February's knapping challenge (Rogue river/ Gunther)

[cowboy]

I looked up the point type and their were no pictures of rogue river but reffered back to the Gunther's apparently the same thing. They were made into the Historic phase (1000 to 200 BP). Generally made from obsidian in the Northwest.
 Location: Great Basin westward.
 Description: A small to medium size, thin, broad, triangular arrow point with long barbs that extend to and beyond the base. The blade sides are straight to concave and the stem is parallel sided to slightly contracting or expanding. These points exhibit high quality flaking. Other local names used for this type are "Camas Valley," "Mad River," "Molalla," Rogue River," and "Shasta."

 Here's my attempt .

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[Hillbilly]

Cool, that's a nice'un, Paul. I'll try to dig out some obsidian or dacite and give it a go.

[leapingbare]

Woops! I'll try again!

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[cowboy]

Thanks Steve. That's a peice of obs I got from DTiller and if I'd tried to make that stem any longer it would have more closely resembled Jesse's point there . Looks like that one was going lovely for awhile Jesse - dontcha just hate when that happens .
 You were right fletcha, looking back in the book the majority of them were made of Jasper's and Agate's. Happy knappin folks .

[billy]

Wow, ya'll took the word "challenge" seriously!  Here's two that I made, along with another sweep-wing barbed point out of cooked Texas chert on the right.  The other two are made of jasper, just like the originals.  The large circle is a penny for size comparison.

Making these type points with long barbs is not easy.  One wrong move and your barb is broken.  My advice for those who haven't made these type of points: do your notching early, while the point is still a bit bigger and beefy, then narrow your sides in carefully to the desired shape.  If you try to make those notches as the last step, you're much more likely to break the barbs off.   

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[leapingbare]

those are nice Billy.
Yea you can see i did my notches early.. i had not yet made the sides convex and it did not have a point on it yet.
What happend with mine was i poped of to large of a flake notching it and it left a deeper flake scare running across the base of the barb.. and i knew if i flipped it and tuck another flake it would probably snap. but if you ant taken chances you ant making purdy ones.

[Bone pile]

Nice points fellas,a challange indeed!Just got back from the Sopchoppy knapp-in,the challange there was a Clovis using Southeast Material.Then I come back and see we're trying to knapp this style,talk about switching gears!Man whats next mosquito effigys?
Bone pile

[DanaM]

Great looking points guys

[GregB]

Yall are quite talented! Mighty fine!

[cowboy]

Wow! billy, those are extra nice. Have you made these before?

[billy]

HEy Cowboy,

I've never made Gunther barbed points before, but I have made a few sweep-wing Columbia River type points, mostly out of obsidian (though they were usually made out of gem-quality agate by the natives).  So I've got a little experience in making those little points with long barbs.  I've always liked those really exquisite little arrow points that are very finely made.  Below is another pic of some of the little barbed obsidian points I was talking about.  I had a few others that had even longer barbs than these, but I sold them at some Arts/Craft shows last summer. This shows what you can do with the right support and technique. The little point on the left has the most delicate barbs I've made so far.  Can't believe I didn't break them off....but I didn't!   

Another trick for those barbs:  Always narrow the very tip of the barb first, leaving it much wider closer to the notch.  That way you have more stone (and more strength) up toward the base of the barb.   I narrow the very tip first, then carefully move upward toward the notch.  Hope that helps.

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[flecha]

Wow GUYS! This is a fun thread to watch.  A lot of good stuff being posted!

[leapingbare]

ok dose this one count?

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[Hillbilly]

Great looking points, billy, those are killer. Jesse-yep, I'd say that one definitely counts-Wow! Is that cherry quartz? I made one just like your first one yesterday.

[cowboy]

Man billy - you must have the dentist tools out to make them little puppies, them are tiny . That's a beauty as well Jesse and of course it counts . I'm gonna have to get out there and make some more flakes..