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Author Topic: How Old Were You?  (Read 7321 times)

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Offline flecha

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How Old Were You?
« on: March 16, 2009, 02:44:31 pm »
My five year old son is getting pretty good at "crunching" obsidian flakes with an antler pressure flaker.   ;D He likes to make exaggerated serrations and tell me he is making them "poky" so that he can kill an animal and make blood.   :o

Thus far I haven't done much "formal" instruction, mainly just allowed him to borrow some of my tools while I work and he mimics what I'm doing.  If I break a tip he loves to "fix" it for me.  I learned pressure flaking first, when I was about his age, and since that worked for me I am trying to repeat the process for him.  If this keeps going, I can't wait until he is truly addicted (like the rest of us) and I can have hours long conversations with him about knapping.


I was wondering how old each of you were when you started and who started you.  Did you start with pressure of percussion?
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Offline DanaM

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2009, 02:49:23 pm »
I started at 47 now I'm 48 and mostly I just bleed a lot while making gravel :)
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"Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking, and not just a lack of money or things."

Manistique, MI

Offline flecha

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2009, 02:54:06 pm »
DanaM,

Thank you for responding.  What got you interested in trying to knap?
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Offline billy

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2009, 03:54:32 pm »
I first got into flintknapping when I was around 14 I think (1988 or '89).  Found a broken quartz arrowhead in Virginia while deer hunting with my dad, then later that year he took me to an arrowhead show in Marietta, GA.  I was absolutely fascinated with the ability of ancient people to make tools out of rocks.  After the show I went into the parking lot looking for rocks I could chip into arrowheads.. didn't find much there!! 

My dad saw my interest was serious and bought me D.C. Waldorf's book The Art of Flintknapping.  I read it so many times the damn book fell apart.  It took a while to find the right kind of stone (my dad and I spent many weekends on wild goose chases looking for stone but coming home empty-handed).  But we finally found some tough black north Georgia flint and I had something to practice on.  That was it.  I've been knapping now for close to 20 years and I still look at the case of arrowheads I've made before I go to bed.  I know...I'm sick and need help...but I don't want any!  Now get outta my way cause I've got some flint that's laughing at me and it needs a spanking!!  :)
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Marietta, Georgia

Offline JackCrafty

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2009, 04:53:13 pm »
Started about 3 years ago....because I became seriously interested in making Native American stuff.  Still can't make long, thin flakes....except on glass.  Don't like glass though.  Too many small children walking around. ;)

My Dad took me to see a man who made flint arrrowheads when I was 8 years old.  I thought it was pretty cool, so when I got home I grabbed the closest thing I could find (slate) and made some crude arrowheads.  It was fun until some of the neighborhood kids stole my stash of slate.
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Offline cracker

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2009, 04:56:56 pm »
I just started here lately. The bug got put in my head from watching Paul Wolf, James Parker,Eddie Parker and some of the other guys and the 11th classic.Ronnie
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Offline xin

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2009, 06:44:00 pm »
56 years ago I found a uniface novaculite knife and a large thrusting spear pt not one ft apart at the base of a tomato plant in my grandfather's vergetable garden.   About two weeks later I found an atlatl pt in his cotton field about a hundred yds from the other two  pts.  Been hooked ever since.  I'm 66 now.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2009, 09:10:14 pm by xin »
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Offline flecha

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2009, 06:48:48 pm »
Have any of you ever taught someone else to knapp?  How would you go about teaching a youngster to knapp?
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"We roped anything, anytime, anywhere with serene disregard for the consequences.
Arnold Rojas

Offline david w.

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2009, 08:42:11 pm »
I started when I was 14.  I do it off and on.  SOmetimes all I do is break rock and sometimes I won't touch it far a while.

I order from neolithics about a month ago and nothing has came yet.  I am getting really anxious
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Offline DanaM

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2009, 08:42:31 pm »
I got interested as a natural progression, or is that regression, from making bows, first a bow, then a arrow then a point :)
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"Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just money or things. Poverty is a way of living and thinking, and not just a lack of money or things."

Manistique, MI

Offline hawkbow

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2009, 09:04:25 pm »
I started knapping as a teen.. but never got the hang of it until i met Joe York..( Wolf Watcher).. he has been knapping for fifty years and is a true master knapper.. although he would never admit it,through his teaching I learned the basics..now I hope to someday be able to make a point that is usable  ;D ;D  Hawk
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Offline Staver

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2009, 09:32:55 pm »
I used to find arrowheads, knives, scrapers, etc as a kid growing up in southeastern Wyoming.  I've always wanted to know the story behind how it was done.   I started flintknapping 2 years ago when I was only 42 years old!  I mostly just get sore hands, but every now and then, I surprise myself!

Joe H
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Offline mullet

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2009, 10:15:37 pm »
 I'm kinda like Dana. Made my first bow, didn't feel right listening to Aluminum arrows bang off it. Made my first primitive arrow, then needed a point. Started chipping about20 years ago. mostly busting rock till I met Claude Van Order, and he cut the learning curve. Used to have to drive about 60 miles to see him, now he lives 10 minutes from the house. Still not good at percussion, I use that saw too much, saves rock ;).
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Offline Timo

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2009, 10:19:12 pm »
Started probly 7 yrs ago on my own. Always have hunted artifacts and always wondered how?

Finally got some teachings at knappins and it has snowballed form there.

As for teaching? Nothing works better than hands on.(SAFETY FIRST) For youngsters,gloves,plenty leather pads,and safety glasses. Try to percussion a biface and explain every move and why you are making it. Use a marker on the stone to show them where the flake should travel and why.Platfoms,ridges and grinding.

Takes a lot of time the teach and more time to learn.As long as there is some instruction,there will always be progress. They will have to hit alot of rock,have failures,but hopfully learn from them.
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Offline sailordad

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Re: How Old Were You?
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2009, 10:33:16 pm »
i started a littler over a month ago.i am 43,so i guess 43 when i started lol
surprised my self in that time too,i actually made a few that anyone would recognize as arrow heads
for the same reasons as Dana too,bow first,then arrow then head
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