trouble thinning

[Spotted Dog]

I understand the hitting . My stud driving hammer is a 4 pounder. Glance off and hit your hand
with that. Yellow stuff on the floor 

[le0n]

^^ hah hah.

it doesn't look like much, but it was enough to keep my thumb from working for a few minutes.



i considered it an alarm to tell me when to put my toys down and head to the office.

[le0n]

i just found a way to thin using indirect percussion.

i place the tine on a block of wood, the tip over-hangs the block of wood. then i place my foot on top of the base end of it.

i then strike the tine with another piece of flat antler.

it gives a strong impact without allowing the tip of the tine to travel downward very far before returning to the starting position.

i've been playing with this for about four days and can now take a thick wedge of rock and really thin it down. not super thin, but at least something that can be worked into a point. kind of exciting to be able to thin like this.

i'll photograph this setup and post it back here.

[le0n]

here are the photos:







there was a massive bulb on this flake, i.e., a rock i would never attempt to work:

[iowabow]

Hey now that looks like it's working for you!

[le0n]

yep

i'm able to make nice thinning flakes and i can actually aim them in the direction where i want them to go.

a large percentage is platform setup plus underneath flake support. the antler on antler energy is very fast but very predictable. i'm guessing that the end of the tine moves less than 1/8" downward. for most of the flaking, i actually have my finger in direct contact with the tine when flaking. and even though i'm swinging the striker with a lot of force, the tine barely taps my finger tip because of the restrained movement. i did make the mistake of letting my pinky fingernail touch the tine, that really hurt because it sent a shock through my nail bed.

i still need a lot more practice with this.

also, i'm going to get me another tine to setup for notching.

[turbo]

Nice! Necessity is the mother of all 'invention', glad you are keeping at it. This looks similar to a rocker punch technique, you may look at 'nclonghunter's thread and watch Mike Dothager's videos for more ideas.

[le0n]

i looked up mike's videos. very cool, i think i could pull that off.

will look up nclonghunter's later on at the house.

once i get a few pieces in, i'll shoot a video of what i'm doing.

edit: i couldn't wait. i saw and remembered his technique again now. looks like it would work great too. i would have to think it would only increase the knapping bruising on my legs though.

edit 2: i was directed to the 'anter base' technique earlier this morning. it is similar to what i'm doing and i will try it one day