knapping glass with a BB gun

[autologus]

Hot rocks and water = hand grenades.  No bueno.

Grady

[mullet]

Sorry, but, I have to go along with Forrest Gump; "Stupid is as stupid does".

[JEB]

Another reason why our medical costs are on the rise!!!

[mullet]

Hence my PS warning Mike! I can't recall ever giving a public knapping demo when someone didn't ask me about the hot rocks and water thing. I wonder how that story ever got started? It sure spread wide and far. Guess it sounds better than the truth.

UPDATE: I found an article by a fellow named Dan Long that may answer the question of how the story of dropping cold water on hot rocks started. Dan writes, "All I knew for sure was that it wasn't done with fire and water, a theory popularized by Edgar Rice Burroughs “Tarzan”, in which he had the hero shape a stone blade by heating it and strategically applying drops of cold water to the hot rock to remove flakes (incidentally, a great way to put out an eye!)."

Tarzan - LOL! But where did Rice Burroughs come up with his idea?

I heard the story came from Ishi when he was knapping at the Worlds Fair. He got tired of answering stupid questions.

[JW_Halverson]

Hence my PS warning Mike! I can't recall ever giving a public knapping demo when someone didn't ask me about the hot rocks and water thing. I wonder how that story ever got started? It sure spread wide and far. Guess it sounds better than the truth.

UPDATE: I found an article by a fellow named Dan Long that may answer the question of how the story of dropping cold water on hot rocks started. Dan writes, "All I knew for sure was that it wasn't done with fire and water, a theory popularized by Edgar Rice Burroughs “Tarzan”, in which he had the hero shape a stone blade by heating it and strategically applying drops of cold water to the hot rock to remove flakes (incidentally, a great way to put out an eye!)."

Tarzan - LOL! But where did Rice Burroughs come up with his idea?

I've read everything ever written by ERB and I don't remember that particular passage.  Did he mention which of the novels it was in?

[mullet]

I don't even remember where I heard it.

[Dalton Knapper]

I can't seem to find a reference to Rice Burroughs saying anything about Tarzan making a blade, arrowhead, ect. either. Perhaps the fellow writing that was simply mistaken or saw it in a comic book or Disney movie. I am sure the story of dropping water on rocks is old one way or another. Likely the story was an Indian joke of sorts when someone asked too many questions.

[Ed Brooks]

Here is a quote from the "Biskinik" The Choctaw news paper, issue May 2013.

"Today, a widespread misconception is that Native Americans made stone arrow points by dripping cold water on  hot rocks to fracture them. This technique was sometimes used to break large stones into smaller pieces, but the breaks happen too randomly to be used to make a complex implement like an arrow point. Stone arrow points were and are made through a process that is known as "flintknapping" in English. Ed

[Thesquirrelslinger]

LOL. so i didn't wind up trying it- you guys talked me out of it.
funny how dad was fine with it.
i think my dad has figured out i am not stupid enough to do something that has more than a 50% chance of seriously injuring or killing me or anything else.

[Josh B]

Really?  Your dad didn't have a problem with that idea?  .  I'm guessing the acorn didn't fall from the tree.  I am really glad you decided against this idea.  All kinds of unexpected results were possible,  none of em good.  Josh

[bubby]

Really?  Your dad didn't have a problem with that idea?  .  I'm guessing the acorn didn't fall from the tree.  I am really glad you decided against this idea.  All kinds of unexpected results were possible,  none of em good.  Josh






lol that's what I was thinking Josh, bub

[mullet]

Really?  Your dad didn't have a problem with that idea?  .  I'm guessing the acorn didn't fall from the tree.  I am really glad you decided against this idea.  All kinds of unexpected results were possible,  none of em good.  Josh

 Maybe he was looking at the extra income from Early Social Security Disability.

[Mike_H]

Hence my PS warning Mike! I can't recall ever giving a public knapping demo when someone didn't ask me about the hot rocks and water thing. I wonder how that story ever got started? It sure spread wide and far. Guess it sounds better than the truth.

UPDATE: I found an article by a fellow named Dan Long that may answer the question of how the story of dropping cold water on hot rocks started. Dan writes, "All I knew for sure was that it wasn't done with fire and water, a theory popularized by Edgar Rice Burroughs “Tarzan”, in which he had the hero shape a stone blade by heating it and strategically applying drops of cold water to the hot rock to remove flakes (incidentally, a great way to put out an eye!)."

Tarzan - LOL! But where did Rice Burroughs come up with his idea?

I've read everything ever written by ERB and I don't remember that particular passage.  Did he mention which of the novels it was in?

Aparenrtly it was book three "The Beasts of Tarzan".  Some one asked on Paleoplanet and that was the answer.

[bowtarist]

Gun Doc, you cracked me up with the first sentence.

Yes it was The Beasts of Tarzan, I just listened to it on CD on my drive to and from work.  He makes a blade.

I've heard it started in a reservation early on when some older Indian's were asked how they were made and one of them came up w/ this story.  Some believe he was making a joke on YT, some believe he didn't really know and made something up.  Anyway, it was probably the media who spread it across the country. Imagine that?

HAve a gooder, dp

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Really?  Your dad didn't have a problem with that idea?  .  I'm guessing the acorn didn't fall from the tree.  I am really glad you decided against this idea.  All kinds of unexpected results were possible,  none of em good.  Josh

really? What on earth is the worst that will happen to me 25 feet from my small pointy target aiming a 250 fPS BB gun wearing a mask designed specifically to prevent injury to one's face or neck?
my only unexpected result is that my aim would be off and I would wind up with a broken arrowhead. Me and a friend have shot probably over 100 glass jars and bottles with bb or pellet rifles at the range- anywhere from 10-100 feet away(my friend once pulled a 125 with the pellet gun). there is already so much glass there before we asked if we could shoot bottles.
given I was never hit by either a single shard or BB...
i thought it wasnt that bad of an idea. I was more worried about breaking the arrowhead(my aim is generally crap)...