Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: paulc on January 14, 2017, 02:20:11 pm

Title: I need cooking advice!
Post by: paulc on January 14, 2017, 02:20:11 pm
So I have access to a crock pot that doesn't seem to go hot enough for either my flint ridge OH material or the texas chert I have.  Currently I have to about bust my guy to get tiny flakes and crumbles off either stone.  I don't have access to a kiln or oven that goes hot enough.

Thoughts?  All this stone has spent probably 3 or 4 days in the crock pot so it should be good and dry. I tried years ago with burying some other stone and building a fire over it, and ended up with hand grenades showering the yard with shrapnel and burning coals.

I need help please :-)

attached is my first "point" from obsidian.  It helps if you squint a bit...

Paul
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Trapper Rob on January 14, 2017, 08:10:38 pm
Some guys use a turkey roaster.
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: mullet on January 14, 2017, 09:34:16 pm
Paul, from what I understand you need to get Flint Ridge a little hotter then Turkey Roaster range.

I'd experiment by burying it under about two-three inches of clean, playbox sand . put a 20# bad of charcoal on top and let it go till it cools down. Just try some small spalls and flakes and see what
happens.

20# doesn't cost that much and put an assortment of rock sizes in and see what works and what doesn't.
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Chippintuff on January 14, 2017, 11:00:11 pm
Most of the Texas rock does well in a turkey roaster. I  doubt crock pots get hot enough.

WA
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Tower on January 15, 2017, 12:36:24 am
I agree . A crockpot isn't going to do it
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: penderbender on January 15, 2017, 12:55:03 am
Crockpot only goes to like 209 degrees. I thought about that.  Fire seems like the most likely way. That's how they used to do it. Cheers- Brendan
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Sasquatch on January 17, 2017, 09:40:21 am
Watch Ryan Gills video on youtube about ABO heat treating.
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: 1442 on January 17, 2017, 10:51:18 am
close to the side and in the corners of a turkey roaster gets mighty hot. Hotter than my thermometer will read and it reads to 500 I think. The reading was climbing so fast when it maxed out it had to be quit a bit hotter than the 500.
I've placed really grainy gravel in the corners and severly overcooked it with dial set on 400.
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Chippintuff on January 17, 2017, 12:16:23 pm
My turkey roaster gets to the dial setting in the middle and on the dial side, but it gets 75 degrees hotter on the other 3 sides. I have put fiberglass insulation in the lid, and I fill it with sand to fill all voids between rocks. In the past I have noticed that it gets hotter and faster if the roaster is not full.

WA
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: bjrogg on January 18, 2017, 07:15:34 am
I'm not the greatest chief on here for sure so can't give exact recipe. I've cooked some Butterscotch Flint river in turkey roaster that came out great. I've also ruined some Texas Flint I overcooked. From what I've heard about Flint ridge it needs higher heat. I think I'd try Eddie's charcoal cooking recipe. I know it's tempting to put everything in pit or roaster at once but until you figure out the right temperature and soak time you might just want to try smaller amounts. I felt terrible when I turned my Texas Flint into gravel without even getting to hit it.lol  I'm thinking you could cook your Texas chert in turkey roaster.
Bjrogg
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Hawkdancer on March 11, 2017, 01:26:58 am
How large a piece is about right?   Got some Ft Payne and some dactite?   Also somewhat concerned with messing up the oven with shrapnel - little woman would somewhat upset :) :-K.  I do have an old grill to serve as an outdoor oven with the sand and charcoal plan.  There are some stalls and flakes as well as chunks.  Does obsidian need heat treating?  I am thinking no, because it is a volcanic glass.  Thanks, Hawkdancer
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Outbackbob48 on March 11, 2017, 09:08:48 am
Hawk, obsidian or dacite does not need heat ;D  already cooked. Paul C, just my .02 worth but I would save your Flintridge until you have more experience, everything else hit it  :o hard. Bob
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: nclonghunter on March 11, 2017, 09:44:23 am
Some of the internet sales, like Craigslist or Letgo will have turkey cookers for cheap. I plan to get one for cooking rock but all I have now is rhyolite and it wont help it... :o
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: mullet on March 12, 2017, 05:43:40 pm
Some of the internet sales, like Craigslist or Letgo will have turkey cookers for cheap. I plan to get one for cooking rock but all I have now is rhyolite and it wont help it... :o

James Parker gave me a tip about your Cryolot. He told me some of that real tough stuff works a lot better if you heat treat it real hot. ;)
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: Sasquatch on March 20, 2017, 09:27:08 am
Do an abo heat treat for Flint ridge you can get 600-800 degrees easily.   I recommend that you get a turkey roaster if you want to collect your own stone. 
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: paulc on March 20, 2017, 12:56:02 pm
I actually did some abo heat (bag of charcoal) treating over the last several days and was going to give folks a report back.  Overall I think Flint Ridge stuff needs to be REALLY hot.  I did a total of 4 different batches with some change seen in some stones and no change at all in a lot of the stone.  The last batch I did had probably the best results and I had too much stone for one batch so I did a double layer of stone with a lot of the stone only covered by perhaps an inch of sand.  Some humps were sticking out of the sand even.  I will try to get some picks up later in the week...some stone clearly has that great waxy sheen that I have seen in so many of y'alls pics.  But a lot didn't change much.  So a lot of it does not break cleanly still and the stone that shows a clear change in texture still won't flake well.  I am guessing since virtually all of this stuff had been laying on the surface when I collected it there is a good bit of freeze/frost damage to some of it...?  The stuff that doesn't break along 90 degree lines will flake a bit but the larger flakes tend to be "wavy" and dip up and down through the stone.  And I can't get any flakes to drive beyond perhaps 1/2" unless I simply just shatter the stone completely.  I have a lot of flakes that will make arrow points but they will be crude to say the least. They will function though. 

Whoever I get in the point exchange, I hope to send you a couple crude points and some pieces of this rock I have been working with so you can wack some of it and maybe you could report back to me if my issues are more me or more the rock :)

I'll try to get some pics up later.  Paul
Title: Re: I need cooking advice!
Post by: paulc on March 26, 2017, 12:27:50 pm
https://youtu.be/8xROCs9m63U

OK everyone, the link above is to a YouTube video I just put up. I thought that might be more efficent than me taking some pictures and typing a bunch of text. If you see anything in it and have some advice I'd love to hear it.

Thanks, Paul