Wood Billets

[jamie]

awesome bill. this just opened up a whole new supply of stone for me. connecticut is all quartz. ive gotten a few decent points from it. but now im inspired to give it another go with the dogwood billet i have

[billy]

HEy Jamie,

I hope ya get some good points out of that Conneticut quartz.  Here's another tip:  I've noticed that on some quartz, you actually get bigger, better flakes if you work your edge so it is ABOVE centerline rather than below it.  Because quartz is so brittle and grainy, if you make your platform below centerline you don't have enough mass to support the blow and your edges can crush.  Edges that are above centerline work better because there's more strength underneath the impact point.  OF course it depends a lot on the quality and type of quartz you have.  You'll just have to experiment with it... try edges above and below centerline to see what works best.  Good luck dude, and post some of your pics when you've made a few points...I'd love to see 'em.

[jamie]

thanks again. im teaching this weekend and while everybody is workin on their project ill try some quartz

[DanaM]

Any other woods beside flowing dogwood that will work for billets?

That don't grow up here but lots of Lilac which is a tight grained dense wood.

[Hillbilly]

Besides dogwood, persimmon, live oak and boxwood are good. Other hard woods will work , just not as good.

[DanaM]

None of them grow up here I have a chunk of lilac somewhere, if I can find it I will see about making a billet
and will bring it to the Classic so you can try it Steve Ok another question with the quartz how big of a piece
do you need and you must have to pressure flake to some extent right? Up along lake Superior I can get quartz but
most pieces will be fist sized and rounded from erosion, ya think it will work?

[Hillbilly]

Sometimes you can bipolar percussion those round cobbles into good spalls. It's better to find big chunks to spall if you can get them. Paul (Ehkahk) gave me some quartzite once that he found somewhere on the shore of one of the Great Lakes-it was killer stuff.

[Timo]

I was at the water Creek knappin a couple years ago and Marty Rooter(sp, Great abo knapper) was useing some billets from some south american wood.can't remember what he called them but they were hard!

[DanaM]

I will try and get some of the Lake Superior quartz before the Classic, if the snow melts by then