Need some suggestions on basic tools/rocks

[twisted hickory]

Hey guys,
I am getting ready to start on some knapping. I will be making just arrow heads for this fall hunting season.
What is the very basic tools for getting the job done? What type of stone and where can tools/stone be found?
Thanks,
Greg

[Scallorn]

It really depends on if you're doing abo or not. I knapp abo, and my main tools are a few hammer stones, and three antler pressure flakers, one of them is very sharp for notches and edge work. That's really all you need IMO. It wouldn't hurt to have a good hardwood billet, or antler billet for working thin bifaces though. I can't really help you that much with finding good rock, I don't have any flint around here. I have heard that it can be found along creek banks and roadfills though, as long as you live in a place where flint is common. The only flint I have found is crushed up in my driveway, everything else I make is from glass.

[twisted hickory]

Thanks Scallorn,
I will buy flint online I just wondered if any one had a reputable seller. Do you or any body have picts of the antlers and hammerstones to give me an idea?
Tx
Greg

[Outbackbob48]

Twisted Hickory, This is just my opinion, If you are just starting to knap I would forgo the ABO, Knapping is not a skill learned in a matter of hours but measured more so in tonnage of rock busted. Copper tools are consist  day in an day out. Copper is just plain easier in a skill that is full of many challenges to begin with. I would either buy rock or use cheap materials such as glass, bottle bottoms, tv screens and such to begin with. Finding and heat treating your own materials is a skill in itself. I quess what I am trying to say is start with easy tools and materials an after you acguire some skills add more challenge as you go. I have been knapping for six years and have only begin to scratch the surface of all there is to know.  Bob

[twisted hickory]

Thanks for the advice Bob.
I dug out some glass points I made as a teenager. They are pretty rough but if lashed on the end of an arrow would kill a deer. I made those with a hammer stone and a deer tine that I got from a deer I killed.   However, in the intrest of time I will hold off on ABO for now I want to get the basics down then go ABO. I want to harvest game with a bow/arrows/ stone points that I made my self that are natural materials. So far I have the bow making and arrow making down fairly well.
Thanks for the infor,
Greg

[mullet]

Bob  gave you some very good advice. Also, if I was just starting out and was going to use rock for hunting points I would pic Dacite. Easy to knap, sharp, and fairly tough.

[Scallorn]

Outbackbob's advice is very sound. I knapped loads of points from glass before ever touching a piece of flint, and I still use glass now. Also, like bob said, finding and heat treating the flint can be tough. I blew up a lot of rocks before I got it figured out. I don't know about copper, I have never used it.

[iowabow]

Just to echo what has been said, do start with copper...It took me a year and a half to learn good technique for pressure flaking ABO style. Also there are times when things are just backwards in ABO and taking advice or reading about technique would just drive you crazy because of the differences. My ABO tools change based on weather and have to be worked differently on different days. Knapping at the classic was a challenge because of the humidity.