Explanations for heat treating rocks

[Elktracker]

I live on the coast out of Tillamook and have access to lots of large agates, jade and jasper I was told you can knap these and you want to heat treat these rocks. Can anyone explain to me the purposes of heat treating? Are there any good links you can give as to the process of doing this? How do I know if a rock needs heat treated? Also a local fella told me there are different varietys of hard sand stones that are knappable in my area? any one ever heard of this? Any good links or other info would be great thanks

Josh

[Tower]

orerockon.com  stonecalculate.com are two good sites to learn from. Heat treating flints & other knappable material changes the molecular bond in a stone. It makes a tough stone more brittle  easier to knap. I think it has been done for 15-20 thousand years back. But if you take the heat up too quick or get the stone too hot it will burst. I treat stone in the ground It's more hands on than a kiln but I enjoy doing it.

[Elktracker]

Thanks for the reply tower