Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Flintknapping => Topic started by: carpenter374 on March 21, 2008, 12:30:30 am
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hey all. does quartzite knap? theres lots of it here. i tried to percussion flake some arrowhead sized flakes off of a core and i couldn't get it to work. my hammerstone is a large peice of river smoothed granite. any tips on working that particular stone would be appreciated.
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never worked it but i hear it tough and grainy
hillbilly posted a picture of a beautiful quartsite point on another thread
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Some quartzite knaps well, some is really tough. Most of the old points I find here are made from quartzite, some of them really well-made, and some quite crude. Could you post a pic of the quartzite you have? One key to knapping quartzite is to use soft percussors-large hardwood (dogwood/persimmon, baseball bat diameter) billets, big antler billets, and really soft hammerstones like sandstone or rotten quartzite. Hard hammerstones don't grab the platform, it usually takes something that dissipates the energy of the blow slowly to get good flakes with tough quartzite. Good platforms and striking angles are important, too. To get good spalls, everything has to be right more so than with easier materials. Bipolar percussion sometimes works well on small cobbles.
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Here ya go. this is the typical color an texture for the stuff i find around here.
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Man that looks like a wrist breaker :o
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Here's another.
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