Author Topic: Knapping in Texas  (Read 30287 times)

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Offline le0n

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Knapping in Texas
« on: November 21, 2014, 07:10:29 pm »
hello, everyone. my name is leon.

i wanted to introduce myself and start a thread where i can post a few photos of some knapped points that i've managed to create.

february of this year is when i attempted to create my first points. glass was easy to source for practice material, so that is what i've been practicing with.

in an open manner, i am going to post some photos of those first points. they are rather embarrassing, however, i'd like to do this to show my progression in some sort of chronological order. hopefully as time goes on, they'll progressively get better, heh heh.

wow, these were rough. but, with little to no instruction this is what they looked like when i started:

materials: fake sea glass, cool water cologne bottle, mountain dew bottle

i didn't have any tools at that time either, other than safety glasses, a piece of leather, a small copper pipe that had the end hammered flat, but, that was enough to get me started.

here's another one i tried from a bottle bottom. i learned early on to really despise the convex/concave surfaces of bottle bottoms. needless to say, this point is not flat:

materials: mountain dew bottle

anyway, i'm going to dig around in my phone and post some more pictures that i find.

enjoy :)

Offline Tower

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #1 on: November 21, 2014, 07:15:09 pm »
Welcome to PA I think you will like this extended family.  Your looking great on your points. Keep knapping & keep posting. 
He who sacrifices freedom for a security deserves neither one.  Benjamin Franklin!

Offline papoints

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #2 on: November 21, 2014, 07:23:06 pm »
Keep those friend.  I wish I kept my first ones.

Offline le0n

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #3 on: November 21, 2014, 07:27:07 pm »
^^ thanks, and thanks for the welcome.

Keep those friend.  I wish I kept my first ones.

i have them tucked away. but early on i did ponder 'losing' them.

more from february:


materials: torched melted Riesling bottle



materials: el Jimador bottle

and my first beer bottle point (heh heh):

materials: Shiner Black Lager bottle

Offline le0n

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #4 on: November 21, 2014, 07:34:51 pm »
march:

fun size:


reaching; i remember my arm being tired after this one:


work area with a rough point in the foreground:

materials: el Jimador bottle

another:

materials: Riesling bottle
« Last Edit: November 22, 2014, 01:25:36 am by le0n »

Offline le0n

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #5 on: November 21, 2014, 07:46:27 pm »
more from march:

this material is rather finicky and i'm not sure i'll ever go back to it.



my home-grown pressure flaker. i annealed some ground wire and hammered it into a pilot hole on the small end of a sapling:



materials: stained glass

finally got one flat without breaking it:

materials: mountain dew bottle

found another one:

materials: old gray-tinted tv glass

two more from the flat glass:


materials: el Jimador bottle
« Last Edit: November 22, 2014, 01:42:13 am by le0n »

Offline le0n

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #6 on: November 21, 2014, 08:07:26 pm »
april

my cousin gave me some rock to try. first attempts at getting a rock preform with the bopper:


it was ugly:


a few more minutes into the night:


and i broke the ear while notching so i had to shorten it:



i found another photo:


another from that month:

materials: tinted tv glass

materials: novaculite
« Last Edit: November 22, 2014, 01:08:24 am by le0n »

Offline Chippintuff

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #7 on: November 21, 2014, 08:12:05 pm »
Welcome aboard and keep them coming. You're doing great. I do suggest letting the copper stick out only about 1/3 to 1/2 as much as you are showing there. You're well on your way.

WA

Offline le0n

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #8 on: November 21, 2014, 08:42:45 pm »
may

more rock from my cousin. geeze this stuff is sharp. i was also testing the waters with an antler that was given to me by a friend. the cleaner antler is one i found at petco.



materials: obsidian

here's a microscope shot of an obsidian sliver than i got out of my finger. i set it on a slide that had a slice of a plant for scale.
note the triangular leaf projecting from the side:


here's that obsidian leaf magnified even more. i couldn't believe how strong that leaf was. i'm just glad it didn't decide to break off in my finger.


this one is from a squarish green bottle. i like the color on this:


materials: Carapelli Extra Virgin Olive Oil bottle


i'll see if i can find some more from may to add to this post.
i had an sd card failure in september and i lost a lot of photos that were on my phone.

Welcome aboard and keep them coming. You're doing great. I do suggest letting the copper stick out only about 1/3 to 1/2 as much as you are showing there. You're well on your way.

WA

thanks for the welcome and thanks for the suggestion.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2014, 01:18:22 am by le0n »

Offline PrimitiveTim

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #9 on: November 21, 2014, 09:23:09 pm »
haha I got to admit this is pretty cool.  You come a long way.   :D
Florida to Kwajalein to Turkey and back in Florida again.  Good to be home but man was that an adventure!

Offline bubby

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #10 on: November 21, 2014, 10:01:16 pm »
Nice timeline, where are you in Texas, some really fine knappers there
failure is an option, everyone fails, it's how you handle it that matters.
The few the proud the 27🏹

Offline Sasquatch

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #11 on: November 21, 2014, 10:01:28 pm »
Welcome to PA, we need more knappers on this site.  I haven't seen that many pics in a topic in quite some time.  That must have taken a while.   I do like the progression of the points.  You are coming around just fine.  The copper really helps, I couldn't  knapp a peppermint with antler.    Where are you in Texas, I'm in College Station. 

Offline le0n

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #12 on: November 21, 2014, 11:16:35 pm »
Thanks, it's been a really fun and challenging learning process so far. I haven't got around to trying to recognize/replicate certain styles just yet. These are just 'what feels right at the time' kind of points.

Houston Texas.

Offline Clacker

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #13 on: November 24, 2014, 07:30:06 pm »
Looking good so far! The bad part about our part of Texas (I'm ~hour SE of Houston) is the lack of natural rock. Though I've found some decent stuff at landscape suppliers!

Stringman

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Re: Knapping in Texas
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2014, 09:23:42 pm »
Leon, you're in good company now. I was in your shoes not too long ago and it just takes time (and tonnage.) I know TX is big, but look around and you should get into some nice stuff before long. till then, keep breaking that glass. Welcome to the obsession!