Quartz

[Marc St Louis]

My wife and I went to an Algonquin nation gathering a few weeks ago and on the way back home we saw this odd formation of rock, naturally we had to stop and have a look.  Mixed into this odd looking stone deposit was a small quantity of some very nice and clean Quartz.  I was only able to collect 1 piece but I was able to make this point out of it.



Quartz is hard to work but the finished product is sharp.

Still don't know what the other deposit is

[Tower]

Sweet. That would make a nice necklace.

[cowboy]

That is some pure looking quartz Marc. Almost like salt. I have a big chunk i found in NC. Never tried to knap it, may have to now, hmm..

[Lee Slikkers]

Nice work Marc...I have a nice sized rock that I think is Quartz and I've always wondered if it was knappable.  I'll have to snap a pic or two and see if you folks agree that is what it is or not.  Thanks for sharing.

[AncientArcher76]

I forgot u knapp Marc... looks good for a tough material!   As mentioned a necklace would look amazing at the same time would look just as good busting through some meat!  Cheers!

Russ

[Marc St Louis]

Perhaps it would look good as a necklace but I wouldn't do that in its present shape, it's too sharp and pointy.  I would dull the point and abrade the edge first.  No it went on an arrow, part of a set I'm making for our chief.





As a side note.  A archeologist recently found a site near me and after some cleaning and digging he found a vein of Quartz that you can plainly see had been worked on for tools but the abos of that region.  I plan on going to have a look see and try and get permission from their chief to take samples back with me.

[Lee Slikkers]

Marc (or anyone else) can you tell from these photos if this is Quartz or not?







The edges do feel a bit "granular" and can be scraped off like grains of silica or sand.

[Marc St Louis]

Looks like Quartz to me Lee.  A lot of the Quartz up here is not suitable for tools but you do find some nice deposits sometimes.

[Lee Slikkers]

Thanks Marc...I split off a bunch of spals of this stuff so I guess now that I have a little rock to learn on I better read up and see if I can't make a decent head.  The rock I got these from is about a 200lb rock so these is plenty more to practice on.

[jamie]

great work marc. quartz is excellent material if you can keep the piece together to finish it. its as sharp as obsidian in my opinion .

[mullet]

 That's a good looking set of arrows, Marc. I've made some pretty points from quartze crystals from North Carolina. And you are right, it is sharp.

[beetlebailey1977]

It looks like a killer to me Marc.  Good work.

[Marc St Louis]

Thanks guys.

That Quartz point is indeed sharp, not quite as sharp as Obsidian though.  The other points are made from some rock I got from Paul.

[cowboy]

Oh, I didn't realize that was from some of my rock Marc - makes em look just that much better . Good looking arrows! How did that stuff work out for you as far as some blades?

[ordcorpdw]

I have a large piece of quartz sitting on a shelf. Does it fracture like chert and obsidian? I also live near the town of Quartzsite. whole lotta quartz there. Never tried it.