Springs in Clarke County. Where do you plan to look? Some people call the chert Jackson Agate and it has to be heat treated. Depending on grade, 400 to 550, the uglier the hotter. It will turn from red or orange, the only colors I have seen in nature to olive green to blue once it has been heat treated. Blill
-
No luck today...oh well. I thought you knappers went out and looked for big black X's so you knew what to spall out. LOL. I spalled a bunch of sandstone which means I got no rock. Bill- Sterling gave me your number. Ill call later. Tomorrows a new day!
-
Good luck with that Jeff. Those sites were very interesting - wish I was there. If ya find the mother lode I might interested in a little trade :).
Steve: I just can't get over how perfect your points are! It's tough enough with flint/chert, but you seem to have mastered the quartzite.
-
Paul, I just don't show all the ugly ones. ;D
-
Cowboy- I'll let you know once I manage to collect some rock ;)
-
Hey, If you check around the Chattahoochee in Houston county you'll find some
-
Steve, has that water gone down in the creek yet?
-
I'm planning on going on another hunt on Wednesday and Thursday, so hopefully I'll have more luck. ;D
-
Well, this is the results of my rock run. I found some huge boulders and could not spall it out with the stone I brought and did not want to start beating on it with a steel slag hammer, so ended up picking up pieces around the 5 or 6 small car size boulders. Is this about the size you guys start out with or should they be bigger? The stone I used is in the bottom right corner of the first picture. It was not much good on this rock. The coke can is for size reference. I plan on going again next Tuesday and try to get more, but hope to be better prepared to break the boulder up a little- any advice appreciated. :)
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Those chunks and spalls are about the correct size to make medium sized to large points with no problems. I think that you should work on forming them into preforms before you start trying to beat the rock into a point. You will gain experiance in getting flakes to release in the direction and shape you want. If you have any questions, PM me. I will be checking this site. If you want to knapp some more, I will be at Moundville Park on Sat. from 1100 to 1400. Bill
-
Thanks Bill! I enjoyed meeting you the other day and appreciate the help in learning the basics. My plan was to practice percussion with most of the rock I find. I wasn't real concerned about knocking out points just yet. Thanks again for all the help and material!!
-
they look great to me i wish i was there. have fun knapping and show us some pics of the things you make.
-
Good job, Jeff!
It would be great to see some pics of the rock in the ground, or in the setting you are
finding it, if at all possible. I don't know for sure what you are looking at as far as collecting
possibilities goes, but my favorite tools for collecting that coastal plains chert is a 16# sledge
and a 6 foot pry bar. ;)
Wear goggles, and any on-lookers should stand back atleast 15-20 feet, also with goggles.
Joe
-
Well, today was an interesting day in my journey to learn knapping! I decided to go get some more rock and grab some photos so I could get some advice. While loading up some, one slipped and cut my left finger open. I decided to go ahead and finish getting what I came for :o I left and went and got three stitches in my left pointer finger >:( I went home to unload the rock and the same thing happened, so I had to go back and get four stitches in my right palm >:( The doctors got a kick out of the whole situation and my wife took my rocks away :-\ Maybe knapping is not for everyone ;D ???
Here are pictures from both ER visits (within 2 hours of each other) and some of the big boulders. There is at least 10 back in this area and only a few have been whacked on....
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
It might be safer and cheaper to wear gloves. ;D Nice find and hope they heal quickly
-
Yep, you might want to add Gloves to that list of tools. ;)
But, when your hands heal up, you know where to get plenty of material!
Thanks for the pics.
Joe
-
At least you found a gold mine of material to use i have to buy most of what i need
-
i woulda lost half of my little finger on my last rock run if i had not had gloves on.. i was spalling a big piece of flint river and i missed the platform and my finger slid across a sharp edge of rock with the weight of large copper spaller and it sliced through the glove and still cut me..
-
I never have liked gloves with the exception of hauling hay, but looks like I will have ro adjust :)
-
Are the stitches out yet? When they are, call me and we'll try to set up another session. We should try to get together before it get too cold. Bill
-
When it gets too cold, send that rock on a vacation,, to me. ;D Cool battle scars ;)
-
Bill- I will be up there next week again for work, so I will give you a call. I've taken the stitches out of my left hand because they were hurting. I was suppose to get them out tomorrow, but I have some stuff to do this weekend, so I'm going to leave the ones in my right hand in until Sunday. I should be good to go next week. ;D ;D Mullet- I'll send some down your way. Shoot me a PM with what you are interested in.
I got some dogwood logs today that were seasoned. Would these be good to try and spall out the boulders? Do they need to be smooth or could I shape it out with my drawknife and call it quits? Any rough dimensions or pics would be greatly appreciated!!
-
Sheese man, what a find! That is too cool! Sorry about the stiches but looks like your hooked ;).
-
The nickname for wooden billets is BamBam sticks. They should look like BamBam's club. Just draw knife the end small enough for you to hold comfortably. If you want to harden them, hold them over a fire until they start to char. FWIW, James Parker is the only person I know who can fire harden them properly. Tallahatta works well with wood, working well with wood takes a lot of practice. Bill