Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: JoJoDapyro on July 04, 2015, 01:58:07 pm
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How thick of a thigh pad do you use? What is it made of? Mine is clearly not thick enough.
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Actually I use a padded leather glove. Works great
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Deer skin - hair on.
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I use a piece if sheep skin stitch to a thick piece of hog leather. The fleece is sandwiched between the two pieces of leather.
The hog leather is up and the sheep leather is against my leg. This greatly reduced my bruising.
John
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I have done the same thing. Looks like both of us need to learn to hit the rock not our leg. I know some knappers that do not even use pads they hold it in their hand and work it that way.
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This was also the day of. Its much worse now.
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I don't use thigh pads. Never have. ;)
Sometimes I use a leather pad when spalling but that's it. I try not to hit my leg. (I know that doesn't help)
I've seen Bohunter use folded T-shirts and other clothing. He's on youtube: ---https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbIsYCSPB4g
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Save the lower legs of your old jeans.
Fold them to desired thickness.
Make your platforms and angle your piece
so your strike does not slam your leg.
Maybe lay off the power a little and
concentrate on accuracy.
Zuma
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If you want to approximate the past, you could get some leather welding gloves, cut through the seams, and fold them up, to make a pad. The more you fold the leather, the thicker the pad becomes.
Also, it looks like you may be striking on top of your leg. There is a photo of Ishi, somewhere, that shows him sitting on the ground, with knees bent over to the left. He is propping a stone or nodule on the right side of his thigh, while holding a hammerstone. Most people probably do not have the hip flexibility to carry out this practice. It takes some getting used to.
Also, there are other illustrations which show natives sitting on the ground with the left knee, and leg, propped upright. The left hand holds the biface, and rests against the inside of the left leg. The upright left knee acts as a brace against the blow. If you are using a percussor, such as a hammerstone, this would be considered a form of "freehand percussion with rest".
Also, if you need more force in the blow, you can always hold the edge of the stone against a block of wood, held between the legs, or resting on the lap. The method is reminiscent of bi-polar percussion, though you might not produce true pole to pole flakes. Early pioneers saw Indians work glass by holding the edge against a boulder, and then striking the opposite edge with a pebble. Indians in California worked obsidian by the same method, while holding the edges of the stone against a slate anvil. In archaeological studies, one can still see anvil stones, in those obsidian bearing areas, with pitting on the sides, where the obsidian edges had been positioned.
Also, if you have to strike really hard, you may do better with hammerstone processes. If you use a block anvil on your lap, you can rest the edge of the stone on top of the anvil, while swinging away from the upper edge. Or, you can hold an edge against the side of the block anvil, while swinging the hammerstone downwards, and striking the edge.
Each process has its advantages, and disadvantages, depending on what you are trying to do. If you are using a lap anvil, padding may not be necessary. But, you should still drape something over your legs, to keep the fragments of sharp debitage from sticking to your skin.
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Well as they say, when you're a hammer. >:D at least its my leg and not my thumb anymore.
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Elephant hide when I use one. Most of the time I spall and reduce holding it in my hand.
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Scrap Piece of tooling leather folded in half. Place a piece of excersize mat foam in between if dealing with tougher rock.
Tracy
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I use leather to avoid cuts more than to denture bruising.I almost always knapp with shorts on( and barefoot). I hold the rock in my hand for the most part.
Bone pile
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I also knap in shorts and barefoot. I got a chunk of obsidian in my shoe once, that was enough.
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The fellow who first introduced me to billet knapping, around 1996, was Noel Grayson, of Talequah, Oklahoma. He worked at the Cherokee Heritage Center, and taught traditional crafts. Noel taught me the basics of pressure chipping in a platform, holding a preform on the leg, and whacking it with an elk antler club. He also told me about his process regarding heat treating stone.
To be frank, I whacked my leg many, many times. I think Noel started to lose faith...Lol! Anyway, Noel is a bowyer. Here is one of his videos:
https://youtu.be/6dMgUugIBSA (https://youtu.be/6dMgUugIBSA)