Nethers Farm-current info?

[paulc]

the two boxes I shipped home arrived today....hopefully i can get some points out of this but I'm worried about freeze cracks.  Next time I collect I might try to focus on stuff that has slabbed "naturally" from the freeze/thaw and maybe save myself some heartache...Good part is a lot of this can also be used to make jewelry with the wife once it proves unsuitable for knapping.  Paul

[paulc]

that forth pic is my two test pieces that came back in luggage.  Both were perhaps softball-ish in size and they are a lot smaller now.  Only 2 or 3 flakes popped off that might be turned into a point-last two pics is one possible point from test rock....Paul

[1442]

that test piece sure is good looking
I do see a lot of fractures in the rocks that youll have to work around but it sure looks good in between them.
Thanks for the look

[JEB]

Cook it up and the colors may change.

[bjrogg]

Gotta be something in there.
Bjrogg

[paulc]

Latest from the cooker...

bottom rock doesn't seem to even be flint as near as I can tell-but pretty neat looking. 

Left is def flint but no pattern to the breaks

Top rock seems to have a lot of promise-doubt anything too large but certainly a couple arrowheads. 

The point is about as good as it will get for that piece-first break from first cooking.  It is right at 1"wide so I could spare a tiny bit of width trying to thin it down but not sure it is worth it.  I put the parent rock back in the cooker last night so maybe more heat will allow me to get more out of what is left....Paul

[paulc]

I have managed to slab a bit of my flint ridge stuff!  So for those of you that might be interested in it-you don't need an expensive proper rock saw.  This is my crappy refurbed saw from ebay with a $60 blade that says you have to use oil to cool it but water seems to have worked okay for today.  Of course the size of what you can cut is pretty limited but I think I can get arrowheads out of these...

Now to try and cook the slabs a bit to get some better flaking.

Paul

[paulc]

so I changed my cooking process this weekend-put a load through the turkey roaster all night Friday and then shallow buried it and kept a med fire burning on it for about 8hrs Saturday.  I didn't get much/any pieces exploding and much of it has improved in it knapp-ability.  But this is still going to be some really tough stuff to work with.  I was approaching what could have been described as a preform with this piece before it came apart.  But I was beating on it like madman so not that surprising it broke.  Perhaps a little more heat would have helped this piece-really don't know.  Now I have a shot at getting two small points...the story of my knapping life :-)  This is such NEAT stone!!  And challenging!

Paul

[paulc]

Another clunky preform from Nethers rock.  It will break if I hit it with all I have with a bopper but I can't do much with a pressure flaker.  Would cooking this for longer, or at higher temp cause it to flake better?

Thanks, Paul

[bjrogg]

Paulc, I'm certainly no expert cook. It sure doesn't look overcooked to me though. Might try putting your preform in cooker to. Hoping you get something slick and colorful.
Bjrogg

[1442]

more heat can't hurt if it's still too tough, I reckon, but I'd sure rather have a undercooked rock any day versus an overcooked rock 
That sure is some cool looking rock.

[paulc]

How does overcooked rock behave?  How will i know I have taken it too far?  Paul

[mullet]

It will crumble when you hit it.

[bjrogg]

It will crumble when you hit it.

Yup you'll know if you overcook it.

[Blitzkrieg721]

that stuff should work pretty well, ive worked a lot of flint ridge material...it is likely that you aren't getting enough temp on it honestly, I think some of it can take almost 700 degrees to work well...most guys who dig and cook it use a kiln to get it cooked right...also different variations will take different temps..