vernonhess 999, I don't have much experience with quartz but have sat in a few knappins and watched some excellent quartz knappers, It seemed to me most used wood billets on alot of the I shall call manrocks
( quartz, rhyolite, archlite, esphous) Tuff material to begin with, Kinda a different type of knapping and quite challenging, Just my .02 worth. Bob